difflock

Beer! At Christmas in Scotland. Tak a proper dram.

Dogma:thumbup: One to remember.

I cannot figger how if the ring of stools are all from the same tree, and are coppiced every 20 years. Why not coppice one clump (out of 10? or thereabouts) every 2 years in rotation?? Rather than all once every 20 years.

Since our mutts will hardly stir offen the mat in front of the fire to let me put more sticks in. They can hardly be called ArbDogs. All rescue dogs btw. HMMM ah canny find them, too much other clag in my files. Bit like the shed/roofspace/yard/kitchen table = throw nowt out PS What position does Rosie hold in the Church of England??

No bottom pully? Or were you wishing to change/work on the front wheels:lol:? PS Horrible industrail tyres to my bog-wise eyes. PPS Actually just jealous of your shiney new Kubota with its loader:thumbup:

Erm! Cut the PTO to a more suitable length:001_rolleyes:(though I presume it belongs to another implement) btw I run the wee cross cut saw the same (ie not connected to tractor) simply because the DB 1490 PTO is mounted far too high relative to the saw stub.

Simplistically all one requires to do is attempt to ensure that the hot cylinder is located as nearly vertically as possible above the range or stove. And the higher above the better. Then keeping bends and fittings to a minimum ensure that the pipework always rises (even the nominally horizontal runs if these are needed to route the pipework) towards the hot cylinder, then in the top of the coil, out the bottom and again constantly falling back toward the heat source. I would suggest keeping all in 28mm, (one could possibly use cheaper Hep"0 once a couple of metres away from the boiler, though harder to keep straight/ rising gently.) Since colder water is denser the hot water will always rise to be displaced by the cooler ret flow. One can insulate the pipework, absolutly no reason not to, though perhaps some merit in leaving the return flow pipework uninsulated. Referred to as a "Thermosyphonic" system I believe. One must ensure an open vent at as high a level as possible in sufficiently large diameter pipework to allow the stove to boil & vent steam for safety. This is generally simply a continuation of the hot pipework from the boiler rising on up vertically and then curving back down to discharge back into the header tank. Or taken up through the roof and curved back down. Plus a gravity fed cold supply, from a header tank or cistern.) I am not a plumber:001_tongue: but have successfully plumbed:001_tt2: a couple of houses.

Erm! But should they RJ, the Scandavian climate is a lot colder than ours, therefore they can justify more expensive insulation, on a very cost effective basis. Our economics are however different are they not? I would suggest if most turned their thermostats back it would be a hellav start, rather than expecting to keep all habitable spaces heated to tee shirt wearing temps. Yorkie, yes it is horses for courses. With our settled routine lifestyle of this past good few years, which includes: (i) The Mrs. out "gardening" in all weathers in peat soil. (ii) Several large dogs, one of whom is long haired, excersing up the moss, then coming back in the house. (iii) Me ploutering up the Moss cutting sticks and coming in with dirty feet. With sensibly designed in hard floors throughout downstairs, a bit of ash from a stove is the very least of our worries. PS I got the Boxer bitch sleeping on the Kitchen table, despite the 25m2 of underfloor heated floor:lol: well.......... I suppose the table top was cleaner than the floor:001_rolleyes: PPS that terraza is great stuff for hiding the dirt.

Good insulation is the first part of my "heating oil is cheap" mantra. Bloody expensive though on absolute terms. Our build is NI 1995 bld stds with a bit extra insulation to walls and floors per my own notions, it is however about 3750 sq ft. When, if ever we build a retirment dwelling, it will be well insulated, nominally open plan and with a centrally located woodburner as the main heat source. I am not sure however that I can buy into this Passive Haus windtight construction as I feel our timber needs air movment for any reasonable longivity. And yes I know all about breathable membranes:001_tt2: PS A big fan of geotextile fabrics/membranes this good number of years, which some local contractors seem to reckon make me a funny farm candidate:lol:

Having pondered this exact same conundrum, I have opted for billets. But one wont split metre long billets with an Axe or Maul. From next season I will be bundling billets into 1m3 strapped bundles, for mechanical handling and stacking, and indeed possibly for onward sale. let the customer play with a chainsaw, as most appear to be keen to do so. Or run through a cross cut saw and up a conveyor, into storage, bags, boxes, trailer, pick-up or whatever.

