Softwood logs any good?

[County4x4]

Even the Gold NACS member chimney sweep I do business with is against it.

 

This chimney sweep isn't!! And of course I've been asked the question so many times - I feel like a stuck record sometimes! I tell all my customers that there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with softwood at all as long as it's dry - and ask them to have a think about what all those Scandinavians burn up near the Arctic Circle - there aren't a lot of hardwood deliveries up there apart from a bit of birch mixed in - and they are way ahead of us in woodburning terms.

 

And I think you're right too - people ARE going to have to get used to it. I think wood will be fairly hard to get hold of for a good few years until the hundreds of neglected woodlands we have are put back into proper managed production. I actually think the big increase in demand will be good for our woodlands long term rather than signalling the end of them personally.

 

Andy

[Alycidon]

This chimney sweep isn't!! And of course I've been asked the question so many times - I feel like a stuck record sometimes! I tell all my customers that there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with softwood at all as long as it's dry - and ask them to have a think about what all those Scandinavians burn up near the Arctic Circle - there aren't a lot of hardwood deliveries up there apart from a bit of birch mixed in - and they are way ahead of us in woodburning terms.

 

And I think you're right too - people ARE going to have to get used to it. I think wood will be fairly hard to get hold of for a good few years until the hundreds of neglected woodlands we have are put back into proper managed production. I actually think the big increase in demand will be good for our woodlands long term rather than signalling the end of them personally.

 

Andy

 

 

Agreed, 90% of the wood burnt in Scandinavia is soft. For the last 2 years I have sold a large majority of soft, something like 90%. It is very dry and I have had no probs at all.

 

Anybody in my area needs to get rid of some conifer, willow etc then I will take it. Burnt willow in my lounge last winter, 14%, it burnt well.

 

A

[Tomatin Firewood]

Up in the highlands it is mainly conifer and whilst customers definitely prefer hardwood, the stove & biomass market does not seem to mind the softwood. Since starting up last November sold around 600 cubic meters of the stuff. (it was all I had to sell in first months). I try and make sure I sell it under 25% moisture content and advise customers to store properly and burn as dry as possible. I only burn dry softwood in my own wee stove and think it is absolutely fine.

[18 stoner]

Following around 25 years of hunting for the best firewood to burn at home, such as oak, hawthorn, fruitwood etc, last year I almost sold out of hardwood and persuaded the wife I had to bring some "horrible stuff" home as that was all I could accept burning on our stove.

 

Mixed willow and leylandii was "the best we've ever had" said the wife. Goes to show I wasted my time all these years!

[Alycidon]

Some softwoods spit, therefore hardwood was always preferred for use on an open fire. But a stove is a closed box, ie the door is always closed, or should be. So spitting is not as issue and not even noticed.

 

A

[Deb]

Thanks guys all really good info and comments. We're still trying to get to grips with the best way off marketing our logs. And we have limited space for storage so i'm trying to concentrate more on the hardwood we get in as sales will go better for that than the soft.

 

But I think I will start to mix in the soft with the hard loads (just a token amount) and market it for woodburning stoves, keeping all hardwood loads for open fires or stoves.

 

We're based out of Sevenoaks in kent if anyone is interested in buying some conifer, PM me

 

Thanks again guys!

[bolthole]

Maybe we should start selling wood by energy content....

 

...such that you offer the customer either a fixed amount of MegaJoules and a variable volume of wood or a fixed volume of wood (probably much, much easier!) but a proportionately cheaper price, based on how much energy they're actually buying per cube/builders bag, etc...

 

There are a lot of folks out there in the energy market (because that's what we're part of) trying to get best value; if you can make it genuinely simple and understandable (and compare what you're charging for 'energy' to gas/coal/elec/oil) then all the mystery and misinformation will go out of it.

 

Now this is probably a bad example to give, but when you go to Amsterdam and buy cannabis, the Dutch give you a little of the strong stuff or relatively a lot more of the less strong stuff for the same money. Apparently. Different people buy different stuff according to their tastes but everyone is getting more or less the same bang for their buck and maybe that's the way forward with firewood.

 

The information regarding energy/unit dry volume is out there - price acccordingly and if you have a website explain this simply on your log page.

 

You could even factor in the mositure content so that wet wood is cheaper/dry wood at a premium. Turn up with the load and a moisture meter, split a couple of pieces and show them the reading... after all that only the true problem children will find something to complain about!

[Stubby]

Following around 25 years of hunting for the best firewood to burn at home, such as oak, hawthorn, fruitwood etc, last year I almost sold out of hardwood and persuaded the wife I had to bring some "horrible stuff" home as that was all I could accept burning on our stove.

 

Mixed willow and leylandii was "the best we've ever had" said the wife. Goes to show I wasted my time all these years!

 

Agreed (accept the oak bit ) . I would not have oak unless its holme oak .

[broonie]

I mainly burn softwood in my stove, get bundles of slab offcuts from the sawmill for a tenner each, use it to build fences and sheds then cut and store the rest for the stove..... have conifer and leylandii too which is mostly used for the overnight slow burn... built myself an 8.5 x 1.64 by 2m high wood store this year out of slab wood and an 8.5m pallet from the local engineering company (freebie).. some 3x2 £50 and corrugated sheeting £99...

[rangerover860]

we moved over to soft wood about a year ago and now we dont do anything else , we are now getting repeat customers, it was difficult convincing people at first but the scandinavian story helped a lot , sold about 30t since april:thumbup: