Squaredy

2 hours ago, Stubby said:

This I guess was posted before the picture got loaded ?

Actually no I had seen the picture....but bad tree surgery is a tiny problem compared to grey squirrels.....

Round my way it is the grey squirrels are the problem.  I have been helping (in the sense I let them store materials in my yard) the Woodland Trust plant trees in south east Wales - 54000 of them.  Their head guy   In the area told me squirrels will see to most of them.  They are protected by 1.8m tree guards but nothing will save them from the greys.

38 minutes ago, sime42 said:

Evening all

 

So my brother and I have recently acquired a stock of nice decorative timber. This was kept by our late father as raw material for furniture making and wood turning. Most of it he got many many years ago, but over recent years I've been adding to the stock from the arising from interesting tree surgery work. There's all sorts of species like Oak, Ash, Yew, Elm, Cherry, Apple, Laburnum, Robinia, Mahogany, Cedar, Walnut .......... Some of it is 2 - 4in planks, some whole trunks up to 12in, some offcuts, some turned down blanks.

 

Its always been kept dry so no rot but unfortunately a lot of it has been afflicted by woodworm, some quite badly. Luckily most of it seems confined to the sap wood and interestingly the tougher stuff like old oak heartwood, mahogany and Robinia is barely, if at all, effected. We forced ourselves to be ruthless when we sorted through it so probably discarded a 1/3 to a 1/2 of it, a heart breaking task I can tell you! Some of it is, was, really beautiful, such as the burred walnut for instance.

 

We're intending to keep it ourselves now for future woodworking projects. The obvious question is what to do about the woodworm? How best to treat it to stop it increasing the damage to the already infected timber and also to stop it spreading to other "clean" wood. My brother seems to think that the wormy stuff should be strictly quarantined, I'm not sure how cautious we need to be. What approach do all you other keen woodworkers take to woodwormy material? What are your preferred treatments? Or should I give up now and consign it all to the log pile? I hope not.

 

This may be paranoid android but should I be concerned about the wood worm infecting structural timber in the house? The workshop is in the garage, an integral part of the house. Being 1930's ish the timber used in the building was probably not treated. How contagious actually is wood worm?

 

Ta

 

If I manage to get the lathe installed before everything is consumed and turned to dust I'll post some pictures on here in future!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best way is to find someone with a large timber kiln and have the entire lot disinfected.  It may cause some cracking but not a lot if the timber is all dry.  It just needs cooking at 60 degrees C for 15 hours or so.

1 hour ago, openspaceman said:

I wonder if  he means the Jetmaster from the early 70s

Oh yes I had forgotten about the Jetmaster.  I will be opening up an open fire in my lounge and I am looking into the options for an open fire which is a bit more efficient.

3 hours ago, harvey b davison said:

Got asked to make a rocking chair for my 7 yo grandson. I have never made a chair before so it was something new.

Its made out of 40x40 pine with ply base (paint finish). 

Im not happy with the legs, as they are too narrow, however overall im happy with it, and it gives me something to work on.

How much do you all think these would sell for ???

Any feed back, good or bad or constructive much appreciated.

Thankyou.

H.

Fair play you did a great job of that.  I just have to say the plywood let’s it down.  If you struggle to get a single wide board there is no harm in jointing several which judging by your skill level would have been easy.

I sell lots of timber to people to make tables, but very few people tackle chairs.  You should be proud.

47 minutes ago, Alycidon said:

This is a haifway house between a stove and an open fire.  We have had them here under another brand name for many years.

 

There is still nothing stopping heat from the fire rising up the chimney,  so if the cost is only £150 or so then its probably worth it if fitting is DIY.  Otherwise do the job properly and install a stove with a galvanised steel register plate in the chimney to prevent heat loss.

 

A

Interesting.  What is the other brand name if you don’t mind me asking?

None of you Arbtalkers got any experience with this clever looking product then?  Surely Vespasian must be an expert on it....?  http://ecograte.ie/

1 minute ago, trigger_andy said:

Hmmmm, good point. But if Im not wanting to wait two years to get them down to 20%?  

 

Say 2" Slabs, I wonder how long would Kiln Drying them take to get down to 20%? And also the cost? Not really looked into it yet. Will most likely buy another Polly Tunnel and stack them till I have more time and money.

The best things in life come to those who wait.......

Sweet Chestnut at 2" thick may be air dry after a year or so if you are lucky with the weather.  A kiln would probably take a couple of months at a guess - never tried it from fresh sawn.  Also it depends what you have in mind for the timber.  I have sold completely unseasoned Chestnut for various uses over the years - like Oak there is some demand green.  If it is for selling this is another option.  Or if it is for your use it depends on what you have in mind.

13 hours ago, trigger_andy said:

Do you kiln dry or air dry?

