Farmer Tom

The best part is having approx. three years' supply of wood. Saves me from being dependent on the quality of the next 'seasoned' delivery. -The downside is when a delivery comes (usually 10 cube) I need to have it tipped outside the barn for me to hand-throw it inside. I wish I'd held on to the bale elevator.....

The biggest used to be used to store square hay bales. Each bay holds 12-15 cube. There are a couple of extras here which hold 3 cube and 4 cube ( nearly) Then there's the disused greenhouse which hold another 4 cube and a couple of 'temporaries' for stuff I haven't split yet. And finally, the store in the barn, which is my 'snowed-in' reserve. That last one's an old photo, been emptied and refilled twice since then. I do burn rather a lot though... Phew! I need a pint.....

OK, Beech it is. went out to my Beech store:- I didn't see the dots beneath the bark, but that explains why there's no coral spot. sycamore wouldn't have lasted, would have gone to mush.

That top one looks a right killer.

Yep, Sycamore. I'm surprised though that it's not covered in that orange coral spot fungus.

Forgot to say, for the worst gnarly stuff I place it on the ground and cut to within 2-3 inches of the soil, making several cuts to get narrow (3-4 inch wide) disks then turn it over and insert saw into the cuts, cutting upwards to avoid contact with the ground.

I've got one of those, but without the moveable bits.....yet. Every day's a school day. Thanks Maria.

Hi Mull, great photo. Is that a man-made structure across the loch? ...didn't know you had pyramids...

Well Horse Chestnut is ok, not great. It's quite light when seasoned, so you'll be reloading the stove more often. It burns well though, just not much heat from it per unit volume. I'd rate it somewhere between Willow (poor) and Sycamore(good). I burn quite a lot of it. One thing to watch is not to let it stand on the ground, like willow and Syc, it'll soak up any water available and go to mush. Currently, I'm burning oil (gets coat.....)

We don't really have a lot to go on with. Too light for Oak or Hawthorne. It could even be Lawson's cypress or Leylandii just looking at the logs. Alder would have gone reddish-orange shortly after being cut and never really goes that white again. Smell. How's it smell? No chance of a leaf or two? A twig or bud from the brash?

I'd buy all the big stuff. Transport would be the killer though......

Aye well I've just ordered 10 cube to be delivered sometime in the next two or three months and which I expect to be burning in two or three years' time. But then I have the luxury of storage space......

And it came from an area with pretty good air quality, judging by the lichen growth.

Those buds would be sticky. no? Not the greatest firewood, bit light when seasoned.... I've just found out that 'Edit post' doesn't work.....

Well that last one's Aesculus_hippocastanum, Horse Chestnut.

These things look lovely, and when complete are a good, reasonably waterproof logstore. Trouble is, when you need to break into one you'll need to move the whole thing into covered storeage. Otherwise it becomes a wet heap. Probably ok for fresh wood in the first year of seasoning, before moving to a proper shed. I wouldn't like to depend upon it for tonight's firewood.

I think a lot depends upon your budget. DIY using a condenser tumble drier is a good idea ( just leave the door open?) LIDL or ALDI 400W dehumidifier for around £40-50 IIRC. Maybe push the boat out and look at a small air conditioning unit or air-sourced heat pump. All need mains though.

A cool 20. Maple Manor (19–21 points) The Taj Mahal of sheds, this edifice is larger than most single-family homes (true) and more comfortable than the average recreational vehicle. (maybe) Before gaining admission to this 5-star wood palace, all logs must meet strict guidelines for length, shape, and quality. ( nah. just be made of wood). I guess having sticks that 'resemble the creature from Alien, only scarier' cost me some points, but hey, I do hedge maintenance too... Bit of fun, made me smile:001_smile:

We originally had a 30kW oil central heating and domestic hot water system; gravity-fed DHW and pumped CH. We used to go through 900l of oil in six weeks. Three years ago we added a Stratford TF90B boiler stove. We replaced the DHW tank with a twin-coil one, retained the oil system mainly as it was, but added another pump for the woodstove, plumbing it straight into the radiator circuit as though it was another radiator, complete with a couple of non-return valves on the pumped circuits so that the wood burner doesn't act as a radiator when the oil's on or vice-versa. The boilerstove has its own primary thermosyphon circuit, as does the oil burner. There's a thermostat on the wood pump to prevent it from running if its primary return isn't up to temperature (set at 40C). I had intended to implement a flue thermostat to shut the oil down automatically if the woodburner was on, but never really got this working. We now have the oil on a timer, as we let the woodburner burn down overnight. We now go through 12-15 cube of logs and 1000l of oil a year. I've got quite a lot of water in this system, 28mm, 22mm, 15mm piping, 13 rads, and stone walls so we have quite a thermal mass, bit like a distributed thermal store.

I'm in.

Isn't that a bit late, getting into nesting season?

I guess the seller's got hundreds like it.

Yeah, dig a hole, fill it wih water and some fool will throw their hard-earned into it.

HaHa, I love the 404 living up to its name 'Page not found'. I've got a flat top Aarrow Stratford boiler stove and give my logs a last couple of hours on the top to just get that last wee bit of moisture out. I avoid the ring on the top as I should be able to cook on that, and it makes the logs smell as I'm cooking them. Apart from the ring the rest is guaranteed not to go above 100C (unless it boils dry). I always let the stove run down before going to bed as the oil kicks in overnight....usually run out of logs by then anyway.

Haud on, Haud on, he said 'with lemonade'. Grants is fine......