Fire wood in Germany

[Sawmill]

Just got back from Germany and I did not realize the amount of firewood they use over there. Went buy a couple of field the we appox 20 or 30 acres and was filled with fire wood all cut to 1 meter in length. The town we stayed in was a small farm town and in the morrnings the tractors were all sitting by the local bakery and coffee shop.
Talked to a farmer dow the street for use and he was cutting wood for an order he had. He cut his wood to 1 meter long and splits it while in this length. Whe he sells it it is sold by a pile of 1 meter by 1 meter and appox 7 foot high stacks. They stack the wood straight up instead of laying it down like is done over here. He uses the bags that look to be about 3 foot square with loops to pich them up. He gets these bags for free. These bags a used one time and then discarded. I wish that I could have brought some back with me. When sells this wood it is sold in the longer lenghts and later is cut into appox 10 to 12 lenghts.
I did not see the stoves they use but most of the wood is split down to about 4 inch dia.10 to 12 inches long. All the wood I saw that was cut was 75% pine and the rest maple and popular. They have a differt name in German but I don't remember it. I thought I would post this on here to show the differnces from here to ther. Ivan

 

[RacerX]

Sounds interesting. Have any photo's?

 

[Sawmill]

I do have some but will have to sort them out. We took over 500 pictures while we were there

 

[Hank Chinaski]

I do have some but will have to sort them out. We took over 500 pictures while we were there

sounds cool, looking fwd to the pics

 

[Guido Salvage]

For insight on German logging and firewood operations, do a search on "traktorist2222" and review some of Martin's posts. Most are over on the chainsaw forum and I do not think he has posted in a while, but many good pictures and descriptions of what life is like in the German countryside. This thread may be of interest.

http://www.arboristsite.com/chainsaw/57131.htm

 

[IHDiesel73L]

When my wife and I were on our honeymoon I snapped some shots of woodpiles outside of homes in the area around Mt. Etna. Etna is a pretty interesting place as it's almost 11K feet. We got off the cruise ship and did some walking around near sea level and it was brutally hot and humid. After that we got on a bus and drove up to about the 7000' level-the temperature had dropped to the mid 60s which felt even colder since we had just come from such intense heat. The tour guide pointed out brightly painted poles with metric measurements on them that are planted in the ground every so often on the roadside. They were probably about 8' tall. They are for measuring snowfall in the wintertime-Etna gets A LOT of snow. Needless to say those folks burn a lot of wood up there! Also, when we got off the ship in Greece the first thing I took a picture of was a giant Stihl sign at a tractor dealership :hmm3grin2orange: My wife thinks I'm nuts.

 

[turnkey4099]

I was in Gemany in the 60s (6 years total, 2 terms). then they had guys with a portable sorta 'processor', came around and cut up those meter long chunks. Don't recall if they had splitters on them. Very 30s looking thing the one I say, one lunger, stood verticle and IIANM a bandsaw.

Harry K

 

[diamondmarco]

in Bavaria

Interesting that you'd have a topic on wood in Germany. I've lived in the southern part of Germany (Bavaria) where the winters are long and cold for the last 42 years. Unlike the U.S. where there is plenty of wood, all of the forests are under State control. You can purchase the harvesting rights for wood but then you will have other responsibilities for that plot of trees and it's pricey. We're a small country with a large population and limited land so farms are small with few people owning land with trees.

Very few people rely on wood for heating as it's quite expensive compared to U.S. prices. Most homes that have a fireplace in addition to their built in furnace rely on coal formed into large briquettes and are used to take the chill off when the nights and days get cold and before you can legally turn on your furnace (usually in October). Most wood is harvested for commercial applications like furniture and paper since there is limited land set aside for forests. Most of what we can buy is soft wood like pine or imported harder wood from outside Germany due to the cost and scarcity. Our local price for a small bag (like a Wally world white plastic bag,not quite full) would be useful for having a fire for the esthetic effect but isn't enough to warm a room for very long. Cost? 2 euros on sale. Around $3. Added to that is the new requirement that all wood burning fireplaces must have a catalytic converter installed in the chimney before it can be used. Our chimneys are required by law to be inspected and cleaned by an approved chimney sweep yearly and emissions tested to check for acceptable emissions levels (environmentalists won again).

