Squaredy

Difficult to judge from the one photo of the thick end, but certainly ring shake, and if this goes all the way through this will cause problems. Best case scenario it will affect a few boards and be a shame, but not too serious. Worst case scenario the stem will be riddled with shake and give no decent slabs at all, and mainly yield firewood. Good luck if you do mill it - let us know how you get on.

The answer to all the used batteries is fairly simple - they need to be recycled and "mined" for the lithium which is needed to make more batteries. I totally agree that electric vehicles are far from perfect, but hopefully it is a step in the right direction. Car tyres are a huge problem that is not really even being talked about and of course is not addressed by electric propulsion.. I am talking about the plastic dust that is created by car tyres wearing out. That dust certainly is not collected and safely disposed of. What does not end up in the oceans stays in the land. Hopefully some bacteria exist or will evolve to break this down, but at the moment it is a huge unknown. And if you thought car tyres were made entirely of rubber (a natural material) try googling it. I calculate the UK's car tyre dust comes to around 90,000 tons per year.

Agreed the purchase cost is much higher, but not sure where you get the idea that insurance and running costs are more. My Kia EV is cheap to insure (in fact cheapest I have known for years) and it is generally accepted that electric vehicles have far fewer moving parts so maintenance is minimal. Granted the batteries will eventually fail, but only after a very long life.

My experience is that our EV is a bit pricey to lease (compared to the same model in petrol/diesel) but very cheap to run. Fuel usage is very low, tax and maintenance very low, just a high leasing cost. Of course, if you can generate your own electricity and use that to charge the batteries you will be even better off (but to do this you may have to plug in daily which is a bit of a pain). But good luck charging it in an unfamiliar area...

Very nice work indeed. Practical, clever, attractive and skillfully executed.

What a mess has been made of tax on fuel! It would be impossible for HMRC to properly police this so all it will do is cause a lot of confusion and resentment and pointless extra costs for countless companies. Why should cutting a huge lawn on a vast country estate use red diesel when a little guy with a small lawn has to use white (or petrol)? I know this probably should not be what will happen but we all know it will. They should have abolished fuel subsidies altogether (including agriculture) and instead subsidise other aspects of agriculture or sports or horticulture etc where it is justified. In other words only have white diesel. If farmers or others need subsidies (farms earn more from government payouts than from selling their produce) then give them the payout for really beneficial activity like reducing the carbon footprint of the food production, or looking after nature on the land. Having established that fossil fuel burning is so harmful why do we keep subsidising it? And yes it is subsidised: until the cost of the fuel actually covers the cost of the harm it causes. I.e. diesel and petrol cost needs to include the cost of clean up of disused oilfields for example. Also it should include the cost of re-capturing the carbon emissions caused by burning said fuel.

I did not suggest all employees are passengers.

Yes I totally get the confusion sorry. I was using the word "Employer" in a very general sense. In a similar way to when I employ a specialist to look at a blocked drain - I don't put them on the books as a member of my workforce - but I am still employing their services.

I have to admit that when I left permanent employment to become a freelancer in the nineties I missed the security not one bit. I was better treated by my "employers", properly equipped and trained for the job, and never had any expectation that I would be kept on beyond the immediate need. If you are a passenger and just want to get on the train and relax and never try your best I can see the attraction of a "secure" job. But if you have self-belief and always try to make yourself more and more useful and capable you will always be highly employable, and ready to move on when circumstances change. Most important I think is that the employer is honest with the employee. If things are not working out or needs have changed staff may have to go; but treat them properly, follow correct procedures and let them use their notice period to look for their next move. I don't believe employer's should feel duty bound to keep someone on for ever if they no longer need them.

Very impressive indeed. Surely your next job should be a large slab with a hairpin leg screwed to each corner? Just to keep ArbTalk traditions alive...

You might be better off trying to find a forestry firm in your area. But they will probably want to deliver you a lorry load (26 tons), or possibly a tractor trailer load (anywhere from a couple of tons to 12 tons). Don't expect them to deal in cords - we don't tend to use cord as a measurement in the UK.

I think you are saying you want to install a totally separate set of rads powered by your woodburner. In which case this is what I have done, and mine is a decent size stove and heats the whole house. I guess you can use whichever units you wish. You could fit it without a pump, as long as gravity will provide some circulation, but this will only work to a limited extent for rads above the woodburner. Maybe a few things to watch out for - you will need to allow for the system accidentally boiling and spec it out accordingly (expansion tank made of metal for example). You should probably get some expert advice. I would say that although my system works well in my situation a simple freestanding woodburner is a much simpler proposition than one with a back boiler. I am not saying don't do it, but find out lots first, and then decide if you wish to comply with all the rules and regs.

