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StephF

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Everything posted by StephF

  1. StephF
    ! Agree
  2. StephF
    Is it a tiny phone or a giant chilli!
  3. StephF
    Kind neighbour came and picked our remaining blackcurrants for us, loads already in freezer and now I have a kitchen full again as she only took a few pounds!, looking at recipes for Cassis on internet, anyone tried that before, or blackcurrant cordial?
  4. StephF
    With marketing etc, softwood logs are our biggest seller now, almost 100% of my customers prefer them on a wood burner, or a 50/50 mix. Only sold around 6-7 hardwood loads last winter in comparison to over 600 softwood or mixed loads! Maybe it is because softwood is cheaper,& hardwoods burn better mixed with softwood than just hardwood on a stove any day. Some customers switch to softwood after using mixed loads once they realise it is cheaper.. I have no problem convincing customers to try softwood, once they use it, often are happy to keep buying, often with the comment 'my stove has never worked so well', could be because the logs are dry though, and they have bought wet logs before, think I have wondered off the thread topic here (sorry!).
  5. StephF
    I presume you are talking about hardwoods here? One local Firewood supplier has told me it was cheaper for him to buy in imported kiln dried hardwood logs now. I'm not finding that to be true just yet .. but there are no mega bucks to be made! The Firewood business is in a state of constant change right now, especially with the threat of feed in tarrifs for domestic log/pellet/woodchip boilers coming soon and Wood burner shops opening everywhere, UK will have to import Firewood over next few years to sustain the demand.
  6. StephF
    Raining
  7. StephF
    Hoping you get this back ASAP David!
  8. StephF
    Woodwasps bore large holes in the sitka I buy, it looks as if a giant woodworm made them, and the giant maggoty bugs are disgusting that come out of the logs! I wonder how many customers never come back when they find them!!
  9. StephF
    Watermelon sown early in year and were planted out in the polytunnel early June, cant remember when they were actually sown. There are quite a few small ones and 2 larger ones.
  10. StephF
    We'l be living on cucumbers, beans (all types!), peas, courgettes, cabbage, beetroot and salads this week, There are watermelons at a good size in the polytunnel (This is cold and wet North Northumberland, I can hardly believe it!). Have been picking a carrier bag of courgettes every 2-3 days for a couple of weeks now, these are not in the tunnel but growing like triffids anyway....
  11. StephF
    Prices varying a lot! between £35 / £55 tonne roadside for mixed hardwood, not much more than softwood, which is around £30!
  12. StephF
    Would our Alaskan mill produce good enough boards? (that is what we have.) If not, there are a few people we can ask. Tim is keen to help if the Alaskan mill would do the job.
  13. StephF
    Hi Nick I've just spoken to Richard Wilson and he has asked us to look at the timber, to see if we could do it with our mill. We are based in Stonehaugh and have seen the plans for star gazing installation, so are interested in helping, but the list in village hall last saturday asking for volenteers all seemed to be builders, did not think we had relevent skills| If we could not do it I will ask someone we know who has a mobile mill.
  14. StephF
    In the forest/handling brash anything cheap /not made for purpose gets shredded, Harke waterproofs(not chainsaw protection) do withstand the most punishing enviroment, no rips or tears in ours after a couple of harsh winters, just very hot, and cloths get soaked with sweat. I dont think the perfect waterproofs, that dont tear, are cool to wear exsist, especially when you have to wear them over chainsaw trousers,
  15. StephF
    We bought Harke tops & trousers for winter work in forest, they are very hot and only bearable in -15 degrees! also you get soaking wet because you are sweating.. They are supposed to breath but not found any jackets that do yet. Saying that, Tim wears his a lot more than me and even climbs in his, but he does feel the cold..I have never worn the trousers after I nearly cooked the 1st time I wore them, they kept falling down as well and tripping me up, probably too big!
  16. StephF
    Is that £85 for hardwood logs?
  17. StephF
    After spending past few months processing firewood, now deciding it is worth a lot more than I thought it was in April when this thread started .... Still not sure what the market will stand in present climate, but prices have been static for 3 years now and all our costs gone up, had to buy a new processer and tractor + repairs done on buildings machines etc etc. Anyone with same thoughts?
  18. StephF
    After offending various clients about where they lived ie: Newcastle when were in Gateshead, I have sort of got it now, the river is the boundary! think how weird it would be if one side of the Thames was London and the other side Bristol??
  19. StephF
    I dont know my geography that well, was working in Gateshead and the green waste at lemington was very nearby for arisings, why do people in Newcastle and Gateshead get so touchy and sensative about their boundarys, no one out side these places has a clue where they begin and end! Its just looks like one big 'city' if you are visiting from outside.!
  20. StephF
    It covers the cost and a bit extra!
  21. StephF
    I allow an amount in price of logs to cover delivery up to 20 miles, after that it is an extra £5 per 1.5 metres, up to 30 miles absolute max. I know a lot of you have a smaller free delivery area, but I am so far from civilisation that it does not work! Also I do not go over 20 miles for orders less than 3 metres , it is not cost effective because of the time involved. Last winter I gave people over 25 miles away the numbers of firewood suppliers nearer to them if they were stuck, and hoped and prayed they got some dry logs... Saying all that, I sometimes make an exception if I get big orders in summer when things are quiet, say 4-6 loads for someone who lives way out by!
  22. StephF
    Hi Joy Had lad from uni doing a thesis, asking questions lastnight RE: Firewood supply, is it sustainable in UK? I said I did not think so. Also what effect had the introduction of the RHI had on business, well I said if anyone phoned this winter with a boiler the answer was I cant suddenly pull 25 30 tonnes of extra dry wood together without a years warning at least! but it is having an effect on us, in that FC only have 20 loads to sell for firewood over next 12 months out of kielder, these will be sold as sealed bids to highest bidder with a limit imposed, the most allowed being 4! I buy around 15-20 loads, so would be stuffed if I was relying on them this year. But thank God we have other sources, so ok
  23. StephF
    Yes it is in Lemington
  24. StephF
    So you wouldnot recommend this bit of kit from Germany?? PS at the moment we have processors and splitters, but were thinking billets may be an improvement on the handling of larger stuff.
  25. StephF
    Agree on the sharpening, although you fit a device on end of bar tip that slots into the red or green things so that the saw cuts straight through the bundle, although it did look as if it would be faster than another set up we saw, where the billets go straight through a round saw blade after the splitmaster (recent jas p wilson event).

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