Small things matter

[Joeboy]

My woods man offered me some Holm Oak last week - having heard horror stories of seasoning evergreen oak, I asked what it was like ?

Dunno - haven’t had chance to check it.

Took a chance and got a 2m3 load.

Dense as anything - about 3 times the weight of Ash for a similar log.

Does it burn ? Oh yes - be spot on for next winter.

Can I ask the price per cube?

A pal has offered me 600T of hardwood. Gotta fell it and process though....

[Bugtownboy]

Course you can





£65 - would be nice to have price per kW/Kg , but I’m happy to get quality wood that’s been processed but (potentially) not seasoned/ready to burn.

He now has to sell as not ready to burn because of new regs - he can’t afford the time or money to ‘certify’ his supplied wood - he’s a one man band.

Everything now is supplied as unsuitable to burn.

OK, we buy in well in advance and won’t burn until <20% MC (usually 15% or lower).

[openspaceman]

A pal has offered me 600T of hardwood. Gotta fell it and process though....

There is hardwood and hardwood some better than others. Also how will it be measured. I cut my own but the going rate seems to be about £60/tonne roadside ready for uplifting by grab lorry. I would guess harvesting prices anywhere between £20 and £35/tonne depending on site and size class.

[Joeboy]

Thanks lads, £65T per tonne seems quite cheap to me.A good recalibration. Cheers!

[Sunrisemike]

Holm Oak. great firewood. Cut it when it's green, blunts the chain in no time when seasoned!

[Mr Gus]

Thanks, that explains a lot!

[openspaceman]

Thanks lads, £65T per tonne seems quite cheap to me.A good recalibration. Cheers!

A tonne of beech or oak fresh felled will dry to ~700kg @20% mc.

a kilo of wood at 20% mc contains about 4kWh so if you manage to burn it and get 70% of the heat into the house that's around 5p/kWh neglecting all the labour and cost of converting, transporting and seasoning it.

Most firewood is sold as loose cubic metres which contain less than 250kg of seasoned wood.

[Fintray]

A pal has offered me 600T of hardwood. Gotta fell it and process though....

Needing a hand with that?

[Joeboy]

A pal has offered me 600T of hardwood. Gotta fell it and process though....

Needing a hand with that?

tbh, it seems a bit nuts. I'll see how it plays out as it will be multi year if it happens.

[Joeboy]

Thanks lads, £65T per tonne seems quite cheap to me.A good recalibration. Cheers!

A tonne of beech or oak fresh felled will dry to ~700kg @20% mc.

a kilo of wood at 20% mc contains about 4kWh so if you manage to burn it and get 70% of the heat into the house that's around 5p/kWh neglecting all the labour and cost of converting, transporting and seasoning it.

Most firewood is sold as loose cubic metres which contain less than 250kg of seasoned wood.

.

That is really good to know. Thank you OSM.

I love the whole process from felling to logging, to splitting, stacking, drying, restacking, burning, composting of waste and direct spreading of ash on the veg beds and base of fruit trees. I am down to 1 gallon diesel travel and 1 ltr fuel for saw per 700kgs logs. That would be about 560kg dry and all my processing & splitting of those long wet logs is solar powered. It's a decent workout and keeps me engaged.

Going on OSM's figures that's about £9 cash per 560kgs dried split logs or 2,240kWh per £9. . Clucking !

Regardless of that costing its just such a great way to stay connected with the energy we need to live. A bit like clearing the PV on a snowy morning. None of that remote 'click' forget, use....