arboriculturist

These will be close to Somerset but I would always pay for carrier delivery as that works best for us. Thanks.

Our usual bare rooted hedging whips supplier has decided to wind things up. Having used him for years I have never needed to look elsewhere. I need a few thousand and time is getting on. Any recommendations of reliable wholesale suppliers would be most welcome. Oh and also green spirals and 90cm canes needed.

Fair enough. Yes the Makita is a reasonable although the wheel chain tensioner is Mickey Mouse. For £126 I paid for the bare saw, already having batteries made it a good buy. Not very refined like a Stihl though. Do you run the Stihl PM3 full chisel 3/8 chain on a 14" bar? I was thinking 12" bar may be better suited?

Ok - but what happened to the MAKITA DUC353Z 35CM you bought ?

Categorically - WET BASIS and a Meter that measures on a WET BASIS will cost you circa. £300.

Still measures on 'Dry basis' though.

"You need to define accuracy. If the log has been drying the reason you split it is so the meter measures the wettest (worst case). Not having a meter I cannot experiment but I imagine one could get a feel for the average moisture content by comparing an outside reading as well? " Yes I agree, as you said - "You need to define accuracy. " Mine was a general comment and was based on comparing pin test centre log with oven dry. There is a correlation between the outside MC and centre MC which can give a reasonable overall MC of the log. But there are of course a lot of variables that effect this, species, time of year, hardwood, softwood, size of log, length of time drying. I have developed my own data for this which works well as an indication of the MC of a batch of drying timber. All this said, basically time and airflow is your friend when it comes to lowering the MC of timber, as has been pointed out by many many times. Most people by now know how long they need to store their timber and under what conditions to achieve sub. 20% MC.

There is no shortcut, which is why I decided that the price of the correct meter is just another business expense to be absorbed. We all know that splitting a log in 1/2 and just testing the middle of a log is an inaccurate way of assessing the true MC of a piece of timber, but that is what we are all told to do and know one is interested to hear otherwise. For those who oven dry test, my point is clearly reinforced. I find it easier just to tow the line sometimes and this is sadly one of those occasions.

Approaching £300 to buy a MM that can be programmed to measure wwb - bearing in mind you will be lucky to find any supplier whatsoever in the UK that has a clue what you are talking about. Don't bother contacting Woodsure.

A 35X has as you know land and engine drive. It also has the 2 stage clutch - 1st for PTO and then wheels engage.

The finished product always depends on the length of branch length removed and the operative. I would never advocate use of pole pruners from ground, but a reduction of 1.5m from our tallest steps working off level ground with the Jamesons, I think few would notice a difference in method, if the brief was for 1.5m.

It looks more like an overgrown shrub - I don't think any tree surgeon would consider hiring a platform and I would think it could be done with the Jamesons fairly well.

Yes good idea, Yandles not far - thanks.

So basically if you are serious about milling slabs it sounds like you you need a setup like in Jewson's timber yard to maximise floor space and optimise storage area. Basically RSJ stantion racking similar to this, but far heavier steel, that can be accessed with the forklift, holds a lot of stickered products and is very accessible. 10 levels each side, I would think when full that would hold a serious stock of highly valuable slabs!

Priceless info. Thanks for those wise words and what you say rings true what you know about the Joinery sector. You have set me on the right road for sure. We get some unusual lumps of timber in all shapes and sizes and I loath to convert some of it into firewood. Got a 30" dia 2.5m length of Cherry just arrived - perhaps set it to one side for now.

I have generally asked local joiners I know, but perhaps a good strategy is to Google further afield regional joiners and furniture makers with your stock list and some photos? Thanks.

Rough Hewn and Squaredy will be advising shortly I suspect - they will say it as it is 😀

Got 4 gun barrel straight 2.5m x 18" lengths of Ash sawlogs here. Knowone ever seems interested in buying slabs of Ash but they are so good that I am considering milling then all at 55mm, stickering up for 18 months and seeing if anyone is interested when the country has settled down. Any comments appreciated.

I oven dry to get the definitive MC of air dried logs. It is possible to ' keep logs at 20% at this time of year' depending on your region and topography of the site where you store. Basically a far larger earlier investment in timber, a much longer lead time, timber dried to below 20% considerably earlier than you have ever done before, good air circulation throughout Autumn / winter and meticulous process management from start to finish. By no stretch of the imagination is this an easy task and never a 100% guarantee of success. IMO you will always be sailing close to the wind, however hard you work at things, just need to remain positive.

Woodsure 122.40 Registration Fee 385.20 Annual audit 232.80 Point of sale checks (up to 2000m3 annual fee) Non-compliance fee should a supplier be reported or found to be not complying, likely to be circa. 130 - 230. Fixed penalty for non-compliance 300.

Perhaps fortunately, they do actually ask you to do the splitting !

When Woodsure test your logs they split up to 5 in half with an axe and test the centre of each log to give an average MC.

" 1400-2000 cube air drying is a nightmare whereas buying in or kiln drying can be more "just in time". How have others found it? " At the end of the day, I think you just have to ask yourself - Is this business giving me the lifestyle I would like. It sounds to me as though there is significant pressure and stress running that setup and unless you have run a firewood business on the scale you have it's difficult for others to appreciate what you are going through on a daily basis. Then you have the new legislation coming online, which will be in May for you. There are a few things I would never do for what its worth, as these are areas that significant labour costs are incurred at every step: Make and bag kindling Deliver firewood in bulk bags Bag any size of bag of whatever product Deliver anything less than 1m3 of firewood to a customer I expect you already take a lot of trouble in grading timber as it is delivered, so when it hits the processors the last thing you ever, ever have to do is think about a chainsaw. Our timber only ever gets moved by machine 3 times from roundwood delivery to ending up on the delivery vehicle. I don't think any of us will ever crack the problem of getting the spec. roundwood delivered that we all require. It sounds like you have worked long and hard on your business and perhaps you enjoy the lifestyle it provides.

Bought in roundwood can look nothing like what you are processing there and there is of course more to production than just timber passing through a processor, which has been mulled over numerous times on the Forum. If you step out your truck, everything is serviced, fueled up, sharp, your processor starts up, you have spare fuel on site and everything is in place ready to go with the right timber and no breakdowns, no nails/stone etc. in the timber, of course you can process 25 - 30 in a given 8 hour day. Any business that processes firewood, forgetting about delivery, for every 100 hours they step out side their front door, most would be astounded what percentage of those 100 hours they are not actually processing m3 of timber, which is why knowone can maintain 25m3 in an 8 hour day unless everything they have is gunbarrel straight large diameter, which would then give them time within those 8 hours to attend to the 101 other tasks required to be carried out relating to production. Others will disagree, which I why I rest my case now or this will become boring.

I am quantifying on the whole practical aspects of their business. Those 2 factors of moving timber and the quality of roundwood delivered looks like what is contributing to their large labour input. We have 2 of the most efficient processors going and even with those with timber as it is, we could not achieve anywhere near 1400m3 in 60 days. That is with no roundwood movement and not ever having to touch the timber. Huge amounts of labour input required in the physical tasks required in production and managing the production / storage infrastructure This is why margins are very slim as GDH has illustrated well. Anyone who leads you to believe otherwise is deluding themselves.