what logs have you been chopping today!

[scbk]

Big rings of noble fir, in the rain of course!

[SbTVF]

Split a load of big lumps we had delivered in April last year, only just got round to making them small enough to go through the processor. The Balfor 22t horizontal making light work of even 36” diameter beech.

Got 9 cube out of it so far through the tajfun with the new 4/6 knife working really well.

The sycamore is past its best but the beech is still rock hard for the most part!

[gdh]

Been getting beech in here as well, I'm sure it dulls chains faster than oak... 

[arboriculturist]

8 hours ago, gdh said:

Been getting beech in here as well, I'm sure it dulls chains faster than oak... 

Is that your own harvested Beech or bought in? The diameters look good for processing.

[gdh]

1 hour ago, arboriculturist said:

Is that your own harvested Beech or bought in? The diameters look good for processing.

It's bought in, there's some smaller stuff in it but it's all been through a harvester so it's nice stuff to process.

[arboriculturist]

20 minutes ago, gdh said:

It's bought in, there's some smaller stuff in it but it's all been through a harvester so it's nice stuff to process.

Talking about Processing - Have you seen Timber prices creeping up like here in SW England?

 

Combined with recent vehicle / machinery fuel price increases, labour rates etc. - our margins are reducing dramatically and trying to keep prices static is becoming a real challenge.

 

Hard times for the Harvesting Contractors also - the've been hit by many of the same increasing overheads as us combined with one of the worst harvesting Winters on record.

 

I can see a lot less future posts on   -   'What logs have you been chopping today'    !   

[Woodworks]

I presumed it was the massive demand for wood pushing up prices. Never had a year like this one (admittedly fairly new to the game). Sold out some weeks back and phone just keeps going. Loads of people trying to get logs but everyone has sold out so i just put the rising prices down to supply and demand. 

 

I do think from the native stocks point of view the craze for woodburners needs to be curbed. 

[gdh]

1 hour ago, arboriculturist said:

Talking about Processing - Have you seen Timber prices creeping up like here in SW England?

 

Combined with recent vehicle / machinery fuel price increases, labour rates etc. - our margins are reducing dramatically and trying to keep prices static is becoming a real challenge.

 

Hard times for the Harvesting Contractors also - the've been hit by many of the same increasing overheads as us combined with one of the worst harvesting Winters on record.

 

I can see a lot less future posts on   -   'What logs have you been chopping today'    !   

Yes, it's definitely going up. Hardwood has been a pretty consistent increase of £3-5 a year and is now £60-65 delivered plus vat but softwood is rocketing. We just had to pay 45 a ton.

 

We're lucky that we can get reasonable deals because we buy a few hundred tons at a time but it's a struggle recently to find tidy stuff, especially ash.

 

We're doing some harvesting ourselves now on a small scale but it's not that economical compared to buying in when you consider all the costs and it's just to make sure we get enough wood by targeting the smaller sites that don't usually get touched. 

[arboriculturist]

1 hour ago, gdh said:

Yes, it's definitely going up. Hardwood has been a pretty consistent increase of £3-5 a year and is now £60-65 delivered plus vat but softwood is rocketing. We just had to pay 45 a ton.

 

We're lucky that we can get reasonable deals because we buy a few hundred tons at a time but it's a struggle recently to find tidy stuff, especially ash.

 

We're doing some harvesting ourselves now on a small scale but it's not that economical compared to buying in when you consider all the costs and it's just to make sure we get enough wood by targeting the smaller sites that don't usually get touched. 

It looks like to be able to stay in the Woodfuel business long term, you will need to running a very tight ship!

[andy cobb]

The problem is we're all competing against all the farmers sons with a chainsaw and a few fallen trees that keep the price down because they already have the machinery and sheds, and don't have to make a living from it just a bit of beer money.

ive started putting my prices up to new customers this year, but thinking of doing a voucher system for next winter where if a new customer orders a load they get charged £20 more but with a voucher to redeem £20 from their next load. Thinking it might weed out the customers who only want my logs until there cheap farmer supply is restocked.