marka

That was why i was wondering if the processor could do it automatically with a die of some form.

After seeing all the threads about firewood theft, I just thought as one log looks like another, identifying your stolen woood would be a challenge. Would it be possible to modify a processor/splitter so that it stamped a company name or logo on the logs? Even if it just marked the logs in an identifyable way it could be good enough. Would an 'honest' person think twice buying cheap logs from a van if they were identifyably from a different company? Following on from that, maybe just for the bigger guys, 'branded' logs may be useful for marketing. Just a thought from working in a different industry.

Some time ago in response to a theft I put in a cctv system for outbuildings. Camera positioning is most important as there are three levels of evidence... Seeing somebody doing it (but not being able to identify them) Seeing somebody doing it (and someone who knows them could identify them) Seeing somebody do it (and the judge/ police being able to identify them) Really only the third level is of any use in a prosecution unless there is corroberating evidence. I think you may also have to put signs up stating CCTV surveilance in operation to stay completely within the law. (Worst case is they nick the cameras as well! I've known this happen which is the problem with recording to an on board SD card. If they get the camera, they get the evidence. Being high up or hidden protects your camera but can reduce the quality of your evidence and the ease of a prosecution. Low resolution images are only of use if very close to the target. If possible a wired/wireless system talking to a hidden recorder or PC running surveillance software is best. I have had success with software called iSpy which does motion detect, can trigger events and best of all is free. A very large dummy camera can be a target if intruders want to kill your surveillance. Just make sure one camera is looking towards it What about signs saying "Danger Wasps Nest"?

This paper again suggests that time has an effect on wood: ScienceDirect - Polymer Degradation and Stability : Thermogravimetric study on the ageing of lime wood supports of old paintings Suppose the investigation should start with tightly defining seasoning as 500 years would probably be too long!

I'd be interested in this out of scientific curiosity. There may be a difference between drying and ageing, for instance a softwood with lots of sap/resin, it may dry out, which would make the resin much more viscous. Over time however I'd image that the resin could polymerise and therefore change its chemical properties. A polymerisation which kicks out water molecules could actually increase the energy value of the fuel. Volatiles other than water I'd guess could have two options, polymerise into bigger molecules, or evaporate. I imagine that the chemical ageing of wood would be quite interesting. A quick google hunt turned up this: http://joyx.joensuu.fi/~karenlam/petri/mechan/4496Hill.pdf It isn't directly related to firewood, but after a quick look it appears that the properties of wood can change quite a bit with different treatments. This interested me: "Drying at temperatures from 100-180C resulted in a reduction of equilibrium moisture content by as much as 3% compared with air dried wood." It would be easy enough to test, with the right kit and enough time.... Different samples of wood of different ages / moiture contents placed in a calorimeter to determine the heat of combustion. A large number of samples would be needed to control for the huge number of variables. Other chemical techniques could be used to look for other potential changes, but this sort of work would probably get you a phd if you could find a sponsor! My gut feeling as an (ex)chemist is that time will change the physical properties of the wood, so 15% 12month dried wood may well behave differently to 15% 36month old wood. Ultimately though it would probably burn just the same so it's just academic interest.

I see your point, but I don't think a qualification is required.... My thinking is that without any awareness of the hazards, you don't see them. Giving people basic hazard awareness means that they should be thinking about what can go wrong and to take appropriate action. An example... If you didn't know about kickback, you would probably end up touching the nose of the saw on something and experiencing it. Similarly with how the saw feels when you are cutting on the top vs the bottom of the bar. The knowledge of these hazards means that you should keep your eye out for not touching the nose on things, and to make sure you have a stable stance and be prepared for how the saw moves. Stupid as it sounds, people may not think just how stupidly fast the chain spins and how fast it can move things if not secured. Consequently they may think more about securing the work. I have spent a great deal of time working with machine safety allbeit in a lab, but I've learned that you cannot cover everything. The important bit is to teach people how to think about what they are doing, and that requires basic awareness of the risks. Combining this with the basics of the saw itself and I think you would have a valuable course which didn't have to take a long time or cost much. The benefit to the customer is not a certificate, but the knowledge that they are more likely to have all their limbs in two years time. I may be talking rubbish here as I am largely self tought, but am careful,a cautious and concentrate on the work and this has to date kept me safe.

