Marko

We need a like button! It is inspiring to see all these attempts - I need to pull my finger out.

Missing a chainsaw? Missing a chainsaw? Police want to reunite this stolen machinery with its rightful owners - Manchester Evening News

I really can't believe that the £90/acre subsidy payment is pushing land prices. A 1% return is hardly attention grabbing. Around here land prices are driven by speculators rather than 'armchair' farmers; it is rising population and the associated housing that is the big driver. With the average age of a UK farmer now just under 60 it is far better to sell for building (and willingly pay the capital gains tax) and get out. The age of farmers is significant; the big agri industry and the supermarkets are fast running out of people daft enough to 'production manage' the little bit in the middle (the bit with the massive risk) for the moderate reward they grant. They will have no option but to step in and buy the last remaining piece of the agri jigsaw then they will own the process from seed to supermarket shelf end to end. Oh yes supermarkets, those great big employers in every town throughout the country where the taxpayer props up their labour force with Tax Credits (not subsidies of course). Blame the farmers all you want but put your name down for an allotment if you want cheap food in the future.

If it can turn a profit before being left out for the scrap man that will be a start!

Me too!

My mate gave up on page 438 of google when he was looking to buy some grease nipples

The sharpening cost £8.99 +VAT and delivery for a 2ft dia blade (plus postage) 3D Tooling at Bolton. You can post them if you are not on their weekly round.

I've just had mine done as it was just starting to feel like it was becoming to much of a fight. It was back within a week and as good as new. No tips needed replacing so it was just a sharpen. I have always used a squirt of WD40 on a build up of resin. Seems to clear it fairly quickly. Petrol would probably work better but I can give it a douse of WD40 without dismantling (or stopping) it.

I may have not been clear: portability is good but, if the economics can only change if something in the equation gives then, for me, portability would be sacrificial. What Woodworks is proposing in the above post is perhaps the very compromise we need. Yes loading it onto a trailer for relocation rather than a 'park up and go' would be very acceptable.

If something in the equation has to give, I would forgo portability in exchange for longevity.

That's just the spec I need. I recall (possibly incorrectly) that TVI had an early Exeter and was getting around £150 a burn from a £15k asset so the first 100 burns were 'on the house' which ignores the not considerable amount of labour and materials. Hardly scientific but this suggests about 200 burns to break even. Problem was after around 50 burns his exeter was returned for major surgery. An update from any one using an Exeter or Hookway (or from the manufacturers) would be interesting. There does seem to be a demand for the spec SteveA has outlined but it does need to stack up on its own. Using grants to mask a loss maker can't be right.

We seem to concur that it is hard to see where the prices charged for small retorts comes from. Has anyone successfully built a decent one? If so was there a significant cost saving or are the prices justified? How many burns would you get out of a retort before it would need replacing? Is there a business case at all (even break even)? The thoughts of anyone who has given it a go would be very much appreciated.

I agree. Leave them out and bring them in on a dry day a week or two before needing them to burn.

Thought hazel and the new shoots really do look like hazel but shouldn't the older 3" plus stems be much darker?

No fert or mulch on these. I did try mulching with woodchip on some other willow and they really didn't like it; a fungus from the rotting chip attacked the base of the whip.

Photos hopefully attached this time

2017 update: Hybrid willow would normally be harvested now for biomass. It is a perfect size for making wood chunks but we will be leaving it to see what sort of logs it can produce by year six.

If there is one change on the horizon that will impact everyone it is a glypho ban. It will stop the industrialisation of farming in its tracks and hit smaller farmers alike. Yes, there may be mechanical alternatives for weed control (presently unaffordable to all but the biggest farms) but the cost to food production and yield is stark. By all means ban it but I don't think the public or politicians show any appreciation or acceptance of the step change in food prices that will follow and, if there isn't a worldwide ban, then we the consumer will still have exposure to residue from imports. The EU has a strict ban on GM yet everyone on here is consuming GM products daily. The fact that most people don't know that doesn't change the outcome; all it does is make a very uneven playing field for UK / EU agriculture.

2.55m is what I understand to be the maximum width of a load. I don't know if overhang is stipulated.

We make spruce and holly wreaths for 'the trade'. They go out blank and the florists then decorate them to their suit their own customer budgets and taste.

A view from the other side. Our neighbour who has had similar ongoing problems with smoke (not vapour) billowing out of his installation for hours on end. He didn't take the issue that seriously but is facing a massive bill for the physical cleanup of all the businesses and houses downwind of him. The Council and Defra are the least of his worries; one neighbour alone has lost £30k of fabric stock which now smells like it has been sourced from the bottom of a bonfire.

Just emailed them myself. That's me off the list.

I may not meet your definition of worker but I do have a good working coppice on the go!

Plenty of sensibly priced giant pumpkins available for collection if anyone fancies a go at large scale pumpkin carving. Current harvested stock is on Pumpkins For Sale | Big Pumpkins but there are many more £15 - £50 pumpkins still in the field. We also have a few Blue Hubbards available for you to compete with Ray Villafane:

Not really but the wait for the 'flame' to die back may be longer. Mixed wood chunks in the Pizza Oven are much easier to move around (when cooking) than logs and the flame dies back very quickly.