I DO miss using my wood burning fireplace but cost and regulations will leave it unused this winter. So put a load on yours and enjoy it for us over here.

Regards,
Marc

 

[Garmins dad]

before you can legally turn on your furnace

really??? They have a season for furnace use? I think i'll stay in the frozen tundra...

 

[diamondmarco]

really??? They have a season for furnace use? I think i'll stay in the frozen tundra...

Yep. It has to do with reducing emissions and protecting the environment (guess what political party THAT came from) ,just like it's illegal to start your car and leave it. You leave, it gets turned off or a heavy fine (pollution).

 

[Sawmill]

Yep. It has to do with reducing emissions and protecting the environment (guess what political party THAT came from) ,just like it's illegal to start your car and leave it. You leave, it gets turned off or a heavy fine (pollution).

Is it that way all over? We had the heat on each night and we got on Sept 8 and left Sept 21. I heard the boiler fire up each day? Maybe they had ought to take some of the lawmakers and let them sit out a cold spell without heat and then see what happens. How do they log off the trees on the side of the mountains over there. We went thru huge tracks of land the were cut off and the ground went almost straight up How could someone stand and run a saw?

 

[deerlakejens]

Just reread traktorist2222's thread, really interesting, especially the habit of bucking to one meter lengths prior to seasoning and then cutting to stove length.

 

[zogger]

Wow!

Interesting that you'd have a topic on wood in Germany. I've lived in the southern part of Germany (Bavaria) where the winters are long and cold for the last 42 years. Unlike the U.S. where there is plenty of wood, all of the forests are under State control. You can purchase the harvesting rights for wood but then you will have other responsibilities for that plot of trees and it's pricey. We're a small country with a large population and limited land so farms are small with few people owning land with trees.

Very few people rely on wood for heating as it's quite expensive compared to U.S. prices. Most homes that have a fireplace in addition to their built in furnace rely on coal formed into large briquettes and are used to take the chill off when the nights and days get cold and before you can legally turn on your furnace (usually in October). Most wood is harvested for commercial applications like furniture and paper since there is limited land set aside for forests. Most of what we can buy is soft wood like pine or imported harder wood from outside Germany due to the cost and scarcity. Our local price for a small bag (like a Wally world white plastic bag,not quite full) would be useful for having a fire for the esthetic effect but isn't enough to warm a room for very long. Cost? 2 euros on sale. Around $3. Added to that is the new requirement that all wood burning fireplaces must have a catalytic converter installed in the chimney before it can be used. Our chimneys are required by law to be inspected and cleaned by an approved chimney sweep yearly and emissions tested to check for acceptable emissions levels (environmentalists won again).

I DO miss using my wood burning fireplace but cost and regulations will leave it unused this winter. So put a load on yours and enjoy it for us over here.

Regards,
Marc

Makes me feel quite blessed to live here. Those sorts of regs would drive me nuts.

I have another online acquaintance lives in Luxembourg, talk about expensive and restricted living!

 

[logbutcher]

"Blessed to live here.."..............you bet.

Assigned to train and live with northern Euro units way back, you see that most of the forests that still grow are park-like. Most of Europe's wood lands have been denuded for centuries. Only in the past decades have regrowth and planting, in rows with single species, begun.
For example, looking for firestarting kindling is near impossible. Residents using wood for their kind of heaters ( e.g. kind of Masonry Heaters/Russian Fireplaces), clean up the forest floor; little kindling available. A Danish crony in our running club, still piles tiny kindling branches for fires: we call him "Compulsive Olaf".

We'd have to use MRE paper for starting campfires in the field.

Swiss National Forests now prohibit ANY cutting or pick up sticks to restore the soil; everything must be left to decompose on the ground.

Most EU nations have extremely strict controls on ANY wood cutting. Yes, this is a fine place.

JMNSHO

 

[zogger]

Man, too crowded

"Blessed to live here.."..............you bet.

