Are logs worth doing anymore ?

[gensetsteve]

weight is irrelevant really as long as lorry is full.. which it is with 2.4m lenghts and 4 bays... 3 bays of 3.4m and you get even more on load obviously green beech or oak and trailer wont be full.. my loads are either birch ash oak thats been cut while or ash hornbeam sycamore oak fresh felled...

all i'm going by is 4 or 5 customers who process into 0.8m bags have said there getting roughly 55m3 from load... and when i buy cord by m3 i'm told i have 25m3 on the trailer.. so going by what i've read on here on numerous occassions that should at least double when split..

and my loads are 1.3m3 which one of my lads will do 10 in a morning or an afternoon with a haki plike 1x37.. no log deck.. but loading with a mini digger and grab onto a stack of pallets.. 5 lengths at time..

 

Giving it a quick go on the calculator it looks like you offer good value for money. My calcs are not spot on but 54 metres of beech with air space comes out at 29 tonnes when green. 29 tonnes comes out to 43.5 metres of logs when split loose loaded. From experience this feels about right but someone may have a different way of calculating the air space I normally allow 45% for air unless timber is large and dead straight. We are increasing our kindling business to keep up with demand. We have looked at using Ash but the rest would be no good for us. I am looking for the ideal softwood to out through our kindlet. At the moment we use about a 7.5 tonne load a week or an arctic a month but this may increase very shortly. I cant get an arctic in the yard but an 8 wheeler just fits.

[delabodge]

10 m3 in a morning with = A ) a processor,,,b) a tractor to run it) c running costs,,,,,d) probably cheaper Than £50 per ton wood.......we dont all have that sort of money tied up,,,hence I cant afford £50 per ton,,,,we produce 1m3 per 40 mins,,,,sell at £80- true costs =£40 profit! thats with arb waste,,,,?

[DN22 Gardening]

Sorry to all you firewood guys but i think i'm the enemy..

 

We're primarily tree surgeons, so get all our wood for free.......... apart from the discount required by most customers now to take the logs away, inflated transport costs due to only having transits to run back and forth to the yard with a ton of logs on the back, inflated processing costs due to irregular sized rings, longer processing time due to having to split everything by hand....etc

 

Up until this year we only sold arb waste, (approx 150 cu a year )

 

Our policy was that we sold quality logs at a premium, last year s/wood were £60 a cu, h/wood was £75, ash was £80. We sold out every year.

 

However, we moved yards at the begining of the year so sold all the rings off cheaply to avoid moving them.

 

This means that we have very few saleable logs this year, (despite the above comment that tree surgeons logs will be green, we don't sell unseasoned unless the customer wants it!!).

 

This year s/wood is £75, h/wood is £85, ash is £90. We have a reputation for selling good logs, this has been hard earned, but we're reaping the rewards now, and as we've a limited supply, i was only going to supply existing customers.

 

However, i've found a local wood owner who struggles to sell his logs ( charges £50 for a bag of seasoned h/wood) so i've just bought 200 cu of him, all split before April this year, and because i've bought so much he's doing them for £45 a cu, which is even better value when you take into consideration the fact his bags will only have been around 0.8 of a cu.

 

I've said it before, and it's still my belief, I really don't know how you dedicated firewood guys do it....or why.

 

You must be working your nads off just to earn a wage, never mind grow your business...

 

I also agree that subsidies are skewing the economy and keeping prices artificially low. ( but maybe thats just jealousy talking )

[gensetsteve]

Sorry to all you firewood guys but i think i'm the enemy..

 

We're primarily tree surgeons, so get all our wood for free.......... apart from the discount required by most customers now to take the logs away, inflated transport costs due to only having transits to run back and forth to the yard with a ton of logs on the back, inflated processing costs due to irregular sized rings, longer processing time due to having to split everything by hand....etc

 

Up until this year we only sold arb waste, (approx 150 cu a year )

 

Our policy was that we sold quality logs at a premium, last year s/wood were £60 a cu, h/wood was £75, ash was £80. We sold out every year.

 

However, we moved yards at the begining of the year so sold all the rings off cheaply to avoid moving them.

 

This means that we have very few saleable logs this year, (despite the above comment that tree surgeons logs will be green, we don't sell unseasoned unless the customer wants it!!).

 

This year s/wood is £75, h/wood is £85, ash is £90. We have a reputation for selling good logs, this has been hard earned, but we're reaping the rewards now, and as we've a limited supply, i was only going to supply existing customers.

 

However, i've found a local wood owner who struggles to sell his logs ( charges £50 for a bag of seasoned h/wood) so i've just bought 200 cu of him, all split before April this year, and because i've bought so much he's doing them for £45 a cu, which is even better value when you take into consideration the fact his bags will only have been around 0.8 of a cu.

 

I've said it before, and it's still my belief, I really don't know how you dedicated firewood guys do it....or why.

 

You must be working your nads off just to earn a wage, never mind grow your business...

 

I also agree that subsidies are skewing the economy and keeping prices artificially low. ( but maybe thats just jealousy talking )

 

I am only speaking for myself but I dont see anybody in the arb world as the enemy even my biggest competitor in the area we are on good talking terms. There are one or two that are a bit ferral that I avoid on the whole most people are just trying to provide for their families. Part of the reason I expanded my log business is to fill a gap in the local market there was, for two winters absolutely no seasoned logs in the area. Now due to last winters mild weather and every tom dick and harry doing logs tonnes of fully seasoned logs in yards all over the country. Hence no gap and no me I wish everyone luck in there log business and hope the almost free wood keeps coming and if you need some top quality clean bone dry kindling to further boost your profits we are happy to load any vehicle van, tipper, tuck tuck, bentley, Rolls Royce or Ferrari.

[the hedge man]

theres a guy out near me and I see him nearly every day with a full trailer load of logs out on a delivery- so in my opinion theres still plenty of scope for firewood.

 

unless he drives around with a full load regually just for advertising.... just a thought!

[gensetsteve]

theres a guy out near me and I see him nearly every day with a full trailer load of logs out on a delivery- so in my opinion theres still plenty of scope for firewood.

 

unless he drives around with a full load regually just for advertising.... just a thought!

 

If he was making good money perhaps he would have a day off. Its easy to be a busy fool.

[Crazy Cutter]

I just don't know anymore! Getting more fed up. Regular ordered at 10 cancelled by 4 husband felt i was now far too expensive at 52.50 a cube.

[gensetsteve]

I just don't know anymore! Getting more fed up. Regular ordered at 10 cancelled by 4 husband felt i was now far too expensive at 52.50 a cube.

 

Paying for the wood and fuel etc the cost price has to be 52.50 a cube. Unless you can get £80 a cube sit doors in the warm or find another side line to take the pressure off then wait till all the logs run out and charge £120 a metre.

[oldwoodcutter]

I just don't know anymore! Getting more fed up. Regular ordered at 10 cancelled by 4 husband felt i was now far too expensive at 52.50 a cube.

 

less than 52.50 doesn't even cover the sweat off your back mate,i think i would have been tempted to tell him to take a running jump. Plenty more pebbles on the beach especially with a possible long winter ahead of us.

[gensetsteve]

less than 52.50 doesn't even cover the sweat off your back mate,i think i would have been tempted to tell him to take a running jump. Plenty more pebbles on the beach especially with a possible long winter ahead of us.

 

Especially if the russians turn the gas off.