I'm really pleased that this is being taken seriously....I think the OP outlined a great syllabus, but this is from a professionals viewpoint, not a 'consumer' view.... As a potential customer I think I'd want to see use and basic maintenance only. Things like replacing pull cords will probably be slightly different for each saw and will probably cause confusion.(or be forgotten when needed.) Handouts, manuals or a pointer to a good repair shop may be better. I think keeping the course short and snappy would be best for getting punters in. As most people will be weekend users only, they will soon forget the detail, so general principles only would be best. Maybe a video of the important parts would be good too. Reminding the clients that this is a basic familiarisation only would be good. -know your limits stuff. I'd hope that eventually the likes of Stihl and Husky would encourage all their retailers to provide much of this as part of the sales process, but I may be waiting a long time so anyone providing this sort of training would be very welcome. Next question.... How to make this provision national?

As a domestic user I sympathise with the OP, but to visit these forums and ask a question is pretty daunting, so well done him. I think though that you will see more similar posts in the future, or hear of more injuries due if nothing else to the increasing number of wood burners getting sold. I doubt I'm not unusual in that the saw is my first small engine and these things are not so intuitive to people without mechanical experience. When I got my little husky I was given the basics on fuel, oil, starting etc, but really I was on my own. I asked on here and a member kindly gave me more advice. I think there's an opportunity for someone to offer 'training' for a couple of hours to half a day for weekend saw users like myself. I'm thinking just basic maintenance and safety. A bit of know your limits wouldn't go amiss either! It could perhaps make a little money during quiet spells but I expect liability law would scupper this idea before it could start. I think it's criminally irresponsible that DIY sheds sell saws but no ppe and no proper advice. Manuals in 'Chinese-English' don't really help either. I guess it's only a matter of time before somebody does something serious.

I got one of these last week from FR Jones. I only need to cut wood for domestic use so I guess my needs are somewhat less than for you professionals. It worked really well. I got through loads very quickly. Much faster than I would using a traditional style sawhorse. The longest part of the job was loading it, then obviously dealing with all the cut wood. I'd say for an amateur it's a brilliant piece of kit. The only negative is that it's easy to cut logs a little too long. If the bars were an inch or two closer together then it would be prefect.

Another thought.... Maybe if you made a dummy chainsaw from a broken one.... Electronics and power etc in the cylinder, the antenna run out and hidden under a cover, then if it got taken with other kit you could track the lot that way. If you do the job right, it could be difficult to spot.

I think it is a difficult ask as tracking requires an 'active' item rather than a passive one. This sort of thing Ultra-Small Stand-Alone GPS Tracker complete with Location information via Voice from UK Spy Equipment is probably one of the smallest (thinking power requirement and antenna size but would be hard to hide in a chainsaw. Passive things like smart water may be an idea so if it is found you can claim it back. Does etching the parts with your name reduce its theft value?

Maplin do a not bad one, 20-400x magnification for about £30. We use it for work looking for damage on 'stuff'. Have dropped it a few times and it seemed to survive. Only issue is that I couldn't get it to work on Win7, but better drivers may be out now. May be worth a punt.

As said above, RFID. More details here: Cogard 3000 guard patrol systems, benzing handheld guard software

As a consumer rather than a provider I have no problem with this and if the price is right I'm perfectly happy to buy green wood. I'm also happy to cut it into rounds and chop it myself, In fact I enjoy the work, but I accept that I'm the exception here. We have (just) enough space to season wood and I've been processing wood for my own fire since I was old enough to swing an axe. Most people I fear have neither the space nor the common sense to store fuel for future use. I suspect that you can easily tell who has had a fire for many years and who has recently bought a woodburner with no previous experience!

I met the testo rep a few weeks back and played with the moisture meter and a few other meters from that range. Look and feel the quality is mobile phone like and guess they would need to be looked after similarly. I doubt they would stand up to significant abuse but didn't see any major problems with build quality.

