chestnut

i would have thought that a fan at each end of the container (one to suck air in and the other to let it out) would work ok i know that you can get tents that do exactly that - they were originally designed to keep moisture out the upholstery of classic cars - but i have used them to dry furniture that had been caustic dipped - and it works quite well

we have a very old holm oak tree in our woods - but it has never propagated afaik

welcome to the forum looking after a small woodland would certainly qualify as a lifestyle change from your office job good luck with it

i quote a price for a load (to include delivery and stacking) i don't have a tipping trailer - so have to unload by hand anyway, so putting them in the log shed for the customer is no big deal really - besides many of my regulars help with the unloading - as they like to have a chat and a catch up - as i have been delivering to them for quite a few years if i didn't want to make a delivery for any reason - like if somebody was taking the mick (by not wanting to pay the full price or having an unreasonable site to stack the logs etc) - i would just suggest to them that they look elsewhere for their logs in future

i always stack em too

we have a 5 acre chestnut copse - but it is much more mature than your one we make fence posts and rails - but it is hard work and not that profitable - compared to selling it as logs there are always people looking for chestnut though - have you had a look in woodlots to see who is advertising for timber wanted? fencing contractors are always looking for good timber - but tbh - your stuff looks a big thin and not straight enough we also sell to yurt makers - they want the thinner stuff and will travel miles to cut the right material there is money to be made in making stuff from the greenwood, if you are that way inclined - trellis work, sheep hurdles, summer houses, shingles etc etc chestnut makes great firewood - but it does need a long time to season (we season our stuff for about 4 years) - and it does spit, so is best for wood burners. if you fancy a visit to hampshire - you would be more than welcome to pop in and have a look around - my father could give you plenty of helpful tips and might even show you how to work with the greenwood (if you were interested)

burn it

i usually do apples and pears in jan / feb damson has already been done cherries and plums are done in summer

try here http://www.veoliaenvironmentalservices.co.uk/hampshire/pages/rar_facilities.asp

we measure ours by the barrow load too and if people come to load and collect themselves - they have to measure in the same way - as there are only so many logs that will go into a barrow - and any that fall off don't count

hmm - interesting question this response is purely speculative - and really me babbling out aloud i can look at this from two monetary perspectives you could take a punt on cheap woodland - which is currently virus free - and just hope that it stays that way - but if it does become infected and the whole lot has to be cleared - what would that area of land be worth then? and what would you do with it? and how much would that cost? etc etc what impact will mass woodland clearing have on the local / rural economy? if the cheap woodland stays virus free - would it hold it's value or increase it? how are the prices comparing/differing - from scotland, wales southern regions? is it more expensive in scotland? are the prices rising up north? if you think that the highlands might miss any viral spread - then an investment north of the border might be seen as canny and could be financially rewarding - in a worst cause scenario, assuming that the loss of woodland in the south totally devastates the rural landscape and the islands timber industry etc etc - any woodland areas free from any virus could possibly have more worth - or would it? if the spread of viral infections could potentially wipe out thousands of hectares of mainland forests/woodlands - and if there was no way of stopping it - and if i really really wanted to own a substantial chunk of woodland - then i think i would be tempted to buy in an area that had no signs of virus - like somewhere abroad - preferably with nice weather

ditto - fatal error message has been appearing all morning when i try to look at site - even playing up using google links

i will have a word with my father - we might be able to provide you with a place to offload your unwanted stuff gensteve might be interested too

we have a number of volunteers who help out in are little wood - and non of them are permitted to use a chainsaw as non have tickets or enough experience - as said one or two saws on the go in a specific area is more than enough we even have doubts about the ability of some of them using sharp hand tools too - which can be very dangerous if they are not used to using them but there is always plenty of work to do that does not involve saws and blades - like clearing, stacking, burning etc the trick is to organise the volunteers to utilise their abilities and to keep them happy - at the same time as keeping everybody on site safe we always limited the number of people on site - as too many bodies is a recipe for disaster - because you can't keep an eye on them all

i have to agree with what stephen blair wrote - very good post you also have to ask yourself what you would be doing if your boss said that he couldn't afford to keep you on - as good as you are - how easy will it be to find another secure job - in this current economic climate - and if you went self employed - would you actually earn as much over the long haul by all means ask for a pay rise - but don't expect one will just miraculously materialise