 

I wonder if I should invest in a kiln? Ie, build one?

I think it is worth pointing out that as a general rule when you kiln timber you do so after air drying - to get it dry enough for indoor use.  Kiln drying from freshly milled is possible but very expensive and troublesome.  Air drying will bring timber down to around 20% in most parts of the UK, and kiln drying then will take it down to 12% or whatever you want.  You may actually find that there are plenty of people who are quite happy with air dried.

Anybody got any experience of the Ecograte?  Www.ecograte.ie

It is an Irish made product which looks like it simply sits in a traditional open fire and greatly increases the efficiency.  Based on the manufacturer’s claims it will never rival a wood burner but will greatly improve the average open fire.  

Anyone got any experience of it?

14 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

Anyone Milled Lime and Sweet Chestnut? Any positives or negatives? Retail Value?

 

Some logs for sale my way. 

I mill both Lime and Sweet Chestnut regularly.

Lime is a wood with limited value - great for carving, but not generally valued for anything else.  You can use it for furniture etc but it is usually a bit plain, very subtle grain, light in weight and colour and rather soft.  Durability outdoors is non-existent.  Unless you have a buyer lined up you might struggle to sell it.

Sweet Chestnut is a durable timber not as strong or as hard as Oak but more stable and quicker to season.  Look out for ring shake in the log - if present this can ruin the log and result in most ending up as firewood.  More likely in large logs.  Chestnut can be used as structural outdoor timber but also as furniture and many other things.  Much easier to sell.  Retail value a little less than Oak.

The RSPB also have a lot of experience in this type of problem, might be worth speaking to them.  I read recently about a large development where they worked very closely with the developers to ensure local wildlife is considered at every step.  Apparently hundreds of garden fences on this development have hedgehog highways running through them so the little guys can go about their business.

1 hour ago, Chalgravesteve said:

I've recently been approached by "Grown in Britain" to register my kiln dried firewood with them, to enable me to display the logo on my products which are all sourced from within 20 miles of me. 

I have also been approached by Woodsure, the woodfuel quality assurance scheme.

I have also been approached by the "Ready to Burn" scheme as our products are all under 20% MC and we kiln dry it ourselves.

 

All of the above are linked/operated/controlled by HETAS Ltd?

 

And when you search Companies House, HETAS is a private limited company, with over £1 million in cash in the bank according to their last filed accounts?

 

I always thought that HETAS was a regulatory body? Clearly its not?  Now I take my hat off to them if they have built a private business around providing other private businesses with certification saying that products/services are compliant, but compliant with what? 

 

There have been recent published articles regarding firewood (The Clean Air Act) and the emissions etc, and it would seem to me that there is a push towards having these brandings on products to enable the consumer to know that the product meets certain criteria, but I can't see how that is compatible with a private company run for profit? 

 

Or am I missing something here?

 

 

I think you are right it is a regulatory body, but also a company.  The question I suppose is who owns it and if there are any profit distributions who do they go to.  Maybe the reason their bank balance is healthy is that they do not distribute their profits.

And as far as I know there is no connection between Grown in Britain and HETAS....

8 hours ago, Pragma said:

(A few of you may have already seen this, posted on the SWOG (Small Woodland Owners' Group) forum.)

Some housing developers have submitted a Planning Application to build 1,540 houses right next to our woods! We knew it was coming, but this is bigger than was originally proposed, and that was already terrifying!

Sadly, it is unlikely that we will be able to stop this project going ahead as the councils are under so much pressure from Government to build houses, and the developers have the upper hand.

Alvecote Wood is an ancient woodland voted the Best Managed Small Woodland in England by the RFS a few years ago. It was also the first licensee under the new Grown in Britain scheme promoting sustainable forestry in the UK with a supply chain linked to it. There is more information on the Alvecote Wood Facebook page.

I am now scurrying around, trying to build a solid legal challenge with the aim of getting the developers to agree some mitigation. They have treated the woods with some respect, but not a lot. E.g. they are saying that there will be no additional footfall at the woods because we have Private Property signs - that is a total cop-out and sadly proven over the years to be baseless. We've had a lot of problems with people trying to nick things, damaging stuff (e.g. more broken fencing and ironically one of our Private Property signs trashed a few weeks ago!), poaching, etc etc. I can cope with the current level. I'm not happy about it, but I can cope. My simple analysis and projections (using very helpful research from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, plus direct input from one of the researchers themselves) suggest a likely eight-fold increase is what we should expect in human disturbance, and probably worse than that, in fact. And more than a factor of 8 on issues with domestic cats crossing the road from the new houses and eating all our voles, leaving the barn owls nothing to eat. Etc.

