chilli

Poplar left in rings seems never to dry in the middle & the cambium stays wet & mushy even longer! But, get it split & stacked in a draughty shed & it'll be ready for next winter.

There, I told you so. Well done Stephen.

Have you seen the price of hay?

This may seem too simple but would a squirt of WD do it?

Another done.

My log stores are very similar Dave, except I use corrugated plastic roofing sheets on top. I can then have a 6" overhang at the front & guttering at the back if wanted. Both help keep water from dripping in. Did one last spring, a big 'un, which came in at a few pennies under £1000.00, including a concrete base. Holds 6m3. Their neighbours saw it & had me build a simpler one, 1.4 m3, free standing on block paved driveway. I hate it when log stores are only 2 feet high & especially when the roof slopes forward & sends drips down my neck when I'm stacking. (yes, I do that for all my customers).

I've sold about 90 m3 poplar logs this winter with people specifying it on repeat orders & several preferring it to beech.

Very sad news. I'm not a climber but a lot of you guys are & I recognise what a potentially dangerous job you have. Please, take care.

Josh, the bridge job was at Fowlmere School, March 2009. The Jarrah was second hand & came with screws & nails poking out. Had to grind them off. Just been with Frank Cantle of Shires to look at all the trees opposite the school following a report by Cliff Freed. Seems like you're enjoying sweden.

I would say an African hardwood, Iroko or one similar. Certainly not Elm, Beech or Willow! Although on looking again, I see characteristics of Jarrah, an exceedingly tough & heavy Australian hardwood. Used some building a bridge over a pond a couple of years ago & bust no end of drill bits.

There's a thread on this I raised 22.2.10 titled "after half life".

December was hectic. I noticed customers stocking up earlier than usual, ie before they had actually taken the last piece indoors! January has been quiet but I have picked up several new customers, all through word of mouth as I don't advertise anywhere. Two of these (unconnected) said they were fed up with trying to burn wet ash from their usual suppliers & a third said they had been quoted a 3 weeks hence delivery date by their usual man. I guess he's waiting on a roundwood delivery so will also be shifting wet logs soon.

My 61 (still running great) was made April 1992.

Just to give a bit of balance I'll post my experience of Riko. From much earlier threads on here & from Riko's website I had more or less decided on what I wanted. Took the trouble to go to APF & look at the machine & try it out. Spoke with Chris & other guys. Ordered the A11V. I realized the machine was very heavy & would be almost impossible to move around on anything other than level concrete. So, went for the 'trailer' as well. 'Trailer' is a bit misleading since it's not a flat bed. It's really just an A frame with the tow hitch at the top point & wheels on the two bottom points of the A. The splitter sits in between the wheels; pivots up for moving around which is dead easy even for a 9 stone weakling like me & pivots down in your chosen position for splitting. In my case, the splitter nevers leaves the 'trailer'. I tow it to my yard & then can move it around the yard (grass, mud, sawdust & gravel) with ease. So, it's not another trailer taking up space, it's a very easy to use means of moving around a heavy piece of kit. I've had nothing but good service from Chris (whilst he was there) & from Jim. Riko may be struggling a bit at the moment but I can't imagine they wont sort it out.

Google going self employed. Set up direct debit for NI. Buy a columnar book from stationers. Log in all receipts & expenditure. Keep all receipts & invoices. Use a local accountant. Claim for all expenses. Learn lessons the hard way. Good luck.

Get paid for it !!! Last year I spent one whole day in my village doing all the "can you do a little job for me Chris" jobs, a whole frigging day & no pay. What did I get; a cheers mate & a pint & a half of lager! One guy borrowed my tools & when I went to collect them I finished up with a truck load of waste.....that I loaded. Sometimes you godda be hard & say I need to earn or, if you don't, you are just going to be ripped off.

Old wardrobe free from friends, neighbours or recycling centre. Drill out ventilation holes & add a small electric 'trickle' heater. Stand in garage, shed etc. Cheap & effective.

A contract of insurance is one of uberimei fidei(sp??)..a "contract of the utmost good faith". An insurer offering liability cover is well entitled to know whether the potential client has a previous conviction & can take a view on its relevance. Just suppose the conviction was for a breach of health & safety laws, what might that say about the client.

Crikey, only two sharpens from a file! My first thought is that the file isn't dull, just clagged up with filings.

Sorry to de-rail but this made me think of when, on holiday in Cyprus, I slipped off a rock & my left foot went down onto a sea urchin. Beautiful pattern of embedded spikes in the sole & instep. The locals prescribed vinegar & brandy. The former in a washing up bowl for my foot & the latter down my throat. It was 7 months before the last of the spikes came out.

I asked a customer if they needed kindling with the log order but "no, I've been cutting up some decking". Be very careful with burning treated timber, I said. "it's ok, I've painted it" was his reply!!!!

Sometimes I think we worry too much about the quality of wood we sell. Don't get me wrong, I hate to sell anything that isn't dry, doesn't look & feel good & will throw anything not quite right to one side for my own fire. Most customers just want 'wood'. Surely, we all hear the comment "it all burns". I've sold lots of 12 month seasoned poplar & without exception, everyone has loved it. Open fires & burners alike. One chap came back for 4 loads providing it was the same wood! I have 6 month seasoned beech & took a bag (free) to two of my regulars & said "try this & tell me what you think". One said, "great, burns lovely" & promptly pre-ordered & paid for 2 loads. The other said "it's lovely Chris" but " can we have our usual stuff". So, I took them a load of pop, cedar, goat & crack willow. They were delighted, paid cash with a tip & will probably tell their friends what a nice chap I am. It's all about managing customer satisfaction & remembering that what we think they need or should have is not necessarily what will please them. I aim to be open & honest & tell customers what the wood is & how long it has been split & under cover.I can't recall ever receiving a complaint.

The big local supplier just south of Cambridge is charging £120 for 2m3 but it's certainly not seasoned. Still very sappy. Nonetheless, he delivered more loads last weekend than I did in the whole of November but two of his customers have told me they wont be going back for more.

If you leave the wood in lengths, the chances are that it will still be too wet in the middle to sell next winter. Cut into rings now & stack on pallets, bark against bark (with the cut sides vertical). no need to cover. When you start a new row, leave a gap so that cut faces do not touch. Wind flow is king as someone else said. Come the autumn, you'll have dry rings to split.

Yes, that's my experience. 'Spitty' woods need to be properly seasoned & then..problem gone.