Cheshire Logs

Is timber sustainable?

Timber is certainly one of the more sustainable forms of fuel when you consider that the geological process involved in oil and coal can take millions of years however it is not a magic soloution as good quality softwood requires around 25 years growth and good diameter hardwoods can take around 60 years although thinnings can sometimes be carried out at around 25 - 30

Sourcing/Availability

Hardwoods have always been difficult to get hold of especially in the northwest of the country there just simply is not a lot of hardwood available, until recent years softwood species were always readily available but this has all changed in recent years due to power stations swallowing up lots of the countries softwood resources it is important to remember that the softwood plantations that are being harvested in currently were probably planted in the mid eighties, whilst we were planting trees back then we were planting enough trees to keep up with the demands of the construction industry we werent thinking back then that in 20 - 30 years people would be switching back to log burners and we would be running power stations from the timber

Why does the price of my logs keep rising?

The Timber industry is a free market there for its value will be decided every day based on supply and demand and we have already mentioned above that it is a product that is in relatively short supply in our region. Timber is usually bought and sold in an auction type manner for example a thinning operation is being carried out along a carriageway and 100 tonnes of ash is available, firewood merchants are pretty much considered the bottom end of the market by this what we mean is that if a firewood merchant is trying to buy the timber to sell for logs and another buyer is bidding for the same timber with a view to make furniture or Hardwood doors/flooring etc then it is not hard to see how the firewood merchant is going to be priced out of the job,the huge amount of rainfall in 2012 also seems to have created a real shortage of timber on the ground at the minute when the rain falls it slows outside work down and that also seems to have contributed to the situation, so sourcing good quality sensibly sourced timber is certainly a challenge and one that will surely only get harder.

Firewood measurements confuse me..

Firewood measurements can be quite confusing and due to the nature of the product every batch will vary a little, first off stay away from any supplier offering logs by weight this means nothing what so ever, every species will weigh different from the next, then you have the moisture content to factor in, JUST DON'T EVEN GO THERE! volume is the way to go however even this can still be confusing, firewood is generally classed as a volume product because of the reasons we have just mentioned, now the standard way of selling volume products is by the cubic metre the problem is that most people are not quantity surveyors and do not understand what a cubic metre looks like, it then gets more complex again when you start talking about a solid cubic metre (logs interlocked tightly by hand with no air space) and loose fill cubic metre (logs emptied in to a cubic metre bag,basket etc naturally as they fall with some degree of air space,most firewood merchants now market there logs by the builders bulk bags (loose fill) as most people can grasp a rough idea of the amount, this is not perfect as the bulk bags will vary in size usually from around 0.6 - 0.75 of a cubic metre but it is certainly a much better starting point than just weight or a trailer load etc our full loose tipper load contains 3 of our specially made drying baskets that measure 1.2 cubic metres each and are loose filled or for those people who prefer to talk in jumbo bags this equates to approx 5 bags. FINALLY - loose fill cubic metre v solid cubic metre the bottom line is that most people want to now how much wood they are buying to compare prices and get the best deal if you are comparing suppliers against each other on a cubic meter basis then establish if there cubic metre is loose fill or solid mass you will usually find that most suppliers selling uk sourced timber will be selling by the loose fill and most of the logs being sold by solid mass cubic metre will usually be by the online companies using timber that has been imported from eastern europe, this will usually be reflected in the price, whilst it looks nice when the logs are stacked neatly by hand in wooden crates this is all man time that has to built in to the product cost.

How do I order/delivery?

Ordering is simple just ring us and tell us what option from the website you would like and we will arrange a delivery date we can usually arrange a delivery in around 7 - 10 days but we advise people to plan youre delivery in advance as sometimes we can get booked up for a couple of weeks in advance especially with the kiln dried products.