Cord Wood Length / Price

[dibnah1]

This year I will have I will have too much cordwood for my own use.

 

I've spoken to a couple of chaps that use processors and they are only interested in the cord if it's in 7 foot lengths. Is this bollocks or is it the norm?

 

We still cut in 4 foot lengths for ease of handling and the people we have spoken to don't seem interested.

 

What's a reasonable price to expect for a cord of mixed hardwood consisting of Oak, Ash, Willow, Birch, Hazel and Alder?

[delabodge]

hi I expect they want it in 7ft lenghts for easy of transport, as the bays on the timber lorries are further apart than 4ft, If I buy in it usually comes in about 8ft lenghts, thats probably why, £35-£50 per ton depending on species and which part of the country your in,

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

absolutely the norm. Lorry pins / bolsters - not enough to fill up with 4' lengths... Saying that I don't know of a forwarding trailer that could hold on to those either.

[skyhuck]

If you have some longer timber you can "line" the bottom and sides of the timber wagon with that and put the shorter stuff in the centre.

 

Shorter timber will be more labour intensive if cut on a processor, but its still much have a value.

[Mortimer Firewood]

My supplier has just dropped a load of cord off that ranged between 5ft and 16ft it was cut by a local estate that had very little idea of the firewood game but it was £36.00 t but we only got 14 t on an 8 wheeler the drive was not a happy bunny. If you want to sell your cord at a premium cut it to what the lorry drivers want as in this game they tend to have the upper hand. 8ft and 16ft are the standards up here and 12ft for beach

[WorcsWuss]

On this basis you might be better off 'retailing' it... Must be plenty of weekend warriors down your way who would like the idea of cutting their own firewood, 4' lengths are handy for homeowners.

FWIW I cut my own cord into 4' or 6' lengths for ease of handling and transporting on the trailers we have available, so you're not alone, but then I don't produce cord for wholesale either.

[dibnah1]

Lads,

 

Thanks for the responses.

 

WorcsWuss, your idea is along the lines I'm thinking of going with this one.

 

I don't want to process logs myself, there's enough people doing that our way already.

 

So I am thinking that local delivery with Tractor and trailer (our trailer takes a cord). I just need to work out pricing. Based on the figures given by delabodge and an average weight of wood I found on another site,

 

Average Density of hardwood 600 kg per cubic metre

 

1 cord, 128 cu ft = 3.62 cu metres

 

1 cord weighs 2172 kg

 

At £35-£50 a ton = £76 - £108 a cord

 

 

I just think that £76 - £108 a cord sounds high?

 

Plus there would be a bit added for delivery.

[WorcsWuss]

If you're turning up at the house of someone who spends £100 on a haircut, a trailer load of wood to keep them occupied for a few weeks for anything just under 3 figures... £95 or something.... is going to sound cheap to them.

TBF, assuming this trailer is a 3t type tipper and it's stacked well, then I'd probably pay that for a load of hardwood for my own use and be quite happy... And I'm very careful with my money...!

[codlasher]

I went on a 'firewood/enhance your timber value' seminar at a Forestry Estate in the Cotswolds about seven years ago. We were shown various methods of sale, along with the usual 'processor' and bag/tipper method. One that stood out was the 'billet' method. This was one way in which to sell 4' lengths.

There was a long stack of 4' billets with divisions. Each division was roughly a car boot load. You could drive in and self load, pay your money and process this yourself at home. You could buy any amount of divisions. You could also have them delivered but I didn't look further at this as I liked the simplicity of the collection method as in this way you weren't, as vendor, getting involved with all the handling that deliveries and issues that are then raised.

From a vendors point of view this seemed like a good idea.

Codlasher

[WorcsWuss]

Sounds a good model.... I have friends locally who would go for this method of purchasing firewood. Part of the attraction is the 'process it yourself' element anyway...