Firewood Workshop 2014
Highlights-April 17th, 2014 Firewood Workshop-Wood Education and Resource Center-Princeton, West Virginia
This educational and networking workshop for the firewood industry was well attended by a wide range of attendees from eleven states and held at the Wood Education and Resource Center located in Princeton, West Virginia. The focus of the workshop was how does a business make money in the firewood business.
2014 Firewood Workshop Highlights
| Steve Milauskas, Director of the Wood Education and Resource Center Welcoming Attendees to the WERC. The WERC supports the hardwood forest industry in the thirty-five states east of the Great Plains. The WERC offers grants that have great impact upon the processing and energy use of wood. | Scott Salveson of the National Firewood Association promoting the benefits of an association that promotes the interests of the firewood industry. Here is the link for Scott’s slide show. | Brian Madden of Madden Brothers explaining cutting edge marketing techniques for firewood businesses. Brian offers marketing consulting services to firewood producers through TheFirewoodMarketer.com website. Here is the link for Biran’s slide show. |
| Harry Watt of North Carolina State University Wood Products Extension discussed the business side of the firewood business touching the key concepts that grow sales and profitability. Here is the link for Harry’s slide show. | Bill Mollard of Timberline Landscape Care and the WV rep for Dyna presented a discussion of firewood processing equipment and its business economic impacts. He also conducted several demonstrations processing logs into firewood. Here is the link for Bill’s slide show.
Phone (304) 866-4490 |
John Karakash of Resource Professionals Group discussed how firewood producers can grow their sales and profitability by entering the larger energy market for personal homes, businesses and multifamily homes. John’s slide show will be posted soon. |
| A buffet meal hit the spot for a group of cutting edge firewood industry professionals. Cafe Soleil was a local caterer that Harry Watt likes to use for WERC events. | The facilities at WERC are well suited for workshops with break out rooms for setting up a serving line and dining hall. | Bill Mollard gave demos during lunch and after the classroom lectures. We sawn and split about a dozen logs with those wanting to buy a processer had the opportunity to run one. |
| Geoff Friedman of Lost Coast talked to the attendees via the telephone about the American Firewood Producers Distributors Association and its efforts to offer certification for bundled firewood products. He also discussed the needs of brokers that supply bundled firewood to large volume buyers. Here is the link for Geoff’s slide show. | Niels Jorgenson of Kiln-Direct that manufacturers firewood dry kilns discussed the design and performance issues of firewood dry kilns and how producers can grow their dry kiln capacity as their business grows. Niels also discussed heating systems for firewood dry kilns. Niels slide show will be posted soon. Here is the link for Niel’s slide show. | Chen Zhangling of Virginia Tech presented highlights of his research on using steam to sanitize logs and firewood as new technology that offers the potential for faster elimination of stain and mold. Here is the link for Chen’s slide show. |
| Paul Chaloux of the Animal Insect Plant Health Service discussed the current state of firewood insect quarantines and how producers can assist the efforts to retard the spread of damaging insects. Here is the link for Paul’s slide show. | Harry Watt of North Carolina State University Wood Products Extension discussed how better and cheaper wood stoves can grow the firewood industry. Here is the link to Harry’s slide show. | The Wood Education and Resource Center is located at Exit 14 Athens Road on I-77 in Princeton, WV. The WERC serves the wood products industry with educational and networking facilities and events. |
Important Firewood Publications
1-In 1980 Jeffrey Wartluft and Ralph Monahan of the US Forest Service published”Prospectus: Firewood Manufacturing and Marketing”, a publication that reviewed three sizes of firewood production operations and discussed the business parameters in terms of equipment, output and profitability. This is a well written publication that offers insights into how a firewood business can be evaluated prior to startup as well as improving an existing firewood publication. This publication is available at this link as a pdf. It is numbered NA-FR-17 in the US Forest Service publications system.
2-Harry Watt’s publication about processing lumber edge strips into bagged kindling products. This publication is available at this link as a pdf.
Thanks to Our Sponsors of the 2014 Profitable Firewood Processing Workshop
| The WERC and its staff, clients and workshop attendees | North Carolina State University Wood Products Extension | Independent Sawmill and Woodlot Management Magazine | WoodShop News Magazine |