djbobbins

I've got a contact through my day job with a certified fuel testing lab, so I think it would be possible to get some calorific value tests done on different woods at different moisture contents. I would also be very interested in properly assessing the difference between burning green ash at eg 25% moisture and burning seasoned ash that has been dried down to e.g. 15% moisture and then allowed to soak up water to 25% again. I have a theory that latter would burn better since the water is driven off in a different way but no real way to prove my hunch without doing the tests. As far as different qualities and types of woods go, I agree that there ought to be a recognised guide (perhaps scientifically backed up?) of different burn qualities of different woods - e.g. speed of burn in addition to calorific value. Anyhow, I genuinely thought there might be interested in some form of accreditation scheme to give consumers a sense of confidence in their supplier, and hopefully to allow those legit suppliers with a quality product to get a bit better price for it. However from the paucity of replies I'm guessing I was wide of the mark!

I just wondered following on from discussion threads recently, would people be interested in some kind of national association of accredited firewood suppliers? If so, what would you want such an organisation to do? And what not to do? I was just thinking that as demand for logs / briquettes / pellets / chip grows, there will be a market for suppliers who customers have a degree of assurance won't be selling them green pop or leylandii... If needs be, what about doing some properly calibrated, independent lab approved tests on the calorific value of different wood types at different moisure contents, to be able to give customers a real idea of what they are getting? Does anyone reckon suppliers (and customers) would see any merit in the idea? Not sure what else could be provided but I am sure there must be some thoughts out there.

Is that for kerosene? If so, pardon my French, 'effin hell! And I'm glad I filled up at the end of October when it was about 40ppl. I'm based in Warwickshire but I know from work that a red diesel supplier in the west Cumbria area refused to release any stock to one of our sites last week. Anyone know if this is just exceptionally high demand or are there some refinery issues going on? (Just thought that with the sulphur regs changing in January some of the oil refiners might have plant off to make modifications??)

It's not very quick, full stop. Or should that be "period". Too much time spent having to release the air valves etcetera, let alone picking up the logs. Less likelihood of lost or mangled fingers / hands admittedly though!

As my day job I work in the electricity production industry so thought I would weigh in (pun somewhat intended) with another solution. For generation, we buy solid fuel (coal and where required, wood) on a net calorific value (NCV) basis. We also provide a spec sheet in terms of size of fuel, so if this was to be applied to logs it might read like: NCV not lower than 13MJ/kg Moisture (as % of total mass) not greater than 25% Length, width and individual weight per log: max 12", min 6" long; max 6", min 2" diameter, no individual log greater than 3kg This means that the customer pays only for the energy that they can get from the logs in the condition they are delivered in, and can't be delivered a tonne of kindling, sawdust or a solid piece of stump. Dry wood is worth more than wet or green, since for wet wood the customer uses a proportion of the energy they have bought making steam to send up the chimney. A customer can choose to buy green logs and season themselves if they wish. There is no scope for arguing about how it is stacked, since the delivery is made on weight. The downside is that deliveries get more complex to price (since both weight and average moisture content of the delivery need to be known). So there wood be a standard moisture content published, e.g. 15%, and any moisture above that content means a lower price per tonne. Have a read of this: http://www.videncenter.dk/Groenne%20trae%20haefte/Groen_Engelsk/Kap_04.pdf

Who exactly buys this stuff? Maybe I'm missing something, but having grown up with open fires, stoves and a rayburn we have always managed pretty well with the ashpan and a brush & shovel. Got to love the dubbing as well, and the quote that says "if you go into your husband's workshop" - so it must only be the ladies that need an ash vacuum then, chained to the sink and left at home as they are!! LIDL

I felled a long-dead holly about 16" diameter early this year. Seemed to take a lot of getting through with the saw compared to e.g. the live alder I was felling at the same time, so I'd agree with whoever it was that commented about dead holly taking its toll on chains. Spilt better than I was expecting though. It looked knotty as bu66ery as if it'd be a real pig to spilt (given that I split using a maul and wedges, not geared up for this mechanical splitting lark). I had a chunk about 2'6" long, hefted the maul on it just as a trial expecting it to bounce off, and was amazed to see it split pretty much in two at the first blow. Burns alright too (open fire) - better than dead willow I'd been using at the time but not to the same standard as seasoned alder, ash or euc that I've been stoking up with more recently.

I remember my mate telling me when we were nippers how his Dad used to do that. Driving home one day heard sirens and could see a plume of smoke coming from their place. He'd lit a fire under an old International they had for scraping; he was a bit over-zealous and there was all manner of oil and shite all over the sump. Bye bye tractor, bye bye shed, bye bye straw!!!!

