Big J

No more than about 2-3mm on these trees.

I think it's quite underrated. I was given quite a bit of it about 2 years ago on the basis that I uplift it. Took the Woodmizer to site and milled about 8 tonnes. It's been used for all manner of things over the past few years including our bed at home. It is much denser than Sitka and takes a far better finish. Stronger too.

It's often been remarked upon that it's surprising that I do everything I do with a little counterbalance forklift, but it's a fantastic bit of kit. I have a little Nissan that is supposed to lift 2.5t, but infact lifts 3.8t (that was an oak log that came off the lorry with a weight ticket). It's massively maneuverable and it means I can stack sawn timber in tight barns. That said, I have expanded the yard, much of which is too soft for it's solid wheels, so I've got an old JCB Climax with 4wd coming in the New Year. On the topic of wood, I don't sell much firewood, but I keep it all outside and not under cover until September at which point it's sorted according to dryness and put in one of the barns (it's stored in crates). This dry stock stays very dry over winter and as I produce more over winter, it's left in crates stacked outside and not under cover. It's not going to dry quickly, but it will still start drying. Then, once I have space in the barn again, it gets put it. It's hard keeping up with the production from the mill sometimes - two days cutting this week (hardwood mantle pieces and douglas fir for cladding) has left me with a stack of offcuts that will produce 7-8 cubic metres of firewood.

I just popped some smaller LEDs on my forklift and they are excellent. Highly recommended

You don't think perhaps that it's a growing area of business and the government simply wants a bit more of the taxation pie?

Burning Cedar? Are you mad?!

I can easily see how it's possible to burn through 10ltr in a day. My MS880 whilst milling does about 15-16 minutes of cutting per tank. I think that's pretty much the same regardless of saw. So endless brashing and softwood snedding is likely to burn huge volumes of fuel as I doubt you'd get much more than 25 minutes per tank.

God, that's fast grown! £28 a tonne roadside, last I heard for pulp and chip wood. I doubt you'll get much else out of it. Jonathan

There is one next to the fire all the time and yet her forearms are covered in little scars!

Not a bad idea sir! It would have to be some sort of logging tape though, which would prove a very expensive business card!

Yes Everyone is prone to exaggerating the size of logs. I've even got to the point with some of the tree surgeons I buy timber from where I ask "Is that an actual 3ft or a tree surgeon 3ft (which is usually about 22" if I'm lucky)".

Not prone to chauvinistic outbursts, but it's honestly best if the women folk have no say in what stove is installed! My wife is now well trained on stoking the fire, and really needs no supervision. The only issue is that she seems to suffer 99% of the stove related burns for about 10% of the stove operation

Green oak is worth a bit more than that Steve. I've got a really good quartersawing butt in the yard at the moment, 12ft long, 4 diameter, that I had to pay £12/hoppus foot for. Seasoned oak can also be worth a touch more if you can do it without distortion or defect. You stand a much better chance of this by ripping the boards up the heart, and there isn't as much demand for 3 inch stock as 1.5 or 2".

Fresh sawn, £18-20 a cubic foot at most, so £108-120 a board. Be prepared to take less though if someone offers to take a lot of it.

Fair point, though what is the point of insert stoves?

...with lots of extras. Intriguing! Electric Chain saw. | United Kingdom | Gumtree Can't say I've ever seen one like it. Must be of some interest to a homeowner or Dolmar nut, I mean enthusiast!

Not defending the daft price the eBay seller is asking for, but you get all manner of American firewood processors that will take 3ft diameter material. I you can get the poplar back to the yard for £25 a tonne, you've halved your material costs compared to standard hardwood. It also takes about 3 months to dry (I've been doing most of my heating so far this winter with poplar) so capital is tied up for far less time. I think as supply starts to be squeezed (which given that figures of £55/t have been suggested for standard hardwood mix delivered in) producers might have to start processing other materials. Of course it comes back to educating the customer though....

Don't get me started! So many people with stoves has got absolutely no idea how to use them. Assuming you have a stove and it's fitted and all is in order, the first thing to get is a flue thermometer. I have no idea how people operate stoves without them - genuinely. I have a big stove and I know that it's running to spec when it's sitting at 450-550 degrees fahrenheit. Too much air and within just a few minutes it can get to 800. Too little air and a few minutes later it's down towards 300 and smoking. Flue thermometers are £6 from eBay and vital - perhaps all you proper firewood merchants out there could save yourself a lot of headaches and supply one free with every new customer's first batch of wood? Also, a small fire can sometimes be counterproductive to economising on logs. Small fire equals less heat, less draw and therefore more air. A good, chock full firebox burning at the sweet spot of about 500 fahrenheit uses very little wood. I've loads of friends with stoves and a minority can use them properly. I had one chap say he didn't want wood too dry as it burned to quickly. Same guy who poked fun at me for filling up the stove rather than waiting an age for the three half wet logs to smoulder into life. Anyway, we got a stove fan on Tuesday. It requires a minimum of 70c to spin and it has not stopped once in the past 5 days. Perhaps the answer for people who struggle to light fires is to get a stove that is nigh on impossible to put out?

As much of a chancer as he is, he might not actually be that far off. A 16ft length of 3ft diameter mid girth poplar is 3.3t. I processed quite a bit of (wet) poplar into firewood last winter and found that I consistently got 2.5 split cube per tonne. So if you get 8 and a quarter cube from the first 16ft, that's 11.3 builders bags... Either way, they are very easy straight fells and I'd offer him a fiver a tonne for them. You tree surgeons forget that forestry contractors pay for trees standing sometimes!

I've just spend some of the afternoon finally getting around to typing up charts for the various thicknesses that I cut at. I have fibre optic set works on my mill but I prefer to cut manually. As such, I've always had a few pieces of paper kicking around with the common scales (ie 40mm is 40, 83, 126, 169 and so on, allowing for a 3mm kerf) but I'd been meaning to print off a complete set and laminate it and put it in a folder so I had it for quick reference. Anyway, I've done most of the common thicknesses from 25mm to 77mm, so if any of you want it and want to save an hour or so typing it up, message me with your email and I'll send over the files. It will save you a tonne of time and mental arithmetic! I should stress that whilst I have checked them, it's a Sunday afternoon, I'm pretty sleepy and there might be the odd error. I make no guarantees!

Crane operation 101, first day, first lesson..... Put your outriggers out!

BBC News - Dutch marriage proposal sees crane smash IJsselstein house The only thing worse than toppling your crane into a house is to drop said crane in a botched recovery effort, causing even more damage!

Oh yeah, forgot - new injectors too!

Not to worry Si - any chance you can chase them up?

Not true. Commercial vehicles such as vans, pickups etc are limited to 50mph on single carriageways and 60mph on duals. I know this to be true as they've recently average speed cameraed the A9, so we all have to know our limits up here.