Stereo

The key is to mix in something else I think. If you think of a sycamore, ash or elm log, as it burns, it eventually breaks up into embers which make a bed. Oak doesn't do this as easily in my stove. It jsut sits there in a lump. So you need something which will a bed of embers and stop the ash drawing all the heat out of the lump. That's my unscientific view. We had a large oak fall over a couple years ago and I'm just burning it now. It's well seasoned and the first attempts were a failure but mixed with a bit of dry fir and a bit of sycamore, I open the Esse door and it's like the fires of hades in there. What I tend to do with oak is either cut it long and split it really thin if it's green or if it's a big tree, ring it up really thin (about 4") and then chop into 'bricks'. This seems to let them sit better in the fire and allow the flames to get around. Also means they dry quicker. I did hear that you need to allow a year an inch for oak to dry out. Probably not quite that but it does take some time.

Best 4 x 4 I ever had was a G wagen (350GD? can't recall) It was a green short wheelbase one and was a staggeringly capable vehicle. I wish I had never sold it now. Currently run a 92 Hilux which is the most reliable vehicle ever produced. I can't take it to town now because everyone wants to buy it off me. I suppose that means sooner or later it will be knicked. I think I want another G wagen. LWB this time.

I've seen Ivy live for years in lime or cob once severed. It just goes on. you need to remove it mechanically really. Plus, kill the root. As an aside, I was chatting to a bee keeper the other day who said that Ivy is massively important to bees. So, all those ivy ravaged trees in the wood are a feast for our bee friends. I thought that Ivy did trees in. He said not. I still think it does. But I suppose if it keeps our buzzy buddies in business, I'll leave them alone.

I hate Talk Talk with a passion. They keep threatening to cut off my broadband unless i pay my bill and I haven't been with them since 2010. Watch out if you ever want to leave them. They are worst than Sky. I hate them. Gone with Plusnet now and the ads are right. You can call up and talk to somebody. Earlier this year we had an identical problem with 2 broadband lines in next dor buildings. Both had ring tone and phone was fine. Both sync with exchange but nothing else. One BT, one Plusnet. I figure it must be an exchange fault. Stupidly I call BT first and spend an hour on the phone talking to various idiots and get nowhere. One 2 minute call to plusnet, some cheerful, helpfull oop north fella says 'hang on a minute, I'll have a look......oh yeah, exchange fault at Totnes exchange logged at 11am, next update at 3pm, do you want me to give you call then?" I say yes please. He does too although the fault is already fixed. Absolutely brilliant. I now love plusnet.

Bugger, they owed me £10 million. Spose I can write that off. Oh well.

I think we can all help here. If we all send one log in the post, maybe OP can fulfil his order. I've got a chipboard pallet block you can have. It's not much but it's a start.

What is it they say about landies? Can't keep the oil in or the water out. I've had a good few series 3's over the years and I did love them all. Reliability was OK considering the age of the vehicles. Never had a newish one. Still quite fancy another S3 LWB pickup. Would get one of them after market heater kits though. I'm not as young as I was then.

For one thing it can't be good for the flue. No idea on the health risk but I doubt it's good news over time. I've got mates who seek out the pallets with the chipboard blocks as they burn so well.

This is always the problem in times like these. You are going to have a lot guys who work for saw mills and so on suddenly finding that the idea of chopping a truck of waste wood and flogging it for £75 cash is actually not a bad idea. Maybe their missus has been made redundant. Maybe they can't afford their own heating bills or are on short hours or something. Sign of the times I'm afraid. If it were me I would hold my prices and wait it out. Maybe try and find some other way of raising cash in the meantime (at which point you may be doing the same thing to someone elses livelihood). Whatever, needs must I guess.

I would have thought the next step is to have log pile inspectors. Don't they have these in Sweden or somewhere? They come around and make sure your wood is properly seasoned or you can't burn it!

Why not make some fake snow for the roof and bonnets of your trucks? Carve it out of polystyrene. Then just drive around the town.

I love that video.

