Burning Lime wood.

[Puffingbilly413]

2 hours ago, Squaredy said:

Don’t bother burning lime, sell the best bits to sawmills.  Always good demand for lime.  I buy poplar as well, but not willow.

What sort of dimensions do you process lime into? I was aware it is popular with carvers, turners etc but never got as far as doing anything useful with any lime I come across.  And does it matter which of the tilia spp it is?

[Essexlogman]

Put all those old wives tales away about certain woods !! I got asked to top out and pollard some big lime tree's a few years ago for a mate in May ended up with a nice big trailer load I was a bit sceptical at first being a connossieur of the old Log so to speak but thought I would at least keep the old firepit stocked up cut and split straight away buy the end summer the top pile were burning great and within a year all fully seasoned only thing was a very distinct aroma not my most favourite I might add

[Squaredy]

1 hour ago, Puffingbilly413 said:

What sort of dimensions do you process lime into? I was aware it is popular with carvers, turners etc but never got as far as doing anything useful with any lime I come across.  And does it matter which of the tilia spp it is?

Any of the limes are good timber - small leaved, large leaved and common.  Craft people love it and always find it difficult to find.  It does need to be milled and dried fairly soon after felling - not years later like you might with oak.

[Dan Maynard]

I would have said it's a bit like willow, quite wet when green then quite light when dry. Burns just fine although a little fast, I've gone through quite a bit.

[Puffingbilly413]

1 hour ago, Squaredy said:

Any of the limes are good timber - small leaved, large leaved and common.  Craft people love it and always find it difficult to find.  It does need to be milled and dried fairly soon after felling - not years later like you might with oak.

Thanks for the reply - in arb it tends to be (but not always) limes that are being removed due to K deusta colonisation and subsequent degradation of the timber. Hence some of it can be nicely spalted.  Is this in any way desirable with lime or is it best 'clean'.  Better to mill up a few beams to sit and dry until demand is proven or would you say better to mill up, say, 2" boards.  How's the stability as it dries?

[Squaredy]

8 hours ago, Puffingbilly413 said:

Thanks for the reply - in arb it tends to be (but not always) limes that are being removed due to K deusta colonisation and subsequent degradation of the timber. Hence some of it can be nicely spalted.  Is this in any way desirable with lime or is it best 'clean'.  Better to mill up a few beams to sit and dry until demand is proven or would you say better to mill up, say, 2" boards.  How's the stability as it dries?

For craft folk spalting is highly desirable.

 

I would mill a range of thickness boards if you can.  Pretty stable as it dries, and very quick drying.  I find 32mm boards are air dry in two or three months max in summer.

[Puffingbilly413]

38 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

I find 32mm boards are air dry in two or three months max in summer.

Blimey that is quick - I'll definitely give some a try next chance I get. Thanks for the info.

[coppice cutter]

Thanks for all replies.

 

It would seem that even allowing for the limitations inherent in something so light and soft, mine is doing particularly badly. I'll give it another summer, make sure that it specifically gets a good drying, and try it again next winter.

 

Longer term, as well as several clumps of 3 or 4 trees dotted around I have three specific blocks of lime each with 40 - 50 trees planted at 2m spacings. Rather than coppicing them in a sweep I think I'll thin as required and let the best grow on in to bigger trees which should increase the possibility of the wood being able to be used for a more constructive purpose.

[Stere]

Supposedly  they are very good for  honey bees might be worth considering letting someone have hives there etc....

[coppice cutter]

6 minutes ago, Stere said:

Supposedly  they are very good for  honey bees might be worth considering letting someone have hives there etc....

With respect no, I'll not be contributing to the further demise of the honey bee by facilitating bee farming.

 

I do however intend to provide at least one wild hive in close proximity if not this spring then definitely next. And if it is a success I will add another.