arboriculturist

Pleased for the positive post - I planned to mill 'slabs' at 2 1/4" and 3 1/4" but I would appreciate your views on these dimensions.

After several years of debating what to buy and having almost gone for a Trakmet TTS 800 premium band saw and generator, I have taken several steps back and decided to just mill my requirements and high value slabs with a Panther 42" and a Spud ported 660 , which I already have, running Lo Pro Stihl chain. I bought the Panther Intersect as well, as Rob D. says the combination of the 2 is the most efficient setup to produce any dimensional timber that I require. We get a lot of tree removals where normally the trunk unfortunately gets ringed up for firewood, but as the timber costs my nothing, milling slabs should add a lot of value to some jobs. I invested in the longest 1st cut system rails so I can, when the need arises, mill up to 8.5m when the labour to move slabs that length is at hand ! I have a forklift and facilities to dry up to 8.5m if is worth force drying or I can just sticker and let nature take its course? Marketing will be the real challenge !!! I planned to mill 'slabs' at 2 1/4" and 3 1/4" but I would appreciate your views on these dimensions.

Easy to forgot laying an old Tarp down before milling makes clean up so much easier and faster !

Yes, Stihl bar straight on with another link in the Stihl Micro P chain, plus sprocket change.

May have to buy some off Ebay ?

Spot on thanks ?

Is this the best air filter for milling with an MS 660 Panther mill running 3/8 Lo - Pro ? 0000 140 4402 Air filter HD2 Thanks

Thunder bolts - predrill the timber, then masonry drill through the timber into the concrete - impact wrench Thunder bolts straight in !

The legislation is on the table to dissuade anyone selling firewood green, part seasoned or dry seasoned by any other measure than by the industry standard - m3.

I have had most makes on hire or demo over the years and I can honestly say the worst machine ever by far was an 8 tonne JCB - couldn't get rid of it quick enough. Best by far, the best to spend time in and to operate was a 14t Volvo, so refined - followed by a 25t Hitachi Zaxis. 30t Kobelco was also good, if a little lumbering. Got a 7.5t Hitachi now.

Under 600m3

Agreed and I should have made it clear that some kilns dry at lower temperatures. However some kilns dry at temperatures up to 130c and volatiles start to migrate over circa. 105c. I still stand by my view that the concept that force drying firewood is an environmentally good way to reduce atmospheric pollution is flawed, especially as many producers are burning waste wood over 20-25% MC. Understandable that if you have invested in the process you will wish to keep business as usual. The next generation of producers will be larger scale operations, mainly farm based who air dry all products, that said there are a surprising number with that setup already - far greater initial investment of course.

It is because the construction industry uses many species of timber. Wet basis measurement is not mentioned in the vast majority of pin MM's specifications as their core market is surveyors and the construction industry who all measure on a dry basis.

No you can't. Mwet = Mdry / (100+Mdry) Mdry is the MC on a dry basis. Yes it does - Firewood and Forestry - Wet basis - Always. I have found the most accurate way to pin test to date is split the log, measure ACROSS the grain in the centre of the split face and at each end of the split face 2" (5cm) in from each end. Measuring the outside of the log gave no usefull data that actually represented the actual MC of the log. Add the 3 readings and divide by 3. When compared this result with oven dry method it gave reasonable correlation.

I think you will find that your Pin Moisture Meter measures on a 'dry basis', which is the wrong type of meter for firewood or forestry. You need to obtain the correct meter that measures on a 'wet basis', which measures the water in the firewood (a solid), expressed as the weight of water as a percentage of the wet solid. Pin Moisture Meters designed for the building trade are the wrong type for you.

Fantastic - thanks ?

Quite agree, calorific value is, even though the FC keep banging on about it. There is a table that documents the wood types and species dry weights, but time has passed I I cannot seem to put my hands on it. Have you a copy perhaps?

Rarely do I get offered Hemlock and when I do they rarely know if it is Western or Eastern Hemlock. Is there a significant difference Firewood wise ? I know the calorific value is similar to Douglas or Larch, but as it is years since any arrived here, so does anyone know if it dries as quickly or burns as well as them? My experience of Spruce is it dried out to nothing and burnt leaving no ash and I have a suspicion that Hemlock burns well but leaves little ash also.

It's only at 5 as it burns away faster than the others - that said the amount of kWh it produces is not that much lower than the others.

I have been offered various Softwood species recently apart from the regular species and I am trying to determine which species come out on top for the Fastest to air dry and the species that generally burn best when air dried. Here are my findings for the - TOP 5: DRYING Larch Douglas Monterey Cypress Leyland Cypress (Lleylandii) Hemlock BURNING Douglas Larch Monterey Hemlock Leyland PLEASE COPY AND PASTE YOURS.

So what are the several advantages of kiln dried over say air dried firewood at 16% MC, as I am struggling to find them ? I can honestly say I have never had woodworm larvae in any of our firewood logs. So how do you assess the MC of the Kiln dried and the air dried you sell - by Titration testing or wet basis moisture meter?

The only research I would trust is direct from a University who have no vested interest in the conclusions. We all know that leading stove manufacturers have been telling consumers to only burn kiln dried Hardwood for years, none of which is sustainable. Most stove retailers promote only kiln dried hardwood as that is what they sell. Basically it is common knowledge the fastest way to dry timber is with airflow, heat ideally the 2 combined. The poster needs to basically mirror a polytunnel - solar gain from the sun and very good airflow with the prevailing wind blowing through the stack. Worst scenario possibly is wrap in plastic.

For doing what the man is asking, yours is the most sensible estimate. Loading the log deck takes minutes so the poster may as well do that himself which basically cuts out all the skilled element of the vacancy. I would trial a few for a day each on firewood production guaging their productivity and that will soon sort the wheat from the chaff.

Yes, many people who are not linked to bureaucracy know that circa. 25% MC is perfect to burn and when compared to the 'scientists' graphs, shows only a marginal difference in kWh produced compared to 20% MC. After factoring in forced drying etc. to achieve the required sub 20% MC, in reality particulate emissions are no less when burning wood at 20% MC. Stubby, all our noise is falling upon deaf ears, we've just got to lap it up or some make just keep their fingers crossed - it's a simplistic as that.

In their eyes what do you see the difference as?