How did you get into the firewood business?

[Daythe trees]

Hi mr flatyre, how the devil are you? Hope the saw I sold you is behaving and earning it's keep? I started doing firewood on the back of tree work. I took on an allotment which nobody wanted as it had been idle for twenty years, a few weekends work a few bonfires and I had a space that only had to be cultivated sixty percent by area and I had one and a half acres. Gave me plenty of space to stack timber worth keeping from tree work split it and build dutch barns to season it. I didn't advertise until I had a few sheds full and now have that space and barns at my new yard, I only sold three loads the first year. Even if using your home and you can only do three spare loads in your fist year of quality timber it's a start. Build from one load and see how it goes and what kit suits the timber you get in arb arisings or do you go the route of arctic loads of processor grade hardwood?

[flatyre]

Hi mr flatyre, how the devil are you? Hope the saw I sold you is behaving and earning it's keep? I started doing firewood on the back of tree work. I took on an allotment which nobody wanted as it had been idle for twenty years, a few weekends work a few bonfires and I had a space that only had to be cultivated sixty percent by area and I had one and a half acres. Gave me plenty of space to stack timber worth keeping from tree work split it and build dutch barns to season it. I didn't advertise until I had a few sheds full and now have that space and barns at my new yard, I only sold three loads the first year. Even if using your home and you can only do three spare loads in your fist year of quality timber it's a start. Build from one load and see how it goes and what kit suits the timber you get in arb arisings or do you go the route of arctic loads of processor grade hardwood?

 

hey buddy all good here, hope you are doing well? yeah the 560 is still earning its keep nicely. everything depends on me getting a bigger yard too.

[SbTVF]

We're at the end of our first full year having sold out first bags in October 2015.

Only got into firewood by accident really as we had a chip boiler fitted to modernise and heat our pig unit and houses more efficiently. We knew we couldn't get all the sheds hooked up straight away so also put in a room heater for the workshop too.

We then realised how much timber gear we'd need to make better use of the available RHI rather than buying in chip. So timber grab for the excavator and 1m PTO splitter later we decided we'd spread the cost of that and sell some firewood too, utilising our own 10 acres of woodland thinnings and bought in roundwood we set off with a simple operation. Using the mostly underused workshop heater we built a small basic kiln that does an ok job but is slow.

 

I then had a wood burner fitted to my new house and got chatting with the fitters, who this spring opened their own store. They've gone from nothing to the busiest stove supplier in the area in a matter of weeks and recommend me to all of their customers. I was soon inundated with orders and went from 50 cube all last season to 40 cube a month at the moment. Sold my car to buy a Tajfun 400 and now having to build a bigger kiln to keep up with the demand!

 

We luckily already had tractors and a 360 for handling

 

 

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[Rwhiteheadfirewood]

I started out firewood as soon as I had my driving licence at 18 with a polo car and a stihl 170 and a little trailer. Now some 7 years later I'm 26 running a Ford ranger pickup 2 Ifor Williams trailer a bobcat in the yard for loading and a japa processor plus 2 log splitters and multiple saws ranging from a 240 husky with 14" bar to a stihl ms660 with a 36" bar. I love the firewood. I enjoy it and hope to keep growing my business last winter I got through about 8 arctic loads and this winter already looking like il need a few more.

[william petts]

I started out firewood as soon as I had my driving licence at 18 with a polo car and a stihl 170 and a little trailer. Now some 7 years later I'm 26 running a Ford ranger pickup 2 Ifor Williams trailer a bobcat in the yard for loading and a japa processor plus 2 log splitters and multiple saws ranging from a 240 husky with 14" bar to a stihl ms660 with a 36" bar. I love the firewood. I enjoy it and hope to keep growing my business last winter I got through about 8 arctic loads and this winter already looking like il need a few more.

 

Ahh well done!! If you don't mind me asking what sort of volumes have u been selling since u began, for example we sold something like 10 cube our first year now near 1000

[Rwhiteheadfirewood]

Yea funny when I began I was doing around 10 my first year then probably more like 30 the second year and now I expect I'm doing more like 500-600 maybe more

[Rwhiteheadfirewood]

I've just looked in the book and I've done 437 cube ish so far in 2016 so not too bad imo

[flatyre]

strange, many people reckon its a waste of time and resources, its definitely something I enjoy and if it kept my business ticking over during the winter i'd be happy to invest in it!

[ostosix]

I love reading these posts, bit late i know. Just thinking of buying a larger trailer to bring some seasoned cordwood home. 

[Chalgravesteve]

Main business is a Golf Club, so I have 4/5 greenstaff who have time availability in the winter period. We also had about 6/8 tree surgeons who brought us their chip/logs. We used the chip for pathways, then sold the surplus as a biomass fuel in bulk. Decided to get our own biomass boiler to heat the clubhouse, but found out that burning the chip was too complicated, but one supplier said we could easily burn the woodpile of logs, which was handy as we used to just push them into a big pile each winter and set fire to them to get rid of them! 

 

I had looked at doing firewood years previously, but the thought of doing all the work today and getting paid in 2 years time was a bloody bad hobby!

 

So we went to look at a Dragon Boiler, and saw one attached to a drying floor drying firewood. In the earlyish days of RHI as well, so we eventually bought the boiler and an accumulator and a 40' container kiln, got it all approved for RHI, we burn the hard to split stuff as fuel and split the easy stuff into firewood. Had to buy in a processor, I bought a Gandini Forest cut (but got an EU grant for 40% of it). 

 

So. I've not really got any staff costs as I was already paying people, already had most of the kit. the boiler and kiln and processor was a total investment of £60K, and the RHI income is about £21k a year. Been going 3 years now, so I've got my money back on that, 17 more years of RHI to go then! We sell about 1,000 barrow bags a year, although that's just growing year on year now.

 

Biggest problem this year has been the mild weather into December, as the grass has still been growing and we have been spending 3.5 days a week keeping on top of the golf course and 1.5 days processing. It needs to be the other way around to keep up with demand!!

 

Still haven't got around to laying the pipework to the clubhouse to heat that from the boiler either, although I'm now more inclined just to whack a woodburning stove in there instead, if I can source some firewood.....