Forestry Journal – May 2018

FORESTRYJOURNAL.CO.UK MAY 20 18 29

from the woodland sites back to his farm. He
has also gained work by carrying out other
local contract haulage jobs for customers as
well. A Massey Ferguson 6480 tractor is used
to provide the power for the trailer. Deliveries
of the end product are made as far across as
Aberdeen and Elgin, with a fuel surcharge if
the job is outwith a 15-mile radius of Huntly.
The firewood that Thomas supplies is
sold by volume as opposed to weight, with
most creating a full load of 3.8 m^3. He aims
for a moisture content of around 25% and
the firewood is delivered to customers using
an Ifor Williams tipping trailer towed by
a Toyota Hilux pickup. He has certainly
found a growing demand for firewood in his
area, despite the fact that there is plenty of
competition. His customers definitely want
dry firewood, or in Tom’s words – “nae wet
sticks!” They also want a good product that
burns well, and they’re quick to tell him if it
doesn’t!
“I sell dry firewood, but this has to be
stored and dried six months in advance. I
don’t have kilns to produce kiln-dried logs. I
store the timber in my yard under big sheets,
making most of my wood purchases in
March and April, allowing it time to dry out
naturally over the summer before processing
it. Demand was so strong last year that I
ran out of dry firewood before Christmas. I
produced and sold around 100 tonnes last
year and I can see that rising to over 1 50
tonnes this year. The split of firewood this
year would probably be 50 tonnes hardwood
and 100 tonnes softwood.”
Thomas produces mostly softwood
logs, more because of the lack of quality
hardwoods to process than by his own
choice, with 75% coming from FCS. Perhaps

not surprisingly, most of the softwood he

can source is Sitka spruce and Douglas

fir, although he does sometimes get the

opportunity to purchase larch, which is

sought after by his customers as it is a slow-

burning, dense wood which gives off good

heat.

Thomas advertises his firewood on

his website and while he does get some

enquiries, he finds more people prefer to

phone up with their orders. This allows him

to explain the firewood on offer, the delivery

method, and to check delivery access. Most

of his customers are regular repeat orders,

and it is this repeat business or word of

mouth that makes up most of his sales.

Operating as a one-man band, if

production needs stepped up, he can call on

the labour of one of his friends to help, while

his mother does some of the administrative

work. That said, Thomas himself carries out

most of the paperwork and invoicing. He is

frank in saying that it is hard graft, and while

he is not making a fortune, he is bringing

good cash flow to his overall business,

especially in the winter months.

For Thomas, work typically begins in

January and February getting wood onto

the farm, where it goes under the covers

awaiting processing. During March and

April, he carries out agricultural work on

local estates, contract work and a lot of

fencing work using a Protech P200S post

driver. The agricultural contracting work

steps up during May and June, when he

carries out a lot of crop spraying. He is fully

certified to carry out this work, something

that very few people are now, and which is

The ‘make your
own’ fan extraction
system that
Thomas has added
to his Posch
processor. Tom’s trusty Husqvarna 254XP.

The digger’s pallet fork attachments make it

easy to move wood to the log deck.