Squaredy

I don't recall this being a thread about youth. It is about the lack of ethic of hard physical labour in the UK. Realistically it is the youth who you would expect to want to go for hard manual jobs most, because they are likely to be able to cope with the demands of the job better, but the point is we have had apparently one million extra people claim universal credit in the last month, and yet thousands of farms are in crisis because they cannot get good workers. It is a fair point that something does not add up!

Some nice sticks there. Surely not all for chainsaw milling....?

This kiln dehumidifier is designed simply for kilning timber that is already air dried. It is not intended for fully kilning freshly split logs. I used to use my diesel powered kiln which can dry around 24 cubic metres split logs at a time. It uses around 600 litres of red diesel to fire it for 5 or 6 days. This will just about dry split logs if they are already partly dried. That is the equivalent to around £1000 worth of electricity. I no longer use my kiln for drying firewood, because it is too time consuming and expensive and takes up loads of indoor space.

Yes Big J has it spot on. What you have proposed is in fact a bit like a farmer saying he is going to build a bakery as he has calculated he can sell his wheat for a much better price if he mills it and turns it into bread. It is very easy to overlook the amount of time space and energy it will use to chop, split, dry, and store 21 lorry loads of logs. Also of course you then have to start marketing your end product and delivering it to hundreds of customers.

I was only messing Mark, milling looks good it is not easy to see on a sideways blurry pic though!

I preferred the original.....

I can’t claim any direct experience of this but let’s be honest if you think back to school and career aspirations when you were growing up, everything is about getting a well paid non physical job. I do not know anyone who does a physically demanding job for eight or ten hours a day and is happy with it. As a stop gap maybe but nothing else. Some countries out there youngsters are just grateful to be safe and in work, and earning several times what they would in their home country. I think it is just a symptom of a highly developed society like the UK - no one aspires to hard physical labour.

Well you might find someone down your way who will buy wholesale. You can always advertise to individuals and you could find some regular purchasers, but as Mr RoughHewn said it can be a very long term process finding those customers. And of course even when they do come along they often will want something you do not quite have! I currently have around 100 tons of milled timber dry and drying, and yet I have only half the selection I would like. Good luck whatever you do and let us have some pics - Elm if often very beautiful timber.

I might buy your stock at wholesale prices.....if you are not too far from Monmouthshire.

Got any pics?

Thanks for the photos. Even if those vents are all open it is nowhere near enough ventilation for drying fresh cut logs. To finish drying part dried logs may be OK. If you fill that shed with fresh logs the roof will drip with condensation after a cold night. Having said that if it is a spud store it should be well insulated. Great looking shed though, just seems a shame you can't get some space next to it to do the outdoor drying.

I think you need to buy a hygrometer and see how moist the air is in the building. In this weather it is around 40% to 50% outdoors, I am guessing your building could be in the nineties. You did not mention what your main business is - I am assuming not firewood? Whatever it is have you thought about the implications of all the moisture you are releasing into the air? It will cause tools to rust, paper to get musty and all sorts of problems with electrical items if there really is no ventilation. It sounds to me like you have a totally unsuitable situation for drying logs. Each loose cubic metre of fresh sawn logs will release about 200 litres of water into the air, or if the air is already saturated it will just go mouldy and rot. I think the other arbtalkers are being helpful but too gentle - unless there is good continuous ventilation your wood will not dry. Photos might help with advising you.

Looks great Mark!

Lovely, Yew is beautiful Saul.

Well yes I use a similar line in my advertising......"Long lasting hardwood....." My wife disagrees though......

Boom boom, yeah that must be it. Actually I know what it is, our Southern trees are so tough they knacker the blades super-quick.

Ah well Andy, us Southerners have such a high work rate we wear out blades many times quicker you know....

I use Stephen Cull for narrow bandsaw blades - he is the only person I have found who does them properly. I use Galletleys for some blades but they are not really consistent enough.

Lots of good replies already Mark. Always be quick to try another blade as this is usually the problem. I only use a blade for an hour or two before changing and sometimes even less than this. Also not many people sharpen the blades right - who do you use?

Yeah but pizza delivery sounds like an easier way to make a living than selling milled timber... Not even the biggest pizza will need four people to lift.

No worries I will.

What you need to be aware of (and I am surprised no-one has said already) is that the brown patches will not go green again. You can try and avoid getting more of them but the patches that are brown are dead. A tree of that size you may find is impossible to really make look nice again. Might be better off to remove it and replace it with something less troublesome. Irish or fastigiate Yew is a good option but takes a long time to get to a decent size. or how about an apple tree. Beautiful blossom in spring followed by lovely home-grown fruit. Or a gorgeous ornamental tree of which there are many. A double headed cherry can be stunning or Laburnum for example. If you are not an expert get some good advice (lots of websites that will help you) but unless you love that tree I would get rid of it and get something much less bother and more attractive.

Sorry to hear about your old dog Mark.

No worries Mark I will post pics of the slabs here anyway. Of course they won't be seasoned but Cedar of Leb dries really quickly.

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