Squaredy

Yes ash from waste incinerators is apparently very nasty indeed. Even pure wood ash is not good in the long run as it is highly alkali.

That is exactly what happens in Cardiff, but sadly it also has its problems. The air pollution caused in Cardiff has been a huge local concern, and now they are sending all the waste ash from incineration to England (2500 lorry loads per year) as it was causing so much dust and distress in the Cardiff landfill site that was taking it. Incinerating waste is not the simple neat solution it at first appears.

And I am pretty certain nookie is carbon neutral. DEFRA should encourage it. Maybe a RHI (Renewable Hump Incentive) if you have enough of it.

Yes the owners may well think £50 is derisory, but that is because they are thinking of the value of timber, milled, dried, and maybe even turned into a finished product. Which is the same as thinking that a barrel of water is worth a lot of money because it could be made into top quality whisky. But yes, of course, if you place a high value on it and want to offer more then that is up to you. But the real commercial value is very low.

Yeah Bennets sawblades are superb.

One other way to stop condensation. Firstly make sure there is good ventilation all round and top and bottom. Secondly spray paint the inside with Grafotherm (http://www.grafoproducts.co.uk/). This is a British made very heavily textured paint that stops any slight condensation from dripping. If you don't really need insulation this is a much cheaper and quicker option.

No more Elm needed just yet thanks Jonathon. Maybe in the future....most of what I had from you is now drying in my sheds, but a few lucky customers got to pick a few bits as we stacked it all...

I am mainly after seasoned milled timber. I also have plenty of sawlogs. Having said that I am always looking for sawlogs, and will need some in a couple of months maybe. Feel free to PM me what you have and prices.

Anyone sitting on a stock of good milled hardwood they want to shift for a wholesale price? I am looking to buy decent quality UK grown hardwoods, and will pay between about £10 and £15 per cubic foot, so about half retail price. I will buy Ash, Beech, Cherry, Elm, London Plane, Oak, Sycamore, Sweet Chestnut, Walnut and a few others. Quality has to be good or interesting if that makes sense. In other words good clean timber is good, but interesting, characterful, pippy wood is also good. A few splits are fine, and of course a few big knots also. I buy whole packs, not just a few boards, so I do not expect to go through your stock cherry-picking the best boards. If the pack looks decent I will buy the whole lot. Thickness is not too important and neither is width, as long as they are at least six inches wide. I mainly buy logs in and mill them and dry them but at present I could do with more dried stock so maybe this will help some of you who have good stock but don’t really have the time to sell it. You will need to be near South East Wales, or able to deliver to me. Feel free to PM me or reply for more information.

Yes I totally agree. Yew logs are worth usually about £60 or £70 per cubic metre, and that is delivered to the sawmill. So the real commercial value of the log is roughly zero. A hobbyist might like to come along and buy it or wood turners might come and hack off bits but this takes lots of time, advertising etc. So, yeah £50 is a fair price for the tree owner. If they think this is a rip-off they have always got the option of paying someone to mill it for them, to dry the timber for a couple of years, advertise it, deal with all the enquiries, and eventually I am sure they would sell it all and hopefully make more than £50 profit.

Yes but Jonathon, you are using logic and common sense. They really don't come into it in the real world it seems. Wales is also ideally placed for large scale hydro power. Electricity from rain and hills....sounds perfect to me.

You are very certain you cannot increase your log prices enough to make it worthwhile. Maybe you are mistaken. Lots of things in life have become much more expensive in the last few years - yet people still cough up. By your own admission you keep getting busier so maybe you could increase your prices usefully. Maybe you will be surprised by the response. If you lose a few customers, or even say 20%, overall it will mean you work less hours but more profitably. Might be worth a go rather than just write off your own business.

Yea they are tasty apples....Discovery. The bugs thought they were good too of course. Will have to plant a new apple tree, but a bit further from the house this time.

A section of stump ground lead pipe will be just the excuse you need to get rid of it altogether and replace with modern safe alternative. Surprised that wasn't job no.1 Ha, yes I did think about that, but to be honest the lead pipe doesn't worry me. We have hard water, and always run off some water in the morning or if the house has been unoccupied for a few days.

Well to be fair the subsidence is mainly caused by the extreme dry weather and shrinking clay soil. But the point is I guess that even a small tree near the house is making the drying worse. As the house has indeed started to subside right next to the tree I think there was really no choice but to give it the chop....sadly. The distance from house to apple tree was around 1.5 metres. And yes I agree photos would be good. So here they are.....to be fair not that exciting, but showing the apple tree and privet hedge before and after removal.

The owner of the Yew trees has been chasing me asking who was interested in doing this job. So if the two members who expressed an interest are still interested please let me have their contact details so I can pass them on, or give the customer a shout on the number I supplied! Thank you in advance.

Thank you for your reply. Yes the job is done now. After all that they turned up without the promised stump grinder, so it was not an issue! So I guess I will remove the remaining stump using old fashioned methods, or maybe just leave it to rot.

They haven't looked at the job. A building engineer assessed the damage to the house, and at the same time condemned the apple tree and part of the hedge. Then today out of the blue we have a phone call from a tree surgery firm saying they have been instructed to do the tree work and can they come the next day. So we weren't really prepared for this and the only professional who has been to see the job was an engineer appointed by the insurance company. I spent half my evening taking all the lovely apples off the tree in readiness!

I am always interested in buying quality dried boards such as you have. Where are you though?

Well the water pipe is lead, not sure about the gas pipe...

Thank you for your replies. It is not that I would have kept it a secret, but I will not be around when they arrive, and my wife may also be out. The removing of the tree and hedge is a tiny job so they might be on the stump grinding before we even meet them. What we will do is leave a notice for them warning them about the pipes and cable. On reflection I am surprised the structural engineer didn't enquire about this when he specced out the job.

I have a couple of tree surgeons coming to my house tomorrow to remove my lovely Apple Tree and a few metres of Privet Hedge as they have helped to cause subsidence to my house and I have had to make an insurance claim. Should I warn them that there are water and gas pipes and electricity cables buried somewhere underneath the tree and hedge or will they automatically check before they fire up the stump grinder? Bear in mind I have no way of knowing how far down the pipes and cables are, and hopefully they are too deep, but who knows....?

Anybody got a stock of nice clean straight 3 inch Sweet Chestnut they want to shift? I am in South Wales but I will travel a bit if needed. I will pay £25 to £30 per cubic foot if it is decent, and been drying properly spaced for at least two years. Need about 12 or more cubic feet. Lengths can be anything over 2 metres. If it is cheap I may just buy all you have for re-selling, but right now I am just trying to help one customer. If you think you can help send me a PM. Thank you. Any takers?

The poor citizens of the USA think they are protecting themselves by owning a gun. In reality in most years over 10,000 people are illegally killed with firearms in the USA and double that number commit suicide by using a gun each year. Even the number killed by accidental discharge is higher than the total firearms deaths in the UK. There are not many things that make me proud to be British, but general lack of guns in our society is one of them.

I have been contacted by someone asking about felling 6 Yew trees, which sound as if they may have some decent milling timber in them. It is totally out of my area so I promised the guy I would post on here to see if anyone is interested in felling them and possibly buying the stems. I think he realises he will have to pay to have them felled, and I have advised him the timber will not be high value, so if you would like to contact him PM me and I will pass on his contact details. It might be a waste of time......or it might be 6 nice Yews worth saving and milling. Who knows? Here is what he said to me: I have 6, 25 feet by 1 - 1.5 feet wide yew trees that I would like taking out and removing. I live in North Lincolnshire, so it's some way from you but would you be interested in having/buying them? Or do you have any information that could help me?