GreenGui

Thicknesser where ever possible given width issues. Love doing that job...

Excellent idea if I understand you correctly. I'll set up an ebay store selling chainsaws and all the associated accessories (PPE of course ) into the UK from France. I will simply be able to go into my local dealers who have no restrictions, buy the kit to order and mail it on to my UK customers, if I sell at purchase price I can still make 25-30% on the exchange rate alone!! Don't care about after sales service as I am a Cowboy. Seriously though, the rest of the EU is not like the UK. You can't think this stuff up without taking it through the EU and it has no chance in France - the market for kit sold to home owners with a bit of land is huge, the manufacturers would simply not back it.

Thanks Logan, thats very useful. Someone who has actually done it!

Coppice Walnut, err, no I don't think that would work. Would you suggest planting an apple orchard to a Scotsman?? Perigord and Brittany not the same region nor have the same native species. I strongly suggest you read the ORIGINAL post before you take to the keyboard as it was ASH coppice I was referring to... not WALNUT! I am aware of the valuable properties of WALNUT and annually take full advantage of said species but my OP had nothing to do with walnut or investment. Take up banking if investment is your sole interest. "TREES PLANTED 6 YEARS AGO". I state again for the "hard of understanding" and the original post; "PS I'm well aware of the Ash die back issue but it has not hit hard here yet so please don't tell me to simply tear them all out". Hopefully you can extrapolate from that clearly stated text I am not interested in your personal views regarding Ash Die Back. Thanks to the original helpful previous posters:001_smile:

Hindsight is a wonderful thing - they have been in the ground 6 years, long before Chalara made an appearance over here. My question was about coppicing. As I stated to begin with I am not interested in another discussion about Chalara, I have already done the research on that subject. Thats not aimed at you personally growforest btw.

We ran an ex-utilities LR 110 Td5 11 seater for 5 years, bought at a UK auction so a bit of a punt at the time. Biggest issue we had was front brake caliper rebuild. After that it was the usual issues; power steering pump leak, starter motor, fuel pump but tbh I would not credit these issues with the power company that owned it from new. Looks like a tidy example:thumbup:

Go for it wrsni, its all any of us can do. They grow like weeds here, probably the same where you are. Sudden Oak Death, Ash Die Back, Dutch Elm, Sweet Chestnut Maladie (has the UK got that one yet?)....they just keep coming. There's so much fear and Schadenfreude if we worried about all of it we would plant nothing, then where would the future wood cutters be??

For longer term, damp sand up to root collar works well. Easier to separate come planting time then healing into soil, have used this method for up to 4 months without problem.

TBH that does not surprise me. I think most people that plant trees get the urge to do so in their middle age which means that apart from SRC we will not see the true potential of what we have planted.

When we first arrived there were no apparent Rabbits. The local hunters who come out each Sunday in hunting season helped to keep the numbers down. Many farmers have an unfenced Sweet Chestnut coppice stand somewhere on their land for fence posts or firewood and don't suffer the Rabbits. The system was very close to when coppice was an industry as you say woodguy. Ironically by planting lots of trees and encouraging wildlife we have caused our own problem. We don't want the hunters as many roam the countryside half cut making 'Elmer Fudd' look professional and with kids on the land its not safe ('only' 38 dead this year so far, down from 57 last year). Rabbit fencing for us is just not a viable proposition, we simply don't have the cash.

Thanks for the responses. Interestingly enough the damaged tree that re-grew 2 leaders was at about waist height, maybe I'll get 3 at knee height I am not in a position to control the rabbits in the Ash plantation, they have stopped chewing the bark now the trees are getting bigger but I suspect they would still find a way through the brash to the new shoots if I cut low. Really want to coppice this Ash so will try cutting a higher up. The 4 acres of mixed broad leaf I have planted at the bottom of the field does not suffer Rabbit damage at all and is not fenced, consequently the Deer cause some damage but now most of the trees are 'away' after 7 years the damage is reduced to browsing the under story. I just have to be careful in spring when the Wild Boar nest - they do a great job of clearance, they leave it lovely and clean but they can be scary. I've often wondered if the Boar deter the Rabbits:confused1:

