Squaredy

Well sadly it is wonderful firewood also!

Holm Oak....very beautiful timber once milled, even with the fungus. Got any stems for sale?

I agree I just bought a pair and they are good. Max twig size they will cut is about 8mm or so.

As a general rule logs do not dry very well until they are cut to short lengths or milled. This does vary by species, for example Oak barely dries at all in the round. The fact that the log is sprouting shows it is still alive and has enough moisture in to grow. If it continues to be deprived of any fresh moisture it will eventually dry and die. If it is touching the ground some species especially Willows and Poplars will actually take root and start to grow properly. So to answer your question the log may still be drying but very slowly. I have got logs in my yard sprouting now that were felled in 2016, and they are not touching the ground.

You have no idea how lucky you are, most of us only have two.....

I am not really a cyclist any more but I have a lot of sympathy for cyclists, as I see they are the victims of a lot of unjustified anger from car and lorry drivers, and let's be honest it is almost certainly the cyclist who will get hurt by the car or lorry not the other way round. Of course cyclists are sometimes inconsiderate and even arrogant, and I don't defend this. But in my experience these are qualities displayed by car and lorry drivers on a grand scale. So why do cyclists get attacked so much? Are they really such a colossal problem on our roads? Or is the biggest problem over-crowding and poor driving from lots of different road users? And by the way, cycle tracks a few metres away from the road are a good idea, but they are not suitable for serious cycling. They are often shared with pedestrians, so going at more than about ten miles an hour would be dangerous and often the surface is poor meaning a serious cycle ride is really only possible on the road. I am glad it is not my hobby as frankly it is risky and with the attitude of some vehicle drivers and over-crowding on some roads it is getting more dangerous.

Best crazy bureaucracy I ever saw was a few years ago near me in Newport, a really busy two lane through road had a three way set of traffic lights installed for several days because of a hole dug in the pavement. The only obstruction on the road was a small pile of earth and rubble which stuck out from the kerb into the road by about 3 feet. In front of this pile and behind it were perfectly legally parked cars, which stuck out into the road much more than three feet of course. Some dimwit had decided that this small mound of waste justified a complicated set of traffic lights, even though it caused absolutely no obstruction at all. The traffic lights on the other hand caused heaps of problems, and delayed me by about ten minutes and no doubt thousands of other people as well. We should start a thread about crazy bureaucracy if there isn't one. I have a feeling it would be very popular....!

Sorry John I didn't mean to be misleading. All the prices I quoted were per hoppus foot, which is of course most of a cubic foot, hence I was saying per cube. My error, as long as you can work out hoppus feet that is all you need.

I agree with previous posters, get a professional to ring it up - much safer, less hassle and cheaper than buying a saw and looking after it with no experience. You only have to make a silly error and your expensive saw is stuck. Have you thought about chain sharpening (not difficult but needs doing), As a first time chainsaw user your Spruce will be a real pain to cross-cut at that width. If you are a practical and capable person no doubt you will work it out and muddle through but I suspect it will be quite a mission, especially bearing in mind even a really large chainsaw won't be able to cut through from one side. On the other hand, for a professional it sounds like an easy job, maybe just a couple of hours work. Even paying transport costs it might just be the best idea.

Thanks for your opinion Geoffers, you are probably right. As it is such a distance for me I will leave it to someone nearer to find out if this is real or not I think.

Well I can only give you an idea of what I pay, which may vary depending on local demand and so on. Also a lot depends on delivery or whether it is feasible for a timber lorry to pick up a full load. I am often offered single stems where the value is zero not because of anything wrong with the stem, but because transport for a single stem is costly. Oak can be anything from £3 to £7 or more depending on quality. A forest grown first length of Oak free of knots or other faults over 2ft wide could be regarded as planking quality and may give lots of high quality boards. A knotty field grown piece could give some characterful slabs but value would be near the bottom of this range. Ash that is bendy or knotty is firewood value, or a top quality clean stem without serious shakes will be maybe £3 to £3.50 per cube. Personally I like olive colour in the middle but many mills will devalue logs with this characteristic. Cedar of Lebanon is a difficult one as the logs are almost always knotty and never come up in large quantities as they are a park tree not a forest tree. So if they are not really knotty maybe £3 per cube. Leylandii you should be able to pick up for a low price, maybe £1.50 per cube, or just firewood price, though as you say it is not the most sought after firewood. As for qualities I agree it is durable and it is in fact a good quality light weight but strong timber. In my opinion it is superior to Western Red Cedar, but sadly most stems we are likely to come across will be knotty and fast grown (also true of WRC of course). The grain is subtle certainly not dramatic, and it has a lemony smell. If you are offered clean stems of any size then buy them as they should be cheap and useful. Don't expect to have hoardes of customers asking for them however! I would rate clean Leylandii timber as excellent for outdoor construction, doors, windows and more, but most woodworkers will not appreciate this. I hope this helps.