if only you had posted a few weeks ago - as we have just about finished laying a load - and you would have been most welcome to come along i don't think we have any more scheduled for this year now - but i will check when i go up the woods today - and will pm you if we are going to do anymore (i have a mate who lives in bath (weston area) and it is about an hour drive away)

it cracks me up when people advertise the price for "a load" but don't say what the load is we don't advertise - as such - just a few flyers put up in the local village shops nearby - but the size of the load is always printed with the price re your query 33bk - don't worry about what others are doing - just believe and trust in yourself and your product - and when the bandit has sold out of dry and seasoned and tries to offload green stuff - you'll be quids in we never panic or worry about trying to sell logs - as far as we are concerned - the logs are seasoned and dry - and the piles can sit there for years if need be (although i doubt that will ever happen even though we have loads )

sorry to hear of your loss

we always keep dead wood standing upright when it is cut - even the skinny bits - when kept vertical - no moisture gets into it - so we keep this and use it to start up our fires we build up a stack of dead/dry wood and get it going - as soon as it is hot we slowly feed with easy burning stuff - when it gets established - anything will burn on it - the trick it is feed the fire slowly - not to over stack it

ditto to the above i give discounts (or more like freeze yearly increases) for my very good regulars - the ones with more than one fire and burn much more than anybody else - these customers never ask for the discount - i offer it them (they then think that they are "special" and it makes them feel good and it guarantees that all important repeat business a pub certainly comes into that category - and not only will you get quicker repeat business - a pub is a very good place to go - ask for a trade - as everybody knows everybody a recommendation from the landlord of the local has got to be one of the best adverts that you could put out you don't need to get anything back in return ( like a discount on beer) the prospect of good word of mouth promotion should be enough of an incentive imho

some woods burn well even when green - like ash - so seasoning is almost irrelevant - sweet chestnut on the other hand (which is what we sell) needs a good 3 years of proper seasoning but if you left birch out to season for three years - it would have probably rotted away - or in the case of the laurel probably re-rooted itself if it's dry and it burns - sell it

i think timing on pruning really depends on why you are pruning in the first place - i am not talking crown lifts or reductions etc - but pruning for purpose are you pruning to increase fruit / flowers? to keep it in shape or to train it? to let in air / light and clear dead wood? to cut out disease? i think the motive for pruning really dictates when you do it - if you know what i mean general rule is to prune an early flowering trees and shrubs after flowering has finished as they flower on last years wood later flowering shrub species may flower on new wood - so benefit from a spring pruning (non stone) fruit trees benefit from being pruned lightly in summer and hard in winter stone fruits tend to be more susceptible to disease (esp silver leaf) so are best pruned in clean warm weather - but not when wet, windy or humid we prune our copse all year round - in fact we never seem to have a break from pruning

we use dead wood from chestnut - burns lovely and very easy to split into kindling sticks

i agree with comments already made - but just from another angle .... a local guy to me runs his home off of green waste material (small stuff not branches or anything) - he has a digestor thing set up - the green waste goes in and after three days it comes out as composted pellets (i think - as i haven't been down to see the set up) he is crying out for green stuff to digest - and as he creates way too much power for his needs - he gets paid to put it back on to the grid you could do with finding someone like that near you for bigger stuff - that the digestor can't take - the locals send their green waste to a local organic farmer - and he takes just about everything and turns it into organic fertiliser so it might be worth you doing a bit of research locally - to see if anybody in your area has the same sort of set ups - just as a thought

i have had loads from the hedgerows this year - and just about all of of it has been turned into booze:thumbup1: i have also turned lots of fruit and veg off the allotments into wine so far i have made or have brewing redcurrant wine gooseberry wine pea pod wine elderberry and bean wine damson wine elderberry wine blackberry wine mixed berry wine apple wine english hedgerow port - using sloes, damsons, elderberries, blackberries and raspberries also made blackberry cassis blackberry vodka raspberry vodka damson gin as we have had a bit of frost over the weekend - i shall be out this week picking rosehips (surprise surprise - they will be made into wine too ) might dig up a few parsnips too and get them fermenting