Firewood Prices

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richjdavies

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Rather than going too off topic on the fireplace advice thread (Ihttps://mybroadband.co.za/forum/threads/fireplace-advice.968625/) I thought it might be an idea to keep track of firewood prices.

Bug bears of mine being
1. Quantities are nonsense... One person's bakkie load is another person's half bakkie
2. A 50kg bag is often only 30kg of wood
3. A 'piece' is rarely sized in kg or volume...
4. Different woods have different moisture (that's a known issue) but also how much more heat does Rooikrans or Namibian Hardwood give than local hardwoods like Black Wattle or Blue gum)
I've tried to account for the above.

Anyway there's a google sheet below where you can enter more / make changes. Let me know if you want to add a sheet for Joburg or other places!

docs.google.com

Cape Town Firewood Comparison Live

docs.google.com docs.google.com
 
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Just collected my first load. 5.8kg a bag weighed a number of them of rooibos/karee for R17 per bag, nice sizes and nice and dry

So +- R3 per kg
 
Current conclusions...

If you can get *dry* wood for less than R2/kg, then you have a good price!

Current thinking is that is equivalent of about R1/kwh of electricity...
Cheaper than an electric fan, more expensive than an air con!
 
Snyper564 said:
Just collected my first load. 5.8kg a bag weighed a number of them of rooibos/karee for R17 per bag, nice sizes and nice and dry
Click to expand...
Where was that from? Feel free to add it to the sheet
R17/5.8kg = R2.9/kg is pretty good, not terrible particular for such a small quantity!

It is definitely possible to get R1.50-R2.00/kg depending on how heavy a 'piece' is
 
richjdavies said:
Where was that from? Feel free to add it to the sheet
R17/5.8kg = R2.9/kg is pretty good, not terrible particular for such a small quantity!

It is definitely possible to get R1.50-R2.00/kg depending on how heavy a 'piece' is
Click to expand...
Someones house in Centurion :)
 
Rooikrans - R10 off the side of the street.
Milkwood - free from the garden.
richjdavies said:
4. Different woods have different moisture (that's a known issue) but also how much more heat does blue gum give than hardwood...
Click to expand...
Blue gum is a hardwood.
 
Snyper564 said:
thats a good price
Click to expand...
Depends how big the bag is :) but anything over 5kg and that would be good. R2/kg or piece... That looks like the benchmark

Is it a 5kg bag (like charcoal), an 8kg bag (heavy but small), or a big fabric bag when.you can only lift one 18kg?
 
Anyone had any luck with vine stumps?
They seem very cheap per kg and are reported to have similar heating values to hardwoods
 
Well I can certainly say the wood I good is amongst the best I have ever used this stuff is dense and dry and needed a proper fire to take but with the vent at 80% it's done just two logs in 2 hours. Going to buy up many more bags tomorrow
 
I noticed that 18kg bags are now 15kg bags. Same price. I guess like the pockets of potatoes that were shrinking years ago, it's for my carrying convenience.
 
i dont know, like now i bought wood from this one lady

she is giving me the run arounds but i paid R1.25 a piece delivered and stacked

she brought me around 500 ..but all different sizes

now i dont mind cause the delivery and stacking is what i like, but there is also some big pieces

and i prefer smaller pieces that i maybe have to chop in half to fit nicely in the fireplace

those big pieces that need be chopped in quarters to fit dont help so rather pay cheaper for little smaller
 
so why i say she is giving me the run arounds, i found her on FB ..she stays in bellville im in parow .few mins away

never met her before and she asked for R500 for petrol to cut the tree and to deliver

i said no, cause she advertised for R1250 for 1000 delivered and stacked

i sent her R150 , 2 days later she delivers 160 pieces, i gave her R50 extar said deliver more

she comes again with aroound 300 pieces or so

now i asked her again, i sent her R220 ..she comes back my saw is broken i need more money

she offered me 600 pieces for R500 ..i said no dont have money cause i can lose R220 ..but not R500 lol
 
@The_Mowgs and @dualmeister go half half on bulk wood purchases to save on costs including the delivery fee when they buy wood by the truck load. See if you can find a neighbour to purchase wood cheaper like this
 
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