difflock

I was surprised how well Poplar burned ( in a wood stove) after reading all the negative comments. I "barked" it with the front wheel of the 4WD, then cut to length & split. If the bark is left on it is a bugger to get seasoned, especially "in the round"

Erm Actually Alder was, if I recall correctly, reckoned to be the best wood to make charcoal from..........to make gunpowder with. So it should burn good:lol: Though perhaps the added saltpeter & sulphur had sommat to do wi it

I was indeed considering going to Fuelwoods demo day(s) Just to tyre kick you understand:001_rolleyes:

Tsk Tsk BT talk about "pairs" being any white wire paired with any coloured wire. afaik one only needs two wires, the other "pairs" in a 3 pair /5 pair /7 pair cable are basically spares or reserves to be used for additional suscribers/ or switched to if the two in use develop a fault. Seeing as I wired in our caravan in 16 year ago, roll of cable being dumped off by the BT engineer, then switched the supply to the house when appropriate, then ploughed the cable up and had to solder/ fix myself, cos BT were going to charge £300.00 ish. Cheers M

As an "outsider" I had formed the opinion that the there were only two ways to make money from firewood (i) as a cash byproduct of tree surgery, no income tax no VAT style (ii) as an out and out bussiness using expensive high productivity machinery, pile em higher, sell em cheaper. i.e. no room for the wee guy "selling sticks". And I'm would potentially be the "wee guy" Sniffle:thumbdown:

Probably pipedreaming but really I could do with buying a firewood processor ( since I cannot hire one) but then I really would need to be at it more than weekends & clear evenings, plus really need another body to stream production a bit slicker. ROI & all that. But if I retired at 55 in 3 years time.............................? I suppose what I was after ( & thank you Quickthorn, for those useful snippets) was some reassurance that iffen I invest in machinery I am not going to run out of timber inside of say 5 years. I was in the notion of supplying in the nominal 1m3 bulk bags, so as not to conflict (too much) with the local long established decent firewood guy who still works with wee bags & a very local village round (with tractor linkbox deliverys!) Cheers PS Thanks for the yield class info but with the amount of windthrown Lodgepole plus the Sitka were never thinned.............probably not particularly relevent. Cheers again, M

We got about 40 acres of mixed conifers, first plots planted in the late 70's then staggered planting through the eighties. So how long will this last if used as a basis for a firewood business, assuming additional new planting (acreage available) & replanting . Say to generate income for myself ( to supplement pension) & one other wage . Cheers M

Might I reply on behalf of the "squeezed middle", who though others differ/have different perceptions of........... pay for bloody everything, twice since they pay for the neer-do-wells as well. Some of these neer-do-wells also appear to attend Uni to study duvet stuffing, or other Micky Mouse courses..... piss it up .....plus protest riot and wreck.......and never intend to repay the loans. We on the other hand will have to pay over £5,000.00/year for our son to study Engineering for the next 4 year's. incl £5000.00 for his industrial placment year. A sutdy of our many tax (incl tax on insurance premimums) & National Insurance contributions would indicate that we have paid for this several times over already. just a thought M PS We achieved being in the "suqeezed middle" by our own efforts, each holding down two jobs each, only running one car between us etc etc , for a God aweful No of years. We now get to bail out the feckless.

I could not agree more with that last comment, the amount of stupidly spent grant monies is obsecene. Coming from someone who "works" within local Government. And as for some of these "Community woodland" schemes Scheesh!! Try getting/holding down a real job folks.( from someone who grew up & worked on a farm) Cheers? M

Am I right in thinking that anything plated at over 3500kg needs a Tacho for commercial i.e. "hire or reward" work?

Dang b101uk I wanted to say that but ye beat me tae it. ************************** Anyway anyway somewhere somewhere the " mechanical linkage between the steering wheel & the steered wheels" comes into play forby forby. Like what ag tractors not got.......they all be purely hydrostatic.....except the bigger JCB Fastracs and der Unimog I guess. cos if its commercial usuage....they need to be PSV'ed, and one CANNOT PSV a tractor......& see bold as above.............cos we tried. PS Some/bigger Ag tractors got front axle suspension & cab suspension but I think only Unimog & JCB got the rear axle suspension btw.

Erm, I have just taken delivery of an Electro Hydraulic controlled Kerpan winch. I did NOT purchase the wireless remote since it was about £600.00 plus VAT I was going to purchase a basic two channel LODAR at about £200. I presume this will be fully compatible wit der winch? Cheers M

A Butt:lol:, there is a catch, the butts. I am clearfelling windthrown Lodgepole pine, not many bigger butts I suppose, anyway I could set them aside & process the suitable sized stuff with a processor. Then hire a splitter occassionally when sufficent bigger stuff accumulated. It is the capital expenditure all tied up. Ideally I would like to hire a processor, but nowt available locally. Sigh

Cheers TCD Good to Know that Riko supplied stuff is good, not that anyone has suggested otherwise. M PS Mind after a day on a hired in splitter (again) I might be thinking that a processor would make sense, physically rather than financially that is. Ouch!

