renewablejohn

Farmwood My felling head is a kesla 19G which replaces my standard grapple head on the forwarding trailer crane but can be used on a 360 if needed. I use on the forwarding trailer crane as you can do a higher first cut due to the reverse boom on the kesla crane. Its basically a cutting blade attached to a grapple claw but cuts upto 8 inches ideal for tree thinning. We have a heizohack 6-300 with a G30 screen which is ideal for the job as it fits on the 3 point link so ideal for getting in the woods. The bigger machines are on wheeled trailers which then involves dragging trees to roadside. The ring bark approx 6 inch is taken off before the sap starts to rise (upto the end of feb) and we can harvest the first cut by Sept of the first year taking out the tops. The remaining tree is harvested June to August the following year depending on weather. ie only harvest on dry days. Where not concerned with bulk biomass collection for power stations but quality dry biomass production which will store over the winter without going mouldy.

You could ring bark the trees then harvest as required once they have dried in situ. The downside is the increased fire risk of tinder dried trees. I first saw the method used at an Austrian biomass plant very successfully. I now use the technique using a felling head and heizohack chipper for biomass harvesting in woodlands that need thinning.

If we have a problem in the polytunnels we use an ultraviolet light with live electric mesh grid. Always a pleasing sound when they get fried. Only time we can sit outside is when we light the chimnea. Copied the idea of using one to repel mosquitoes while on holiday in Holland at a dutch pub next to the dykes. Could not move for mosquitoes but they kept 3 chimneas going around the pub tables which really kept the mosquitoes away allowing a pleasant drink.

Heizohack are quality machines but you do need 1000 rpm pto to drive them and a tractor with a good bit of grunt. My machine is smaller than the 5-400 but still eats trees with ease. Most of my timber is thinnings and brash extracted within the forest so 3 point link was more important than having a larger trailed machine

I hire out my heizohack with operator but Lancashire to Gatwick is a bit to far. Cost for my little chipper with operator would be £250 per day plus fuel plus vat.

I use a hazohack chipper with a built in either G30 or G50 screen. Excellent chipper which consistently gives quality samples which comply with the specs.

Would certainly be interested as your just down the road from me and I could supply IBC containers so that you did not have to chip ( I have my own G30 spec chipper) Regular collection could be arranged. PM me with contact details

Bit more detail would be useful like location, moisture content, tonnes available, price, spec G30 G50 etc etc. At the right price and specs I could easily use 10,000 tonnes per year.

The more efficient wood boilers use woodchip of less than 20% which I achieve by chipping split logs that are already at that moisture content although it does cause more wear on the chipper. As a compromise boilers have been designed to accept upto 35% moisture which we achieve by storing trees undercover for 6 months prior to chipping. Finally power stations which are very inefficient accept moisture content upto 55% which virtually any green tree will be less than. Piling chip in a heap to dry it is a recipe for spontaneous combustion. Normal method of drying chip commercially is adaption of equipment used for corn drying but generally its better to chip the wood at the right moisture content rather than trying to dry chip.

Depends on your boiler specs. The more efficient the boiler generally the drier the timber needs to be. I have stuck to G30 spec rather than keep changing sieves but vary the moisture content depending on boiler with moisture content of 25% 35% or 55%. I only do virgin timber as I value my chipper and it does not like nails or laminated timber. If its not virgin then it also needs testing to verify the non virgin element which affects the Roc's payments.

Had a tree in the village drop blocking the road with PC plod already on site. Asked whether they needed assistance clearing the road and was told in no uncertain manner that they had a list of official tree surgeons to clear the roads and they already had it in hand with the tree surgeon expected in the next 10 minutes. Due to plods attitude I left and went for a brew. An hour later I went back still no sign of the tree surgeon with loads of very angry drivers and PC plod still adamant that I could not shift the tree. The surgeon eventually turned up after one and a half hours and the traffic was flowing again within 5 minutes. Makes you wonder whether its still worth doing a good deed for the day.

