Big J

Climate change, not just global warming. Just because we're in a period of rapid global temperature increases does not mean that we're not going to have seasons. It's a common, and frankly ridiculous conflation that climate change deniers regularly make. Weather is not climate and climate is not weather. Just because it's cold doesn't mean that it's not generally warmer. First winter ever in Germany where they've not had an ice wine harvest. First winter ever in Sweden where they've not had a winter (7 consecutive days where the temperature doesn't rise above freezing) in most of southern and central Sweden.

It was bright and sunny first thing, but we've just had a torrential shower. I have a neighbour down the lane who is a senior forecaster for the Met Office. He says that the signs are for a much drier than average March.

America is a place of extremes. I've been three times, and I've met some of the best and worst people in the world. When you have a country that is constituted of peoples who generally fled political, religious and economic persecution, you're inevitably going to get some oddballs. I'd love to spend more time there, roadtripping from one coast to the other, and I'd love to explore New England properly. That being said, the gun culture, the sunstance dependency issues and the lack of affordable healthcare terrify me. It's a country where if you've made it, you're fine, but there is no social equality, and if you're at the wrong end of the equation, your prospects are bleak. It's hilarious how often they deride the Nordic political model, given that Norway, Sweden et al are objectively far superior places to live.

One of the main issues is that there is no mention made of adequate storage for end users. The whole process of drying timber and conforming to ever tightening regulations is completely irrelevant if the customer doesn't store their wood correctly. Tarp over the top of the firewood is not sufficient. A little lean to at the side of the house is not sufficient. A well ventilated shed with a substantial overhang is what is required. By all means, stack it outside without a cover over summer, but for a period before final use, it needs to be covered with very good airflow. This has been my store for the past 7 years. It worked so well that I brought it down from Scotland to Devon: I am wholeheartedly against the sale of dried firewood, if I'm being honest. It puts all of the onus on the retailer to absorb the cost of storing it, locked up capital as well as having a delivery method that somehow keeps it dry whilst it's being delivered at the wettest time of year. Hopefully the new legislation will boost green timber sales. The savings customers would make from buying fresh and seasoning themselves would easily pay for a good woodstore, and it'd make the lives of retailers much easier. And on the topic of kilns, whilst I don't begrudge anyone that has them (especially if RHI funded), the notion of burning timber to dry timber for burning is total and complete nonsense. There is absolutely no justification for it, except for supplying a marketplace where the average customer is an idiot who doesn't know the first thing about how to light or maintain a fire, let alone store and dry firewood.

We're not too far behind you I don't think. I need to get the data from September to the end of November, but we're had 525mm since the start of December (including 14mm overnight). We had a brief sunny interlude this morning, and now it's hammering it down again with a mixture of sleet and rain.

21% is where I'd expect beech to be after 12 months in undercover log storage. No retailer can afford to dry firewood for two years, and 21% burns perfectly well. I would bet that it was a touch lower than 21% before the start of winter though, as beech dries so quickly.

It must be spectacularly well protected from the elements. That being said, I think I've moved from one very wet part of the country to another and we never saw below 17% in winter on our stacks

I think unless you've been able to protect the timber from the elements over winter, that 10% is impossible. The lowest we ever had over winter was mid 17s on beech in the airdrying barns and 12-13 in the scorching summer (2018). That's with meticulous stacking and a £350 moisture meter. You'll get a grace period going into winter from the dryness acheived over summer, but at this stage in winter, the equilibrium moisture content is fairly consistently 20%. Some years it was 23% for us near Edinburgh.

Torrential showers yesterday. Cold with more rain this morning, bright intervals. 493mm of rain since the start of December.

Heavy showers and sun today. Quite cold too. Utterly miserable. Both the weather and me

I don't know. I had a fairly pricey Delmhorst meter when I had the sawmill, but I left that with the business. The issue is that even with a windy site, the air can only carry the moisture that it has capacity for. So 90% RH at 30mph (a stiff breeze) and 5c can still only carry 0.56g of water per cubic meter of air until saturation point is reached. Obviously, that metre cube of air moves quickly in a breeze, but even so, it'll still only dry as low as equilibrium moisture content and no further.

