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2 hours ago, Retired Climber said:

I think you misunderstand the terms profit and surplus funds. They can easily not make a profit by investing surplus funds. It's only a semantic arguement though as a not-for-profit can easily have surplus funds. Not-for-profit does not mean it has to run at a loss, or even break even. 

All a bit confusing to me.  So no profit no tax , surplus funds no tax ?  Is my thinking correct or please can you explain when  one has to pay tax, as I am wondering how the government ever gets any tax revenue from companies, businesses how ever big or small.???   😕

I am curious to know how HETAS/WOODSURE can say in the first line of their "About HETAS" section  on their website that "As a non-profit organisation we pride ourselves on  investing funds.........".  How can a business have  surplus funds unless they are creating a  profit ???  

I see Woodsure is a wholly owned subsidiary of HETAS.

Woodsure is the Defra appointed Certification Body to administer the Ready to Burn Scheme.  

Do any of you by any chance offer a "Chimney Sweeping Service" alongside your firewood business. I ask as I am wondering if their is much call for Chimney Sweeping Service.At 70 I am starting to  find that my mind is capable of doing more than my body is, as regards lifting lengths of cordwood on to my firewood processor!!!   One of those chain conveyor things would be nice to feed the processor but they all cost money and  my 2.4mtr long cordwood is not as straight as shown in many videos  showing , processor chain conveyor  feeders in action.😉  Many thanks for any comments  etc.

Does anyone know if their has so far, been a big uptake of applicants for the Woodsure, "Ready to burn scheme"?

If I email Woodsure  asking them how many  successful applicants have they had so far , for the "Ready to burn scheme", would they be obliged to tell me or any one else how many successful applicants they have had, "under the freedom of information act".?

I think I will Email  Woodsure and see what reply they come back with!    

I  need to cut down a  5mtr wide  x about 30 mtrs  long strip of hazel and  Ash trees to make room for storing another row of cordwood at my wood yard. 

What is the max diameter of trees  I can cut down without applying for a felling licence, I would say the max diameter of the Ash in the above strip are about 8" diameter.  I am only asking as strip of wood is very visible from a well used public footpath which is about 25mtrs away .  I do firewood  but have no knowledge of felling licence requirements etc.  Many thanks         

Many thanks for all your replies. 

At 70 I have no intention of building a kiln of any sort, my thread was a theoretical one as waste tyres are so plentiful.   

It is a sad state of affairs that man kind has/is creating products  etc that  are not bio degradable within say one/two years.

Items that come to mind are Nuclear Reactors, Battery Cars , Plastic Packageing,,P,P,Equipment etc,etc.

I can't come to terms with  kiln drying companies,businesses etc,  being paid  RHI payments to burn wood to dry wood, something doesn't seem right there to me.   That said if one can claim RHI payments to burn wood to dry wood and make a profit from it good for you, its the  RHI system that is Flawed and not the individual claiming the payments.       

Years ago when the  "Set a Side  Scheme" for farmers to be  paid NOT to plant an area of their farm ,I was only too pleased to spend time filling in the forms and claiming the payment ,even though I thought the system was bonkers!!!!  I have to say that scheme is no longer in place.

Yep if their is any Government payment to be had ,go for it because as a tax payer you will have indirectly paid for your payment you are claiming.     

1 hour ago, Conor Wright said:

The only tyre burning furnaces I know of are the industrial ones used in lime kilns. (They usually burn a variety of material, tyres being one) I may be wrong but to get it hot enough to "cleanly" incenerate tyres you would need a fairly complex device.

Would it not be simpler and cleaner to burn the bark, sawdust and offcuts instead. Then recycle the tyres into crumb rather than burning them? 

If you have a link to the furnace you're talking about I'd be interested in having a look.

 

I'm  sorry  I dont have a link as I am not that computer  literate,  all I can say is that I came across  it when I Googled  "Small Tyre Burning Stove" and  this came up  as the first article "The BEST stories about Made-It-Myself Shop...- Farm Show Magazine.  Wish I could be more helpful.

As above, any tips on removing and replacing ,cursed  small Eclips  without them springing off never to be found again!!!!😒   

Has anyone successfully constructed  a "Small Tyre Burning Stove /furnace",which in turn  heats a kiln to dry logs ??

I have just Googled "Small Tyre Burning Furnace", and the only article that  comes up that has any similarities to kiln  drying logs , is an American article in The Farm Show Magazine featured in "The Best Stories about Made -It -Myself-Shop .......  .  The article is about a Tire Stove  the father and son constructed to heat their Paint Shop during the cold winter months in, St Cloud, Minnesota  USA   

Is the high out oiler available from Stihl uk ,if so  have you fitted one and are they a good investment for curing lack oil on the chain on the 660 if using a 36" bar. Thanks

I have been offered a felled straight Ash trunk (Approx12Mtrs long by approx 600m diameter) ,cleared of branches lying on flat ground in a paddock with easy access for forwarding trailer , how much should I pay for it,or would it be worth more to someone for planking.  Asking as not bought any wood for a year, since then a lot of Ash around due to Ash die back,trees being felled and on the market.   

Situated in the Cotswolds.  

26 minutes ago, Mark lanark said:

Hi, I recently bought a property and have been trying to get as much firewood away over the last 2 weeks to let it season out for next year, I have 3 stoves in just now but will eventually have another couple so trying to ensure i have brought away. I’ve split everything I had acquired over the last couple of weeks and the photo shows it split in an old lean too that was here. It’s roughly 2x2 m 

You MUST get some airflow around that wood to at least stop it going mouldy !!!!!!     

