Catweazle

I didn't notice any smell, I think it's on the dead half of an overstood coppiced sweet chestnut. I took it two years ago so it's a bit hazy now.

I haven't seen this in the thread yet; I think it's Mycena Alcalina

Correct, it's to stop deer and rabbits from eating the new stems. I have deerproof fence around 1/2 the site, the other half is slowly getting a thick deadhedge as I clear the logging trails.

She's been tied to more bedposts than David Blunketts dog !

Good news then, I'll just stick a bit of chicken wire around it and keep my fingers crossed

I recently had to fell a large Hornbeam because it had developed a large split in the main trunk. I cut it to near ground level. I know that Hornbeam coppices well, so I'm hoping this tree will live on as a coppice. It might be a bit old to survive its first cut, but worth a go. Normally a coppiced tree would have the stems cut at an angle to allow the rain to run off and avoid rot, but this tree is a bit big for one angled cut and the centre is already rotten. I'm thinking of cutting angles all around the perimeter to shed the water away from the rotten centre, is there something I can do to stop the centre rot from spreading ? Maybe cut it out and hammer a hormbeam plug into the hole ? Any ideas ?

....you take your wife out for a drink and when you open your wallet to pay a load of sawdust falls out on the bar....

A 346xp it is then, thanks for the advice.

I think I'm OK with the 1.6km limit, will need to measure carefully, but it doesn't look as if there are many advantages to agri. The tax is cheap anyway and I wouldn't want to use a quad that won't pass an MOT - they're dangerous enough as it is.

I need a second saw, my 029 / 18" is big, old and awkward to use at the near ground level needed for coppice work. Good for cutting firewood though. I've read loads of reviews on here and the main contenders seem to be; MS260 346xp 357xp I read that the 372xp is excellent, would it be a too much saw ? I think a 15" or smaller bar would be fine, maximum tree size 12" and I've always got the 029 for anything bigger. The saw needs to be small enough to use in the tight spaces between chestnut coppice stems, weight is not as important as compactness, the Huskys look to have a long low design which might be best. Any opinions appreciated, Thanks.

I know they're exempt road tax, are there other benefits to an agri registered vehicle ? I've been looking at large quads for extracting coppice, some are agri registered. From what I can see this allows a short road trip, which means that as I live less than a mile from my woods I could store it at home nice and safe. Do agri vehicles get cheap insurance ?

On second thoughts, forget the windmill and plant a Leylandii or six

I hope the council build a huge windmill there instead

The point is that with a public footpath on site he won't be able to put up fences and hedges.

Apart from the insurance and maintenance issues you will also have the annoyance factors where Joe Public has access; People will drop litter, light fires against your trees, hang little bags of dogpoo on branches by the path (?), pick or dig up your bluebells primroses and wild daffs, carve up the paths with mountain or motor bikes, try out their new penknives by cutting long lines or rude words into your trees, have parties and leave dozens of empty beercans behind, use it as a gay meeting place, use it as a toilet, steal anything you leave there overnight, visit with air-rifles and shoot anything that sings, poach rabbits, dump their building rubbish, set snares, set up improvised bondage equipment between close trees (!) and much more besides. I've had all these problems in a wood with no public footpaths, thankfully now cured by the simple addition of signs and a few strategically placed fences and deadhedges.

I cut the old hornbeam down today. The rot was down to below ground level, and the whole middle of the trunk is spalted, but that wasn't the problem, it had been rotting for years. The sign that things were moving in a bad way was the sharp fresh wood splinters pushing out from the side of the trunk at right angles to the lean, although the centre was rotten 2/3 of the outside was sound, just not enough of it left to support the tree. The trunk was rapidly splitting in half. I paced it out on the ground at 60ft, most of the branches were on one side and it landed on them, they shattered. I was pleased that it landed exactly where I wanted it to and didn't damage any other trees, I was a bit worried that it might land on the branches and roll, but they snapped off like matchsticks. I cut off the roots on one side first to leave a flat vertical surface, then cut out the notch from there. In truth my saw was a bit too small at 18" and I had to do a bit from both sides, it came out well though. The tree started to creak alarmingly after the notch and it didn't take much more cutting before she went over. Very different from my usual coppiced chestnut, hopefully I'll never have to cut down a tree of that size again. As suggested in this thread, I'm going to plant three or four replacements around the stump and choose the best two to leave in a few years. Thanks All.

When I worked shifts as a maintenance electrician I used to finish at 3am. One of the guys I worked with had a mini 1275gt with a very noisy exhaust and his wife complained that he was waking her up in the early hours as he got home, he decided to try to get home quietly. He took a run up towards his house and cut the engine, intending to roll quietly up the drive. Unfortunately he had servo brakes on the mini which hardly worked with the engine off. Result was him driving through the garage goor at 3.30am. It woke his wife up.

I just found this short video whilst looking on youtube for magirus; [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edyYjlMjmLU&feature=related]YouTube - Kais Magirus Deutz Jupiter: Extreme Steilabfahrt[/ame] That's an amazing lorry.

I have a 10 page management plan prepared by the Forestry Commission for a wood in Kent. I can email it to you.

Thanks All, it's cracked further so it's coming down. There are plenty more there, I'm going to keep the trunk intact and roll it out of the way then prop it up against an earth bank so the beetles can continue eating it.

I didn't notice it until you pointed it out, I can see I've a lot to learn.

The split's been open for a while. The wood's started to go silver grey, that takes at least a year on sweet chestnut.

Maybe in 40 years time the ridiculous "wrap-em-up-in-cotton-wool-government-knows-best" attitude will have been consigned to the bin marked "Stupid Ideas". Wishful thinking perhaps.

If you pollarded it, it would make a nice site for a low treehouse in another 40 years.

Would it survive being pollarded ? I have a few hornbeam pollards already, but none are rotten like this one.