Lucan

There are quite a few on here that remind me of the days of Matelot and Vesp, spending all of their time on the politics and news threads, with the occasional token post about grass cutting to seem relevant. Fast-forward to 2020/21 and you have those come for advice on what cc of chainsaw to buy and then stay for the COVID conspiracies. Maybe a limit on how often you can post on such topics and they would soon lose interest and go somewhere else. Then there are also those that don't work in the industry but seem to have an opinion on everything and assume everyone wants to hear it. Back in the day there were a lot more threads from professionals looking for advice from other professionals which resulted in some really good threads. That doesn't seem to happen as much anymore.

We have a similar but slightly smaller barn (25mx9m) of which about half is for our own firewood use. Guttering is very important. Recently lost part of the guttering and as a result all it takes is the slightest bit of wind to blow all the rain from the roof into the barn (in effect making the inside few feet wetter than outside). While having a gap at the foot of the cladding will increase airflow, a counter arguement is that it will also allow leaves and other vegetation to be blown in, which will sit under your pallets restricting airflowing and rotting away. Far better to sacrifce some airflow for a dry and clean floor. We have a small wall made from breeze blocks around which works well (due to original use for lambing). I would be reluctant to leave the gable ends open like that. Firstly because a lot of rain can get the sides, and secondly much prefer to be able to close a gate or door. Even though wouldn't be completely theft proof still might be useful for insurance purposes. For maximising firewood storage instead of building a road around the outside I would run the access inside the barn against the near/open side. Then build a smaller lean-to on the outside, this could be used for storing logs ready to be processed. This is because not sure how well a 12m deep firewood stack would dry.

In short very unlikely. The impression is that you are looking to create a full-time business paying two people a modest wage (say £25k each). Margins in firewood are low, so to be able to take out the equivalnt of £50k a year in wages you need to be selling huge quanitites. Given that the average punter only buy 1-2m3 a year, you would be talking about 1000s of customers in your area. Those customers aren't just going to appear out of nowhere, you would have to tempt them away from their existing firewood suppliers. While you might hope that you can undercut the opposition in price due to the free barn and existing machinery, you might be dissapointed. I would imagine that 9 out of 10 firewood suppliers have some sort of competitive advantage (either other agri types in a similar position as yourself, or arb or forestry guys with access to free or cheap timber). As a result your competitive advantage isn't really an advantage, it just puts you on the same playing field as the others. The danger is a lot of people just focus on the production side and expect the firewood to sell itself. I would suggest spending more time on the market research side before any investing, so how many other suppliers in your area? what type of product (e.g. kiln)? what price? how delivered (loose, bagged, crates)? etc. Then see if there is actually a space for you and how you can compete and differentiate yourself. In the UK it seems that firewood is viable either as a part-time business that runs alongside another enterprise, or go big as a national supplier. Fitting somewhere in the middle is rare.

I have an old swedish (Husqvarna) wood oven that I am thinking about installing into my kitchen I am currently buidling in UK. The installation would be a standard set-up for such ovens in Swedish households (see photos, 'luftspalt' is airgap). However as these are not common in the UK I am wondering if there is any issue with UK building regs and such a set-up, or if anyone has had expereince with similar style installations? Thanks

Given the direction consumer demand is going I would imagine this sort of set up would sell well. All the packaging is natural matrials so can be composted or used as kindling.

Poor wording on my part, I meant the canvass bag holds a days worth of firewood. It holds about a 1/3 a barrow bag (anymore and would struggle to carry onehanded). The bucket holds 2/3rds of that when full and the remaining stays in the bag in the porch until around 6pm when empty that in the bucket and get another load from the woodshed. I find it's enough firewood for a 8kw stove to keep a single glazed, single storey, 2 bed stone cottage at 20-24 all day.

I use an old metal washing tub bowl. It looks the part, holds a days worth of wood and doesnt allow any debris to fall through. The tub is just for storing though, I use one of these to carry the logs in as can carry it one handed: Esschert Canvas Fireplace bag. The box for the kindling is a cheap £5 IKEA job: Knagglig pine box.

So one year on, any changes in pension/retirement planning?

If you want some bedtime reading on the biodiversity value of sycamore in UK woodlands: The ecology and biodiversity value of sycamore (acer pseudoplatanus L) with particular reference to Great Britain

Are you coppicing the lapsed stand in the photo, and if so do you expect it to regrow? We have a few lapsed coppices the same size but are hesitant of coppicing as concerned they won't survive. Enjoying the thread and the nice structure to your posts. A mix of first half educational then second about your own experiences. Would make a good book/memoir perhaps.

You mean the 'Wood as Fuel: Technical Supplement for Fuel Suppliers'? Should come up through Google Alternatively there are some free copies of the 'UN FAO: Wood fuels Handbook' online which should help.

For that budget I would suggest the Makita ea4300 over the 135 or 181, can pick it up for £235 (plus spare chain) from Fastfix.

Might cost a bit but may be worth it comparing it to the outlay on your project (and that's not just because an old colleague is one of the authors). For example it talks about the growth rate, soil requirements, also the poor frost tolerance of E.nitens, such as the trial at Thetford were it failed completely, and how important the provenance of the seedlings is with regards to such tolerance.

Interesting project. If you've not already I would recommend a read of this paper: The potential for Eucalyptus as a wood fuel in the UK (Leslie et. al., 2014).