Saw-sick Steve

Yeh, poor old you you, must be a bugger eating what you want and never putting weight on. My heart bleeds. I used to have problems with cold fingers and toes when I was younger and less, ahem, corpulent. Not that I'm fat now () but a few xtra pounds certainly helps keeping warm - which is just as well seeing as I'll probably be the size of a small planet after Xmas. I don't get cold toes and never need gloves outside of sawing. Giving up smoking helped as well, though that contributes a bit to the weight gain. Its joint pain I get more nowadays, occasional tennis elbow and an inflamed knee joint - particularly in cold weather. Arthritis? Rheumatism? Rheumatoid Arthritis? Never knew the differences in these three - never needed to! Something that happened to old people, not me.

What happened to the possums? D.O.C used to 'control' them down south due to the damage they inflicted on the indigenous flora and fauna - bleedin' Crim imports!

Cheers for the info guys. Andy, I realise the difference between home-grown and imported charcoal as thats what I use and what got me wondering. Its the same old story of converting Joe Public to the virtures of using it and paying the extra. And theres the rub. If the Government banned the importation of all ''unsustainable'' charcoal, then yer man in the street would switch to home produced and just pay the difference - but thats highly unlikely to happen. Quckthorn, the scenario you describe is the one I'm familiar with, namely failure despite all the conditions being favourable. I can source the wood for free, have all the gear needed 'cept a kiln, and it seems a great way to use coppice oak without having to wait a couple of years for it to season for logs. It would also nicely fill a gap in spring when log orders start drying up. The downsides are that the land is very steep, access is a problem, and I'm not getting any younger! The thought of dragging a large ring kiln up and down a 1in3 slope doesn't exactly fill me with joy, so I like the sound of using several 45 gallon oil drums. Maybe I'll try a couple of trial burns and see what happens. I'd like to think that with a quality, home produced, eco-friendly product people would be prepared to pay a bit extra, like with logs - but we all know how fickle the Great British Public can be.

Right, who does it, who's done it, what are the pros and cons? I've been tempted to dabble, but have been put off by stories of failure. Is there a viable market, and is it cost efficient? Worth doing, or is firewood more lucrative? Anyone?

Nice. I'm so envious. Coppicing - on the flat! Its all 1 in 3 slopes down here.

Ok, what if the 'phone wire to a neighboring property crosses a woodland you own? If no clearance work has ever been undertaken by the landowner before. and the neighbour has been having problems, who's responsibility is it to clear the line - bearing in mind that BT are trying to duck any responsibility?

Quick to season but like many fast growing species is quite light when dry. That said, makes a very attractive log and burns fine - so much so that I'm thinking of planting some for firewood.

Who knows, you might even get to shift some of that green 'seasoned' beech of yours.

Some, but not many. The ones you'll see at this time of year on logs etc. such as Peacock, Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell overwinter as adults, Had loads of queen wasps on timber this year, sods law getting stung in December. Still, looking at the forecast, the next few days should settle them down a bit.

And what sort of music do you listen to, to justify this outlay Frank? Lets have some naims, sorry, names...

Bingo! Got it in one. Definitely put there by human hand.

Badger, by the look of it, and I'd put money on it not getting up there under its own steam.

But how many could you get in a level Transit load?

Good for you. Now all you have to do is convince the worlds leading religions that the way to ensure the survival of mankind is NOT to indulge in a population arms race in the battle for souls. Best of luck with that...

Oops, got me Larch round the wrong way, meant to have Hybrid as not very durable and Jap as better but variable. European would still be tops IMO. Boatbuilders do use Jap if they can't get Euro. Jap and hybrid are more resistant to canker if I remember correctly, so more widely planted now. Alder is like Elm, good if immersed but not so good in that wet / dry zone. If it was, you'd see a lot more of it used for fencing down here - its one of the few things we can grow straight!

Larch, (as i'm sure you know) comes in 3 main types. Japanese is poor for durability, Hybrid a bit better but variable depending on how it grew, and European which is far superior but hard to get now. It's what we use for classic boat building, i.e ' larch on oak' build, and the species everyone refers to when they cite Larch as being a durable timber. Oak is good if you just use the heartwood, but as you've already suggested, Sweet Chestnut (cleved, for the posts at least) would be my choice - strong, easy to work and more durable than the crap that passes for tanalised these days.

15 minutes? Nah, 30 surely! Everyone remembers Hancocks half-hour. Incidentally, is it just me or does anyone else think that Robin should be wearing ice skates?

+1 here Cheap as chips and hard wearing. Keeping warm is all about layers, doesn't have to be expensive.

Same here, loads of crap floating around, people I turned away last season 'phoning up in August or even July! About out of seasoned hardwood now, had people ringing asking how much wood I have left, do they need to buy now, can I put some back for them etc... Just goes to show if you've a quality product, word will out. Must be doing summat right!

Thats terrible.... Surely a Chimney Swift. Then it would have been a Swift service! Coat, get. etc...

Have to agree with you Andy. War is so far distanced from so many people now that it does just seem like a video game. The Americans disproportionate use of force in order to bring one of their 'own' back contrasts sharply with their almost total disregard for not just the enemy, but also non-combatant, casualties. I had a school friend killed in the Falklands 'Conflict', and later worked with a Welsh guy who was there in the Royal Marines. He told me a really interesting tale relating to the voyage back after the war. ' The Sun ' had arranged to fly out some special 'Victory Ale' for the troops. This was the paper famous for its 'Gotcha' headline and all round Argi-bashing. Now these troops had met the Argi conscripts after the surrender and surprisingly found them to be similar to them in many ways. They also felt some sympathy for them, badly equipped , poorly trained and reluctant to be there. They certainly didn't recognise the picture ' the Sun ' was painting of them. So they decided that ' The Sun ' could stick its beer, and refused to drink it. Apparently, a fair bit of it is still at the bottom of the Atlantic. This bloke had killed some poor sod in the war, and the effect on him was life changing. He left the Marines as soon as he could and later went into the care industry, looking after disabled kids on adventure holidays. He said that unless you'd experienced war first hand, you should never send anyone to one. Its easy to make gung ho comments from behind a keyboard, but an altogether different thing to experience first hand - something a few people would do well to remember.

Yes, it is unfeasibly large...

Thats my only exposure to 'oss logging, and why I never took it seriously before. At various woodland shows over the years I've watched these demos and thought ''I could carry that out!''. Perhaps people invest so much time and money into their animals that they're reluctant to injure them? By the way, on that subject I passed a sign yesterday that said ''Horse Breaking''. Never realised you could do that with horses, but if you want me to ask for any spares - feel free!

Theres no place for horse logging in this day and age.

The horticultural grade stuff is really thin, you can rip it with yer bare hands! The 4m Terram we use is always the black stuff, its thin and easier to unroll and manhandle, but you wouldn't call it flimsy.