Big J

It's certainly a feature! We don't have a TV as such, so it's not much bigger than many people's flatscreens. Many of the fish in that list weren't in my smaller tank. Rather than the 3 L number plecs I now have, I had a couple of Gibbiceps, but they had grown quite alarmingly and I figured I had to get rid of them at that juncture as catching them in the big tank would be impossible. So the chap at the aquatics shop took them and I though sod it, I'll get some more fish to fill the tank a bit! I did check with the shop as to how to switch over the tanks and he reckoned it would be fine. We just didn't have space in the living room for both. I don't think I've lost any fish, not even the shrimp (I have two armoured and two bamboo shrimp). The jurupari (cichlids) will likely end up numbering 4 to reduce territory issues. As a pair, one is completely dominant.

Lime isn't that easy to sell. I'm only taking it because it's large, clean and part of a parcel with sycamore. I'm also not paying much for it. You'd be better off firewooding your stem.

I could do a large amount of sawn sycamore extremely cheaply delivered to Ashford. I have 20 tonnes (as well as some lime) coming in later in the week.

Hi all, As a fairly recent rediscoverer of a love for keeping tropical fish (had them as a child), I thought I'd start a thread to see if anyone kept fish (tropical, marine or coldwater). I had a basic tropical set up as a kid, with a succession of fish that didn't like as long as they should have. A few months back I thought sod it, and got a 90ltr tropical set up that quickly got pimped out with an external filter to allow for more fish. A chance on a 330ltr corner tank came up, which I set up at the weekend, moving my old tank stock, tank water and external filter over, as well as all the plants. It's looking great (water still not quite crystal clear, and will hold off posting photos until it is), and is a heavily planted tank, with lots of bogwood and some slate. Silica sand substrate. Fish are: 6 Denison barbs (torpedo barbs by another name) 6 Cardinal tetras 6 Penguin tetras 4 zebra danios 1 gold nugget plec 1 blue phantom plec 1 green phantom plec 1 corydorus julii (soon to be 8-9) 4 kuhli loach 1 pictus catfish 1 hoplo catfish 1 synodontis decorum 2 geophagus jurupari 1 black ghost knife fish Might seem like quite a lot but the tank is huge and was set up with mature filters, mature water and plants. Very much understocked until they grow a bit. The jurupari are fascinating and quite territorial. The black ghost knife moves like no other fish I've ever seen and inhales earthworms. The plecs are stunning and the barbs are a wonderful focal point. Other than a few extra corydorus, the only thing that might possibly be added later is a handful of discus. Water needs to be 0ppm nitrate/nitrite/ammonia before that's considered. My old tank achieved that without any issues. Interested to see what other folk are keeping. In a miserably cold and damp Scottish climate, it's wonderful to have something tropical in the living room. Jonathan

Ah, but you are forgetting that drug addicts are all victims, and stealing someone's means to support themselves is a victimless crime! I would honestly support sharia law for theft. It is because they can act with impunity that they are so brazen and that theft is so prevalent. In all seriousness, why not work camps for such scum? Have them doing something menial and degrading all day for no wages. Sod their human rights - they forfeit the right to them when they consider a life of crime as being acceptable.

I'm near Edinburgh, but send timber all over the UK. I have a lot of elm, something which I imagine you won't find locally, and I'm very cheap. Planks by the pallet load usually.

It is my feeling that if people spent a bit more time appreciating what they have and spent a little less time envying what others have, then everyone would be a lot happier. Some people make a lot of money, some don't, some people have good health, others don't, some people have lots of friends and family, others don't. Just be happy for what you have and make the best of your situation. Speaking from personal experience with close family, if you spend all your life resenting missed opportunities and other people getting ahead of you, it will turn you into a pretty sour and depressive person.

Indeed. Unless I can shift the bags wholesale, it earns less per day than cutting fencing on the mill (which is relatively unprofitable, compared to other higher value timber).

The results of this thread were pretty inconclusive! I've not had a chance to think about it this week with being extremely busy. One of the local firewood retailers suggested that I would need to kiln dry the firewood to make it more marketable. Not sure I can be bothered with the faff. Still would love to have a firewood processor though, for no adequately justifiable reason!

It's not Scots pine. The other trees around it looked spruce like, it had been down a while and had no blue stain and there was little to no aroma from the wood.

Not really. It was a collection of large, very uniformally cylindrical logs. Very little waste.

Very interesting suggestions. I am up to where the tree grew on Tuesday. I shall take some photos of the surrounding stand, which I recall has a few other specimens on what appear to be the same species. Thanks!

Good of you to offer Steve, but I'd rather not hack a piece off my nice neat stacks. Anyone? It's really got us stumped!

I use Palletways in Livingston. They actually sub it out to Dalkeith Transport, but they are always much cheaper. Only time I ever pay three figures for a pallet (including VAT) is for two spaces.

I'd recommend the Woodmizer blades over Ripper37. I've got a fairly even split between the two on the Logmaster and the Woodmizer blades tend to perform just slightly better and they are cheaper. I'm on Silvertip blades as it's the only one that will fit the mill.

