Alycidon

Bags need to be Ventilated otherwise your green logs will go mouldy and sweat rather than dry out in a vented bag. Unless you are putting kiln dried logs in them avoid bags with 4 solid sides. A

With a decent bag you can get several years out of them providing you keep them out of direct sunlight and you get them back from your punters. I still have a few I bought in 2010 from Bag Supplies, most though dont come back as people chop and change suppliers year to year or move away. A

My pension fund returned 9% on monies invested last year, you do get good years and bad though, usually is 3% - 5%. Suggest that you initially talk to your accountant, he/she will probably be able to advise and steer you to an appropriate professional. But you will only be able to draw 10% of the fund per year and this will be taxable, dont forget that you do get tax relief when you put money in so you cant have it both ways. A

Most decent stove shops could organise the glass for you, 4mm single sheets is the standard glass thickness, Some glass specialsts MAY have the appropriate glass, but they can be costly as they only deal in it occasionally. I know of no stove manufacturer that offers a conversion kit from single glased to double glased. If nothing else it could require retesting under CE regulations, A broken glass would usually lead to more heat being generated as the incoming air is being added to by air coming through the cracked glass. Heat output is usually controlled by the volume and dryness of the fuel going in these days. Stoves are set up for minimum emission and maximum efficiency, that means lots of air getting in. A

There was a commercial one for sale some years ago, basically it had a de limber mechanism to roll a log log through the machine, chainsaw to cut to length and splitter in one lump. I thought it was pretty slow. One other thing is that I doubt most teleporters would have the hydraulic capacity and the necessary oil cooling to run something like that continually. A

`You can usually get a container of kiln dried from Lithuania about 10 days after payment, not cheap but excellent quality. A

Plumbers blow lamp for 5 mins, before putting the kindling it should do the trick. An antidown draft cowl will help, the spinning cowl increases up draft, it does nothing much to prevent downdrafts especially in low wind situations. A

There is Chatfields who are near Bozeat in Northants who could probably handle it, he re tips my processor blades and always seems to have band saw blades in for sharpening. A

Certainly Wood sell a tall 1.6 cube bag that sounds like it might fit the bill. As a slight aside how is your customer going to handle the aforsaid filled bags, they will weight 500 kg or more each. A

I saw it happen last summer to a van next to me on a roundabout, eingine just ran away, white smoke everywhere, I just got out of the way as I did not want a bit of flywheel chasing me. A

Pulling a fully laden 2.7 tonnes gross trailer behind my Defender TD5 I would not want to be pulling any more than that thank you. Even a few more horses under a Disco TD5 does not make a whole lot of difference. A

Approx location ??. A

The stuff you have, offer it to Brackley first if its for sale, he asked first. I dont need any this year and probably have enough stock for next winter as well as most of mine is now imported but the name is not one I know, but could you pm me his contact details please as you never know what the pound will do against the Euro,. Thanks a

If you find some once you have had what you want let me know please, I am not to far from Npton but in another direction to you. Since Nick Channor packed up selling wholesale timber maybe 4 years ago I have failed to find any reliable suppliers. I have had 8 or 10 who say the right things, several of which I have ordered 4 x 25 ton from but to date no one has actually produced anything at all. Mind you as I only have a small processor I am limited in diameter to first thinning really and my store is across a grass field so deliveries May- Sept only. Currently I am buying imported KD and selling some air dried from our farm and the next door estate so we are OK for now at least, A

They have recently reduced the MC to 20% from 25%. Ironic really as all stove manufacturers want 16% max, I did put this to Helen Bentley - Fox the lady behind the scheme when it was launched some 5 years ago but to no effect. I did not join then and have still not today although I am a Hetas approved retailer, I felt that the quality standard was nowhere near where it should be. At the time the countries largest supplier of Kiln Dried logs who were one of the first to sign up were offering a moisture warranty of 25%. And as I think there was a sliding scale of charges depending on how much you sent out then money talks. Certainly for a small scale seller where margins are tight anyway there was no major upside in paying Woodsure so much per Cu M to frankly not do an awful lot that was usefull. A

