teepeeat

yes - would be good to keep things going to see which lasted best. While you are all going to the effort might as well do a complete assessment. PS thanks to Rob for the initiative and to all those taking part - should be some useful info for those of us not in a position to take part.

very very nice

Petrol - no packaging, bulk transport, established garages, economies of scale Aspen - packaging, no bulk transport as biggest individual packaging is 210ltr drums, limited quantities. Not qualified to talk about production costs/liter, but believe it is a bit more than petrol (ignoring economies of scale)

Plan, plan plan, then stick to the plan - chopping and changing once building starts is expensive. Everybody ends up making some late changes, but try to keep these to a minimum. Lay out rooms in the garden using sheets on ropes as walls to get a feel for the size of a room for example. Think carefully about how you will live in the house - think about places you have lived in before and currently - what works and what would you like to change. Think carefully about what you want vs what you actually need - particularly on a tight budget. Think carefully about energy issues. It is quite feasable to build a house in the UK in this day and age with no heating requirement for the majority of the year and just have a small wood burner for those few really cold days. Dont know what current building regs require wrt insulation, but it is probably still inadequate as it is designed to please the big builders rather than give proper insulation performance. A bit extra spent on insulation and even more importantly, installation of the insulation will be key. Builders just bung it in with snots of muck in the joints and penetrations all over the place which largely negates the insulating effect. There have been a number of good suggestions here already from people who have obviously been through the process, but this is an arb forum, so get yourself over to building related forums. Good starting points are The Green Building forum - lots of eco types, but also a lot of very good practical advice and experience as well as professional contributions. Also the Navitron forum re energy issues. Have fun with it

That being the case, it might be possible to have a hopper type system using gravity as they do with wood pellets???

Just wondering if leaving the cord for a year before processing would result in significant additional wear and tear on chains/blades??

snailfest ?????? :lol: new one on me??

now to see if your customers invite you back after the next few days :lol: the old classics always work the best

Agree with Morten's comment regarding the placebo effect - put in other words, the human mind is a powerful tool - if only we knew how to use it. Personally wouldn't go on too much about the whole scientific argument. Science is just the accumulation of the latest human knowledge and there is still much to learn on any particular topic you would care to mention. And that is without considering how many blind alleys human knowledge has run up as a lot is based on assumption and hypothesis. Quoting scientific evidence as the ultimate authority just highlights our human arrogance. That said, it is a good place to start, we just need to be open to results other than those predicted by science.

definately darwin award season :confused1:

The force is strong with you Kim (OK - someone had to say it ) Seriously, good effort there:thumbup1:

no fungi too far:lol::lol:

steady on there Stereo - any more of that and I'll be pushing for you as the new prime minister far too sensible in this day and age.

Well now, best get one lit if Jons offering cider - hopes its the good stuff Jon:confused1: :lol: edit - Jon, you do realise that once the word is out you will have to drive up in a truck -the smart wont carry enough

sadly, having to light once or twice a month to help the solar with hot water:thumbdown:

mmmm......................... Dont know Tony, but as the grandson of a carpenter and the son of a life long forester/saw miller/woodworker I ran away to sea, but have found myself drawn back to the trees and timber and the people in an inevitable sort of way. Couldn't be happier with it either

Matt, was going to say good pics, but then spotted the barbie in the corner and though - photoshop, must be. Barbecueing this year, cant be :lol:

got our local Makita power tool dealer to order a part I couldnt find online - gave him the part number, quick phone call to get it added to the weekly delivery. Wasnt a problem that he didnt actually deal in chainsaws.

TCD - if it is your first week, keep at it - perhaps just the body going into survival mode and laying down supplies in the face of a sudden drop in intake. Would have thought that once you have established a good regimen that you will shed it - and more.

Pardon me - sounds like you,ve got a pretty good processor there - cant even get my missus to do the kindling :lol::lol:

Second renewablejohn's suggestion of a Browns. Managed to get on off fleabay recently - older model, but the only difference with the newer model is the wrap around cover for the blade, but if you want that it would be easy enough to knock it together yourself. All that said, not had a chance to flash it up yet and definitely need a new blade as the one it came with had been 'touched up' with an angle grinder apparently

ditto:thumbup:

Must check what I paid for mine, but thought it worked out just over double the price of petrol for a direct delivery of 75 ltrs from Anglo American (and saved on having to buy 2stroke) I was under the impression it is available in 200 ltr drums?? Lower cost of petrol is mainly down to economies of scale and a long established, efficient delivery system. I believe that in parts of Scandinavia you can get aspen out of a pump. As an intermittent user, aspen has definitely solved many niggles with my machines. For the doubters - why has Stihl bothered to come up with its own version of Alkalate fuel? (someone did mention the name on another thread, but forgot it already:blushing:) Go on Husky users - thats a good bone to chew on :lol::lol:

When I asked about mixing aspen with petrol, they said they would not recommend this. They also recommended not switching back and forth between petrol and aspen. When converting a machine to aspen they also recommended running the petrol dry and draining the tank as best you could. On another note - I asked a stihl rep at an arb show a year or 2 ago about using aspen in their machines and he commented that Stihl were coming out with their own alkylate fuel. He inferred it might even be available in Europe already, but I have not bothered to check. Thanks to Garden kit and others for the useful technical info.

Silly question, but I assume that these regs apply to everyone - commercial as well as private/recreational?? Dont start on caravaners