Hornbeam cordwood near Ardingly Sussex

[Big J]

Fair enough but that mill of yours had to be paid for, and new bands etc so to say you only need to cover your time and fuel seems odd? What about the kiln and other overheads mate? If you have a nice lump of oak what woul the costings be to turn it into dry planks easy to sell? I'm not having a go I'm just interested to know:)

 

Fair question sir!

 

What I suppose I meant to say is that when you measure a log when you buy it, you use the Hoppus measure, which allows for sawing wastage. Firewood offcuts are that wastage, so you effectively don't pay for the firewood element of the saw log. When you eventually sell the boards (whether they be fresh sawn or dried), you're still only selling the proportion of the log that you've paid for and you take your profit margins from that. The firewood is just a bonus.

 

I don't think that the costs for milling timber are that much higher than firewooding it. I'll put through a solid 4-5 cubic metres of oak/elm etc on a day's milling (including sticking and stacking). That would be the equivalent of 12 cube split. The drying time is pretty similar, there is a bit more handling, but the eventual sale price is 5-6 times more. I think that I worked out that at point of sale I'm 50% profit on kilned sawn timber, after all day to day running costs (rent, fuel, electricity, machine costs etc) before capital expenditure and loan repayment.

 

Jonathan

[Hodge]

Fair question sir!

 

What I suppose I meant to say is that when you measure a log when you buy it, you use the Hoppus measure, which allows for sawing wastage. Firewood offcuts are that wastage, so you effectively don't pay for the firewood element of the saw log. When you eventually sell the boards (whether they be fresh sawn or dried), you're still only selling the proportion of the log that you've paid for and you take your profit margins from that. The firewood is just a bonus.

 

I don't think that the costs for milling timber are that much higher than firewooding it. I'll put through a solid 4-5 cubic metres of oak/elm etc on a day's milling (including sticking and stacking). That would be the equivalent of 12 cube split. The drying time is pretty similar, there is a bit more handling, but the eventual sale price is 5-6 times more. I think that I worked out that at point of sale I'm 50% profit on kilned sawn timber, after all day to day running costs (rent, fuel, electricity, machine costs etc) before capital expenditure and loan repayment.

 

Jonathan

 

I see what you mean, cheers J.