Small boys and kindling

[farmer_ben]

Thanks

I think he gets it from me as I have bought and sold some S**te over the years to buy our caravan and pay for the holidays etc

Were would we buy the nets ready made, the big killer is fuel, I go to work and drive weekly past a place that throws pallets away so its just a matter of filling the trailer and he can cut them up in the garage.

What should we charge? what would you do with the wooden pallet blocks?

 

where abouts are you roughly?

[Alycidon]

I think we are too far away to be any help. We sell to arb talk members for £1.60 a bag, some sell onto garages for £2.50 they then retail for around £3.95 maybe you could find a member near you in the directory. Pallets are not a great idea as alot have chemicals and paint on which your not supposed to use.

 

I might be wrong but I think this only affects multiuse pallets, I understand that arsenic is one of the chemicals.

 

Steve, please make a note, I would be interested in bags for next winter. Currently buy locally as I don't sell a lot, maybe thats because of the extra profit margin making me uncompetitive.

 

A

[winchman]

I think we are too far away to be any help. We sell to arb talk members for £1.60 a bag, some sell onto garages for £2.50 they then retail for around £3.95 maybe you could find a member near you in the directory. Pallets are not a great idea as alot have chemicals and paint on which your not supposed to use.

Thanks for the tip, if we get started I think we will have to be choosey who we sell to as all our local garages are operated by the big companies, but a few shops every few weeks would be a start, I wonder if garden centers would buy?

[pembswoodrecycling]

Thanks

I think he gets it from me as I have bought and sold some S**te over the years to buy our caravan and pay for the holidays etc

Were would we buy the nets ready made, the big killer is fuel, I go to work and drive weekly past a place that throws pallets away so its just a matter of filling the trailer and he can cut them up in the garage.

What should we charge? what would you do with the wooden pallet blocks?

 

I think you're on to a winner. Pallets is how I started, use a bit of common sense, i.e. if they're blue, red or green, or smell of anything other than fresh timber then steer well clear, but otherwise its difficult to go wrong.

 

trick is to get all the sticks a uniform length, thats what makes them look really tidy, cut the boards off the pallets with a chainsaw if you've got one, failing that a bow saw (don't faff about with taking nails out), make a jig so that you can then cut each one to the same length (6"-7.5").

 

nail two 3" planks to a board an inch apart (plywood perhaps), slot your six inch pads into the gap and chop! (I found after a while that a machette was the best tool for the job) - be sure to wear appropriate PPE - gloves, goggles etc and keep your fingers out of the way!

 

Find or make a box as wide as your sticks, that the nets will just fit over, fill the box up, bag over the top, turn it over, bobs your uncle.

 

once you get going you'll learn to do it in batches, I got to about seven nets an hour at my best. you'll never get rich, but its great pocket money, and much more interesting than a paper round!

[pembswoodrecycling]

....also the remaining blocks from the pallets make excellent logs, but you're left with the nails in the ash, personally I don't mind picking them out, and if you fill a builders bag with them someone is bound to give you a tenner for it.

[winchman]

Thanks

I think we will give it a try in a fewweeks just sorting out the garage to make some space, He wont be getting a chain saw LOL He can use a bow saw, build a bit of muscle

[winchman]

....also the remaining blocks from the pallets make excellent logs, but you're left with the nails in the ash, personally I don't mind picking them out, and if you fill a builders bag with them someone is bound to give you a tenner for it.

 

£10 didnt think they would be worth that much!

[pembswoodrecycling]

£10 didnt think they would be worth that much!

 

I meant that you could do the chainsaw work! :lol:

 

easily, it all burns. offer someone a great big bag of wood for a tenner and they won't say no, nails or not.

Also, garden centres are good customers, as well as small agricultural merchants and coal merchants. and even some log suppliers who can't be bothered themselves.

 

Sorry to be writing essays.

[WorcsWuss]

I use this for splitting SW kindling.... Stihl Swiss switch | F R Jones and Son

Just mind, you can have fingers off with it!

[agg221]

Firstly on the arsenic thing - this was copper chrome arsenic and was banned over a decade ago, so very little risk these days. They are still sometimes chemically treated, but usually with organic treatments which simply burn - pallets are the cheapest of the cheap so they don't use anything that costs much! If in doubt, burn a bit and see if you get a greenish flame (copper) which is the only remaining 'fixed' inorganic treatment.

 

On splitting up kindling - some children are perfectly safe to be left working with an axe aged 12 - look at the Scouts. Some are a bit more forgetful of things like fingers. If you want to add safety, a froe and beetle is a very effective alternative, and better for twisting bits apart anyway.

 

Alec