ThrustSSC

I really don't want to sound a killjoy, mate, but why did you choose not to just buy the Indespension mesh sides? Looks like we have the same trailer - I've got the mesh sides on mine and it takes 4m3 really easily, tows like a dream, isn't overloaded, etc. And they come off really quickly for side-unloading when I'm in a tight space and it'll save me some effort. It's a cracking combination and enables me to deliver a full load of logs to the day job office every other week at this time of year.

What we're seeing is only the norm for any market that suddenly increases rapidly in volume, with customers inexperienced in telling good product from bad. With all the stoves going in, volume has to increase and people are trying to take advantage of that. What'll happen next is normal market dynamics: everyone who wants a stove will have one in a few years and the market for those will be replacements, upgrades from tat to quality, and the odd new build. The vast majority of the customers will be educated about what's good and what's bad, and will shop more carefully. Those who've built up a base of experience, who have developed an efficient operation, and who have a good name will come out on top - they will have a loyal customer base and word-of-mouth will be their main marketing tool. The rest will simply hover round the edges of the market, but won't have the nous to produce the quality product demanded by the customers - they'll only sell to the naive and gullible. It just needs to settle down over the next 5 to 10 years. In the meantime, we'll all be irritated by Mick and his battered white transit van, selling rubbish for peanuts.

Then it's clearly the cowl - if the stove is not lit there's no natural draught from the convecting gases, no 'pull' through a joint in the flue, etc. One thing worth mentioning: I've been deeply impressed by Clearview's technical staff. Definitely give them a call. Talk to Karen, I suggest - she's a whiz on flues.

There's a leak somewhere in the system where the air is blowing across a resonance tube - just like blowing across a milk bottle. My first checks would be the flue itself (perhaps the door is sealing so well that a gap is being pulled open in a join later up the gas flowpath?) and the stove door (perhaps there's a gap there?). The door is the easier to check, so perhaps smart to start there? A few things that might give clues: is it happening immediately on lighting, or does it develop later; does it happen on any stove air vent setting; is it low in the system, or high in the chimney?

Ditto! Please keep us all informed of how you get on, mate.

"Common sense" is an oxymoron - just like "Military intelligence"... ;-)

Sold out. Expected to by about Feb, maybe some time in Jan. But all gone or loaded in the trailer ready for my final delivery to customers. That said, I'm only a small player, focussed on a tight market segment that knows quality and values convenience, but I think I'll do twice as much next year!

Hehehe! I got my sit-on mower and grass collector the same way :-)

I'll have a word with Glenmorangie to tell 'em they should be charging the same for the 25yo as the 10yo! :-)

I had the same with a chainsaw... Advertised as barely used, on delivery was clearly well-used. Seller got nasty as soon as I complained. Ebay were excellent, though. They promptly arranged return shipping at his cost and refunded everything to me. Lesson learned was stick to the proper eBay channels if you want to use their marketplace - never be lured into off-eBay transactions.

Spot on! And I'm tempted to say you can always turn those cards into paper bricks and sell 'em back. Hehehe

A very good point indeed. What angers me is that the small, local producers could use the money better - but the large centralised ones who get the subsidy are the ones with the time and contacts to apply and drive the applications through. We should not all despair, though. Look at the pressure on the supermarkets for local produce rather than trucking (or even flying) it miles. We have a competitive edge that CW cannot match - the word is "local" and we should use it to the full. It means reduced carbon. It means lower cost. And it means good service. After all, what would you prefer? A scruffy truck/van driver offloading a pallet with a bag on it and saying: "Sign 'ere, luv", or a well-presented local supplier who brings a product just as good, better for the environment, cheaper and who is prepared to discuss your needs and offer advice. The CW can occupy no more than the middle of the market. We can occupy the high end. The real losers at the bottom end will be the scruffy merchants selling green rubbish cheaper than the rest in order to shift as much as possible and taking no time to get to know their customers' real needs.

The real issues here are: 1) leadtime 2) space, and 3) opportunity cost The whisky industry have suffered for years from the problems with leadtime - look at what Cardhu tried to do to meet Spanish demand with their 'real malt' a few years back. The answer is stability of demand - which we won't get in this transitional period from oil to renewables, unless the government pull some tricks to stabilise the market. Space is the next one - the volume that e.g. CW process would require a significant acreage to season under polythene. We could do it for around 40k cubes, but any more we'd be stuck (and my wife would need somewhere else to keep the horses!). Opportunity cost is a matter of business planning and is something we small producers all face: that stock sat seasoning is money tied up for a year or more. We don't have many of CW's costs (e.g. kilns) but they don't have our opportunity cost because their product takes so much less time between coming in and going out. Even so I note that they do their initial seasoning naturally (only a few weeks' worth, mind).

For firewood only, it's 5% for all end users, business as well as domestic. Sale for resale is 20%, as you state.

No maybe in it! You're spot on. My take is that CW (among others) are using kiln drying to speed the process up rather than produce a superior product - although I accept the argument that their product is superior to all the green wood being sold by unscrupulous woodcutters. The alternative is to use kiln drying to ensure consistency in wet years as well as dry, and to get the MC down further than drying in the open will achieve. That's the approach I'm taking - although it remains to be seen how damp the wood gets once it's at the customers and stacked in their shed/garage/log store and is able to reabsorb moisture from the air. How you power your kiln is another discussion - balancing cost, speed, green issues, space, etc.

Even the kiln-dried stuff is no guarantee! :-( Look at Certainly Wood's website videos - their kiln-dried stuff is "average 20%, nothing more than 25%". Says it all when what I'm delivering now is 12-15% MC - that's NOTHING more than 15%. One customer even came back to me to tell me that it was so good it had cleaned the blacking off his stove window. He did complain that it wasn't perfect as he still had to get off his backside to put more on, though...

Sounds like bark beetle to me. Woodworm has something like a 5 year cycle between infestation and emergence, so unless it's been standing dead for a while, any infestation will have been burned long before it's ready for the beetles to fly. The best guide is: "holes in the bark only are bark beetle; holes in the wood are woodworm".

That would be true if it was e.g. oil. But not wood, which is charged at 5% to the end user regardless of whether it's commercial or domestic. Take a look at the HMRC documentation on it - it is pretty straightforward on the matter!

John, How costly was it to set up for woodchip and pellet production? I've looked into this, but the initial capital cost is huge - or am I missing something?

They'll be perfect. I work on steam locomotives and we use them as firing gloves. Your stove will be working at about a third of the temperatures we deal with - kids stuff for welding gauntlets :-)

I want that big Pimosa one... :-D

See you at the weekend :-)

Thank you, sir!