They do some auctions but at a guess I'd say they perhaps auction the stuff they don't feel able to sell at a fixed price? There's a 4x4 Bedford MJ on there at the moment, only 17,000 kilometres on the clock allegedly and bidding is about £2000. Alternatively, there's an APC - which might also be useful for in the snow!!

Mossies obviously have good taste then; the brown yeast extract is satan's excrement in my opinion!

Seen the next video where he starts on the big stuff?! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0S4Gy3uA3w&playnext=1&list=PL376A3AAD7704BE76&index=18]YouTube - Redneck Log Splitter - Round 2[/ame]

Apart from the complete lack of eye protection, guards etc, that at least looks like it's marginally safer than the first one though - the bulk of the time he's keeping his hands well away from the splitter head as it comes around. Got to be likely to give you arthritic wrists in later life though (I'm sure there's an innuendo in this somewhere too...!)

Hmmm, what to think about this one? I guess my thoughts are: 1) It's simple but ingenious - I can't see the detail but assume it's just a splitter head bolted to the flywheel. Like the belt feeder running off the same engine, less manual handling. 2) F&^% using it for a game of soldiers though - I can't say I go in for H&S overkill, but I would want some guards in place and some kind of tooling to hold the piece of wood being split. Can anyone else see from the video whether "Uncle Jesse" has still got all his fingers?

Don't know about rubbing it on your hands, but if you've got a vehicle with grey or black external plastics (not body coloured) then get some smooth peanut butter on a piece of rag and give them a rub over. Brings back a nice shine!

Anyone need a go anywhere mobile office / workshop? Your First Choice for Russian Trucks and Military Vehicles - UK Russian (I say "go anywhere", perhaps that should be "go anywhere providing it's not too far from a filling station". 40 litres per 100 km works out at 7mpg, or about £18 quid in fuel for me to do the 10 miles to work and back!!!) 260 litres of fuel storage = £312 to fill it at £1.20 / litre. So much for the £60 limit on a pay at pump payment...!

The absolute best I have ever had out of my V6 auto box Trooper is 21mpg, and that was a 300 mile round trip on the motorway, cruising at 55-60. Seems to move the fuel gauge to start the thing, but then in its defence it's nearly 18 years old, has got close to 150k on the clock and I can leave it parked in all weathers for three weeks and still rely on it to start, go, stop etc.

monocoque and not very rigid one at that then?! but capable(ish) off road - mud, grass etc? ground clearance?

What about something like an X-Trail? I was having a butchers at those today coincidentally - for about the same age and mileage that a Freelander 2 would set me back £14k, you can get an X-Trail for about £8k. I was seriously thinking about chopping in my wife's Nissan shopping trolley (n.b. been very reliable apart from her driving it over a lamppost in last winter's ice; can't blame that on the car) and the Isuzu Trooper and getting an X-Trail to cover both roles. Anyone know what they're like off-road?

Ash felled in spring 2010 Eucalyptus felled and stacked in 2007/08 Alder felled and stacked between November 2009 and March 2010 Daw Mill doubles (at least, I think that's where it comes from) Bits and bobs of the 30t of housecoal left over from when my employer used to have a domestic coal business Offcuts of kiln dried sawn softwood from a friendly local furniture maker (although they've recently only gone and installed their own woodburner, something about wanting to burn less gas, selfish lot!!) Only for an open fire evenings and days at home but have been getting through about 3 barrows a week at the moment plus a wee bit of the archeological biomass (i.e. coal!)

Cold and dry in Warwick...

WD40 for me - if you get rid of the water, then there's less chance of the lock freezing up.

We had a euc at the front of our house (6-7m away and about 10m+ tall) and minor subsidence to both our own house and the neighbours. I was not clear on cause and effect but felled it anyway - the upside is that the lawn and other plants are greatly improved, and once the wood had seasoned I had a decent stock of firewood for a while. So it's not all bad news! P.S. Apologies that this is about as helpful to your argument as a chocolate teapot!

So presumably the intention is to stop scurrilous property developers submitting numerous planning applications until everyone involved gets so sick of it that they cave in? I can agree with that to an extent, but think it is very worrying that councils will be allowed to do planning applications as an "at cost" (or maybe "cost plus"?) exercise. When was the last time that knowing that all costs would be recovered led someone to think -"Hmmm, I'll do this one particularly efficiently."??

Gareth; just to make you even happier - if Liz makes it through to 2012, there will be an extra public holiday in the summer for the jubilee as well! Bank holidays and British Summer Time : Directgov - Government, citizens and rights

You can order replacement handbooks here: Original Ford Betriebsanleitung, Handbook, Manuale, Manuel, Manual - Druckerei C.H.Beck but will cost you a few quid. (Perhaps cheaper than going to a garage though!) Have a dig around the Ford owners forums, I've found out various bits and bobs in the past, although it can be tricky to sort the wheat from the chaff as far as advice goes sometimes...