I am no expert but a 30hp DOL motor will have a massive load on startup. Electric motors can have a huge startup demand - easily six times running load maybe ten times. You really want a soft start of some sort for that size motor! Resistive loads on the other hand (heaters etc) do not have a high startup load. Ongoing load from a motor once up to speed can be very low on the other hand. I used to run a kiln that had two 3kw fans running 24/7. I calculated this would cost around £600 per month to run (simple maths: 6kw per hour X 24 hours and 30 days per month = 4320 units per month) but in fact bills barely noticeably more than normal.

I have seriously considered this. I have lots of waste wood and a fairly high need for electricity. Sadly I think the initial costs and ongoing maintenance would be just far too great. Wood gasification might be more realistic, but still huge up front costs and a lot of hassle compared to flicking a switch.

Don't. Well, no I am not really being serious, but you do need to consider quite a few things: Employer's liability insurance (if you don't already have it). PAYE has to be done in real time these days, and above the threshold you will pay something like 13% employers NI as well as what you deduct from his wages. You will have to set up a pension scheme for them and pay into it. You will have to pay them 28 days holiday per year minimum (including bank hols) and at least SSP (statutory sick pay) which cannot be reclaimed any more and possibly paternity pay. You may also feel obliged to pay them for self isolation etc. If your circumstances change and you no longer need them you will have to pay redundancy to dismiss them. If they turn out to be less good than you believe, or their attitude changes and they become less helpful you may have a difficult job trying to get them to improve or change. He may be great of course, but things don't always turn out how you expect over the long term. If it comes to it and you really want rid of them then you have to pay them off. Simply sacking someone for poor performance these days is just about impossible due to suing for wrongful dismissal being so easy now. Also don't underestimate how difficult it is to lay someone off even with a good pay off. Have you ever had to sack someone? Finally think about their safety and ticking all the boxes so you can keep them safe, or at least prove to the HSE that you did everything possible to keep them safe, including all the relevant procedures for all the kit they will use. Very different from using kit yourself - you won't sue yourself or report yourself to the HSE if YOU have an accident.

Thanks Les for the offer, and good to know you use a rotary inverter with no issues.

Well I hope it will. The supplier of the inverter have confirmed that it will run off split phase which as you say is 180degrees of separation. They have told me I need two 60A fuses and I have 80A fuses. Sadly Western Power Distribution also told me it would cost fortunes. And yes it would only be for me. I wish this were the case. Nearest three phase is about a mile away. But I appreciate your input, and yes of course I would prefer to have mains three phase, but unless there is a government sponsored scheme this is just too pricey. The government should stop subsidising pollution and start subsidising attempts to reduce pollution (like replacing diesel gennies with mains power).

Good question! I have split phase supply, which is actually further divided into three phases (but not true three phase) so there is plenty of power to run the thirty hp inverter. Inverter needs two 60 amp feeds, I have three 80 amp feeds.

Yes spot on. Inverter costs about £3000, proper three phase supply would be £30,000+.

Bought 50 litres today (not filling up large tanks any more as I don't expect to be allowed to use red next month) and it was £1.52 per litre. For RED ! I am only paying slightly more for white diesel for my road van. This was from a dodgy local garage that always rip you off, but they excelled themselves this time. I don't generally use them but it saved me a 15 mile trip to get red elsewhere. Now that red is so pricey I will be investing in a 30hp inverter much sooner than I planned and ditch the three phase genny. It is mainly to run the bandmill, and I recon will cut fuel costs by 90% at least.

Yeah four and five foot boards are very useful. Suggest 25mm, 32mm, 38mm thickness. The challenge is always finding your customers, but that is the case with all species. I generally find the UK hardwoods are easy to mill, softwoods more difficult. Having said that when I mill softwoods it is Douglas Fir or Larch usually. Also I generally use a bandmill not a chainsaw.

I think also it depends if you are selling it in good working order or as seen. If you can get it running and demo every aspect of it then I agree about £5000 maybe £5500. If the buyer has to sort out possible multiple faults that may have developed due to lack of use etc then less. I sold mine about a year ago for £4900 and that was fully working (and demomstrated to the buyer) but well used with dings and dents.

Very interesting ...... generating electricity from waste wood. Did anyone get anywhere with this? Must be a lot of people out there wondering about generating their own electricity these days...

Don't tell me, you offered a couple of hundred and he said "It is worth more as firewood."? It is worth pointing out that the soil it grew in is worth serious money if it is sieved, sterilised packed up into 25 litre bags and sold to hundreds of customers as topsoil.

I agree with all the comments made so far ie get larger, denser logs. But to answer your question about artificial logs (briquettes), then yes these can be excellent - give them a go. Modern woodburners tend to be made so you cannot turn down the draught so much, which will mean too much heat too quick with certain types of wood. You need to experiment and as has been said go for bigger logs and denser (but not wetter).