Processing in a neighbour friendly way

[IanCwmbran]

Hi all, last year I moved to the 'nice' part of town full of pensioners etc, at 30 I already stick out like a sore thumb, but I'm feeling guilty of the noise I'm making on weekends processing wood. when I moved in there was a v poor quality 14kw stove in a 7mx5m room, gargantuan imo, flue had about 9 buckets of soot in it all in all, very bad and little wood on the property. I quickly replaced with a much more modest high quality stove and began about sourcing wood. I've recently acquired about 20 tonnes of Leylandii for free after cosying up to a tree surgeon at the pub, an exmaple load in the pic.

 

My question is my property is 15000 sq/ft and its very quiet, with neighbouring houses  10m or so from me. How do you go about processing(cutting to length) the logs in a neighbour friendly manor? I'm feeling v guilty whipping my chainsaw out

[sandspider]

Electric saw? I have a Titan 240v mains saw, works very well and isn't too noisy. Other than that, don't process at 7am on a Sunday and generally be considerate and you should be fine!

[gdh]

If you use an electric saw and splitter I can't see a problem. Avoid circular saws because the sound from them carries a long way.

[Doug Tait]

I'd suggest using a battery or corded saw to keep noise down and talk to neighbours about it so you don't become the enemy, people are more tolerant of someone they're communicating with rather than just being subjected to.

[Haironyourchest]

20 tonnes?

[GarethM]

Maybe 2 at a push, probably a couple of hours on the chainsaw and half a day of leisurely splitting.

 

Definitely electric all the way, maybe a saw horse to make things quick and simple. Drying will be the main problem domestically tho.

 

14kw stove on a bungalow is somewhat overkill unless your hiding a sauna or a swimming pool out the back!.

Edited November 26, 2022 by GarethM

[Conor Wright]

Any decent battery or electric chainsaw and electrically driven hydraulic splitter would do those logs quietly and efficiently. 

 

If a neighbour complains about the noise just make sure you tell them your other hobbies are way worse, like motocross bike testing or speed rapping to heavy metal beats, then remind them you're most creative at night. Chances are they'll start bringing you wood themselves.

[Steven P]

Looking at the sample in your photo, should be able to split the lengths in half reasonable quickly with an axe - starts the drying process as soon as you can (Laylandii should dry pretty quick though). After that with personal experience I have pretty much ditched the petrol saw these days, the battery saw doesn't quite have the power but..... if you have split the logs down a bit first this difference in power isn't really noticeable, a second per cut? Even with an underpowered battery saw halved or quartered logs will cut OK... keep the chain sharp

 

I went battery just for the convenience I can take it wherever I am - also just in case I want one away from the house.

 

So if you are going electric..... what do you keep in the garage by the way? I tend to cut my logs in mine (with the battery saw) - much easier to sweep up the sawdust and it is contained domestically from wind blowing to the neighbours, shut the door over and it blocks a lot of noise. Sawdust... mixes with grass cuttings on the compost heap, and a few buckets go on the fire as well.

 

Can set up a saw horse in there - pallets are great... but if you have some decent length split logs fasten them together (I Like doing stuff for free!).

 

 

and then I go and ruin it all by using the petrol leaf blower to tidy up after myself!

 

 

Final thing, half  m3 of logs thrown over a neighbours wall if they have a fire or stove buys a lot of tolerance

 

This is on ebay this morning fairly cheaply with batteries:

 

Spear & Jackson Cordless Chainsaw

WWW.EBAY.CO.UK

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<p>Spear & Jackson Cordless Chainsaw. </p><p> Used for the job I bought it for no longer needed as the job is done comes with brand new blade. As it come with a spare blade</p>

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by Steven P

[coppice cutter]

Worth pointing out that you can go corded electric for a fraction of the price of cordless electric.

 

Indeed you can go corded electric for a fraction of the price of just about anything else.

 

So if you're always working within a practical distance of a socket it's a bit of a no-brainer.

 

 

[Stubby]

Go electric as others have said and get beige wind cheater and cap . SORTED 🙂