Morning chaps, the mother in law is having a large ash tree cut down, due to building work, which got me thinking š¤, there are several other large tree's which may be coming down soon also, i was thinking of chopping it up for firewood to use myself and also sell on, but I have just been informed of a new law coming out, which may make a bit difficult, stopping the use of wet wood in wood burning stoves etc, think wood has to be kiln dried.
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so as I have access to all this wood, Ā any ideas on how to gain from it? Ā Or what to do with it? I also have quite a few jobs a year taking away customers hedge cuttings etc, is it worth getting a shredder/chipper to bag up and sell on? I'd rather put it to use than pay to get rid of it. Seems like a wasted opportunity, thinking it can contribute towards the quieter spell in winter, where I currently have little to no income
I guess there's a lot of you guys in the same position as me, what do you do with your waste if you don't take it to a recycle centre?
thanks any advice much appreciated!
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I used to sell a bit of firewood as a sideline during the winter months. Cutting and splitting by hand meant that profit margins were reduced, but I still made a decent amount from it. The most profitable product I offered were smaller quantities of log deliveries in their own hessian sacks. Larger trailer loads also went well, but I wasn't so keen on doing those.
As the the upcoming change in law, I believe the wood sold must have a moisture content below a certain value (20%?), but I don't think it matters if that's kiln-dried or air-dried. I'd imagine if it needed to be kiln-dried then 95% of current log suppliers would pack up!
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That's what I was thinking, using it a sideline, just to keep a bit of money coming in, cut some wood up yesterday from another job, pretty time consuming tbf and that was using a chainsaw.
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good point about drying the wood, thought I'd read somewhere it had to be kiln dried.
the firewood has some value but mainly due to the work involved cutting, storing and transporting it etc. Bear in mind that millions of Ash trees are slowly dying at the moment due to disease so there may be an over supply of firewood. The shredding hedge clippings is a nice idea but again would need composting before sale as well I think. I doubt it is worth the effort on anything less than an industrial scale sadly. My piles of the softer garden waste eventually turn into lovely compost which I use in customers gardens and on my allotment, but it takes years
I've realised since yesterday's cutting, and then taking it to put into storage it's a big job really, one, that should be put aside for a rainy day perhaps.
Good call, may go down this route shredding and composting, at some point I do think I would benefit from a decent shredder/chipper when funds allow.
I think whilst the tree wood has some value undoudtedly, this is a one off happening that fortune has sent your way.
Yes, there will be restrictions imposed on the sale of logs - wording is thus "The strategy is that all wood sold for domestic use in volumes of less than 2 cubic metres must have aĀ moisture contentĀ of less than 20% by Febuary 2021. Sales of bagged house coal will be phased out by Febuary 2021 and the sale of loose house coal delivered direct to the customer will end by 2023."
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Lots of suppliers are already increasing their minumum order value to over the 2m3 threshold or selling it as 'wood that needs seasoning' - IE not ready to burn.
We have outlets for waste wood, both arb timber and fencing/decking waste for various woodburners or bio boiler plants.
As regards general garden waste - I am sure most of us that deal with any volume of chip have an outlet - but not all chip is good for all uses - conifer shreddings especially have no value whatsoever. It is generally easier (as a contractor that can produce up to 4 tons a month of mixed grass and vegetation prunings alone), to simply consign it all to the composting centre and charge the clients accordingly. Its not worth our time to sort and resort multiple incoming trailer loads on a daily basis - any recoup in terms of value is easily lost in paying wages to do so!
Looks like I might be trying to jump on a boat that's already sailed with this one, think I'll log and store what I can, I'm sure I'll be able to sell some to the odd customer here and there over time, and use the rest as free fuel for myself and family, any that sells, will just treat as a bit of a bonus/pocket money.
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That's a lot of waste you get through there! I get what your saying about not worth the hassle, sorting it, going to see a local composting place today, to see if they take/what they charge for green waste, then weigh up my options with it, I do fancy a shredder/chipper at some point though, so I could take on bigger jobs.
Ā the moisture content is mesured with a wet bias meeterĀ not a dry bias meeter sutch as the ones that are sold by toolstation/screwfix ect and i think there is a exemption if you sell under a certain amount of firewoodĀ
but you will have to cut and split then store it under cover or some sort of cadge with tops on to stop the rain gettin at it for a year or more before its reddy for the fireĀ
I wondered how they measured the moisture, I will take a look at those out of interest, got storage sorted for some logs.
I think it may take up to 2 years before the firewood seasoned and is really burning.