Big J

Bugger. I was looking forward to snow as well.

Haha - you laugh but they are now apparently studying the risk of a 'terminator uprising' BBC News - Risk of robot uprising wiping out human race to be studied

Not sure what the fungus is (though David has answered that - thanks!) but it's fairly common. Use a borate solution such as Wykabor and it will eliminate most of the issues with mould. Best applied in solution with a paint roller in my opinion. All my timber is treated with it.

Is that a 24 inch cut or a 24 inch bar? For a 24 inch cut you will need a 32 inch bar. For a 24 inch bar the Makita DCS7901 is excellent. Otherwise the standard offerings from Stihl (MS460) and Husqvarna (576xp or 390xp) are well regarded.

Tom's idea is fine, but I have a plentiful supply of wood over here. I actually quite like processing firewood too! Glad to hear that the yew is looking good - would love to see some photos if you get a moment.

Face cord - yes, like that, but much smaller. I have a Vent Axia unit that moves around 200m2 an hour, which I calculate should get reasonably green larch down to 20-25% in around 10 days at a cost of £7 a cubic metre. Steve - my experience with Ash as a sawn timber is that it isn't a quick drying timber at all. Sycamore and lime would be my hardwood choices for rapid drying. I do like the idea of Poplar though, however it's hard to find up here. A thought regarding the quote at £28 a tonne is that I think the estate is FSC accredited, which might be useful in marketing.

Too late. The ******* ***** (insert whichever expletive you like) have already put a saw through it. I actually mourn this tree as I think it would have produced some of the finest boards imaginable. For posterity:

Excellent! Can't stand this mushy, rainy rubbish we've had thus far. Even though snow makes work tricky, I'd rather that to 6 degrees and raining. Thanks for the update!

I too would be intrigued to learn why this is. Biggest difference I've noticed is between European larch and just about any hardwood species. Larch leaves no ash, whereas most hardwoods do. However, it is notable that due to the lack of ash, it's harder to keep a larch fire in for a longer period of time.

Found myself this evening fighting to secure an Elm butt that was promised to us from a privately owned communal garden in Edinburgh. A friend felled it, we were due to mill it this week and the committee has decided that they want to carve a bench from it, rather than it be milled. This is a 16ft 3.5ft diameter faultless elm butt with the darkest, richest red colour you've ever seen. The very thought of it being turned into a bloody chainsaw carved bench (no disrespect, but chainsaw carving should be restricted to logs not suitable for sawmilling) makes my blood boil. Best idea I can think of it to offer them a bench from one of the slabs instead. Any other ideas would be hugely appreciated. It needs to be impressed upon them that such Elms are a real rarity now, and those that we have standing are all that is left. The current stock of younger trees will never make that size.

I reckon you'd get at least three times the production rate. The hydraulics are what speeds it up. You don't want to push the band too quickly as very inaccurate cuts will knock out alignment, knock the set off the band or break the bands.

Ecotreecare - building a larger copy of my current kiln. I use a heat recovery system. I've been through a few different methods including dehumidifiers and heat vent, but like the simplicity of the heat recovery unit. Cheap to run too. There would be no outlay for the project at all - I would have to build the crates as the pallet crates I have at the moment are a bit too chunky and not very robust. However, I have loads of spruce at 3 inches thick that I can resaw, so they would be practically free. The splitter is bought and paid for, the kiln would be primarily for sawn timber and I've excess yard space I could store crates in. No outlay at all. Mr Ming - I would have to factor in haulage, yes. Quite a reasonable amount of local supply though. I was quoted £28 a tonne this morning though by Scottish Woodlands, which I thought was a bit steep. However, the site is only 5 miles from my yard, so haulage would be peanuts.

They are £32k new plus options. 45hp diesel is a hefty motor for an LT40 and it's a super hydraulic, so quicker hydraulics. I'd say that £12k is about the right price, though you might get it for less than that. I'd certainly rather spend £12k on that than £8k on a new manual mill!

Good and varied feedback - thankyou! Tom - I'm thinking of the niche kiln dried lot, but at the same time charging pretty much market rate. I can extract around a tonne of water a week from 16 cubic metres of loose firewood in the new kiln at a cost of about £5 a cube, so it's quite a quick way to produce firewood without having to sit on too much stock. I've not had anyone specify hardwood yet - perhaps folk in West Lothian are less picky! Jon - thanks mate! Steve - I am all to aware of your reservations. It's a tricky one, and I'd never have thought myself prepared to sell logs as anything more than a sideline, but with a decent sized yard, the right equipment (splitter, tipping trailer and forklift) and a reasonable supply, it's looking tempting. I think I'm just getting bored of forestry! Rover - £19 a tonne was pretty standard earlier in the year for stuff going to biomass. Should be able to get it for close to that. Woodworks - it's the speed of turn around that appeals, as well as the cost. Softwood is easier to process, dries far far quicker than hardwoods and is much cheaper to buy.

