Time to kiln dry firewood down to 20%

[growforest]

Somebody tell me what's the sense in kiln drying logs. I want to know what the advantages are. Can't for the life of me think of any sensible reason to burn wood to dry wood to sell wood in a damp climate. Is the world going completely mad? And am I right in thinking you're getting grants to do it? Bl^^dy hell.

[skyhuck]

Somebody tell me what's the sense in kiln drying logs. I want to know what the advantages are. Can't for the life of me think of any sensible reason to burn wood to dry wood to sell wood in a damp climate. Is the world going completely mad? And am I right in thinking you're getting grants to do it? Bl^^dy hell.

 

Why do people us tumble driers, when they could simply put the clothes out on the line???

[big chris the log]

The argument that kiln dried firewood burns too quick is completely bonkers. I dry all mine to 18-22% in the middle of the log, Which is the same as some of you are stating you get your air dried down to..... So how can it burn any quicker?!

The only difference is I can dry 64 cubic metres in 10 days (2kilns) and yours takes a year? And I can get £120 a cubic metre for it.

We burn a lot of our waste in the burners that would normally either go to landfill or be burnt somewhere else.

 

Yes quite agree but different species burn at different rates.A lot of the kiln dried is imported ash and birch so will burn quicker than home grown beech and oak.I bet klin dried softwood goes like matches.What wood are you supplying and presumably your customers are quite happy,so it works for you.This seems to be the main thing keep the customers happy and they keep comming back.Cheere Chris

[growforest]

That as well. But are they giving out grants for tumble driers?

[Mortimer Firewood]

Yes quite agree but different species burn at different rates.A lot of the kiln dried is imported ash and birch so will burn quicker than home grown beech and oak.I bet klin dried softwood goes like matches.What wood are you supplying and presumably your customers are quite happy,so it works for you.This seems to be the main thing keep the customers happy and they keep comming back.Cheere Chris

 

Last sentence said it all

[arboriculturist]

That as well. But are they giving out grants for tumble driers?

 

To those with solar PV panels on the roof - YES

[ash_smith123]

Somebody tell me what's the sense in kiln drying logs. I want to know what the advantages are. Can't for the life of me think of any sensible reason to burn wood to dry wood to sell wood in a damp climate. Is the world going completely mad? And am I right in thinking you're getting grants to do it? Bl^^dy hell.

 

 

You have got to think about this as a business, if you are someone who sells a bit of firewood on the side a kiln probably isn't for you.

Farmers have been taking grants, start up businesses get grants, in the last few years in Wales they did the WEBS grant that gave firewood merchants grants for processing and drying equipment so money is thrown about to every industry and for any reason. You just have to be one of the clever ones to jump on it when you can. Why is it so hard for you to get your head around having a grant for producing energy? What if I used a diesel generator and radiators as a kiln previously?

 

As a business I sell firewood, I need to sell the maximum amount of firewood to pay myself a wage and for my business to be profitable. For me to sell the maximum amount of wood possible I don't have either the space or time to produce all the firewood I need for it to sit and season in 8 months to a year. so it makes complete sense for me to buy a piece of equipment that will dry a large amount of firewood in less than 2 weeks and get payments for doing it. The more I can cut, split, dry and sell the bigger my business will get and the more money I can make, it's very very simple stuff

[growforest]

You do sound a bit patronising - only saying. I run a business too. I'm not questioning the actual mechanics, I am questioning the sense. One of the forestry industry's USPs is wood's carbon neutrality (don't all jump on me about this - it's a big subject, I know). The more effort you waste - grants, machinery, resources - the more this gain is affected. Like someone else said, you could just peg the clothes on the line.

I'm also challenged by the notion that the more logs you cut and the more money you make the bigger your business will be and the better everything will get. We're travelling very different roads.

[ash_smith123]

You do sound a bit patronising - only saying. I run a business too. I'm not questioning the actual mechanics, I am questioning the sense. One of the forestry industry's USPs is wood's carbon neutrality (don't all jump on me about this - it's a big subject, I know). The more effort you waste - grants, machinery, resources - the more this gain is affected. Like someone else said, you could just peg the clothes on the line.

 

I'm also challenged by the notion that the more logs you cut and the more money you make the bigger your business will be and the better everything will get. We're travelling very different roads.

 

 

I wasn't trying to sound patronising, just trying to explain why kiln drying works for me. It's a no brainier. Yes I could just peg the clothes on the line but that isn't suitable for me.

Yeah think we are travelling in very different roads, I'm not in business for the fun of it, I want to make money. Surely most business owners are of the same mentality or what's the point of owning a business? How else am I going to expand if I don't cut, split and dry more firewood to sell?

[Crazy Cutter]

Fair play to everyone with which way they proceed with their businesses but forestry/firewood seems to be heading the same way as agriculture it's got to be BIG! I think that's a bad thing, woods operate in a totally different way over a very long time and it now seems without any Gov support for planting. I foresee a real battle developing for wood in five to ten years it's just not sustainable.