Rob Stringer

Recently bought a second hand nissan terrano which i've mostly been very pleased with. Whilst wheel-spinning on a muddy woodland track today I found that despite being in 4wd low box, only the back wheels were spinning:sad:. Does anyone have any ideas on what the problem could be? Looks like i'll have trouble extracting anything (and this is july!) until I get it sorted. Thanks, Rob S

You wont need much kit to get started, the margins aren't huge so best keep it simple to start with. Kilns ive used have been 6-8' diameter and 3-5' high, usually producing around 40-80 3 kg bags per burn. Bigger kilns are more hassle to move, but obviously if its too small the output could be disappointing. Hand tools- big shovel to unload the kiln, little coal shovel to fill the bags, a good respirator/mask is essential (and overalls/old clothes for unloading the kiln). I mostly use material thats a bit small for firewood so it just needs cutting to a length that'll fit in the kiln and when I put bigger stuff in I use a firewood processor with the conveyor dropping material straight into the kiln (filling a kiln with material split by hand would be a lot of work). Riddles are easy enough to make, you'll probably end up with a lot of fines falling through the grid so worth looking into markets for this (horticultural charcoal etc.) as you'll have bulk bags of it piling up otherwise. There are people making charcoal on a bigger scale using expensive retort kilns and mechanised bagging plant but you'll need to be selling a lot of charcoal to justify the cost.

Is there any reason why the load-handler could not be attached to the ramp tail-gate of a trailer, maybe with a bit of tinkering? Ive never seen one in action so dont know, but it would save the extra weight&cost of a tipping trailer.

i'm sure logosol will actually supply the m7 with an 880 so surely they must have suitable bars&chains for it as well?

Indeed it would:001_rolleyes:!

Its designed to take up to around 2 ft diameter logs but the log bed is around 2 ft off the ground so loading bigger stuff (especially heavy stuff like oak) on can be an issue unless you can make a good loading ramp or the timber is stacked on bearers. So when I say small sawlogs I mean anything you can get on the log bed without difficulty, once its on its easy to use (not tiring) and the results are good (smooth finish, accurate measurements etc.). Ive mostly been milling bigger hardwoods (minimum 12" but often 18-24" diameter oak,sweet chestnut,beech,ash) hence the issues ive had, been using the timber for outdoor furniture and selling the odd slab locally.

yes, I use an M7 and once its set up its easy to use (compared to standard chainsaw milling kit) and the results are good, especially good for large amounts of relatively small sawlogs which you can just roll on and mill up with the chainsaw at a comfortable height on the guide-rail. Logosol also supply the narrow kerf bars&chains which should (I think)fit an 880 (I use them on a 660).

Both the same then throw in a few extra for good measure. half load-300 logs (around a cubic metre in my trailer), full load-600 logs

Yes, I do a rough count rather than sell in cubic metres at the moment as loads of people sell 0.6-0.7 m3 bulk bags as a cubic metre making an actual m3 look expensive. Also, some people expect the load to be a cubic metre stacked tight against their wall rather than loose in a trailer!

Notwithstanding this I have a question if I may ............................... Where has all the protests been for the last 5 years, maybe more, whilst the forest at Guildford has been gradually dismantled each winter. Do you know that if you walk to the far side of the once forest at the M25 fence it has been totally cleared and you can see the car park on the far side adjacent to the A3!!!. It is criminal and the only people profiting from it is no doubt the peoples pocketing their Christmas bonus from the sale of the wood each year!!. Please just look at some aerial photos from say 7 years ago and ones from today there are hundreds and I mean hundreds of trees cut down and why?. It all started with some signs on a small heather area saying do not walk on the Heathers, next came a sign saying the non native trees were being cleared to make way for the heathers and butterflies, would you believe. /QUOTE] I live around Gulldford and drive up the A3 all the time and i'm not sure what you're talking about. Theres been a lot of heathland restoration work locally which involves clearing areas of birch scrub etc. It sounds like this is what you're talking about but the land will have far more protection as SSSI heathland than the scrubby birch etc. which has been replacing it on the poor soils where its found.

I think thats a different grade (46 rather than 32) from what is specified for the processor, the only bio 32 hydraulic oil i've found on the internet has been really expensive. Only got the machine recently so modifying it (as suggested above) is beyond my ability.

hello all, does anyone know of a decent bio-hydraulic oil (iso 32) thats reasonably priced? It'd be for use with a firewood processor that needs regular topping up (chainsaw lubricated from hydraulic oil tank) hence my interest in the price! Thanks, Rob S

The government are trying to change the law to enable up to 100% of the forestry estate to be sold off in the next 10 years or so.

Around World war II i.e 60-70 years ago quite possibly. I am cutting areas like this and the hazel comes back fine as long as its deer fenced (leaving the odd whip on the stool can help as you say to reduce the shock to the stool). The big stuff makes good firewood&charcoal (and deer fence posts) but not much else. This sort of overstood coppice is pretty hard work, might be worth seeing if the local FC can help with any grants.

Agree with this. The worst case scenario, large areas could be bought up by developers waiting for planning laws to be relaxed (dont need a felling licence if you've got planning permission).

Also the South of England hedgelaying society have regular-ish training days for members (dont remember it being expensive to join, I used to go a few years back)which are mostly held in Sussex and there is a Sussex&Surrey coppice group website link: http://coppicegroup.wordpress.com/ .

'Traditional woodland crafts' and 'Encycopaedia of green woodworking' by Raymond Tabor have a lot of info about coppicing and coppice products,techniques etc. There is also a BTCV woodlands handbook with a lot of practical info about coppicing.

I think coppice is nearly always best cut low. The regrowth will be better&straighter and the stool&root-system will get larger (particularly with hazel). It'd need cutting on a short rotation if coppiced/pollarded higher up as the branch union will be weak and felling chestnut post&rail or firewood size poles at above chest height would be less than ideal!

Not that i've found, tenax type temporary deer fencing does the job very well, you can re-use it 2-3 times and you'll have plenty of chestnut posts to support it. Laying brash over stools,dead-hedging etc. is a waste of time in my opinion and very ineffective.

I use a logosol m7 sawmill. pros- good results (accurate and good finish),no strain when milling as chainsaw is cranked along guide-rail at a comfortable working height. cons-hassle to transport&set-up. Also,though the log bed is designed to take up to 500 kg timber and up to 60 cm diameter logs it can be a bit challenging getting anything close to this onto the log bed in the first place! Large logs first need slabbing with a big mill lsg or alaskan mill to make handling more practical (which can also be the case with much more expensive band-saw mills).