We've still got a Super Dexta up the lane. Needs a bit of TLC these days though. Maybe I'll fix it up one day....... I used to drive it as a lad with a bale spike on the back. Great fun except I had to jump up and down on the brake pedal as I wasn't heavy enough to stop it!

I think it was better before all these 40k boxes etc. tractors used to be slow when I were a lad so you pulled in where you could as it was going to take all day anyway. We did have one field on a main road where we had to get on the wrong side of the road to get a trailer in. So, despite indicators you always got some guy trying to nip up the inside. I once ended up with my front left wheel on the bonnet of a new Saab. Luckily the copper saw my side of it and called the guy an idiot. But in general you must pull in at every opportunity.

Have to be plastic these days as far as I know.

Assuming they were a business, it would be their responsibility to make sure the company they used were licensed. If private I'm not sure.

I would think you would need to aim to billet in log thickness otherwise you have 2 lots of splitting to do. Then sawbench to get the length your customer needs. Given that you already have billets, this could be done much more 'to demand' as you have a more predictable and mechanised process. I don't know, I jsut do my own firewood, but I'm always looking for ways to do it better.

I see what you are syaing Jonathan, I really do. The problem we seem to have is that we pay lip service to the theory in the UK and build houses which do nothing well and don't last more than 50 years. I do love to watch Grand Designs etc. and learn all about 'neutral' houses and the like but I really don't fancy living in one. Any more than I would like a glass of lukewarm champagne in a lukewarm bath.

Very interesting ty. In the uk new houses are vacuum tested to make sure you are properly killed by whatever people expel into the air. It can't be right can it? Apparently the issue of dust mites is becoming massive as they love our super insulated sealed in houses. We are all animals and we need fresh air day and night to thrive. Why are kids allergic to so much these days? Is it additives in food? Is it poor quality music or is it because they live in boxes made of gypsum? I wonder sometimes. I grew up in the coldest draughtiest house in the world and I never get I'll while all around me get the bug. Might be the lack of blood in my alcohol stream I suppose.

I think people have come to expect a site these days. If you are not running a shopping cart then it doesn't have to be too flash.

How about stacking in split billets in big rows? Then saw up later into logs. The billets will naturally create air gaps in one direction.

Dare I say the extraction equipment could run on biodiesel? The problem is with so many people in the UK, we just won't have enough land for heat and food. I guess the solution is many more land owners of traditionally unproductive land turning to coppice to supply the local firewood market and other solutions such and nuclear and wind / wave for the cities? It's pretty fair to say (as a farmer's son) that the output of meat from grazing land is not very efficient I wouldn't have thought.

It seems there are 2 schools of thought on this. Personally I think that old houses are perfectly healthy. It seems to be divided down the lines of airtight boxes vs. houses which breathe. I think the problem comes when you try to turn a house which was built to breathe into an airtight box. Hence the question really. I was reading something about mould (which I now can't find) where the feeling was that the lack of open fires very much increased mould growth. It's not even down to temperature as warmer air can hold more moisture, just the drawing of air through the house and the ability for the walls to dry out quickly by themselves. Anecdotaly, when we did our barn conversion, building control insisted flat out that the whole house had to be tanked with Vandex. I believe they have now abandoned this policy but our lovely barn conversion has all it's exterior walls coated in this horrible waterproof concrete garbage. Upstairs we left one exterior wall in stone pointed in lime mortar. They never came back to check. Guess which is the only exterior wall in the house which doesn't grow mould unless we have the heating cranked and the windows open all day? Most of them we have now dry-lined with a future plan to remove this filth they made us put on. I have half a mind to take them to court over it. Idiots. So, that's why we need airflow through the house.

I've been reading up on the effect of ripping out open fires from old houses and how they would pull air through the house, allowing it to breathe properly. I live in an old house and we suffer with high humidity. I also find that we get more heat from our stove with one door open. Probably burn more wood but we burn big logs in it and it doesn't seem to go through a massive amount. Plus it's just more homely and to me the air feels fresher. I'm told that doing this will make the house breathe as it was supposed to. Making it airtight will end with cold and mouldy walls which I can confirm is correct. Am I an Eco scumbag for having my stove door open?

Interesting. That may change my plans a bit. More research needed.