Squaredy

If you look hard enough there is free wood in loads of places. I recall before I got into the wood business stopping at the side of the road and asking tree workers if I could have some of their waste - I was never refused. How about the tip site on this very website - I assume many people registered on it do indeed get free wood. I live by a golf course and a council estate - the course often have a tree or two chopped up - I have politely asked if I can have some fallen wood several times and they are always happy to oblige. In fact the area I live in is full of people who are struggling, but funnily enough I have yet to see any of them going round collecting free wood. And there are a lot of unmanaged woods here as well (mainly full of ash) which have loads of fallen trees. At my work I almost give wood away - one ton bundles of sawmill offcuts - cheap as chips for anyone who can be bothered to cut them up.

I am pretty certain that most people can get free wood. It helps to have a car and be able bodied, but all it really takes is time and effort.

I am not a total cynic (I would like to think) but there seems to be a very powerful agenda going on to get it accepted in the public consciousness that constantly increasing handouts are now normal. I think it has been developing for years - look at working tax credits. It accelerated vastly during the Covid pandemic - huge amounts of money being sprayed around. Now it is continuing with the "cost of living crisis". The calls for the government to step in and enable everyone to continue their lifestyle exactly as they always have, and not to have to pull in their belt are overwhelming. Now I am not suggesting there should be no help for anyone, but the general expectation these days seems to be that the state has to look after everyone. More than that, they are expected to protect us all from ever being less well off than we used to be. What really frightens me is that we seem to be getting a whole generation to think that they don't need to take charge of their life. I suspect that minimum wage is part of the problem as well. I started my career on a rubbish wage so I worked really hard to improve and get noticed by my employer, and then move to a more challenging role and so on. I never once looked to the minimum wage to help me - it didn't exist. Am I the only one who finds this modern ethos thoroughly distasteful and ultimately self-destructive? The final end point I suppose is the universal basic income. And I can see some merit in that; but how will we ever persuade people to study hard for the careers that need years of training if they then go on to earn the same as a shelf stacker in a supermarket? If anyone is interested in my view, I do think there should be some help for the poorest in our society with fuel costs this winter, but we can't expect to heat our homes as much as we used to if fuel triples in price! And finally in my rant, the next person who says nurses are poorly paid needs to look at what nurses actually get paid. Starting salary for a band 6 (ie fully qualified) is £32,306, up to a maximum of £108,075, plus a fantastic pension scheme, great sickness benefits etc, etc, etc. I know an agency nurse who very sensibly just does the days she fancies and gets a night time rate of over £80 per hour. And thinking about it, that was about four years ago. I have great respect for good nurses, but please don't pretend they are poorly paid - that ended a long time ago now. Most nurses earn more than the junior doctors they work with on a daily basis.

Yeah, if you took off one of the treads you would have another flaw...

To be fair, the reward was perhaps a little meagre! The next design flaw should offer at least a load of highly valuable Walnut logs as an incentive.

Oh I see - there is red and white HVO is there? That explains why it isn't too well known, - that it is always more expensive I mean.

That would work for me: I currently use white diesel in forklift telehandler and genny since the new rules cam into force earlier in the year. Sawmill is not classed as forestry so my fuel costs have risen by about 300% in the last year. I will look into HVO in more detail.

I had to google HVO fuel. Is it really a simple alternative to red diesel? If so what does it typically cost and is it widely available?

Poplar timber is indeed good timber for indoor projects. Not very hard, so maybe better for cupboard doors (or carcass) and mirror frames, and many other craft or furniture items.

I am getting it specced out by a local firm, not sure of the details yet. I think it will be AC though, and then of course converted back to DC by the car!

I seem to remember reading that in Milton Keynes new builds do have to have solar panels, and that was many years ago. Do I remember right I wonder?

Yes that is my situation; I am on a fixed price until the end of next year so I have just over a year to put up solar panels to charge my car. And I can’t afford a fancy array with a feed in to the grid, I am going for about a 3kw off grid array on a garden room with no battery storage, so it should cost less than £4000, diy fitting of course.

Might be worth contacting the Canal and River Trust, as they use clay in the same way to mend canals - and they are all over much of the UK of course. I don't see why they wouldn't give you details of a supplier they would use....as long as you can actually get to speak to a worker who knows such things and not just get stuck in a call centre somewhere.

Thank you for that. I am not too worried about spreading the spores as there are thousands of NRW larches within spitting distance which also have Phytophera, so my handful are insignificant. NRW are so far behind they missed their own deadlines for felling diseased trees.

I don’t see it as a political thing, but yes I know you get blasted if you ever say we need to fall back on our own resources before expecting handouts. Also what is always overlooked is that we are almost entirely in control over how much gas and electricity we use, and cheap meals are always possible. I am feeding my whole family tonight for about £8. Not because I am skint but because we all love sausage casserole, and it is a great way of getting us all to eat loads of veg. Some people will struggle for valid reasons I know, but 90% of people can manage ok if they really try.

No doubt a lot of people will rely on their wood burner more this winter. I don’t sell firewood any more just briquettes I buy in; and demand has picked up already. Of course the whingers will just keep going the way they always have and go into debt and play the victim card. I hope most people will actually manage their situation and cut back sensibly, but all I hear is how folk are going to starve or die of cold.

I don’t think you will stop the rot, you need to plan for it. I have this problem with drying sheds on my site and I am gradually using steel brackets to fix the posts to concrete to allow for when the bottom of each post rots. Of course it is more difficult if you are not putting a concrete slab down.

My work site is in a 3000 acre planted ancient woodland, where tens of thousands of Larch have been felled due to Phytophera by Welsh Forestry Commission (and now NRW) and the woodland trust - the main woodland managers. Now a number of the trees within my little site are suffering. They looked good in the spring, but not at all good now. Now if NRW serve a plant health notice on me I guess I will have to fell them. But if they do not I am tempted to only take them out as they die. Is it ever the case that a tree will recover or that some in a group will be resistant like with ash dieback? The FC website says Phytophera will kill Larch quickly but I know local trees that have been going downhill for four years and are still not dead. The main stand is a group of about twenty large larch that have a fantastic amenity value. There are a few others dotted around the site but they are of less consequence. I will post some pictures tomorrow but wondered about fellow arbtalkers experiences. Thank you in advance for your input.

Yes chestnut would cost more. Larch you could simply use unseasoned, but chestnut is so wet you may want to buy dried. Same size slabs would cost you maybe £80 each. Larch or cedar or Douglas fir would have a very long life if you look after it a bit.

That is very nice and might be perfect in this instance.

If you can find a simple rustic design you like you may get something for the sort of money you are talking about. You should be able to get two through and through Larch or Douglas fir slabs for about £50 each, so then you have to find a chippy with time on their hands.

Thank you I will take a look.

I was hoping a few people might already be doing what I am thinking….. must be a very common idea with electricity prices going through the roof!

I am near Chepstow, and I have one or two people who rent workshops from me who could make a bench. I have done items like this in the past but I stick to sawmilling now. A simple rustic bench might be a day or two work, or a traditional park type bench with multiple joints will be more like 6 days or more, so price can vary enormously! Are you not a woodworker or do you not fancy making it yourself?

Well that is a good question, but as I said, to begin with I would not have battery storage. When I could afford it I would probably add battery storage so the question is still relevant.