Advice on future Plans please

[muttley9050]

Your situation sounds ideal. How did you get in with the co-op?

Co-op is an intentional community( what some may call a comune) and my status here is full member which makes me landlord and tennant. You have to be accepted by all other residents before you can move in, but my partner lived here when i met her. 18 aduts and 10 kids live hereand we eat dinner communally every day. there are sacrifices that come with living here too. Have to have fortnightly business meetings, cook for 30 once a fortnight etc. and you wouldnt live here unless u like organic farming on a small scale.

I love it and wontleave till my youngest is 18. he is now3, costs us £630 amonth for a 3 bed flat with 40m2 living room, including all bills, all food(no beer) internet, phone etc.

worth considering if your community minded and social creature. My partner and i both work 3 days a week and are comfortable.

[muttley9050]

Thanks Alec. Although ihave space where i live and full workshop facilities i wouldnt be able to regularly mill here, thats why ididnt see point in moving butts from one part of wood to another, will be getting atv or skidsteer(advice appreciated) with trailer for moving milled timber. Have no 7.5 ton allowance but do have trailer ticket.

Im used to moving butts with cant hooks etc but would be interested to see pics of what you use.

i Have only ever done a small amount of milling on a alaskan mill before and lots of resawing on my band saw. Can you cut consistent feather edge on a band mill, or would this need resawing. I thought a swing mill would leave me a lot less resawing than band mill as i dont have facility to resaw massive stuff.

As i would only aim to fell max 25 trees per year i would pay my bro to drop them and i would be the second man unless my confidence got up a lot more.

Thanks again for sharing advice

james

[breffni]

Co-op is an intentional community( what some may call a comune) and my status here is full member which makes me landlord and tennant. You have to be accepted by all other residents before you can move in, but my partner lived here when i met her. 18 aduts and 10 kids live hereand we eat dinner communally every day. there are sacrifices that come with living here too. Have to have fortnightly business meetings, cook for 30 once a fortnight etc. and you wouldnt live here unless u like organic farming on a small scale.

I love it and wontleave till my youngest is 18. he is now3, costs us £630 amonth for a 3 bed flat with 40m2 living room, including all bills, all food(no beer) internet, phone etc.

worth considering if your community minded and social creature. My partner and i both work 3 days a week and are comfortable.

 

It sounds really good id love to do something like that with my gf and littleone

[woodyguy]

Muttley, I hope that you are aware of the regulations about need for felling license before you can fell in your own wood. You have exemptions to fell 5 cubic metres per calendar quarter but this is halved if you are selling the timber. There is a real limit to how much you can fell and use commercially. Most small woods have restrictive covenants on them as well which may stop you.

 

Don't let me put a damper on you as your dream sounds brilliant. Just check the regs and go into it with your eyes open!

Check the regs on FC website as I haven't got them in front of me.

[agg221]

Im used to moving butts with cant hooks etc but would be interested to see pics of what you use.

i Have only ever done a small amount of milling on a alaskan mill before and lots of resawing on my band saw. Can you cut consistent feather edge on a band mill, or would this need resawing. I thought a swing mill would leave me a lot less resawing than band mill as i dont have facility to resaw massive stuff.

 

I haven't got many photos of moving stuff - tend to be too busy doing it, but below are some of a bit about 12ft long x 18in dia. You can see it's on wheels on a short axle at the end, ready to tow off down the garden for milling. The axle has a short section of 6in wide U channel welded to it to stop the log rolling onto the wheels.

 

You can saw featheredge quite effectively with a bandsaw mill - mill out the cant to the right width, then stick a block the right thickness under one edge to tilt it slightly. Take the block out, make the next cut horizontal, repeat until cant is gone (thanks Tommer9!). You don't typically need any resawing from a bandsaw mill, except if you are trying to squeeze the last knockings out of of something very thin that the mill grips won't keep hold of.

 

Alec

[muttley9050]

Yeah im aware of felling licenses and the 5 cube limit but would this be halved if im selling tables etc made from it? Also if i buy a wood in need of thinning with no covenants could they realistically refuse a license?

thanks

James

[muttley9050]

It sounds really good id love to do something like that with my gf and littleone

Look on diggers and dreamers website. it has directory of every intentional community and housing co-op in uk. But all are very different so beware. visit a few in your area and see what you think.

[woodyguy]

Sorry I was wrong about halved. It is worse. You can only sell 2 cubic metres of timber per calendar quarter.

 

As to whether they would give or refuse a felling license, I've no idea, but personally I would be very wary of risking my living or the whole reason for spending £90k + on getting that permission.

[muttley9050]

You see the problem is i dont want to leave money in a bank, i dont want to invest in property as it destroys my soul and cant think of anything that would make me happier than buying a wood, still you are correct, you cant be too careful. Have you ever applied for a felling license before, could i do it before the sale was final?

Thanks for advice.

[Rob D]

I've not had much experience with felling licensees but the powers that be want to get woodlands working again - google and do your research on this beforehand. I've been told there are big tax breaks with woodland but again you need to do your research. A few points:

 

 

• I have a Peterson mill - very good piece of kit but looking at what you want to do is it worth buying one? I'd also think along the lines of hiring someone in say for 3 days at a time. What are the trees like in the woodland as the Peterson I find works best with 2.5 foot diameter+ Also not so good for sawing cladding as you lose a fair bit of kerf. For oak framing you need to have some good straight healthy oak - otherwise you'll do a lot of sawing and end up with little that can be used in a building.
  
• The 8" Peterson I have does cut 8" but I find it's on the limit of what it can cut - the 10" version does not have a more powerful engine just different gearing. That's why I got the 8"!
  
• I'd get a good chainsaw mill selection (although I'm biased ) - this means you can break down large butts in the wood and move them to be re sawn. This re sawing is always going to be best done on a bandsaw.
  
• Look at how you will market your furniture - the easy bit is sawing and making it, the hard bit is putting it in front of potential customers.