Catweazle
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Everything posted by Catweazle
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Yes I have. It burns like any other damp wood, ie. OK if you throw it onto a blazing fire, but difficult to light.
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Not much call for the smaller stuff, unless you can find someone who makes walking sticks.
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This harvest will belong to the council, but after that who knows ? Long-term it could work, especially with the rates the prices are going up. I read somewhere that power companies are buying up woodland, but I think this one is a bit small for them to be bothered with.
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If the new owner could make £625 a year from it then that's 2.5%, which is more than you'll get from your average savings account. More importantly, though, is what could happen to your ££££ in the bank. If the £ crashes or high inflation arrives then at least the land should hold some value. There are also tax advantages to owning commercial ( as opposed to amenity ) woodland, inheritance tax is zero, there is no tax to pay on unimproved woodland produce, and you can offset operating losses against operating profits from another source. I bought woodland in early 2006 because I wanted something solid to invest some money into, commodities market would probably have been better, but woodland is safe and solid, and your investment literally grows every year. I have a woodfired heating system too, which is a bonus.
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It could be a hobby owner who just wants to walk in the woods, or the owner of adjoining open land who wants a wood to raise game birds for formal shoots, or even a paintball club. The prices have been rising steadily since 2005, driven I think by fears of fuel and food supply problems. Small plots of arable land are also going up sharply as the grow-your-own market expands faster than the land supply. Apparently landowners are not selling, expecting improved subsidies soon, and frankly lacking anywhere safer to put their money.
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Hornbeam seems a bit ignored here, it burns long and hot. Ash is great, of course, but it doesn't burn green like the myths say. Sweet Chestnut spits like an angry Mexican, but makes great kindling
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An interesting day, shame about the early rain though. Heres a pic of Mick showing Plippy a different route up the tree;
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It's the other side of the road to Cobham Hall, boarding school for young ladies of breeding ( or just with lots of money ). Off the A2 head for Cobham, past the Woodland Trust car park, it's the gate on the right where the woods end and the orchard begins.
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I'm a believer in the theory of evolution, but what the hell was that tree evolving to protect itself against ?
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I have a shovel, sneakily covered in a thin layer of set concrete for superior ballistics and tree-gripping power. I was a bit worried on how to get it down again, then I remembered shotguns.
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Afraid not, too many trees at the moment, hoping to cut 3-4 acres soon though. JJs clays is only a short drive though, near Bluewater - perhaps that would be worth a visit some time.
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There's a pikey somewhere trying to tarmac a drive with a chainsaw.
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Plippy is organising, but I'll be opening the gate at about 7am to do some shooting, so any time after that is fine by me.
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That'll be me then
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Bring along anything you like, I own the land so no worries there. The entrance gate gets a bit muddy sometimes, most cars will be fine but if you're worried there is a proper carpark in the woodland trust section 150yds from my gate, or you can park in Cobham which isn't much further. Plippy mentioned that some people might be interested in tree carving, I've got some big (36"+ dia) lumps of sweet chestnut and hornbeam if anyone wants to have a go, no need to worry about mess, the bugs will eat it all.
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chestnut stakes treatment
Catweazle replied to Ben Ballard's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
Sweet Chestnut doesn't need treating, it's the most rot-resistant wood you could hope for. Peeling helps the post stay tight in the hole as the bark goes first. Some people dip the top of a post in PVA to help prevent splitting, I don't think it is a common practice. Chestnut doesn't absorb stains or preservatives well, so even if you do decide to dip it you won't get good penetration, I have experimented with water and spirit based stains and none I tried went deeper than 1/2 mm into the sides or 5mm into the bottom. I had one test piece soaking in creosote for months and the creosote just wiped off it leaving white wood behind. -
This is a tree I had in mind; Not sure how tall it is, 120ft perhaps ?
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I just showed my lad that, apparently it's an "Epic Fail"
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I should be OK on mine, it has the Lister 1600cc twin, at a massive 8.2hp , but a lot of the smaller 2 wheel drives have that 800cc single. I confess to being a bit sceptical of these HP figures, I wonder if they were measured or just relate to CC of the engine in some archaic form because they feel more powerful than the figures suggest.
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I've thought of fixing a splitter to the back of mine, so I can still load with the front. Mine has no bucket, it has a loading arm with forks on instead for stacking. It can lift a full dumpy bag off the ground by the loop handles so is quite handy. Many old dumpers have 800cc aircooled Lister diesels and they only make about 4hp according to specs, although to be honest they feel like they are more powerful, how much power do you need to run a decent splitter ?
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Where's Best for Hydraulics? And Which Ones?
Catweazle replied to BigRedDog's topic in Firewood forum
I recently replaced some (stolen) 1/2" hydraulics with 3/8" on my tipper / loader. The 3/8" kit was a fair bit cheaper and no slower, probably due to the pump not being big enough to use 1/2" fully. So if you decide to go 1/2" make sure that your pump has enough flow to make use of it. -
I enjoyed seeing that tree dismantled, even though I'm not a tree surgeon myself I found it very interesting. Does it take a while to get that kind of understanding between the guy in the tree and the one on the ground ? Or can experienced people just work together straight away ?
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The average gas bill for January will, apparently, be £227 . Extra £70 on every gas bill as cold snap bites - Telegraph Maybe worth reminding the next people who complain that firewood has gone up a bit.
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Woodlands 4x4 has closed (near Sevenoaks))
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Here are a couple of short videos of my local Pay-N-Play . It's really well run. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCWsavxRGAM&feature=related]YouTube - woodlands 4x4 march 2009 incuding the bomhole blits (PART 1/2)[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv60Y4hKJPs&feature=related]YouTube - woodlands 4x4 march 2009 incuding the bomhole blits (PART 2/2)[/ame]
