Firewood Buyers Guide

[Marko]

Firewoodman - Please remember I volunteered the guide as a starter for 10 and requested input and comments from those with much more experience than I to suggest what should be added or changed.

 

To move it forward....

 

"you have taken it upon yourself to write the recommendations and yet you do not seem to follow them...." ????? As it happens and as explained earlier, we only sell wood that has seasoned 4-5 years so we do infact exceed this. Again this is more to do with stock control but, as it happens exceeds the suggested seasoning time.

 

"can you tell me you never run out of seasoned wood?" I can assure you that we run out of seasoned wood most years. This seasons stock sold out before Christmas. Whilst it might be tempting to dip into next seasons supply we don't. Again we are only a small outfit and I humbly request and accept input from all the guys out there with much more experience.

 

"tell us exactly your processing and drying method and time that you use to classify wood as 2-3 yr seasoned, my idea of the wood seasoning is from the moment it is split not from when it ceased to be a standing tree." Fully agree with your definition. Would you be happy with a change in the guuide that suggests 1-2 years from when the wood is split?

[firewoodman]

Marko, i have 16 years experience in firewood, 8 of those as running it as a business, 9 yrs surfing the web to further my knowledge and i would never claim to know enough about the product as it is so full of variables.

 

i experiment with different species but have never recorded results except for in my head and have always been honest with customers and dealt with complaints fairly by usually giving refunds and collecting the stock (3times in 8 yrs) which is why i allow inspection first, but always give accurate description of product

 

 

i have wood in the round from4ft to 12 ft long various diameters stored outside and 1 to 5 years old from felling, most is still wet no mater the age.

 

i do not have the luxury of owning my own farm so i have to rent a barn and am limited on space, also i am the largest supplier in cardiff but the second largest in the competion area.

 

i sell around 1000m3 a year seasoned and more fresh

 

"can you tell me you never run out of seasoned wood?" I can assure you that we run out of seasoned wood most years. This seasons stock sold out before Christmas. Whilst it might be tempting to dip into next seasons supply we don't. Again we are only a small outfit and I humbly request and accept input from all the guys out there with much more experience.

 

i dont have any other income than this. i sell what i can, but i sell it honestly. i ask my customers to ignore what they have read on the web and in the fires instruction manual (except for the safety stuff) and to experiment for themselves and come to their own conclusion. 70% of those that tried now buy fresh wood off me and dry it themselves and 50% dont care about species

 

Fully agree with your definition. Would you be happy with a change in the guuide that suggests 1-2 years from when the wood is split?

 

i would be happy with a guide to moisture content in wood dried over certain lengths of time, each species dries differently. have a guide for species dried over 6,9,12,18 months and the actuall months the wood was split.

 

we all know that most of the drying takes place in the warmer months and very little in the winter time.

 

so many recommenadations are taken from other web sites and hear say without any actual trials and records done.

 

tbh i dont know of many suppliers that actually have 1 yr seasoned wood which has been split and drying for that time or longer

[Marko]

"I have 16 years experience in firewood, 8 of those as running it as a business, 9 yrs surfing the web to further my knowledge and i would never claim to know enough about the product as it is so full of variables"....

Fantastic! Exactly the sort of experience that can really contribute. So how do we, as an industry, offer practical guidance to the first time firewood buyer? The objecctive is a guide to help the first time buyer understand that it is far from an exact science and the variables are many and significant.

 

Many posts across the firewood forum have talked about picking up customers who have had a bad experience in one way or another. You are the good guys! but how do we arm a potential customer with a broad enough understanding of the impact of these variables to avoid the bad guys in the first place?

 

I am happy to take on board any criticism but I had really hoped for constructive suggestions as to what should be in the guide from people such as yourself who have far more experience of the industry and its customers.

 

However, "i do not have the luxury of owning my own farm..." LUXURY??? Perhaps you might stop and think why there is so much grade 1 arable land available to store wood on! What I do for a living, how much wood I sell and how much land I have available is of little consequence to the debate (other than to belittle).

 

The point of this thread was meant to be a generic guide that took note of customer concerns and collated the agreed best practice in the industry. To my mind this forum is the very best place to gather it.

 

If the concensus is that it is a bad idea then so be it. If anyone thinks it is something worth having then please lets discuss your constructive suggestions as to what the wording should actually be.

[Arran Woodfuels]

If the concensus is that it is a bad idea then so be it.

 

Reading through this thread, Marko, I think the message from some is that this is not a popular concept.

 

It might be a better idea for you to consider developing a "Firewood Sellers Guide". This could contain all the information you obtain on moisture content, best practices, customer engagement, etc. and offer a set of guidlines for firewood producers. This might help reduce the number of "rouge traders" who are apparently mis-selling small loads of wet wood, and avoid confusing new customers who, basically, just want to heat their homes.

[Marko]

Sounds like a fine idea!

[Marko]

A first pass is now on http://www.carbonneutralfuel.com/firewood-sellers-guide.html

 

Constructive suggestions as to what should / should not be included and also links to any reference material that Sellers would find useful.

[firewoodman]

as with tree surgery, the firewood industry has now become victim to the jack of all trades jumping on the bandwagon.

 

to quote a customer of mine "how hard can it be? all you do is hit the log with the axe, whats difficult about that?"

 

we all know what the best way to do it in "the ideal world", but i think it would be more practical to tell of the realistic commercial way.

 

as demand increses the customer should be warned that at this time of year (after the xmas rush) stocks can be really low.

 

as for measuring, we should stick to cubic meters and and have a comparison towards the dumpy bags which aren't

[woodrascal]

Evening Marko,

 

I think what you're doing is great.

 

One suggestion however - please remove the link to those firewood songs/verses They contradict quite a lot of the good points you so clearly put forward regarding burning only dry wood.

 

Keep up the good work.

[firewoodman]

Evening Marko,

 

One suggestion however - please remove the link to those firewood songs/verses They contradict quite a lot of the good points you so clearly put forward regarding burning only dry wood.

 

.

 

i agree with that. most of those were written before the use of stoves and for use in open fires.

 

(from website Use a moisture meter to demonstrate the moisture content of a random log on delivery

 

dont force supplieres to buy equipment they may not want... poss change it to a suggested voluntary service

Edited January 30, 2009 by firewoodman
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[Marko]

Links to the poems now deleted of the Buyers Guide . This is a well made point - we need to clear the decks and start again.

 

Sellers Guide Taking note of the parallel thread on moisture content I have replaced "Use a moisture meter to demonstrate the moisture content of a random log on delivery." with "New customers may be wary of the term "seasoned" as it is not a measure of how well the wood will burn. Use a moisture meter to demonstrate the moisture content of a random log on delivery. Best practice would suggest 20% or under to be ideal."

 

If we are capturing best practice then it will be what we aspire to do rather than necessarily what we currently do - what does a great service look like?