Erm! Actually I would respectfully suggest a correctly sized boiler or indeed perhaps a fractionally undersized one ( but only if in conjuncton with another heat source........... like a wood burning stove) as one requires to keep the boiler running "flat out" if possible, and yes I appreciate they will all modulate to some degree but it is less than ideal. So a gasifer to provide the "base load" topped up with a stove to meet fluctating demand. During our exceptionally cold winter of 2010 it was no hardship to keep the boiler running most of the day/night, rather than simply firing once per 24 hours. PS I was able to size ours fairly exactly as had a winters worth of recorded oil boiler daily run time stats to go on. Plus I had installed underfloor heating with a deliberatly overthick slab to act as a giant storage heater. Which fortunately works as I had intended. Cheers Marcus

I cannot comment re working in Germany but I dd marry a 1/2 bred Army brat (Scottish/Prussian cross) and forby that my sister moved out there when their children were in Primary school, and made a good life there, the children are absolutly fluently bilingual which I envy, never getting past ordering 2 large beers:001_rolleyes: in German. Bytimes I regret not moving out there 30 year ago, but the Mrs. was only too happy to settle into the close knit agricultural community here in NI. Far off fields often look greener.

Yorky, try the green building forum, you may get more info/feedback. I suspect you are correct in postulating that most british firewood is burned in stoves rather than gasifying central heating boilers. In this country not many have the necessary combination of the necc space for the installation combined with the ready supply of cheap/free firewood. Ideally one needs the boiler in a basement. Easier to tip firewood down in and no heat is wasted, as it will rise through the rest of the dwelling. cheers marcus ps Essentially the problem is that to run a wood burning gasifying boiler efficiently one requires to store the heat in a buffer or accumulator tank. I have finally got into a routine of lighting the boiler when I get home from work, and bringng the buffer tank back up to 80 plus. Then in the morning skelping hot water for the bedroom and bathroom radiators, plus to heat the 210 litre domestic hot water cyl. then at lunchtime the somewhat cooler water is dumped into the underfloor to have the house toasty warm for us at 17.00. Plus I light the stove. However if I miss even one day of lighting the boiler it takes a couple of days to claw back. So one needs to be prepared tp stick with it.

Sniff, a proper English preversion that. Damm all good in moss, cept as an anchor. My dream vehicles are all tracked. And light as possible. Or on proper flotation tyres.

I simply select "highest price first" Sorts the wheat from the chaff.

Being married to a phyiscist (:blushing:speling) it is indeed water vapour, not steam, which is both bloody hot and invisible to the naked eye. Think of a road after rain in the summer, it appears to be "steaming" or indeed ones breath on a cold morning. Or a compost heap? In the case of log cutting perhaps during the first frosty morning the damp interior of the log is sufficiently warmer than the air so as to cause the same phenomna, without the bar or chain being hot? cheers m

From a purely amateur perspective I festered over this same decision way back in 1997. With a very good Stihl dealer locally it came down to a choice between the 026 or the 036, I would have plumped for an 034 Woodboss (being the ideal comprimise with an even better power to weight ratio) but not avaiablle on the UK market. Despite hankering for the bigger 036, I bought the 026, and have never regretted it, it might be fractionally slower/ underpowered on the bigger stuff but since most of my stuff is small it is so much lighter and handier. I have felled some reasonably large trees with it too, as in approx 2 * bar length diameter, i.e about 30/32 inches. Like Penis's it is what one can do with what one has been given, rather than size per. se. or indeed per the old USA adage "beware the man with only one gun"