As a rock climber the fig8 (or rethreaded fig8) is the main harness tie in knot. It has a feature in that it can capsize and roll off the dead end of the rope hence the use of a stopper (fishermans) knot tied tight against it. I was taught that we tie a stopper knot because we can.... If the tail is long enought to tie the stopper, the fig8 is unlikely to roll off it, but then you need the stopper to tidy up the loose ends. It's quite good fun when you clip the tail instead of the live rope when leading a particularly frightening pitch and realising that your protection isn't there! I'd generally use a single fig8 as a stopper. relatively easy to untie. I am particularly interested in these 'threads about knots' as tree and rock climbers seem to use the ropes and knots in different ways, even for the same result. I would have expected more similarities in the disciplines. Especially with prussics and variants. Amusingly when joining two ropes for a retrievable abseil an overhand (with long tails) is used, the reason being that the asymetry allows it to roll over obstacles rather than than jam in them. Do any arbs rock climb? Sorry for hijacking the thread. EDIT: typed slowly, submitted, then saw the post above. Sorry for the repeat.

I work in a different industry, but the rules should be the same.... PUWER will hit you, unless you go through everything and effectively ce mark it yourself. Depending on what the kit is though you will be stuck in a mire of finding what regulations need to be followed, then ensuring compliance. If PUWER doesn't get you then H&S@W act, or industry specific legislation will get you! I was on a PUWER course not long ago and the unofficial line was 'if nobody gets hurt, nobody cares....' BUT if somebody does get hurt then you are in a world of trouble! We were told that if we were due in court and were able to sleep soundly the night before, then you had possibly done enough! The fact that you would be knowingly not using CE marked kit would probably stop you sleeping well. Especially if you used this kit because it was cheap. A point to consider though is that most companies self cert for CE. Not all do this as rigorously as they should and may well cut corners. Things like guarding regs and machinery directive are always good fun! Part of PUWER is to check that the CE is actually correct, that they have certified compliance against the correct standards and actually follow these standards. To bring this back to the subject of the thread, not using ce marked kit could be demonstrated as not showing appropriate due diligence.

That's interesting many thanks. As the tree was next to where somebody parked their car I can imagine why it had to go! I have demonstrated that once in the tread of your boots it can get a fair way into the house before you get told off. again, many thanks for educating me.

Hop this is the right forum.... A couple of weeks ago I noticed a deep redish gel at the bottom of one of my wood piles, but only tonight found out where it came from. The woodpile had a lot of cherry (felled last winter some time) and this material was oozing out of one log, where two branches had joined. This was the only log I found with this stuff. The only other nasty I saw was a bit of rot near the bottom of the trunk, other than that the wood was lovely. What is it? I am amazed that the gel is tough stuff, we've had quite a bit of rain and it refuses to wash away. Quite sticky too. The wood is destined for the fire, so it doesn't really matter, but I do find this new life form interesting!

FWIW I'd echo the comments above and see a good sports physio. It is not cheap, but worth the money. I had a back op a couple of years ago which caused my shoulders to atrophy during recovery. When I started active life again and climbing (rock) I caused a big imbalance in the muscles which caused no end of problems. Guess I was a month or so away from rotator cuff damage and torn ligaments. Luckily if I strengthen some things and stretch other things I should avoid the knife (again). Good quality physio really is a stitch in time.

Thank you everybody for all your help. I have had a very kind offer from one member and will be seeing him next week. -I'll try to post an update later. I don't think I need CS30, or really need LANTRA, but the woodland skills centre looks fun. As long as I know how to be safe, keep the site safe and know my limits I think I'll have made a pretty good start. Anything on top of that (at the moment) is icing on the cake.

Many thanks for the pointers everyone, it is much appreciated.

Hi all, I have lurked here for a while, learning from the experts plucking up courage to show my head above the parapet. Hopefully you will be nice to this home user! I recently bought a small Husky saw just to do logs for the fire. Though I've survived using small chainsaws for a few years, this is the first one of my own, and I'm now using it a good deal more than before. Being keen to not kill myself I thought it would be a good idea to look into training to get rid of the bad habits, teach me the safe way of working and (almost) equally importantly to learn how to maintain the saw. (It's the first small petrol engine I'm responsible for.) I know a CS30 is probably the way to go, but as I don't need a ticket for working, is there a cheaper / better way of doing things? I live on the wirral if it makes any difference. Thanks for reading, -- Mark.