Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
01223 [email protected]
Chopsticks Firewood,CambridgeshireThe growing demand for firewood is providingbusiness opportunities for a ruralCambridgeshire company. Jason Cooper, whoset up RJC Earthworks in 1998, diversifiedinto wood fuel production in 2005 and hascreated a successful woodfuel business nearthe Fenland village where he grew up.
Thanks to support from Woodfuel East, Jasonis helping to meet the increasing demand inthe East of England for well-seasoned logs.
“The demand for locally produced woodprovides an opportunityfor landowners togenerate an additionalincome and bring theirwoods back intomanagement for fuelproduction.”
Jason CooperChopsticks Firewood
Technical information
The Binderberger B520 is one of the highest capacity mobilefirewood processors with a 30tsplitting force.It can processroundwood, up to a diameter of52cm, into 20 – 55cm logs.
The machine can run through sixcycles a minute, based onprocessing 52cm diameter hardwood.
When Jason set up RJC Earthworks in1998, active woodland managementwas in many cases not financially viableand if woodland management did takeplace low grade timber was usuallyregarded as worthless and left to rot.Then demand for firewood began torise, so he decided to diversify andexpand, setting up ChopsticksFirewood in 2005. Wood has sincedoubled in price and demand fromcustomers has continued to increase.
Processing wood without high volumespecialist equipment is a laboriousprocess and Jason couldn’t keep upwith demand. So, with help from a40% grant from Woodfuel East, Jasoninvested in a Binderberger SSP 520firewood processor. The operator canload individual lengths of up to 5metres into the processor which arethen automatically cut, split and loadedinto crate with a conveyor belt.
As well as being economical to run,this mobile machine takes less than 20minutes to set up. This has givenJason the opportunity to offer a mobileservice and process firewood forsuppliers elsewhere in the region.
This was particularly beneficial duringthe hard winter of 2010/11 when manyfirewood suppliers exhausted theirsupplies early in the season. With hisBinderberger, Jason was able toprovide additional processing capacityto help other suppliers processenough roundwood to meet thedemand for logs.
“Buying a processor like this is a bigoutlay and most suppliers will onlybe using it for a short period eachyear. Hiring mine to increaseprocessing capacity makes goodbusiness sense,” said Jason.
Chopsticks produces logs from well-seasoned, local wood. To ensure thatcustomers know what they are getting,the moisture content of Jason’sfirewood is highlighted on the companywebsite at www.chopsticks-firewood.co.uk
Jason added: “Too many customersare being sold logs which are stillgreen and too wet, or are from woodwith a poor burn quality. They soonlearn that a good wood with a lowmoisture content, like ours, means agood fire!”
Woodfuel East is supported under the Rural Development Programme for England by Defra and the EU with additional support from the Forestry Commission.
