Nick Watkins

Thanks, I knew it would be, I am just worried that it might be a bit heavy to be swinging for hours on end compared to the splitting Axe I currently have.

Hi, Has anyone come across a stockists of Gransfor Bruks in Surrey by any chance? I can't decide between the maul and the large splitting axe and wanted to "feel" them in the flesh before I part with my cash. Thanks.

I do that, cut it to an exact size I mean. I even have different drying piles for the odd shaped sized ones so they don't get mixed up with the perfectly cut stuff. Then again I have to have all the labels facing outwards when stuff gets put away in cupboards. Maybe I'm odd

Here's hoping, I dream about my tipper turning up somewhere for a service one day and getting a phone call from the Police/Dealer.

That would explain it, thanks.

I understand that Silver Birch being a hardwood has a high calorific value and therefore is good for burning, which is good news for me. As a hardwood then why is it that Silver Birch seems to rot so easily when it is still standing? To explain further I am felling a number of Silver Birch in a mixed environment, ash, Poplar, Oak etc. There seems to be a very large number of Silver Birch in the environment that have died and are rotting in situ, whereas the other species have very little casualties apart from the odd one. Is Silver Birch known to do this?

I'm voting for the shooting post. Get/borrow and air rifle and see how long it takes them to realise that landing there is a very bad idea.

Any good brands out there for the UK market? I have watched a few youtube clips of a us company that looked interesting but nothing over here.

Using a log burner with a boiler to heat the house via radiators or in this case a boat and provide domestic hot water is fairly straight forward. The difficulty seems to be when you want to combine with an existing boiler system. After recent building work in my house I did quite a bit of research on log burner boilers to be used as a top up system, i.e. plumb them into an existing boiler so that when you light the log burner and everything is up to temp that system takes control as the master and our oil fed boiler won't kick in. Perhaps I was over simplifying things in my mind but to me that seems and obvious way of doing things. Could I get an straight answer from any of the companies,er no. It seems there is a real lack of knowledge for retro fitting these systems, new installs with brand new boilers etc seems to be fine but where you want to keep costs down and retro fit nobody seems to have the skills. On wood fed boilers, I did have experience of a wood fed boiler for hot water and heating as the primary heating source and I have to say it was a nightmare. OK it was old and not very efficient but your life was ruled by the system and my wife constantly moaned about there not being hot water on demand. I know technology has moved on but my thoughts were at the time it would be fine if your retired but if you have a full time job and kids and live in the modern world then it's not very practical. Pushing a button and having a cup of tea while you wait for the water to heat up is a joy compared to going out into the rain, starting a fire and waiting what seemed and age before the water heated up. I ended up ripping the system out and putting in a oil fed boiler. That's why a think a linked system provides you with the best of both worlds would be interested to know if someone has successfully achieved this.

Thanks Mick

Mick, Out of interest, what is bad about Poplar? I know they burn quickly and spit and produce a larger quantity of ash but what is the heat like? I have access to many White Poplars some of which are going to be dropped and split. Is it worth the effort (they are free)? Thanks

Thanks, I thought there might not be an exact science to it. I do love a neat stack though!

Just out of interest, do you guys ring to a certain size so that your logs are all say 20cm in length or just ring up by eye and not worry about differing sizes? I guess I am asking is there an average size log to cover most customers needs?

My JCB is covered by Trafficmasters Trackstar, as I said very happy with it.

For the portable device i.e. not wired into a 12V battery I looked at this system http://www.carnetics.co.uk/downloads/brochure_asset.pdf (sorry if you not allowed to post links) Although I have not done this I was thinking of putting it onto my Ifor Tipper as mentioned because wiring a normal tracker into the battery would be a bit obvious due to the battery being on show. However concealing it on a tipper is a little difficult without welding extra bits onto it. I will dig out a link tonight for the system on my JCB.

I have a JCB Mini Digger, bought it new so wanted maximum protection and I therefore fitted a tracker (I got a reduction in my insurance for doing so also) It's an excellent system, on two occasions I have forgotten to call to tell them I am about to move my digger and within a mile of me moving it I get a call from the company to say my digger is on the move and did I know about it. From memory I paid about 350 to get it fitted and first year subs and then it's something like 120 sub each year after. I have heard that the thieves are now so paranoid about trackers that when they nick some plant the usual routine is to tow it away a short distance to safety, stash it and then if nobody comes to collect within a couple of days they know there is no tracker fitted so they safely drive it away again. I was recently looking for one for my new Ifor Williams Tipper and found there is one on the market that is the size of a box of ciggarettes, has it's own battery source and last's for about 2 years without charging, probably ideal for a chipper.

First post so hello to all. Having been done far too many times, Microdots IMO mean nothing to a thief. Yes they aid in recovery but the chances of you getting your gear back are slim at best. If dealers checked for microdots or whater marking each time a faulty saw or whatever came back or one had a service then the odds will improve greatly. Correct me if I am wrong but I don't believe this is the case. I recently had my Ifor Williams tipper stolen, amoing other things, having told the police who I believe arranged the theft, they promptly......................did nothing about it. It's probably left the country and is being used by someone unsuspecting who thought they were buying a second hand trailer. Ifor's are frame stamped and on the TER registered, dealers check them against the database each time they come into the workshop and still the theft of these are huge. Adding Microdots won't deter them further. I now ground anchor, use chain that can't be cropped and load everything into a sentri tool safe. My machine (JCB) has trakker fitted and still I sometime lay awake a night. I believe a far better resolution would be to divert some A10'S from Afghanistan and bomb each pikey yard until there are none left.