Assigned to train and live with northern Euro units way back, you see that most of the forests that still grow are park-like. Most of Europe's wood lands have been denuded for centuries. Only in the past decades have regrowth and planting, in rows with single species, begun.
For example, looking for firestarting kindling is near impossible. Residents using wood for their kind of heaters ( e.g. kind of Masonry Heaters/Russian Fireplaces), clean up the forest floor; little kindling available. A Danish crony in our running club, still piles tiny kindling branches for fires: we call him "Compulsive Olaf".

We'd have to use MRE paper for starting campfires in the field.

Swiss National Forests now prohibit ANY cutting or pick up sticks to restore the soil; everything must be left to decompose on the ground.

Most EU nations have extremely strict controls on ANY wood cutting. Yes, this is a fine place.

JMNSHO

Real glad to live in the USA. At least we still got some wild or wild enough close enough spaces left. I wonder how many more generations before this isn't true..proly not too many.

The swiss deal with the soil tilth, I can see their point if they are getting a lot of erosion on those steep mountains. I do some amateur berming here on the hills, drag dead fall small pines and lay them for the correct countour, across other trees to hold them, etc.

Single species replanting..they are just asking for a disaster down the road. I'm surprised at that. The (remaining, seen a few) CC forests here are just weird, you just don't see the wildlife or various other wild plants and shrubs, etc, like you would see in a healthy mixed forest.

 

[logbutcher]

Real glad to live in the USA. At least we still got some wild or wild enough close enough spaces left. I wonder how many more generations before this isn't true..proly not too many.

The swiss deal with the soil tilth, I can see their point if they are getting a lot of erosion on those steep mountains. I do some amateur berming here on the hills, drag dead fall small pines and lay them for the correct countour, across other trees to hold them, etc.

Single species replanting..they are just asking for a disaster down the road. I'm surprised at that. The (remaining, seen a few) CC forests here are just weird, you just don't see the wildlife or various other wild plants and shrubs, etc, like you would see in a healthy mixed forest.

Not to worry Zog. There are more forested lands in N. America now than the WW II era. Our woodlands are diverse, regrowth allowing for more forested acerage. Clear cutting for example went out decades ago in many regions here.

More Foresters and attention to Forestry Science, less dependence on wood products for survival, efficient building techniques using wood ( e.g. laminated beams ), energy efficient homes and wood stoves, AND freedom. All this with near universal use of whole tree harvesters, better techniques ( BMP ), and saws and gear that cut faster and safer. Our 60a woodlot is bony, poor speciation, bone a$$ cold winters, a decade old 40% harvest, and me pulling 6-8 cords each year out for our heating. This land will keep us in firewood forever. And Oh Yeah, most here with the CAD 'needing' all those saws.

So don't worry about our wood supply. It'll be around long after you don't come down for breakfast. :wink2:

Ain't this a great place to live ?:adore:

 

[zogger]

Yep

Not to worry Zog. There are more forested lands in N. America now than the WW II era. Our woodlands are diverse, regrowth allowing for more forested acerage. Clear cutting for example went out decades ago in many regions here.

More Foresters and attention to Forestry Science, less dependence on wood products for survival, efficient building techniques using wood ( e.g. laminated beams ), energy efficient homes and wood stoves, AND freedom. All this with near universal use of whole tree harvesters, better techniques ( BMP ), and saws and gear that cut faster and safer. Our 60a woodlot is bony, poor speciation, bone a$$ cold winters, a decade old 40% harvest, and me pulling 6-8 cords each year out for our heating. This land will keep us in firewood forever. And Oh Yeah, most here with the CAD 'needing' all those saws.

So don't worry about our wood supply. It'll be around long after you don't come down for breakfast. :wink2:

Ain't this a great place to live ?:adore:

Yep sure is..

err..about that breakfast..I'll take four over easy, same number toast, bowl of oatmeal with honey on it, two cups of joe...then a ratty small seegar...

 

[7sleeper]

Trully strange situation diamondmarco is describing. For me this situation is totally new. I understand that I live in Austria but many fellows across the boarder do not have all these problems. We burn a lot of pine, spruce and larch. Nothing wrong with burning it. But we also have a lot of mixed hardwood. Reforestation is often mixed hardwood.

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