The Planning Application is in its public consultation period now, until 16th February. This is where you come in, please.
I have written a bunch of example 'objection' comments related to the proposed housing development next to the woods, on the following web page:

http://www.alvecotewood.co.uk/HousingObjections.php

There are instructions on the web page and also when you follow the link to the council's website.

You can choose any number of these comments and use them to form your own response to the council.

Please, please put in your comments about this housing proposal, regardless of where you live, including even outside the UK.

Feel free to cherry-pick items that you care about and to add as many of your own comments as you wish.

You can put in more than one response, but please don't submit the same comment repeatedly.

Ideally, rephrase my words so your comments are your own, but if you think some of my words are already what you'd like to say, then go for it.

The public consultation runs until 16th February 2019. I understand you can still e-mail comments after that date and before the matter is debated by the Planning Committee, but the sooner you get something in, the better. I think it is definitely a good idea to at least submit something to the council before 16th February.

I may update that web page as more information comes to light and as I get more advice from experts. I have put an 'update date' above each block of comments so you can see if there has been any recent changes. I will try to add any new comments at the bottom of the list, with a separator that shows the date of each addition.

Thank you in advance. This is a critical time for our woods and for our local community. We do a lot with local schools as well as lots of public Open Days etc, etc. The community really value all that and it was always part of the dream that my wife and I shared from the start, 11 years ago! Very sadly, my wife (Dr. Sarah Walters OBE) passed away last April so now it is me taking care of the woods on my own, with help from friends I hasten to add.

Please share this post to any like-minded people that you know, in any country!

Alvecote Wood needs your help!

Thanks in advance,

Steve.

Have you spoken to the Woodland Trust in the area?  I would be amazed if they didn't help, with contacts and possibly pointers to legal matters and possibly with publicity.  They don't only protect the woods they own.

8 hours ago, eggsarascal said:

Are these in Bures?

No.

Good idea.  I would imagine they will be riddled with knots as they are fairly young trees sadly.

I was contacted today by a nursery in Suffolk trying to sell a large number of small Yew stems.  They are not large enough for milling, but maybe would have a craft use of even fencing?  Sounds crazy but Yew is really durable so what an interesting fence this would make!!!

They are 12 to 15 feet tall so I guess the stems are 4 to 6 inches diameter, though I have not seen them myself.

If anyone is interested they will be wanting to sell large numbers not just a few - there are hundreds available apparently.

Sounds like their options are a bit limited but I thought I would put it out there in case anyone has a need.  If you want details PM me and I will let you have the phone number.

5 hours ago, JenniG said:

Hi

 

My house and those of my neighbours back on to the main Kings Cross to Kings Lynn railway line. At the bottom of all our gardens are Leylandii trees which vary in height, depending on whether we've had work done, which we believe were planted in the 1970s when the houses were built. My next door neighbour's tallest tree is estimated to be 70' tall but those which have been worked on previously in other gardens may be only 40'. 

 

Just before Christmas, a divided trunk on my neighbour's tree split and fell onto a train (luckily no one was hurt). Obviously the potential for damage is something we have always been aware of, hence why most of us have had them cut back and/or topped out in the past. I checked the position with my household insurers and they confirmed that they provided cover for any damage done by the trees as long as they were maintained Network Rail have also come along with chainsaws and chopped bits off at lower levels without consulting us and were even caught climbing the trees in one garden a few years ago to remove branches. We therefore believed they took responsibility for the growth on their side of our fence. Because the trees are right on our fencelines (and NR have installed safety fencing) we have no way of getting to the other side of the trees to check for overhang.

 

We subsequently all received letters from NR to advise that they have identified our trees as a "cause for concern". They suggested we contact their approved contractors for advice - of the three they recommended, 2 won't do private work and the third company want to take all the branches off the railway side of the trees and reduce the height by well over 50%. NR themselves haven't actually specified the work required but have suggested the same reduction (to the height of the return conductor wire, whatever that is!) but not removing all the branches on the railway side (I'd have thought that if we did that it would make them potentially very unbalanced!). 

 

We have sought advice from other contractors but two have already told us it is too close to the railway for them to work (the embankment up to the rails literally starts just the other side of the boundary fence). 

 

Network Rail's contractor has quoted us almost £4k per property. Most of us are retired or only working part-time and that is simply beyond our finances. I presume that now we have been told that something needs to be done, if something should happen my household insurance would not cover it because NR consider the trees have not been safely maintained.

 

I and my neighbours are therefore wondering what advice your collective experience can give us? We obviously don't want to lose the trees completely because they give us noise protection and privacy, particularly as flats have recently been built on the other side of the tracks. I don't doubt that we have a legal obligation to maintain our trees, but is there any obligation on Network Rail to maintain them on their side of the tracks, particularly as they have done so in the past without consulting us? Is it worth consulting a solicitor or would we just be incurring additional costs unnecessarily? Would it be worth trying to negotiate with Network Rail or do they have us over a barrel? 

