firewood tree with a power saw
Marketing:
Three marketing options exist for the firewood grower: Sell the standing crop to a cutter or merchant.
This is the easiest option, offers the least amount of work but the lowest return — $10–25/tonne. Price depends on the volume to be harvested and the ease of harvesting — difficult sites with a low volume are least attractive and will attract a lower price.
Harvest and transport yourself and sell to wood merchant.
This can be very profitable but don’t underestimate the amount of labour required and the cost of machinery needed. Merchants usually require delivery by the truck load —ie 10 or 20 tonnes — and the wood to be dry, cut to length, split where necessary and bark free. The current price is $95–105/ tonne.
Harvest and retail yourself.
This is the ultimate in value adding! Prices depend on how far afield you sell and may vary from $100 to $160/tonne. Firewood is generally sold in under four-tonne lots, delivered to the householder. This will overcome the need for heavy transport equipment but you may still require a small truck or tipping trailer. Remember, to be legal firewood must be sold by weight so you will need a weighbridge ticket.
Profitability:
Don’t work out the profitability of your enterprise by simply multiplying the total volume by the current retail price. The retail price is not what you will bank as it includes the costs of harvesting, transporting and retailing the wood.
Harvesting:
firewood harvest
Usually in a firewood harvesting operation all the trees are felled. Where the stand is to be grown on for sawlog, a thinning operation removing the poorer trees will yield firewood material.
A firewood harvesting operation can be broken down into component operations:
• tree felling and delimbing — trees are felled with a chainsaw, then the branches and heads are removed. The leaf and branch litter is best left on site to return nutrients for the next crop.
• extraction — there are many options and variations for extraction. After delimbing, whole stems can be extracted before cross-cutting into billets for extraction or cross-cutting into final product dimensions before extracting from the forest.
• cross cutting — cross-cutting green wood is easier on equipment than handling dry wood. Cross-cut wood will dry more quickly than longer billets. A bench saw is cheaper and more efficient to operate than a chainsaw.
• stockpiling for drying — firewood must be sold by weight Wood must be cut at least six months in advance of anticipated use to ensure adequate drying Smaller stacks open to the wind and sun are best
• splitting — dry wood is generally much easier to split than green wood and so splitting is often combined with the loading operation to reduce double handling. Hydraulic tractor mounted splitting equipment is available.
• loading and transport. — generally loaded by hand to separate the wood from the unwanted bark. Larger operators often use a conveyor belt loading system and stack the wood to reduce transport costs.
Coppice management:
firewood weight
The ability of a species to coppice (produce new growth shoots from a cut stump) is a valuable attribute for a firewood species as it saves on the purchase cost of seedlings for a second crop. Appropriate management of a coppice crop can be laborious. You should allow coppice growth to reach 60 cm in height before thinning to the three strongest shoots on each stump. When growth is approximately 1·5m high undertake further thinning to one shoot per stump. Alternatively you can leave the coppice growth to look after itself, but you will achieve a more uniform crop from an actively managed coppice stand.
Some points to note:
• coppicing declines as stumps age
• coppice regrowth is likely to reach harvestable size 10% quicker than the original planting because of the existing developed root system
• stumps should be cut to a height of half their diameter to aid wind firmness
• stumps should be cut on an angle rather than flat to avoid water ponding which causes decay.
• shoots should be knocked off with the back of an axe rather than cutting, to prevent reshooting.