 In this weeks farmers weekly page 24, Marc Liebrecht  (arboriculturist and forestry manager, for Carter Jonas, has mentioned that value  of firewood grade timber  is £35-£45 /t.    I would very much like to know how much the value of timber as mentioned above is varying around the UK,as  more  Ash comes  to the market due to die back.   BUT I assumed that the price was holding up due to demand from the large biomass wood chip markets?????

@renewablejohn kindly replied to my thread on the subject ,which I have also put on THE FARMING FORUM .

When    2.5mtr + /- lengths of cordwood are seasoning  by natural airflow or  kiln airflow  ,does the moisture want to escape from the length  of cordwood ,if the air temperature and humidity of the air  are higher than that of the cordwood  that one is drying/seasoning?

Many thanks for your replies.  I appreciate their are  prices differences  due to many factors . The idea would be for members to say what they  have paid at roadside ( mentioning area, species and tonnage/cu mtrs)  so as to get a very rough idea of what is being paid in  areas  compared to other areas.  

So forgetting my idea  what is the range of prices being asked  for  ash/beech  2.5mtr long +/-  at roadside , in   Gloucestershire /Wiltshire  area, many thanks.    

8 hours ago, Vedhoggar said:

At the end of June 2020 we split 3.5 solid m3 of old spalted beech at rideside which was in 1m lengths x 55cm dia and raised off the ground for 2 yrs. The wood was converted into 25cm long logs <15cm dia then stored in well a ventilated shed and 7 months later average moisture content is now 23% but had it had a full drying season it would probably have been down to <20%. Spalted beech is burning at <23%  but not brilliantly would be better best at <20% also beech which isn't spalted in my experienced seems to burn better but spalted beech burns okay when dry. 

 

In reply to second part of question it can be difficult to maintain MC at <20% outside, it needs to be ideally to be moved inside at the end of summer/autumn in this country although some wood in covered crates drys well outside can be <20%, billets stacked and covered outside that were <20% at the end of summer is now >20% on average.

Many thanks for your reply. Very roughly where  are you situated in the uk.

Is there any way a topic ,entitled   "Price of cordwood at roadside all over the country" could be set up, so that members can put prices they are being charged for cordwood at roadside, on a regular basis.  On "The Farming Forum" Cropping Section they have what  are called sticky threads , where they have price trackers, for Fertiliser Prices , Combinable crop prices and chemical prices, the prices are updated on a regular basis by participating members.

Surely a price tracker for cordwood at road side would be a good idea to have on this "Firewood Forum".

If there already is a "cordwood at roadside price tracker", please can someone direct me to it. Many thanks

I have quite a bit of Beech 2.5mtr long cordwood that has spalted in the middle due to it being in a stack for about 2yrs,and not split,bad management on my part!!

Due to all the rain we have had it is quite wet ,in your experience will it dry out quite quickly when logged up, that is assuming relative humidity is lower than t 90% plus, (unfortunately the Hygrometer I have just bought and put in my processing is registering in the high 90s most of the time)!!!!!!

Off topic .How the Woodsure  gurus think one can keep logs at 20% with RH in the High 90s I dont know, but when you are working in a nice office at 20c in front of a computer one can work wonders ,rant over.

On 01/01/2017 at 13:00, Daniël Bos said:

https://www.flexiblelining.co.uk/toptex-wood-storage-cover

 

This is the stuff you want!

It let's air through, so the wood can dry and there's no condensation.

As air flows through, it's much less of an issue to keep it in place, it doesn't flap about either.

It sheds water.

It's a non woven fabric (bit like fleece/felt) which makes it quite resistant to tearing, and if it does get damaged, tears don't "run"

It's a fairly neutral colour.

It lasts for years.

It's not too expensive.

I get commission.

 

Unfortunately the last one isn't true...

 

 

Sent from my E5823 using Arbtalk mobile app

So 4yrs on  how has your Toptex  performed as thinking of using it myself .   As per my new thread asking about it. Many  thanks.  

42 minutes ago, Woodworks said:

It gets a mention in this old thread

 

 

Many thanks Woodworks for bringing that to my attention ,so apologies for repetition

I have just seen the above  material on the internet, so has anyone used  it for covering their stacks of cordwood through late autumn and winter months .  I am wondering if it would let air circulate through the stack yet stop most of the rain from blowing through the stack from the side, I would put  ex lorry bulker sheets on top of the  Toptex to keep the top of the stack  dry.  I must do something to try and keep our cord wood drier  but takes some doing with relative humidity continuously in the high 90's, !!!!!!!!!!!           

Due to this never ending damp weather ,I have resorted to achieving nice dry logs for my fire , by laying a piece of cooking tin foil along the top of some of our radiators and then placing as many logs as I think I will need the next day on top of the tin foil on the top of the radiators. Takes a bit of effort but well worth it.

I find this video really interesting :     youtube.com/watch?v=7PZwtoZgUhw

You will have to bear with it to see what I think is interesting,if you have seen it all before apologies for boring you.

As per title .

I am considering using it next season to cover the sides of my stacks of split 2.5 mtr long cordwood to allow air to blow through the stack as well as preventing  some rain from penetrating the ends of the cordwood in the stack, I will cover top of stack with my ex lorry bulker sheets.  So I was just wondering if any body else uses Galebreaker or similar .

Google  www.galebreaker agri  to  find out about the material