Navaras are a giant sack of shite as far as work vehicles go. Nissan rely on the fact that most self employed people don't have the time or energy to fight with them to get issues resolved. I fall into that camp. My 11 plate plods along, showing 4wd faults fairly frequently, as well as clunking merrily from the front right. They can't find the issue (fitters, not mechanics) so I'll wait until the wheel falls off and sue them!

Be my guest! It's not a huge amount for a hydraulic sawmill, but it's a lot of money if you've not got the work to justify it (like with any piece of kit I suppose).

Sawmill Woodmizer LT40 HD | eBay They don't come up too often - reasonably priced too.

Just wanting to get an honest opinion on whether you folks regard this as a daft idea or not. I have been thinking about starting to produce firewood in a more organised fashion than simply processing offcuts. I barely advertise the stuff and it's selling quite well. Demand exceeds supply. I now finally have the screw splitter up and running (will post photos) which is excellent in certain timbers. It basically won't handle knotty hardwood as it's belt driven and simply comes to a stop. However, straightish grained hardwood or most softwood it's very quick with. So the plan is to buy softwood chip wood and process it into logs. I have a new kiln under construction that I can dry firewood in too, so it gives me a market niche that is presently not catered for. I have worked out that I can produce, dry and deliver a cubic metre for £25. That's all costs included - labour, fuel, machine wear and tear, electricity for the kiln, yard rental costs - the lot. It also takes me a maximum of one hour to produce, load to the kiln, unload to the trailer and deliver a cubic metre. So if I sell for £55 a cubic metre (which seems quite reasonable to me), I make a clear £30 an hour after costs, and it means I'm around at the yard a lot more for calling sawn timber customers. Am I mad for even contemplating entering the firewood game?!

My weight has held at 98-102kg for about 3 years now (after getting up to 131kg weightlifting, up from 77kg 4 years prior to that). What I notice now is that my weight isn't moving, but my body composition is very slowly changing with a tiny bit of muscle wastage and a tiny amount of fat gain. That said, if I am working, I can eat anything I like and never gain weight. I also drink more than I used to (10 pints a week, though sometimes a touch more) but it's not made much difference. I appreciate that I am lucky, and well done to all those on the thread that have lost weight or are trying. Jonathan

Lycetts. I've got all my professional insurances with them and they are incredibly cheap. My truck insurance for instance - I'm 28 with 2 years no claims. 11 plate Navara, no mileage restriction, fully comp for any driver over 25, tiny excess, £690.

50-100 cubic metres a year is a fair work load if you are fully processing it from standing to firewood. I've a 346xp and it's a lovely saw. No issues with it at all, though it would be a touch slow on ringing up 15 inch hardwoods. I would maybe be inclined to get a 357xp or 560xp, though that might be a bit overkill on the felling. Stick to the XP range though. Jonathan

Best solution:

Leave the logs as long as you can as clamping/rolling/leveling etc is all the same regardless of size of log. In fact, short logs are a bit of a pain for leveling and clamping. Dimensioned timber always takes more time than through and through, even when cut thick. With a couple of guys on an 8 hour day I'd expect you to cut 3-5 cubic metres or thereabouts. 16-18 inches is about the right size for a manual mill in my experience. A good cant hook (peavey) will make life much easier though. Poplar should make excellent kindling. If you can get it the right size, lime dries quicker than any timber I know of so quick turn around. I'd be surprised if you had to wait more than a month for it to dry to less than 20%. Jonathan

The best way to calculate the approximate sawn volume of a butt is to use the Hoppus Measure. The hoppus measure is 1/4 girth squared multiplied by length (all in inches) divided by 1728. So as an example: A ten foot oak log has a girth of 120 inches - 30x30x120/1728=62.5 cubic foot. It basically gives an allowance for wastage in sawing and has been used since the 18th century. Pricing on the hoppus foot would usually be £2-5 for ash and £3-8 for oak depending on quality. Obviously burr oak would be much higher. Jonathan

People who moan about logs being too dry are simply uneducated. My experience of the majority of stove users is that they have no idea how to manipulate the temperature of their fire for an efficient burn. They either seem to have it blasting fully or shut right down and it goes out. It's not difficult, but so many people seem to struggle. Get a flue thermometer. Light your stove and leave on full blast until near to top of safe operation range. Shut down air incrementally (for me it's a case of shutting the door at the bottom, but leaving the vent open, then shutting the damper then shutting the vent) so as not to cause the temperature to dip too much. Hey presto, you have a fire that won't tar up your chimney or race through your firewood supply. It almost pains me to sell firewood to people with open fires - it's such a waste!