Marko

Worth a listen whilst it is still on iplayer... BBC - BBC Radio 4 Programmes - Costing the Earth, A Burning Solution

It does not matter if it is a pile of asbestos or leylandii that has been fly tipped it is still costly in time, money or both to remove it. Only yesterday we had two transit loads of woodchip tipped in a field gate by some kind sole. As usual it is the idiots giving everyone a bad name but it does need sorting out.

David, Transport costs are such a killer for me so the best I can offer is that if you can't sell it I will shift the lot for free.

'Dowty' fittings were the older type - about 1.25 inches diameter. The appliance end has a threaded fitting with four alloy lugs on it. The newer "quick fit" links are like a bigger version of an airline and are supposed to make life easier by just pushing together but can be an absolute pig if there is any residual pressure in either side of the hydraulics. Either way, you can get an adapter made up for a couple of quid so it is not a show stopper whatever mix of fittings you end up with.

...... or making briquettes in a low tech home made press

1) Clean tidy well sign written vehicle... If people see you out and about they will remember your name. 2) Cheap and cheerful website so people can find your telephone number when they need you. If you have chosen a memorable trading name then any of the search engines will deliver the goods 24 x 7 x 365. Flyers can be a cost effective short term boost if things are slack but not really a long term fix. I would certainly not waste money on any newspaper or magazine advertising - very very expensive and people cannot find your number once it is in the bin.

David, Could you give me a price for 10 tonnes delivered to Hesketh Bank. Ta.

We have had a small Villager for 10+ years and also a new Morso pictured left. (I had the log rack made to measure at the local smithy). The Morso is just a fantastic bit of kit and really knocks some serious heat out. There is hardly any ash at all and it burns far less wood than the much smaller Villager. It is amazingly efficient. Follow the links for a good list of manufacturers of wood stoves and wood boilers

I gave up on the local Toyota dealer after the rivets on what was left of the front pads trashed the front discs on my Colorado.....4 days after it had been 'serviced'. They were very sheepish about it all and put it right but it was the last time I set foot in the place. Local independent garage has never let me down.

I wondered if anyone else had seen this on ebay According to my calculations it works out at £21 per m3 ex works but around £47 a cube if they ship it to your door. So if anyone is passing Latvia with an empty truck....

Thanks for all the suggestions and views. I eventually went for the JCB 403. Whilst many of the suggestions have much more functionality, I couldn't justify the (significant) cost difference. Had the 403 for about a month now and it has proved invaluable both around the yard and on site. Thanks again for all your inputs.

Jojam. There are many wire mesh stillages about but we went for this design mainly because: Will flat pack when not in use!!!!! Fit on standard pallets so the bit that gets damaged can easily be replaced Galvanised rather than plated. Can be opened up to tip contents Heavy duty construction Will stack 4 high (but we only do 2 high) The cages just clip around the edges of the pallets - internal dimensions are 60cm x 93cm x 114cm: 0.64 cubic meter. An important point for us was that this volume of wet hardwood is about the maximum weight that our small tractors can handle safely. We bought the stillages in second hand from a dealer in Europe. Plenty of knocks bumps and bends but they are rock solid and will see me out. They cost around £40 each by the time vat and transport had been added so are not cheap but have been a good buy for us.

Looks great. I like tidy!

Good find. I like that!

Variation on the above theme... galvanised wire cages. Best thing we ever bought! Wood gets cut and split as soon as possible, is stacked into cages and from then on is so easy to season and handle. Some (on a deposit) are even delivered directly to customers garages.

Yes - something to do when we are snowed in!

Taking note of the above posts, changes now made to both the Firewood Sellers Guide and Firewood Buyers Guide.

Links to the poems now deleted of the Buyers Guide . This is a well made point - we need to clear the decks and start again. Sellers Guide Taking note of the parallel thread on moisture content I have replaced "Use a moisture meter to demonstrate the moisture content of a random log on delivery." with "New customers may be wary of the term "seasoned" as it is not a measure of how well the wood will burn. Use a moisture meter to demonstrate the moisture content of a random log on delivery. Best practice would suggest 20% or under to be ideal." If we are capturing best practice then it will be what we aspire to do rather than necessarily what we currently do - what does a great service look like?

A first pass is now on http://www.carbonneutralfuel.com/firewood-sellers-guide.html Constructive suggestions as to what should / should not be included and also links to any reference material that Sellers would find useful.

I am sure there are more avenues to explore but thiis might be a useful starting point http://www.carbonneutralfuel.com/documents/wm_biofuel_capital_grant_workshop_09.pdf

Sounds like a fine idea!

"I have 16 years experience in firewood, 8 of those as running it as a business, 9 yrs surfing the web to further my knowledge and i would never claim to know enough about the product as it is so full of variables".... Fantastic! Exactly the sort of experience that can really contribute. So how do we, as an industry, offer practical guidance to the first time firewood buyer? The objecctive is a guide to help the first time buyer understand that it is far from an exact science and the variables are many and significant. Many posts across the firewood forum have talked about picking up customers who have had a bad experience in one way or another. You are the good guys! but how do we arm a potential customer with a broad enough understanding of the impact of these variables to avoid the bad guys in the first place? I am happy to take on board any criticism but I had really hoped for constructive suggestions as to what should be in the guide from people such as yourself who have far more experience of the industry and its customers. However, "i do not have the luxury of owning my own farm..." LUXURY??? Perhaps you might stop and think why there is so much grade 1 arable land available to store wood on! What I do for a living, how much wood I sell and how much land I have available is of little consequence to the debate (other than to belittle). The point of this thread was meant to be a generic guide that took note of customer concerns and collated the agreed best practice in the industry. To my mind this forum is the very best place to gather it. If the concensus is that it is a bad idea then so be it. If anyone thinks it is something worth having then please lets discuss your constructive suggestions as to what the wording should actually be.

Firewoodman - Please remember I volunteered the guide as a starter for 10 and requested input and comments from those with much more experience than I to suggest what should be added or changed. To move it forward.... "you have taken it upon yourself to write the recommendations and yet you do not seem to follow them...." ????? As it happens and as explained earlier, we only sell wood that has seasoned 4-5 years so we do infact exceed this. Again this is more to do with stock control but, as it happens exceeds the suggested seasoning time. "can you tell me you never run out of seasoned wood?" I can assure you that we run out of seasoned wood most years. This seasons stock sold out before Christmas. Whilst it might be tempting to dip into next seasons supply we don't. Again we are only a small outfit and I humbly request and accept input from all the guys out there with much more experience. "tell us exactly your processing and drying method and time that you use to classify wood as 2-3 yr seasoned, my idea of the wood seasoning is from the moment it is split not from when it ceased to be a standing tree." Fully agree with your definition. Would you be happy with a change in the guuide that suggests 1-2 years from when the wood is split?

All on my own in the fields today I managed to tip over a digger - I know the drill, sit tight etc etc but as the thing was heading into a ditch I chose to get out as it rolled - exit sharp left. A real close call but as I stood there watching the thing slowly settle I noticed the Lancs Air ambulance was directly overhead. As it was flying so low I bet they saw the whole thing but hey, it is a seriously good service that can be at the site of an accident before/as it happens. Worth every penny. As it happens I recently did CS31 at the same location as the incident at the start of this thread and can vouch for the thoroghness of the safety briefing especially in respect of AA landing sites and nearest A&E. Just shows how important it is.

Would 18 months to 2 years be a more acceptable suggestion?