Farmer Tom

Of course, if you've got a lot of pallets...... Building a shed from recycled wooden pallets

lanber, If the pallets are marked as HT, or HT DB they'll be fine. These are Heat Treated, and/or De-Barked. The ones marked MB shouldn't be burnt as they've been treated with Methyl Bromide, nasty stuff. Mind you these make good log stores.

OK, here's mine. This is just my home store for domestic use. It used to be a hayshed to store the old-fashioned rectangular bales. We no longer use those and the haylage bales don't need to go inside. Trouble is, the design is so open that it needs something in there to stop the winter storms blowing it apart from the inside. I tend to wall up the south-western sides with logs. I've separated the shed into three internal bays. Each can hold around 10 cubic meters and is raised by about three pallets to let the air circulate beneath. I've been heating my home by wood for eighteen months so far and reckon I'm using 15 cube per year. I try to buy in two bays worth of cut 'ready to burn' timber and store it in the shed for a year before burning it. Once it's been there a year I move the driest stuff to another barn which doesn't have so much airflow so is ok as a store but no good for seasoning. The middle section gives me a sheltered chopping area (when it's not full of logs that is).

Stagnant water is ok. I have a load of Alder growing in a hedge in a dip between two fields, and some more in an old flax dam. Don't get more stagnant than that..... Really good firewood too, if a little on the light side.

and maybe not as far off as that:- cv34 16 day weather forecast

Might seem a bit odd, but I presume you're not expecting to get 5kW out of a 5kW multifuel stove. Those figures are normally based upon burning anthracite, so burning wood would give say 2.5-3 kW? My Aarrow stove (Stratford 90) actually says ( from memory) 30kW burning Anthracite. Also with wood at approx. 3.5-4 kWh per kilogram, a sustained 5kW would require you to be burning just under 2 kg per hour.

And remember there's a world of difference between trying to use properly seasoned logs and green stuff. The heat goes to evaporating the water first. - Google Latent Heat of Evaporation. It takes 2257 kJ to evaporate a kilogram of water. That heat then goes up the flue as steam. BTW, What colour is your glass? if it's going black then the problem is damp logs for sure. As an experiment you could try burning heatlogs, which have a guaranteed low moisture content ( the reconstituted wood ones, not the waxy ones).

Went to bed around 01:00 this morning. It was 13C outside, warmer than the daytime in the Summer. My bathroom window was open, room was full of confused moths.

Ha, funny that. about two hours ago I was taking the remains of an old Ash trunk out of a hedge. Wire clearly obvious going in one side and out the other. Trying to judge it just right so I cut between the wires... ...then I hit a stone inside the trunk....

I reckon Treemon is quite correct not to disclose his trading figures on a public internet forum. The data he's given is a good indication of the scale of his business, the figures should only be disclosed in private to those genuinely interested in buying his business. Otherwise, for example, his existing customers may decide his margin's too great and go elswhere, his competitors may find a way to underbid him; and as to what happens if his wife finds out the real figures........

Had to check the date there. Nope not April 1st. Obviously being sold by someone who's never used a chopping block. Mind you, thirty quid for a cubic foot of timber and three legs I'm in the wrong business

Aye, but there's nothing so comforting as that wee window with the flames behind it and nothing so utterly sad and miserable as that same wee window when the fire's not there.

I may have mentioned that my garden got a bit out of control, so I kept these especially for tonight.......the Holly and the Ivy........

Just had a look at what's lined up for tonight. I'll be burning my usual eclectic mixture of Ash, Oak, Sycamore, Willow, Elder:001_tt2:, Buddleia and Privet. The Buddleia and Privet are around three-four inches thick, garden 'got away from me' a bit...... Got a big Arrow too, the TF90B, but 'only' eleven rads, currently burning a heaped barrowload per day.

Well, you can get RH and temperature history here:- Great Britain history - WeatherOnline

Hi Corylus, I have the same problem. Relative humidity here regularly over 90%. I found this calculator, ok aimed at US cabinet makers, which should allow you to work out the best ( theoretical) you can get. Wood Equilibrium Moisture Content Calculator from Wood Workers Source.com

As a variant of number 2) Swing as before, but aim so that the maul just misses the chopping block and the stuck log hits the side of it. The maul's momentum then carrries ot out of the log.......in theory

Just been down there. Still going strong. I got a copy of last year's pricelist and they have Alnus Glutinosa 40-60 cm 36p Alnus Cordata 60-90 cm 46p Acer Campestre 60-90 cm 26p All bare rooted, not sure of minimum quantities etc. Hope this helps, Tom and yes, I can just see them from my house..........

Horse Chestnut? Yes it's very light when properly dry, so burns away too fast. Very fragile/brittle trees, prone to dropping branches, don't be tempted to go climbing them.

I also found this link. Beech Grove Nursery, wholesale in northern ireland However the website doesn't seem to have been updated in quite a while. It's quite near me, might even be able to see it from my house; so I'm surprised I haven't heard about it before. I'll take a dander over there in a couple of days and report back..... Oh, and I was going to add field maple to the list. Seems to do OK where I am. Tom

Agree Alder would be a good choice. It's the traditional tree for wet ground. Also grows quite fast. Willow should also do well. Neither could be considered a great firewood, too fast-growing and hence too light when dry. burn away too fast/need reloading too often. Ash might still do in these conditions. You could try a mixture and crop the best as they get to the right size, or use the faster growing to tide you over 'til the good stuff's ready. BTW, You didn't mention how far into the future you want the firewood; remember the old addage about 'planting trees for your grandchildren'. I'm in my fifties, so giving up on planting anything slower growing than Ash.

Strimming the grass is a good idea. Grass will block air movement and encourage mould. Personally I use sleepers then 2-3 layers of pallets to prevent the pallets sinking into the ground/grass.

Err, should have read 9v not 15. No idea where I got 15 from....