gdh

Posch are well made machines but take a look at ryetec as well, they'll make what you want to order and are well built. We've had one for 7 years now and it's done a lot of work.

Has anyone received the woodsure accreditation yet? Not the ready to burn one, the full one.

I haven't heard anything except a confirmation that they got my email in 4 weeks now and I've got 10 big customers and myself wondering if I can stay on the BSL from the first of April. If not none of them can claim RHI.

I wouldn't want to be the staff there, I'm guessing it's a bit stressful with 10k applications and logs to test for all of them.

1 hour ago, AHPP said:

Wow! Was that an especially clean batch of wood or do you wash/debark it first?

We just put it through as it comes. It was mostly clean ash but some dirty oak and bits of other stuff so it averages out. It is a 24inch bar so 60cube to a chain is very good but only like getting 40 out of a small processor.

I did an experiment with our processor last December and kept a record of chain use. 10 rotatech 84 link chains did 606 cube of hardwood firewood without being sharpened. I'm still counting how far they'll go with sharpening but it will be 2000+.

2 hours ago, slack ma girdle said:

@gdhHave you tried Coed y Cardi or Steve Lloyd.

Thanks, I'll take a look. It's mostly oversized so it's a limited market and only about 20 ton I think so not the end of the world if I cut it for firewood.

There's some beech in there but I use the Oak myself. I did post it on here somewhere.

43 minutes ago, muttley9050 said:

4 hours ago, gdh said:

I would say £50-60 a ton roadside for tidy firewood ash, more like £30-40 for the beech above because it's a pain to process 
 
Wish I could get a decent price for ash sawlogs, I have some here but no one local is interested.

Read more  

Where abouts are you?

Llandovery, mid Wales.

I would say £50-60 a ton roadside for tidy firewood ash, more like £30-40 for the beech above because it's a pain to process 

Wish I could get a decent price for ash sawlogs, I have some here but no one local is interested.

I don't think we're quite cheaper than gas yet but wood is looking like good value again. Woodchip from us is 6p/KW because it's fairly consistent to work out, and I know big companies will do it cheaper, but the running costs are higher.

I've seen the figures for firewood somewhere but it varies more. Our most expensive (smallest load) of hardwood is £86 a loose cube. I'm not sure what that would translate to. Wood prices seem to have stabilized a bit so it's production costs will be the decider for next years prices.

I'm still dealing with the misery of woodsure paperwork. They require samples of wood and have the brilliant statement of:

'Woodsure is a non-accredited facility, but applies the appropriate testing standards and equipment'.

25 minutes ago, MattyF said:

I would say there was a lot of difference in cutting speed, waste , and longevity , I can cut a years worth and more on one blade usually.. how often would you have to sharpen a chain, change a bar ? And then there is oil consumption.
On a good day I can get two dumpy bags of dust off a Pocshe 360 and would hate to think what that would equate to with a saw cross cutting plus there is a lot less of a market for contaminated saw dust.

We only ever used a circular saw on a smaller machine so I can't directly repair but in terms of a chains I sharpen every 30-40cube on average and change the bar after about 300. We get about half a cube of sawdust from 15cube of firewood which mostly goes for animal bedding (in this case shavings are better than sawdust).

We sell about 2500 cube a year and use 200l of chain oil (including saws), 5 bars and 12 chains.

I'm not saying circular saws are bad, they have their place and are easy to use but every time I've looked at circular saw machines I've thought the chainsaw ones have the advantage.

There's not really much difference in cutting speed, on the bigger machines the splitter is usually the limit to speed anyway.

As long as you can sharpen a chain I would always go with a chainsaw. We upgraded from a circular saw to a chainsaw years ago and our last 4 Tajfuns (400 and 480+) have gone really well for us with no issues with the chainsaw.

10 minutes ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

Isn’t there also a “pay as you go” requirement?

 

You have to certify your sales qtys and there is a charge applied by the ton?

 

Thats how BSL accreditation charging works. 
 

Don’t really matter either way - I’m out too!

