Green Building Forum - Firewood prices

Firewood prices

SteamyTea — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:44:50 +0100

Just mince it up, extrude it and chop into pellets of known length. Or ban the sale totally on environmental grounds

Firewood prices

Joiner — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:46:52 +0100

Aren't you supposed to be at Dale Farm?

Firewood prices

DaveS — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 18:50:54 +0100

At the risk of being controversial the key issue here is the cost of wood in a specific application rather than the price. If wood is bought in small quantities for a domestic fire or small wood burner the usual unit is a trailer of 1 to 3 m3 capacity and of widely varying potential quality. it is usually supplied cut and split to a widely acceptable size and costs around here (Hertfordshire) about Â£70 - Â£100 per m3 delivered in trailor loads. The purchaser is not involved in cutting, splitting or transport. These processing and delivery costs are only suitable for low volume users. My definition of m3 is dense stacked on arrival.

I use about 30 - 40 m3 in a log boiler for a large house at about 1.5 m3 per week in mid winter for seasoned mostly hardwood. The trailer price is out of the question - it would be approaching the old oil price of Â£3000 to Â£4500 per year.

One option for me is to obtain tree surgeon waste (stuff they dont want to process and usually give away) in 10 to 20 ton loads with a grab lorry. Quality here is very varied and processing costs are high (thats why they didnt process it!) but all up the raw material is less than Â£5 per m3. It probably costs me about Â£20 to Â£30 per m3 to transport, process and stack it with my labour free but paying an assistant.

Another option is to purchase straight wood at 3m lengths from large wood processors - this costs Â£20-Â£30 per m3 delivered in 20 m3 quantities but has the advantage that I can cut it to exactly the right length for my boiler and it can be processed three times more quickly than the scrap wood. I get a much better utilisation from this because its all hard wood and when seasoned for two years I need about 25% less for the year. So there is probably very little in it except the second option is a lot less work and makes for much easier handling.

This is not right or wrong it depends on the application and volume involved - I suppose what I am saying is the real price is what it has cost when its on your fire or in your boiler. The only thing thats certain is that processed wood is going up fast and these numbers will change!

Dave S

Firewood prices

SteamyTea — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 21:45:27 +0100

Dave
Good point, so if you buy the 3m straight wood, a cubic metre is as close to a cubic metre as you will get?

Firewood prices

Joiner — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 08:47:22 +0100

Right. So to sum up the debate, it's all about spatial awareness then.

Firewood prices

owlman — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:11:26 +0100

Posted By: SteamyTea
Good point, so if you buy the 3m straight wood, a cubic metre is as close to a cubic metre as you will get?

I've just roughly measured the 24 ton load I had delivered, half of which has now been cut into .5 M lengths prior to throwing them in the splitter. That half I estimate at about 16-18 "Stere". That is of course stacked in it's variable log thickness size with ensuing gaps and that total gap capacity will change after splitting and close stacking resulting in a smaller overall cubic capacity.

Firewood prices

owlman — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:14:01 +0100

Firewood prices

dazdread — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:38:48 +0100

I would just like to add that here in Market Harborough the going rate is Â£95 per pick (pick up) so it depends on the size of the truck as to what you get.

I spoke to one guy delivering to a neighbour and he said they used to have 3 years worth of wood seasoning but now demand has grown to the point where it is lucky to get 12 months.

From speaking to a couple of installers they reakon about 1000 new stoves have been fitted here in the last 2-3 years, mine included. We are in an area that is devoid, locally, of woodland so no idea where it all comes from.

My wife uncle gives me a trailer load each year from storm felled trees on the farms he works with.

Darren

Firewood prices

mrswhitecat — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:03:24 +0000

Castorama in Frejus is selling 3 years seasoned oak logs for 86 euros a stere.

Firewood prices

roserambler — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:52:50 +0000

If it is any help, in North Yorkshire I got 2 cubic meters for Â£120 (delivered) of seasoned hardwood (mainly ash & Oak) split into approx 7-9inch logs. Seems to burn well, seems like the norm.

RR

Firewood prices

SteamyTea — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:43:55 +0000

Time to update the table

Jonti Â£55/m^3 plus Â£10 delivery
Gotanewlife Â£91.30/tonne
Richy Â£50/m^3
Owlman Â£30/tonne (Â£68/tonne processed)
Dickster Â£87.5/tonne (estimate)
JSHarris Â£122/tonne (estimate)
Daysleeper Â£76.92/m^3
Billt Â£41/m^3 (September)
Billt Â£54/m^3 (October)
Pete_in_Hungry Â£35/m^3
CWatters Â£80 green Â£120 seasoned pickup truck load
DaveS Â£70-100/m^3
Dazdread Â£95 pickup truck load
mrswhitecat 86 euros a stere
roserambler Â£60/m^3

Firewood prices

Beau — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:16:35 +0000

We were selling 2 years dried hardwood (20%) for Â£100, this is a stacked 1m3 about 380kg -400kg. I think a stacked cube is about 1.3m3 -1.4m3 if loose. We were sold out before Christmas

Firewood prices

Joiner — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:14:14 +0000

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St%C3%A8re

Lots of apples and pears in the above. I keep being told that comparisons are impossible on that basis.