Well it is on ebay again, here is the link: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/timber-trailer-forwader-timber-crane-forestry-trailer-tree-surgeon-road-tow/253606333272?hash=item3b0c1d8b58:g:uNAAAOSwPHxa62PK So do you have any idea if this is really your trailer being sold on again, or just a scam listing? If the seller were accepting paypal payments I could make an offer and pay by paypal, but as the seller specifies they will not accept paypal I would not risk doing a bank transfer.

Ah that is interesting. This is the problem with ebay currently there are so many fake listings it is difficult to find the real ones. You are right it was advertised as near to edinburgh so too far for me to just have a look. I really need a fast tow trailer with crane, maybe i will have to go the hp route.

They also make (or used to make) a fast tow trailer with bolsters (in fact one was just listed on ebay though I think it was a fake listing) but here is a picture of one and the unladen weight is 1200kg so payload is 2300kg. I would have one in a flash if I had the cash....

Davies Implements of Carmarthen are UK suppliers. I have a Norwood HD36 which came with the ceramic guides. I invested in rollers as I found the ceramic guides hopeless. The ceramic guides wear out quickly and a new set costs hundreds unless you are willing to try and buy them from the USA. I have been using rollers now for 9 months or so and have not looked back.

If it is the Climate Change Levy you are referring to this only applies to commercial users I believe.

I know a small sawmill near Swansea where they have an amazing stock of wide slabs (Oak, Ash, possibly some Elm), four feet wide or even more some of them. Made me quite jealous when I visited recently. Not sure you would get a bargain but if you are over that way and like big slabs he is well worth a visit. Let me know if you want his details.

That's what roof bars are for.....! Can't do all those crazy emojis, just a simple semi-colon and a bracket is about as emoji as I get.... They'll make a movie about them next.

Yes almost identical timber, mill those trunks, and get some lovely slabs. Shame on you for even thinking of turning them into firewood....! And yes also like Cedar of Lebanon very favoured by chainsaw carvers. Or if you are near me (South East Wales) sell them to me!

I would say if they are any quality hardwood such as Greenheart then £20 per cubic foot is very reasonable. The problem you face is actually finding someone who has a current need. And remember: seeing something for sale on ebay or wherever is very different from something actually selling. I have one specific suggestion that might help you. Try contacting traditional boatbuilders. There are quite a few of them around and if they need some quality beams to turn into a boat keel Greenheart would be one of the best timbers for this. But getting hold of long beams could be almost impossible. Again timing could be the issue for you but you never know you might get lucky especially if you get hold of the boatbuilding colleges (Lowestoft and Lyme Regis). It might take quite a bit of phone or email work, but a boatbuilder who has the right need would be delighted if your beams really are Greenheart.

Cedar of Lebanon is a timber with some wonderful properties. The heartwood is very durable (unfortunately though it has a very wide band of sapwood) and although not as strong as say Oak or Ash it could be strong enough for construction - it all depends on straight grain and large knots as with any timber. Typically it does have lots of large knots, so this is the reason it is not considered a strong timber. Any length that is straight grained and free of large knots will be strong. Cedar of Leb also is very easy to dry and does not distort much as it dries. Also it has a wonderful smell, although this diminishes over time. I would say it is ideal for garden benches, but of course the sapwood may eventually rot. And also good for bird boxes. I am assuming the birdies will not mind the smell of the wood. It will soon be obliterated by their own smells anyway. Hope this helps.

Ebay are getting very clever at cracking down on fee avoidance. Paying with cash will of course avoid the PayPal fees, but you might find that the seller is still charged the 10% ebay fee no matter how you pay. Even if the sale is not completed through ebay and the item is cancelled before ending they are still allowed to charge their fee. You might have noticed that a lot of listings no longer have phone numbers in the details. This is part of the ebay plan to avoid people completing sales outside ebay and so avoiding fees. It is now against ebay listing policies to include contact details. I think it is all a bit cheaky - after all when browsing ebay you are bombarded with banner ads etc, and there is a small fee for listing every single item. And yet they clobber you for 10% of the selling price as well. It is a genius business model....

Where are you based?

Thank you Big J that is very interesting.

Big J, I meant to ask you what are the thicker blades you referred to? I have had a lot of trouble with blades (mainly trying to find a good sharpening service) but am now happy with Ripper 37 blades sharpened by Stephen Cull Blademaster. Have you had success with a thicker steel blade?