I am currently pricing for a PTO driven splitter to take 1.0m lengths, 13 (or 14) tonne capacity being ample for my needs Riko responded the same day with a (so far) competive quote. No response yet from Thor or Posch suppliers. And it does not appear that Wallenstien supply such a machine. Thanks Jim Cheers M

"Ya cant fix stupid" This may not however apply to most? arbowhatsnots. Sigh

Marshalls from Sussex somewhere do Kerpan winches but search for Bindenberger as they will not come up with a Kerpan search. M Large's site (Newtonabbey based) will list the UK distributors for Farmi ( I think?)

Morso Panther? about 8kw from memory, good stoves, not that I have had any experience with any others.

I am neither Green Nor Orange and definately not Irish (& boy I hate THOSE conotations/associations) and object to being called a terrorist. Unlike some of?/most of? the travelling community I pay taxes, do not use/abuse the benefits system, abide by the rules and do not use the threat of violence to achieve what I want. We also bought some land, with money earned & taxed & taxed & taxed again, applied for planning permission etc etc, etc etc. You know, like most folk , working within the rules. The above are however only my preceptions you understand Lee. PS per your comment/s Lee you too have preceptions? yes?

Strangely enough I find the descrimination very reasonable and understandable. I am not aware of having any dealings with travellers here in N Ireland, but have met Gypsies in both N I and England. Proper toe rags the lot of them, these may be the same types referred to as Pikies. They steal, they deal in scrap ( how it was acquired???hmmm), the sell spurious goods, they lay tarmac, they extort monies from the frail & elderly, the list is endless. They leave their temporary "sites" in a ****-heap. I noticed a fair bit of litter in Appelby btw, in the TV presentation. A mate that joined the Polis suggested to the hairy arsed sergent that they pull a wee 7.5 tonner wagon with Donegal plates (as it was hanging together) the more experienced man said; " see the weans in the cab... what are you going to do with them, and serving papers wont work, so just let him go" etc etc. Now a non Gypsie in the cab...your done mate Re the planning issue, I do not know of any non travellers succeeding in building houses without planning, nor indeed settlements of houses. Ps Descrimination is a good thing, like why one buys fine wine, a BWM, a Stihl saw, Timberwolf chipper etc etc, rather than rubbish copies. I like being a man of "great descrimination" cheers M PS One might consider asking a well informed Garda man about a couple of the Donegal "traveller" families, and their reputations. I will refrain from naming them.

Could I jump ship to another topic regarding training vis-a-vis innate ability. Many year ago I were in the TA, at one annual camp we had to do a confidence course through woodland, all between 20 and 40 feet up. I hated it. However a bright young spark offen a rough estate was lapping it up. So anyways one of the PSI's to show off slides face first down the death slide, our young man pipes up & asks "can I try that?" sure go ahead says the PSI thinking it was a wind up....and he promptly did it perfectly....first time no training necessary. The PSI near **** himself. With all the training in the world I could not have done it...ever. Some can...some cant. Not really sure how this is relevent but hey i'm avoiding filling in my overdue FAC paperwork. sigh.

I was looking at that "Show us your gob" or whatever it was called post. I did pick up on the smaller mouth = more leverage for the wedge. So still a bit to larn:blushing: PS When my father was felling the wheen of big ash around the farm,( wit a Reminton saw, a proper bitch to start, when hot??) anyway uncle T... could not let him finish the felling cut before pulling them over with the tractor & wire rope. Some full & frank exchanges generally followed. this may be one reason I prefer to work alone. Cheers M

Oh er, As a farmers son I grew up watching my father using a chainsaw, I tink I started about 14 on my own,without PPE now 51, never had any training, but am handier than any of the guys I work with......though only occassional chainsaw users. they have recieved the basic cross cutting course, they cant sharpen a saw...take it to the local shop....I can however sharpen a chain= self taught. Our work saw when borrowed always comes back knackered, despite assurances that the borrower is competent, understands how to use & not abuse etc, etc, etc. It is no longer loaned out. Period> I am terrifed of heights so you wont catch me very far up a tree, however I have felled them, mostly conifers ( incl windthrown ) and a few bigger hardwoods, I think the biggest was probably about a 30" butt. But why would I not?& they have always went where I intended ( PS I mouth a bit on the generous side, to be sure to be sure) I have however watched alledgedly trained staff as above (i) attempting to cut asphalt (ii) working as a team, one points with bare hands saying "cut it there" while the other (the asphalt cutter) revs the saw, in anticipition. I truly respect what you guys do, however imho good saw men are born not made same as excavator operators....i.e "one cant fix stupid" To date I have survived without injury except a bad back & tennis elbow, I now mostly wear the PPE trousers, especially when working alone.

I had thought of that but neither got the reach with my wee crane, to clear the rear of the trailer nor the width on the rodden to work to the side, without the distinct possibility of ending up in the 8 foot deep sheaugh I got alongside. I already visited a shallower sheaugh, but that was entirely due to the bald tyres :lol:honest,( and the reason I splashed for new ones) PS brash got me out of that one without the neighbours finding out:001_tt2: thanks anyway. I played with the crane on the three point linkage of the tractor for a while but it is better/simpler left on the trailer. sigh PPS Did I mention I hanker for a Valtra with a roof mounted crane and reverse drive. Plus a wee winch on the crane plus a Farmi 4.5 tonne hydraulic front mounted winch on the tractor ( for self recovery) Double sigh

I suspect so / my back knows so? Which is to say 5t would be optimistic? Not that I have any idea of the weight of the volume of wood I am burning, I have not even kept track of the volume consumed.