Actually, as I attempted to explain, I was fully supportive of the owner operator "pushing the envelope", with his own kit, which he 100% knew the capabilites of. I would have done exactly the same. Most safety guidance is to protect us from the actions of stupid, and perhaps very tired, operators in the "one size fits all" H&S policies. I do keep asking what job anywhere is suitable for (i'm guessing here) the bottom 20% of the population in the intelligence/motivation stakes. Most everything is now so complex/mechanised that there are virtually no manual labouring/spade and shovel jobs left. I am sure any of you arbo'whatsits prefer an intelligent groundie to one who has to be constantly directed i.e. cannot or will not "think" for himself. Even, what used to be a humble driving job, now requires serious cognative function. As that Yankee logger so aptly put it "ye canny fix stupid". So what do "we" do with stupid?

Funny enough I reckon the Europeans burn mostly hardwood, esp Beech, from personal car based touring holiday observations. And the Scandavians prefer Birch, leastwise this is about the only timber I recall seeing in the brochures for log processors or Morso stoves. Birch like tele poles, straight as a Die.(btw, should that not be straight as a Tap?)

Nash models ending in a '56, are I imagine, now in the desirable collector corner with the other Red or Blue models. Therefore not as easy bought as one would like:001_tt2:

Sniff, My "In praise of softwood" post got ignored:001_rolleyes: when I sung its praises as being easier kindled, and good hot burning. The key to any wood burner is a few days supply toasting beside the stove. If the room starts to get hazy:001_tongue:, it is generally a hint it is perhaps time to put in the stove.

Would that be a make shift equivalent of the Continental "750" PTO setting? I mostly run 540 PTO stuff off the 1000 shaft on the old 1490. Since engine revs for PTO operation are marked at about 2000, it equates to about 1150 on the 1000 shaft. To be honest I generally tweek the revs till "it" sounds right, perhaps a trifle faster, perhaps a trifle slower. PS Oh ere, a low houred 4630 :confused1:2WD Ford also entered in this same unreserved liquidation auction. It was a very reputable company and the gear was all well looked about. I am aware I am like a child:blushing: in a sweetie shop, I hate auctions too, it all happens too fast for me.

I would be the first to concede that after 30 years I am probably "institutionalized":001_rolleyes:, there are however useless prats in the private sector as well. Like the Hiab operator who came to collect a scrap van this week. It would have been funnier iffen I did not have a responsibilty for safety/ be standing in the witness box if there were an accident. With no formal training and limited exp on my wee forestry trailer crane I would have been well handier.(and safer) Unlike an owner operator who lifted/dragged a 26tonne loaded bin lorry out of a soft verge in Moss, with a wee, prob 12/15 tonne max capacity crane. A pure pleasure to watch with the rear wheels dancing in clear air. I commented on his skilful performance and with a straight face asked what that funny warbling noise had been, that went on most of the time:lol: He just grinned.

I wholeheartedly agree with Tree Pandas assessment. Bin there had that done to me, Consultants ALWAYS start at the bottom and work up. Plus make operationally unsound decisions, like driving a fully laden bin lorry up a very hill to collect the last few bins. The driver used to crawl up, turn and then trickle back down stopping as required. I thought that eminently sensible. The Consultant thought it a waste of time. Oh! Plus collecting bins from outside the main secondary school, which lies in a cil-de-sac........................ at 15:30?? He again could not be convinced as the the daftness of this plan. All, Whilst enjoying a coffee with Senior Managment/Inhuman Resources.

Oh! am getting the Santa itchs:blushing: I presume this would be better value at " twice the price" than an M8 Logosol which i were swithering over. But £9,500.00 on an indulgance is a trifle prolifigate. And there is a wee fresh Manitou buggscopic coming up at a liquidation auction next week, it might get higher priority. decisions decisions.