Yes thats what I read too and it does seem to be born out by observing a tree that lost its leader due to damage by a Hornet - it developed 2 leaders. I guess thats really what I need to emulate. When they were first planted several of them throw up shoots from the base rather like a 'sucker' on a rose, my concern was they would do the same when cut rather than 'coppard'. I'll just give it go next winter and see what happens

I planted a stand of 80 Ash trees approx 5 years ago with the intention of making the maiden coppice cut after 7 years. They are fenced to protect them from Deer damage but we have a lot of Rabbits that I know will eat the new coppice shoots. My question is can I coppice from about knee high to create a sort of low level pollard or would the new re-growth simply sprout from the base? Would appreciate your views thanks PS I'm well aware of the Ash die back issue but it has not hit hard here yet so please don't tell me to simply tear them all out.

We cut it the November of the first year to create new planting stock for the next years planting. We do this each year. It also helps develop more branches per stool. Four years after this first cut we have branches between 60-100mm diameter and approx 4 meters high. We cut the larger diameter stuff into 500mm lengths for a pizza oven and the rest through a home made branch logger for our wood burner. I was skeptical about willow 10 years ago having only burnt large off cuts of weeping willow but this hybrid variety burns very well, more like a semi hardwood once dry. Hope this helps

But have you planted any?:thumbup:

Indeed. IMO it depends on your age, if you come from that back ground as I do you see things exactly like that. One of the things that caused me to become disillusioned with ISO quality training was the stated objective of the trainer of "taking an untrained person off the street and getting them to do your job by reading the manual" that first hand quote has always stuck in my mind. It's not the subject matter directly but its all part and parcel of the same issue: Money.

Yes. 5 years, hybrid willow. Waiting for 4 acres of mixed hardwood to mature, planted 7 years ago. Mixed coppice with standards scheme.

Got to step in and correct you there, speaking as someone who lives in France. There are plenty of rules, possibly more than the UK in some instances, its more a case of the French are sufficiently sensible enough to ignore a lot of them... unlike the populations of other countries.

Maybe in the UK but not over here. Us Paysan folk can't do without it Even if the price of oil dropped to 10p a litre the true rural French are cynical enough to know that it is a temporary price and the cost to install oil/gas CH is not worth it in the long run. People still have money in the UK no matter how much they bleat.

:lol: No, I agree, that thing most probably needs a lot more then 30hp

I use a branch logger rated at 8.5cm with my "crappy chinese" 30 hp compact. You don't need that much hp, with the right pully ratios you can run one off an electric motor. Someone's pullin your leg.

Do you mean a 'branch logger' ?

And what good is that going to do if its physically stuck open due to crud?

The EGR valve is intended to reduce NOX emissions. It opens at tick over and low speed allowing exhaust gas to replace some of the fresh oxygen rich air. Early versions are powered by the vacuum in the inlet manifold, later versions are controlled by the engine management system. Two issues are being confused in this thread; desire for more power and an underlying engine issue causing black smoke In a normal healthy engine removal of the EGR will do little to affect performance or mileage (except to reduce another restriction in the inlet flow) however with age (typically begins at 60k miles) the EGR gets gunked up with all the crap coming in from the exhaust gas. This gunk causes the valve to stick open meaning that under high throttle openings or load the engine will not be breathing clean fresh oxygen to burn the fuel instead it will be breathing a proportion of its own exhaust fumes - this is what causes the black smoke conditions you are seeing and the reduced performance, unburnt fuel due to lack of fresh incoming oxygen. You have already stated that the engine has been remapped recently so what's the point of spending good money doing it again over an existing underlying mechanical issue? My summary would be if its a healthy engine, leave EGR alone and remap if you want more power. Older high mileage engine which you have, remove the EGR if you are seeing black smoke and reduced power and then if you want more power, remap. This really is not a LR issue it is common to most modern diesel engines, less so petrol engines with an EGR because the valve gunks up less in petrol engines.

Yes, classic EGR valve stuck open due to gunking up fault (common across all modern diesels, check the forums). But what do I know, I've only done it...