These are the costs

2 minutes ago, TuscanPhil said:

@gdh, Where did you get that group of files from?  Is it downloadable from the internet or did you have to apply for it?   I've been on the BSL, Woodsure and Readytoburn web pages and apart from a single application form on the Woodsure website, I can't find much info.  I'm a self-supplier so unless things change, it looks like I'm going to have to certify to myself that my wood is good for me to burn - which I already know it is as it is all air seasoned for between 18-14 months (and I have a cheapy moisture meter 🤣 to confirm this).  Looks like it could cost me between 5 and 10% of my RHI payments from a quick calc, so not the worst news, but it is still money going out for no good reason - a tax on carbon efficient fuel.

It's under fuel manual templates here https://woodsure.co.uk/how-to-apply/

Good news (possibly) is they've just added an option for self suppliers to that page.

16 minutes ago, renewablejohn said:

Thought the BSL was only critical for supply to customers claiming RHI. Any other user can buy biomass from any tom dick or harry.

Yes, it's only for RHI customers. I should have said that, I was quoting someone who quoted my original post.

I imagine there will be a ready to burn equivalent for woodchip at this rate though. It seems like woodsure want to control the whole wood market.

1 hour ago, dan blocker said:

Is woodchip supplied to biomass burners covered by the new woodsure scheme😳

Whoever produces the woodchip, whether it's bought in or self supplied, has to be woodsure registered. It's very similar to the firewood one but you have to register both separately if you deal with both.

1 hour ago, TuscanPhil said:

Received my letter today.  I'm registered as a 'self supplier' so that I can reclaim the RHI for my biomass central heating system.  Not quite sure (yet) what I need to do to continue to claim the RHI but as I've got about 3-4 years left on my RHI claim, I don't want to lose that!  I'm watching with interest!

There is talk of a simplified version for small self suppliers but I haven't seen it confirmed.

If that's not an option this is what I'm looking at now...

Just found out that anyone on the biomass suppliers list (required to claim RHI or supply anyone who does) will require full woodsure accreditation, not just ready to burn.

Looking at the paperwork now and it's a ridiculous amount...

It looks bad from that angle but it's not really any more dangerous than pushing through a circular saw and I'm guessing he has a control to bring it down since it stopped when he finished the log.

4 hours ago, Ben Pinnick said:

I just this week moved 2 loose stacks from my field to the wood shed by my house. In the field it looked 2 big piles. In the ATV trailer it looked enormous (just thrown in loose). Properly tightly stacked into the wood shed it looks like I need to go get another load 😂 

There must be a better way to rate wood. If as stated FB off book sales are killing the trade surely it could be sold by some kind of BTU type rating? I know it would be a pain to start but it would mean the legit sellers would have the advantage over the random FB stuff.

I think despite the issues cubic metres is the best way overall. You could charge per KW of heat produced but you would have to work it out for each customer. Someone with a biomass boiler is going to get a lot more energy from a load of logs than someone with a log burner or even an open fire.

1 hour ago, john87 said:

Is not 2 cubic metres of wood rather a lot?? What would it weigh??

 

How will they define 2 metres anyway??

 

what is to stop you saying it was 2 metres before you cut it up?? What does the law say about that??

 

john..

2 cube won't be more than a ton of weight, whatever the wood. The logic is if you're buying that amount you'll probably have the space for seasoning (not that there's much common sense in these regulations).

The rules apply to the delivery that's taken to the customer.

Being in Wales I've been avoiding signing up, on principal as much as anything, but woodsure have taken over the RHI scheme and everyone on that will have to register from this April so no choice now unfortunately. All part of the fun of selling firewood. 😉

22 minutes ago, devonbrion1998 said:

So to be clear on this,we Must register with Woodsure to be legal?

or can we still sell small lots of firewood under 20% without registering with them?

You must register in England unless you sell more than 2cube in one go.

8 minutes ago, Vedhoggar said:

What length of log are you cutting? 

We sell a mix, I averaged 1.8 over 150tons to check once.

Probably 60% 9inch lengths, 20% 12inch and 20% 15 and 18inch.

I work off 1.8 loose cube per ton. £55-60 plus vat roadside.

29 minutes ago, muttley9050 said:

A 12" battery cutter would be interesting but 9" too small. Have a plug in 9" which covers that bracket.

Looking like husky it is then.

 

Thanks

Milwaukee do a 14inch battery one but it's £1500. I'm waiting for someone else to go first. 😉