I'd check your moisture metre. There isn't any way the MC could be that low. Looking at the general forcast for central NI, the average relative humidity is just over 90% (and has been all winter). It's very unlikely it's below 20% and I'd guess it'd be 22-23%. The equilibrium moisture content it 22.2%, and whilst it might be carrying a bit of summer gained dryness, I'd hazard a guess that you've had plenty of 100% RH days that will have knocked it right up. I'm not being pedantic, but just had to point out that in the UK that sub 20 in winter is very tough to achieve and sub 15 is impossible.

Just checked my firewood in the house. 19-23%. That's ash that was split and stacked 13 months ago, left in stacks uncovered until mid summer and then brought into a completely sheltered but fully ventilated woodstore. The ash was also windblow to start with, which was offrooted and processed to length in October 2018, so it's had plenty of time to dry. If my average moisture content is just over 20% (which it is) in perfect (domestic) drying conditions, I don't envy you guys trying to do it commercially.

That would be in the ball park, though I'd say £20/t if you have to collect it or £40/t if he's dropping it off. Arb waste is slow to process compared to proper, forestry cut firewood.

Congrats Steve. She is beautiful.

The only real way around it is to sell green. I used to take a 7 cube load of larch/spruce to a customer in central Edinburgh twice a year. Really nice guy, background in forestry, so knew to dry it himself. I'd park the trailer under the conveyor outfeed, and the trailer was full in a little over an hour, if that. Easy money. I used to do that for about £55/cube delivered, if memory serves, a couple of years ago.

Machine operators love sitka brash. It's brilliant for driving the machines on as it doesn't break down, thus reducing the likelihood of getting stuck on bad ground. Sitka is a good construction timber. Here is a barn I built with Sitka some years ago: You do have access to very cheap timber. My hardwood firewood is going out at £54/t and softwood sawlogs £55-58.

Nah. I can't be bothered with a fire anymore. Don't have the time or enthusiasm for it. Sell the timber at roadside, fill the oil tank. Simples.

I hate it. Once I burn through the 20 odd cube I have left, I'm selling my firewood roadside and filling the oil tank.

Higher value per dry kilo, but lower per cubic metre due to lower density. It's not by much, mind.

It's brilliant if grown to a proper size and mechanically harvested. Produces consistent (low to medium) quality timber, doesn't fracture when being felled, produces brash of fantastic quality and grows well on wet sites. Depending on how much you have, clearfell it and replant with eucalyptus glaucescens. Double the growth rate of spruce (at least), looks lovely and produces good logs.

Interesting to see Jotul recommending hardwood. I hadn't seen that before. Either way, we put around 150-160 cube through ours in 4 years, mostly softwood, with no issues whatsoever. Didn't ever sweep the chimney either as I didn't ever see a reduction in draw, and the stove was on 8 months a year. The dried weight of pine, larch and hemlock is not significantly lower than ash or birch. If I were selling logs these days (which I wouldn't) I'd be looking to sell softwood at about 20-25% less than hardwood. I'd still make more money than selling hardwood as the processing time is so much less, but equally the customer would get better value for money. This local firewood retailer to my old yard has successfully converted most of their customers to softwood: Logs and Woodfuel WWW.CHAMPFLEURIEESTATE.CO.UK Garden furniture from Champfleurie Estate - Site Map

I would interpret it that way, yes. I'd go so far as to say that the advice would only need to be issued once to each customer.

They run the Biomass plant at Sandwich in Kent. Otherwise known as Kent Renewable Energy. Not renewable at all though. They import chip from (amongst other places) New Zealand (eucalyptus).

When we moved to Devon we brought a 20ft container load of spruce and larch down at 12% MC and it burned beautifully. It's just a bit lighter when dry compared to slow grown Scandinavian softwood