openspaceman

Perhaps we should change your moniker to Gunga Din ?

How big an area? You could dig it up, sift it out and burn it, just make sure you don't move any bits off the affected area. Soil sterilisation with steam is also a method.

... but you won't be able to grow anything else in the treated patch!

Okay but be aware that because of the way they dilute the offgas with PICs, steam and CO2 they become impossible to flare until close to the end of burn, hence they put quite a few nasties into the atmosphere. From a climate forcing point the methane is a magnitude worse than CO2 for the relative short time it exists in the atmosphere.

Technically it is a retort as the difference is a kiln has the fire inside the char container and the retort has the fire outside

Why not buy a licence to make one of Beau's kilns?They are small but you can sequentially load the steel barrels one after another every hour or so.

Which is the lumag like, the Tmech or the screwfix?

Big heaps shed water and often there is enough oxygen in air in the heap to sustain pyrolysis, straw is a good case where there is enough air in the hollow stems to oxidise all the carbon in the straw, swamping it with water won't work, this is why thatch stays dry.

My guess it it will normally be caused by a person, either inadvertently or deliberately, but spontaneous combustion of heaps of wood is fairly common and more likely the bigger the heap and green matter and resinous material. What seems to happen is mesophilic bacteria digest the volatile solids and get hot, up to 70C, as the heap is large the heat does not escape easily, methane, steam, CO and CO2 are given off, rise through the heap and the water condenses as it reaches cooler layers whilst the methane CO And CO2 escape. We now have a warm dry area in the heap into which air can diffuse. Any lipids, oils or fatty esters left react with the air, in the same way oil paints or turpentine "dries" in paint. This is a form of oxidation so the temperature rises a bit more. It only has to reach about 200C for Oxygen atoms to dissociate and combine with any degraded plant material ( like touchwood does) and true combustion starts. Initially smouldering as the pyrolysis offgases are well below their autoignition point but once the smouldering reaches about 450C then a flame can take hold.

I have drawn a little schematic:

I was siamising the PTO pump and linkage pump, so if they are the same size flow doubles. If you go any bigger with the PTO pump then you need to suck oil out of the gearbox and cooling could become an issue as the main flow is then circulating and only the linkage flow portion is returning to the tractor transmission housing. You really need the contents of the reservoir/transmission to be double the flow per minute for cooling and to allow any air bubbles to settle. Not causing any foaming is the reason all oil should be returned below the surface of the oil.

Not necessarily as long as your pto pump draws no more than the linkage pump. Plumb the feed for the pto pump into as close to the point the hydraulic return from the system goes back into the transmission using a pipe at least as large as large as the return pipe, take the high pressure from the pto pump and Tee into the supply to the spool block. have a non return valve in this line and a pilot operated relief valve back into tank set at a slightly lower pressure than the linkage pump. This last bit is to protect the linkage pump and is not strictly necessary as the main relief in the spool block should blow. Make sure the spool block is fully capable of taking both flows or else everything will get very hot. Also the return to the transmission oil must have no restrictions and be to below the oil level else the pto pump will be sucking air. It must not be via an auxillary spool block An extra return filter is always a good idea.

what tractor and loader have you?

I've no idea how big it is I have a stump at my brother's to do and it looks like the hire cost will be £100+VAT so a machine like this could have a quick payback

If you can figure how to search it @aspenarb posted about a cheap one he bought and was using , around £1k IIRC

Yes

Not really thought about it but more than £5G for the agric spec one.

IME the .325 was fine on the 254 15" and it was also supplied with the 262 18" when it came out but in hardwoods breaking down tops I was able to break .325 so upgraded to 3/8.

I doubt it, the 1124 needs new brakes and that will mean machining the trumpet housings, and slew ram seals replaced plus possible one new slew cylinder.The younger 1164 has been vandalised and will need tinwork and glass replaced but I would like to sell that. The 1164 with FMV 290 also has lost glass and the trailer needs brakes but I have a job for that.

Bearing in mind my experience is with older kit: I never tried a log arch but often took all the bolsters off the trailer and lifted the tip onto the trailer, winched in and travelled if it was a long skid. Yes keeping the front wheels down and contributing was always a problem, I had a heavy dozer blade which I could strap 1/2tonne log to. I would also carry a hefty piece in the grapple at full extension.[1] You need to be a bit wary though as a chap near Oxford did this with an 1174 without the tension bars from the front guard to the roof mounting, the stress bust the tractor in half at the bell housing. [1] I always wanted to mount the winches at the front and carry the cables back in tubes to a lightweight buttplate, it would have reduced overall weight by 600kg and increased payload but it was too much for me. With the MF 1200 this was less of a problem as there was far more weight forward, driving through two diffs also meant far more tractive effort was available.

150Hft of oak is just over 6 tonnes, so allowing for taper that's just over 3 tonnes behind the back wheels, many modern tractors should be able to lift that on the 3pl.

68 1124, 74&75 1164

Yes still have 3 counties rusting away round the countryside, offered one to Osborns but they weren't interested. They are a bit beat up.

Pass, I got out of serious contracting in 1997 but kept the kit. Being a jack of all types of woodland management specialised kit weren't justified. I did once try a Timberjack with a view to buying it but those no slip diffs churned the ground so badly... As I said in the other thread I often stood the machines up and went felling until drier weather and you can't afford that if you owe repayments.

My 1124 with 4510 grapple loader and Igland 4000/2 would/will skid 120Hft up a slight incline on good ground, it will pull more than it can winch. The problem with hardwood butts is getting the big end off the ground.. I used it for years and hauled the pulpwood out too. The Valtra T190 will pull more but I only used it with a Ahwi mulcher. My Farmi 8tonne single drum 3 PLinkage would be better as long as you have enough front weight.