Also noticed the decline in suitable kindling material from the construction industry. Have enough stock for this year but thinking long term of using large diameter poplar rings in excess of 12 inch which is to big for my palax log processor. Anybody know of a suitable kindling machine that can auto load precut rings and make into kindling upto 9 inch long.

Well we have a nice hazel coppice growing well as part of the planting including a "Royal" oak.

Get down to A & E pronto with if possible a cutting of the plant for them to identify and test. It may look like Aloe Vera but some are deadly and should be treated with respect.

We use a lot in our solar kilns and it makes excellent firewood if dried correctly but dont tell everyone otherwise we may have to start paying for it.

I doubt whether they have any sort of kiln drying. I presume the boiler they refer to is an Austrian Herz which is designed to accept G30-G50 spec woodchip upto a moisture content of 35%. Quite an easy spec to achieve without any drying plant.

Catweazel Could you please explain a bit more on what system you put in to achieve a figure of £10 per tonne. I looked into various methods prior to going down the solar kiln route. To dry to 10% which I needed for production of wood pellets was going to cost 20% of sales value which is far higher than your figures.

Sorry I am showing my age. We used to call a rear loader a backactor and then along came McConnel with his rear 3pt digger and it became a backactor. Similar to this is what I have but mine looks more like a normal front end loader. rear end loader | eBay

So long as PTO works ideal tractor for running a log processor and splitter

I have an old back actor which I use for ringing big stuff. I have removed the muck bucket and replaced with two short chains and shackles. Had thought of putting a grab on but that would be extra weight and I do use it for dragging wood as well as lifting bundles.

Alycidon As previously stated the return water temperature is totally irrelevant in our case as the flow is controlled by a Laddomat valve which is specifically designed to maintain a high boiler temperature. details below. Laddomat 21 At the time of installation Esse had no idea about the benefits of fitting a Laddomat type valve, by the sounds of it something similar is now fitted as standard. The tarring was not in the boiler but around the oven flueways primarily due to the use of normal seasoned timber. Now we know to use exceptionally dry timber we no longer have the problem. As for the Lohberger its just down to engineering quality and a little hindsight like easy access to flueways for cleaning.

Stereo I have made specific tools for cleaning the Esse which might help you. To clean between the ovens I have a length of 15mm plastic water pipe taped to a hoover nozzle which will reach from the front to the back of the stove. The second tool is an 18 inch stick with a 2 foot length of plug hole chain attached specifically for gap between the right had edge of the oven and the outer wall of the cooker. Finally I use a 3 foot length of hoover pipe to clean the rear air passage behind the oven. I agree with your comments on the hot plate tappings which are very badly engineered given that they have to be undone every time the stove needs to be swept which on average for us is every 3 months.

I could let you have a banana shape door as I now have two so long as you dont mind red. As for the Esse stove we have learnt to live with it. We now only use timber with moisture content around 15%. We hoover out all the flues every 3 months so the ovens remain hot.We now only use the boiler for DHW with excess to a thermal store. The main central heating is now provided by a Dunsley Yorkshire boiler in the living room. Eventually we will replace the Esse with a Lohberger but I cannot justify the cost at present.

Sorry but I do not buy this. Our stove was fitted with a Laddomat unit when it was installed as I knew of the potential problem of low boiler temperatures making the stove inefficient which applies to all boiler stoves and is not unique to Esse. The problem with the Esse and tar build up was in the oven flueways whilst burning seasoned timber of 20-30% moisture content at the time recommended fuel for the Esse. Only after a campaign by disgruntled Esse owners in a "Country" magazine did Esse finally accept the stove needed fuel of less than 20% MC to operate without any tarring issues in the oven flueways and now comes with recommended moisture content of less than 20%. As for the crack in the door this is due to the cast iron door being banana shaped which was self evident when a spirit level was placed along the door edge showing a gap of 4mm in the centre of the door. A bodge of additional rope packing cured the problem but does not make me impressed with engineering quality.

Not quite Fastrac but my Forward Control MB Trac with Heizohack chipper and demountable chipbox fits the bill. Will also turn on a sixpence unlike the fastrac having both crab steer and coordinated steer. I needed something to extract biomass from forest brash and thats what I came up with.