ash_smith123

I know someone who looking into it for a big sawmill down this way and the only way he could get it imported if it was debarked. So the debarking put the price up. He said the volumes he was looking to buy if it didn't need to be debarked it would have worked out cheaper than buying it here by £10 a ton!

Hi Dean, how much wood are you talking? Would you be able to load it into a bulker or will it need a grab lorry? I'm only in Pontypool

That's odd, found it a good machine! On the right timber its rapid! I put all sorts through mine over 3 years and there wasn't much it wouldn't split!

They sell firefighters in home bargains? [emoji23][emoji12]

I think this is a case of if you think his charge is too steep don't buy from him or bother commenting. He didn't ask "is my loading/delivering charge too much" he asked if anyone wanted the wood for free plus his haulage charge.

Haha I was just going to quote the layer cake!

If I started now with limited budget and only doing it part time I wouldn't process anything myself, just buy and sell. Start small and build up but without having to worry about any machinery! They are nothing but a pain and it doesn't matter what you but they will always cost you money and time. You don't have to worry about drying it either! Find a good supplier for kindling and logs and just sell it on.

Kiln drying! We can dry about 50 cubic metres a week. Also been buying in kiln dried as well to keep up.

Low profit in firewood? Your selling it too cheap then?! I can't see the point in saving £10 a ton and buying big timber when it takes 3 times as long to process. Time costs money!

We have been processing and drying to order for the last 2 months! Just can't keep up and get ahead of myself [emoji30]

Philip I did find a few people selling 80x80 bags but they were all made to order so I couldn't find any less than £4-5 each if you buy a few hundred! Might be worth looking at getting a container shipped over from China, I think they would sell well over here

https://www.fundedbyme.com/en/campaign/5345/vepak/ Looks like they have been on a few funding sites getting the idea off the ground. It looks good, if you are netting 12 hours a day 6 days a week I'm sure something like this would be perfect!

How do you get the wood from the ibcs out without the ibc smashing on to the customers drive and having to lift it back on the truck?

Thought about doing that but I can't get the cubic metre bags off and upright coming off the back of the tipper. Anyone got any ideas?

It's been raining for 2 weeks solid in South Wales now and it looks like it's going to be another week of rain this week, I would be out of business if I didn't deliver anything in 3 weeks! I do get a few people order and ask if I can deliver it in the dry but at the end of the day we live in the UK so if you have a woodburner and want wood in October/November there is a very high chance it will be raining! I do have a little joke/dig and say "you should have bought it in July"

Pm'ed

Thanks Iain! Maybe Looking to build one again the start of next year really. We will see how this winter goes. I did see they do straw compliant boilers, that would be handy, Plenty of straw around here!

Don't get a 40ft container! Get a 20ft and fully insulate it. You will get much better results.

Your only real argument that air drying is so much better than kiln drying because it's more environmentally friendly....So let's look at other things. Let's just say we both sell the same 10 artic loads of firewood a year. So the hauliers bringing it to us. What if yours has a 20 year old truck and my haulier has a brand new truck that gives out half emissions. Then the processing equipment, you have a 30 year old diesel forklift and I have a electric forklift charged from solar panels. Your processor is pto with a 30 year old tractor behind it running on red and mine is a 3 phase new machine that is also run off solar panels. You are running the wood out in a 20 year old transit where I have bought a brand new transit again giving out a lot less emissions or even one of those new electric trucks that hold 1 cube that again I run off solar panels. Yes this is all hypothetical but you need to look at the bigger picture. Having a kiln is one part of a "bad for the environment" picture.

Yes... I can't keep up otherwise so yes I offer 2 types of kiln dried. In the last 2 years not 1 person has asked if I dry my "seasoned logs" naturally or in the kiln. In reality a very small amount of people care! If marketing your logs better than kiln dried because it's better for the environment I would look into the fact that letting wood rot gives just as much carbon footprint than burning it. So if I left all the waste I burn in the yard to rot my car in footprint wouldn't be any better than burning it... Just a thought!

You would have to mostly thank companies like certainly wood for the "kiln dried" popularity over the last 10/15 years. Its grown from them and It's completely genius! They had a product, speeded up the process, marketed it as a better product and sold it for more money. Like you said there is no difference in the wood at all but it's how you market it. A lot of people (like myself) have jumped on the bandwagon and are riding the wave. My sales this winter are pretty much split 50/50 kiln dried/seasoned. Even kiln dried softwood is selling well!! I can only imagine you will be shocked by this but I actually kiln dry my "seasoned firewood". It just comes out at an average of 25% moisture (around 50 hours) where the kiln dried is 15% and is in there for (around 80 hours) I just wouldn't be able to keep up! I advertise the wood at the 2 different moisture contents and the customer can choose. Last September I sold about 50 cubic metres, we did 220 cubic metres this septemver. October is looking like it's going to be bigger again pushing 300 cube. Both kilns are running flatout and we still can't keep up! Another one will be going in soon I think [emoji12]

Does anyone know a rough price for the farm2000 or dragon boilers? Can't seem to find a price online

Unfortunately you will be lucky to find cordwood cheap in South Wales! Prices for decent stuff are around £60 a ton for hardwood and £45 for softwood at the moment

I completely understand and would love everyone to buy local but unfortunately most people look at prices. That's why aldi are doubling turnover year on year because they are cheap. Unfortunately A very small proportion of the population care about buying local that's why nothing is going to change or get better. buying local isn't usually competitive on price so people are not going to buy it. I'm just trying to be realistic! I get it the same with firewood, had a woman call from 5 miles away the other day asking if we could price match Luxury Wood on their kiln dried hardwood nets at £2.95inc vat per net!! That's less than my trade price to shops!

Just out of interest how much are the RUF machines?