Thanks for your inputs. A

Was not thinking of setting one up but looking at the maths involved as I compete on firewood with two companies with RHI supported kilns. One gets his wood for nothing as waste from his fencing business, the other buys in at about marker rates. So the cost of running the kiln is not covered by the RHI payments, far from it from what I think people are saying. So the only benefit is a fast conversion from green to ready to burn logs but as a cost higher that just letting them dry out naturally over time. This summer I did see some sort of boiler on a farm next to the M6 belching out smoke when the temperature that day was around 30 C, to far away to see what it was heating though. A

What is the payment received under the RHI scheme with regard to kilns drying firewood, for example a 20 foot container size kiln. Thanks A

Surprised its that much, my stoves dont run closed down or burn wood over about 10%. I get about a 1kg bag of suger volume out of 10m chimney. Suspect you must be burning solid fuel, wet wood or run the stove closed down for long periods, all will produce much increased soot levels. A

Been posting on FB re this issue. As many of you know I sell stoves so am potentially in the firing line. First up have a read here: http://www.stoveindustryalliance.com/airquality/ Stoves within designated smoke control areas have to conform to certain emissions requirements if burning wood, they are known as Defra exempt stoves. There are some PROPOSED EU regs scheduled to come forward in 2022 further tightening emissions and requiring an increase in minimum efficiencies from the current 65%. Already some manufacturers have stoves that exceed the 2022 requirements all be it mainly in the mid market and upper end price wise. These stoves are known as EcoDesign models are are pretty well all wood burners only. You will have read in the link above that an EcoDesign stove has 90% less emissions than an open fire and 80% or more less emissions than a stove designed only 10 years ago. However the Germans are all falling out with each other about this requirement as are other EU countries so its looking iffy over the other side of the water but here I feel it will come to be. So banning open fires frankly would do us all a good turn, they are a major cause of pollution even though you are not allowed to burn wood in one within a designated smoke control area. Its ironic that within such an area a garden bonfire is perfectly legal. But this is a guy flying a kite, no way will that go forward, the UK is in the forefront of stove design worldwide along with the Danes at Morso. A

No. its a stacked crate at 1.17 cu m, but this includes the volume of the pallet so its the shipped volume. Volume of wood on the pallet is about .95 cu m, loose it equates to roughly 1.5 cu m. A

Imported logs from reputable sources are now quite costly, Ash at around £110 for a stacked crate, 54 crates per container. Birch is about £106. Pound has dropped 22% against the Euro since pre brexit. Looking more sensible to process your own now. A

Does the cage over the splitting chamber not have a safety device on it to prevent access when operating the ram or have you disabled it. A

No, Tacho only and abide by drivers hours regs, no requirement for CPC for driver. I got pulled off the M6 a few years ago without a tacho, as it happened it was the Ministry training Police. Lucky to get off with a warning but had to fit tacho. Dont think things have changed but stand to be corrected maybe, I run an 8x5 GD model and can only just get two 1.2 cu m bags on, even then to get a pump truck on as well I have to use at least one Euro pallet and one 48x40. Ideally both should be the latter.

There are a hell of a lot of idiots in the firewood market. Peopel enter the market, chop prices and get some volume, then they realise that they are not making money which at the end of the day is teh object of the excercise, so they up their prices, and loose volume to anothe new marker entrant and so it goes around again. Best way forward is to work out who your competition is and ring them posing as a buyer and ask. What volume, what species, what moisture level and what price delivered and does that include VAT. (5%). Once you know what the others are then look at your overheads and see if you can compete on a like for like basis but there is not a lot of customer loyalty out there, they will change suppliers for £5. Dont forget that running a Landrover and trailer will cost you at least £1.50 a mile, there and back so that needs to be factored in. Try to arrange multidrop drop runs to cut transport costs . ( You would need a Tacho for L/Rover and trailer but not for a transit type van). A