Is there still a market for firewood?

Kiran

I live on a farm, and part of the land is approximately 10 acres of woodland. I've been collecting and processing our own firewood from here for a few years but with the recent very wet and windy weather I've got a higher number storm felled trees than usual. Very rough ball park estimate is 80-100 builders bags when split. There's about 15 trees down (or hung up on a neighbouring tree) and rather than leave them to rot/decay Id like to make use of them. I'm not intending on cutting down anything healthy so don't want to invest in a great deal of extra kit. I already own chainsaws and a hydraulic splitter (6T machine mart type thing, not a massive processor). 

I'd basically investing my time and a bit in fuel, my electric costs are covered by solar. What I'm trying to workout is if there is a market for firewood still? Wood burning seems to have been unfairly vilified, I have my own thoughts on ulterior motives for this, but with everything in life getting more expensive I wouldn't mind putting the effort into a side hustle.

FreeBear

Yes, there is still a market for firewood. If anything, the price of processed logs have gone up as demand has increased. But if you are selling small quantities, there is a bunch of rules you need to comply with (another reason prices have gone up) - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/selling-wood-for-domestic-use-in-england - As a supplier, you need to certify the logs as "Ready to Burn", and there is a cost to being registered to do so. The alternative is to sell unprocessed logs or quantities greater than 2m³.

Me, I buy in freshly felled logs for unspecified hobby uses.

Kiran

That's a good point that I had forgotten about. I just looked into the Ready to Burn scheme. looks like you have to do 3-4 bags a year just to pay for registration  I live in Wales but I can't find the regs for here, no doubt they'll be more overly stringent though. So, options seem to be sell fresh, sell bulk if people could take the volume or sell specialist hobby logs in builders bags

FreeBear

Kiran said: So, options seem to be sell fresh, sell bulk if people could take the volume or sell specialist hobby logs in builders bags

If you are selling fresh or part seasoned as firewood, it would need to be bulk (over 2m³).

Ectophile

FreeBear said:

Kiran said: So, options seem to be sell fresh, sell bulk if people could take the volume or sell specialist hobby logs in builders bags

If you are selling fresh or part seasoned as firewood, it would need to be bulk (over 2m³).

It's not firewood.  It's handy sized pieces of wood for wood turning

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

@Kiran Wales is a big country so the odds of us being near to one another are slim but feel free to PM, if you happen to be 5 minutes down the road our home goes through stupid amounts of wood each winter (15-20 cubic metre a year).