Cooperative mill ownership would be difficult. Even the toughest mills are very easy to break. If you have a limited need for sawmilling, you are better to contract it out.

I can't see there being an issue getting timber dry in a 2x2x2 cube. My store at home is 5x2x2 and with the decent overhang it has, timber dries very rapidly. I don't stack it though - i find it dries quicker when thrown in.

8 cube stacked is only 2x2x2m. The size of a small garden shed. It's endlessly amusing that people will spend thousands on a stove installation and then cheap out on wood storage.

Wise words. And I say this as some one who has very seriously looked at RHI kilns. It is morally and environmentally corrupt, but it is very financially lucrative. There is never, ever a need to kiln dry firewood, but the government has created a situation where it makes financial sense to burn 1/4 of your firewood to dry the other 3/4. Is it perhaps counterproductive? Does the extra demand push up the price of cord meaning cost and efficiency savings of kilning are cancelled out. By the way, just because I think that the RHI scheme is daft, doesn't mean I still wouldn't consider it myself!

Very good video. Extremely interesting, and whilst I could understand the narrator fine, the Austrian accent of Herr Wittman is challenging! Their B quality firewood (which will be equivalent to our best stuff) is about £42 a cubic metre plus delivery. If you were to order 6 bags (8.4 cube) within 50km, it works out at £47 a cube. I will happily concede that they have a far better supply of hardwood in Austria, but the raw material cost (assuming it's similar to Germany) is higher.

Lack of production capacity is not an excuse for charging more though. For instance, I know that amongst the sawmills at my level in Scotland, that I am the cheapest on softwood. By some considerable margin - I charge near enough the same as going to one of the big, softwood only mills. I could charge £420 for a cubic metre of larch like some of my competitors, because in some respects I can justify it. I am a small outfit, I have high costs (rented premises, leased vehicles, some financed machinery) but these are my issues. I find I make more money charging less per unit (£245 for through sawn larch/other softwood and £300 for dimensioned) and directly competing with the big boys than if I decided that I was a niche supplier and charged more. It's still easy enough to turn over £800-1000 a day on the cheapest softwoods with me and one labourer. I am ruthlessly efficient at my yard though, and you will never find a tidier or more organised small sawyard. Through efficiency comes productivity and productivity is the basis of profit. That's the half German coming out in me though!

It's two stacked cube, 3.2 loose.

I have a Coventry Climax 4wd forklift with new bucket, power hitch and log grab. Cost £3500 plus VAT all in. Will go anywhere. Processors with stand alone power sources will be more economical to run. Even a three phase processor with generator will use less fuel, as well as make for a more pleasant work environment. Fair point on worst case scenario on cord costs. I think that is sensible. Barnsley Bob: Firewood is not £100 a cube on the continent: https://www.brennstoffe-vulcano.de/brennholz/23/eichenholz-30-33-cm-3-2-schuettraummeter-2-raummeter-auf-palette?c=6 A supplier not far from my uncle, £38 a cube on oak. It's a broader point that I'm trying to make really. There are issues in the UK with supply for the firewood market, there are issues with the customers and there are issues with the demand. Everything is too much based on boom or bust. We overcharge when there is demand which means no one buys firewood when demand drops. With some form of accountable pricing structure, a bit of regulation and increases in overall efficiency, I think that firewood retailers could make more money whilst reducing the cost to the end user. The Tesco model, if you will!

Small business 100% rates relief

As I said before, the efficiency in firewood comes from selling it green. Cordwood - £52 a tonne delivered in. That's allowing a tenner a tonne for haulage. Let's assume it's a hardwood mix, with some heavy species and some not so heavy. So perhaps 2.2 cubic metres to the tonne. Raw material cost is £23.64 per cube. Let's also assume there is a decent processor involved. Hardwood is slower than softwood though (which I am reliably informed takes around 7 minutes per cube on average) so lets assume 20 minutes. Assuming you've got two guys on £8 an hour operating and supplying the processor, you've got a labour cost of £5.28. Assuming your processor is diesel and it's doing 25 cube a day, it (and the forklift) might use about £1.50 in diesel per cube. So you've got a produced cost (in yard, not delivered) of £30.42 per cube. Yard costs - my yard (in it's original, and smallest incarnation before I expanded) was about a third of an acre (with a couple of small barns) and was large enough to accommodate 3-400 tonnes (800 cube) of firewood a year. That part of my yard costs me £330 a month, plus VAT. So £3960 a year, which is £4.95 a cube. Delivery vehicle costs - Assume you buy a new 12ft Ifor tipper and a used £10k landy. Total cost £15k, value after 3 years probably £10k. £5k depreciation, plus probably £5k repairs is £4.16 a cube. Machine costs - processor £15k, forklift £3.5k, chainsaws and other tools £2k. Again, assume a 3 year use and that it can be sold at the end for about £15k total. £5k depreciation and £5k repairs/maintenance is again £4.16 a cube. So that's a fully costed in yard product at £43.69. The only other cost is the diesel to deliver it and the time of the person running the delivery. Given that a cube can be produced in 20 minutes (and is costed from the point of view of hired in labour), I struggle to figure out how just over forty quid becomes £120.