 

I can't seem to insert a picture so I've attached a file with Googlemaps view - this was taken several years ago but not much has changed! I have highlighted the trees involved (the ones lower down the track were removed when an underpass was built)

 

Many thanks in anticipation of your assistance. 

trees.docx

I feel for your situation.  NR are perhaps acting like bullies.  They know they can scare you as the tree owners, but I am sure when it suits them they will just go ahead and reduce the trees.  If it was impossible to trace the owner what then?  Of course you and your neighbours are responsible if the trees are unsafe, but are they really unsafe?  It is NR who operate a railway with high voltage overhead wires, perhaps they should come and sort the trees out.

I have high voltage overhead power lines on my sawmill site.  The owners send a helicopter on a regular basis to inspect them and then send out a tree team to trim all the trees within a certain distance.  Have NR really got the right to force you to reduce these trees or are they just taking advantage of their large size and your small size?

I am no lawyer but if I were in your shoes I would be doing some serious research.  There are other threads on Arbtalk dealing with this - might be worth a read.

41 minutes ago, CFREEMAN said:

Hi All

 

new to this but question is how much split logs would you look to get out of half an artic load roughly? 

 

Any help welcomed 

A full artic load of a timber lorry will yield about 42 to 45 cubic metres of split logs loose stacked.  So that is from a timber lorry which can carry around 26 tons.  A flatbed artic will  take about 29 tons (as there is no crane) so half a load of a flatbed is a little more.

3 hours ago, Shiny steve said:

Hello, is there any interest in a bit of monkey puzzle in Kent. I'm bringing down a 35-40 ft tree about 18" diameter at base. 

 

Not sure if I'm going to plank it or ring it for turning blanks 

Turning blanks surely the way to go.  Unremarkable as boards - just knotty softwood, but I think turners may like it due to the symmetrical knots.

15 minutes ago, warren said:

 

I'm a tree surgeon (no shit sherlock). I want to buy a lathe to turn bowls from the stuff i cut down. Would hmrc throw a wobbly if i brought one through the company to use up my tax dollars rather than give it to them ???

 

Your accountant is the person to ask.  But the answer is if it is wholly for business use then that should be fine.  If challenged you might have to show how it is used in your business.

3 hours ago, Woodworks said:

Just fixing up an old barn and the cladding is knackered. Wanting maximum ventilation but don't want driving rain getting in. Heard that hit and miss boarding is about the best way to achieve this. Not sure how thick the boards should be or the best material but guessing larch would be a safe bet. Any feedback on the above good or bad would be much appreciated. 

Here is a bit of lateral thinking.....how about horizontal waney (or square) edge cladding (Larch or DF) but with short wedges (say 200mm long and 25mm thick tapering down to say 6mm) cleverly positioned where they overlap so that each board is sticking out at the bottom and the boards do not touch.

Not sure I have worded that well but what I am picturing will look solid from the side but will be full of air gaps if you look up at it from the outside.  Like a waney edge louvre effect.  Might need a little bit of inventiveness to get it right but it would give great ventilation and keep all the rain off even when windy.

8 hours ago, Chris at eden said:

Why would you think that?  Subsidence is way more common than heave.  If the tree continues to grow then the subs risk will increase. If the frequency and length of droughts continue to increase then the risk of subs will increase. 

 

Then in again the house could have sufficient foundations. A lot of old houses have cellars. It’s difficult to say without the facts but the situation where heave is the bigger risk are pretty rare. 

 

My my advice to the OP is get it looked at properly. 

I meant the risk if the tree is removed.  Of course if the tree remains the risk is subsidence, but the OP was asking how to avoid heave if the tree is felled.

3 minutes ago, benedmonds said:

Looks a lot more then 6m tall unless it has been topped just above the photo..?

Still not sure what a structural engineer will tell you...

Or what you could do if one did say heave was likely.. 

I guess you could just keep the tree.

I am happy to be corrected..

Subsidence risk is more likely then heave imo.

 

Yeah maybe a catch 22.  Leave it there and perhaps get subsidence.  Remove it and possibly get heave....

I think you are right to be concerned.  The tree clearly has been there a long time.  The house may well have foundations not very deep.  You might get away with felling it without a thought, but it is not worth the risk.

Get a professional structural surveyor involved and possibly an arboriculturalist.  I would speak to the insurance company first - they may well recommend a course of action.  After all, you are trying to ensure they don't end up with a multiple thousand pound claim, so they should be very helpful.

My house is also built on clay and is the same vintage as yours and last year we had subsidence caused (in part) by a small apple tree.  Your risk as you say is heave not subsidence, but equally destructive.