Firewood prices

Triassic — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:42:12 +0000

I must just be lucky, I haven't had to pay anything for timber over the last three years, the locals give it to me for free. I've just been given a eucalyptus, standing deadwood, killed off by last years harsh winter. All I have to do is cut it up. At times my wood store is overflowing.

Firewood prices

Beau — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:54:38 +0000

Posted By: Joiner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St%C3%A8re

" title="">Lots of apples and pears in the above. I keep being told that comparisons are impossible on that basis." title="">

Hi Joiner
I agree there are many variables that is why we sell by the stacked m3. This is what you get so no variable's to worry about. Customers are always surprised how much wood 1m3 is when it's unloaded.

Firewood prices

Joiner — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:15:43 +0000

Actually quite like the 'stere' as a unit. Something that says everything in as few words as possible.

Jeez, bit out of character for me!

Firewood prices

owlman — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:24:21 +0000

Well done Beau, in selling your firewood by the Stere. Only a few short years ago selling stacked firewood was almost unknown in the UK. Arbitary measures like "load", " dumpy bag",- erroneously referred to as M3, and ton, with no real yardstick, or "metrestick" to true quantity. It would be nice to think that the numerous discussions on this forum have to some extent been instrumental in enlightening the public and sellers alike. Some years ago I found some comparisons from Germany and I seem to remember that a 1M x 1M x 1M box filled with loose tipped firewood was equivalent to about 0.6 Stere.

Firewood prices

Chris P Bacon — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:36:26 +0000

I don't burn wood myself, but for the sake of comparison I had a quick look in the small ads and the run of prices here in the south of Sweden is:

Unseasoned hardwood mainly Birch and Beech Â£37.50-Â£44/m3 split and cut 30-35cm lengths.

Seasoned hardwood as above Â£56-Â£63/m3

Firewood prices

Beau — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:13:02 +0000

Thanks owlman

You are right. It was through being educated through this and another forum that I realised about the fairest way to sell wood. Unfortunately not many of my customers have worked out what m3 is. I delivered a 1m3 to a lady up the road with a nice new log store off ebay "could you stack them in there please" It stored about 1/4m3 and the rest had to sit under a tarpaulin in the garden
Do you think the term Stere would be more understood in the UK

Chris that is cheap. If I had to sell for that I think I would make Â£5 per hour.

Firewood prices

SteamyTea — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:17:10 +0000

Does anyone want to convert the table and update it to Â£/MJ, problem solved then.

Firewood prices

Joiner — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:20:25 +0000

'Stere' as the convention? Why not? Who now doesn't accept the metric system and its terms? Just another one that makes sense. After all, how "big" is a m3? Lesson in your last post!!

Firewood prices

orangemannot — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:20:48 +0000

Once again I must admit that our Yankee friends are (and were) ahead of the game.
Have they not always referred to a "cord" of firewood,
being sommat like a stack 4 feet wide by 8 feet long by 4 feet high.
Me, I think in cubic metres, ( from premix concrete usuage ) and do appreciate just how big a cubic metre is.
Cheers
M

Firewood prices

Joiner — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:29:43 +0000

But they're still using Imperial over there, Marcus.

For us, one more adjustment to get our heads around shouldn't be that much bother. Unless, of course, you're the lady living just up the road from Beau.

Firewood prices

WillInAberdeen — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:18:40 +0000

Dutch Elm Disease arrived in Aberdeen 3 years ago. I therefore have a large quantity of Elm firewood, dried for 3 years.

It is rubbish to burn, even dried, gives much less heat than ash or beech.

Does anybody know why some hardwoods give out less heat than others? Do you pay more per m3,tonne,stere,cord,sandbag if it is a good-burning species?

Could adjust price by this scale: http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/woodburning_chart.html

Firewood prices

Beau — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:58:54 +0000

Personally I don't think this scale is right. I would always take some well dried beech ahead of ash but I have no idea about elm, sorry

Firewood prices

owlman — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:29:54 +0000

Will, I think it all depends on the type of appliance you've got, for a bog standard room heater then elm, as folklore suggests, may burn a bit like the grave. Most suppliers will charge more for so called prime species. But in my experience if you've got a fan assisted log gas boiler then any, and all wood is grist for the mill. I've burned ash, oak, beech, spruce, leylandii,willow, pine and workshop offcuts of numerous other species, as for heat difference, thats another issue. When you chuck it in by the barrow load it's hard to tell.

Firewood prices

skyewright — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:47:03 +0000

Posted By: Joiner'After all, how "big" is a m3? Lesson in your last post!!

Depending on age, maybe the 'lady up the road' would have better understood "a bit bigger than a yard by a yard by a yard"?

Firewood prices

Joiner — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:56:08 +0000

And doesn't a 'stere' sound a bit medical?

Firewood prices

owlman — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:54:58 +0000

Posted By: Joiner.............And doesn't a 'stere' sound a bit medical?

Shall we use the Old English terminology then and call it a Faggot

Firewood prices

Joiner — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:11:44 +0000