Not much money in it.....

[Logrover]

Beginning to think logs are a lost cause now, just sold a load on ebay with free delivery up to 15miles......sold for 35 quid. Great and its a 17mile trip each way so i stuck a fiver on top for fuel, see what hes says. still dont make much out of it......seems hard to sell decent seasoned wood this year, all i ve had has been time wasters saying they can get it for £40 a bag. I was selling for 65 but now i think im going to lower it to get rid and not bother next year. Il keep some for myself but i think people are only interested in cheapness at the moment! Il give a few good loads to the local pub at half price i think just to make my life easier!

 

How is everyone else finding it? seems less sales this year.

[Matthew Storrs]

That surprises me, I wouldn't have thought there is enough wood around to be quite so competitive, in general compared to the amount of folks converting to woodburners. Why sell yourself out? would it not make sense to hold on till next year, or does it cost you to store the logs?

[mendiplogs]

Beginning to think logs are a lost cause now, just sold a load on ebay with free delivery up to 15miles......sold for 35 quid. Great and its a 17mile trip each way so i stuck a fiver on top for fuel, see what hes says. still dont make much out of it......seems hard to sell decent seasoned wood this year, all i ve had has been time wasters saying they can get it for £40 a bag. I was selling for 65 but now i think im going to lower it to get rid and not bother next year. Il keep some for myself but i think people are only interested in cheapness at the moment! Il give a few good loads to the local pub at half price i think just to make my life easier!

 

How is everyone else finding it? seems less sales this year.

 

HI ROVER how many logs do you get for £35 mate and £40 for 900mmx900mm for good seasoned hardwood is too cheap but then it ok for me to say that i do not no your market sorry jon

[Logrover]

Well im moving soon, at least before next winter so need rid really. I was lucky to get about 5-6 ton ash/oak free so all its cost me is time moving it, cutting and splitting it. It was a test to see if it was worth it round here, clearly not! If its local ie a few miles i dont mind selling it cheap as its all a bonus to me but otherwise its too much hassle especially with diesel being pricey. As for amount no idea how many logs but its back of a land rover, ie over a m3.

Im much better off doing the timber cutting all week at £17 a ton!

[Matthew Storrs]

would you say in general if you do logs pretty much the only way to make money/stay competetive is to use a processor? I realise many tree surgeons do logs on the side with just a splitter or dare I say it an axe, But if your doing it day in day out do most of you use processors etc. A bloke near me does a navara load for £35-£40 (2 years ago) to me that seems silly cheap. But he uses a processor so maybe he makes it work like that?

[Logrover]

Think that is the future really! I ve worked for many tree surgeons and logs were all done by hand on the side as a cash earner but still at £60 plus a load. If you buy a processer then you need to turn over a lot of wood to make money to pay for it all so i suppose it out prices the smaller guys.

Also it depends where you are based, london way you will gets a lot more than where i am in cumbria where wood is more easily come by locally.

As i said il try to offload cheaply to the pubs here and make a bit of profit then concentrate on my forestry work!

[Joy Yeomans]

too many sellers, too mild a winter, grants for processors swamping the market, farmers sons doing it who dont need to turn a profit, fuel prices increasing, insurance costs increasing, timber prices going up and the customer with less money in their pocket to spend, terrible year!

 

weve found our wholesale is better as people buying the 4 nets for a £10 when needed to the garages has tied us through the winter better than selling the bulk loads when the customer has to dish out over £100

[Rich2484]

Mate sells them by the bag, he bags and splits them into 25kg (roughly) and sells them in bundles, he makes quite a bit from it, he paid for his wedding this way in a winter. He advertised and it went thro the roof he couldn't prosses them quick enough.

 

Have you tried advertising, put a few boards up near roundabouts or near house on roadside.

[Logrover]

Had an add in the local paper for a month, got a few sales but mostly time wasters, i ve not got the time now to bag up and mess about, id rather get rid for now or il have to give it away mid summer as i try to move house....not cool! Spot on there logbaron, i think it will still be bad for a few years yet judging by the amount of people i know without jobs and with major money problems.

[gensetsteve]

We have probably done ok but it just feels quite after the last few years. We were so busy with making and sending kindling out last summer we did not get the logs processed. Lost opportunity or so I thought things have been quite due mainly to the weather and all the reasons stated by log baron. Not sure what will happen next year but could lead to less competition and cheaper cord prices. 1/3 rd of my turn over goes on cord so if you cant make it pay with free wood its not looking good.