openspaceman

Does your moisture meter measure moisture content on a wet basis or dry basis?

Here are the figures and picture after 8 days drying, the birch was much smaller and higher proportion of surface area which may explain why it is drying fastest.

I'm not using a meter, I took a small sample of each log's other half when I split them and dried this in the microwave to give an estimate of the actual moisture content (actual weight-oven dry weight = weight of water, weight of water/green weight=moisture content) The having a fair estimate of the green moisture content I can estimate the progress of drying by weighing the log each day and doing the same sum for each day's weight. True oven dry weight cannot be had until I dry the logs in the oven at 1`20C for 24 hours. You can plug my figures into a spreadsheet but give it 30 minutes and I'll update http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/firewood-forum/89345-last-month-process-logs-sell-coming-winter-12.html#post1321484 I should,of course, have sat the temperature and humidity data logger alongside whilst the experiment was running and should repeat the experiment in midwinter if I remember but it does indicate when temperatures are high and humidity low that given sufficient air movement drying can be very fast.

I posted a picture of 3 freshly cut logs last week with their weights in another thread. Using a c30gram sample of each I calculated their initial moisture contents which match reasonably with the mensuration handbook 39 (blue book) although the oak was lower than expected green. Logs were placed separate and sheltered by a corrugated perspex roof, temperatures would have been higher than ambient. Unfortunately I cannot see how to tabulate the cells so the numbers don't fall under their column headers [ initial mc 26/06/15 30/06/15 02/07/15 04/07/15 04/07/15 8day mc oak 42.59% 2789 2398 2309 2289 2254 28.97% birch 41.38% 1275 972 924 909 890 16.02% ash 33.33% 2317 2107 2054 2039 2014 23.30% Bear in mind the birch log was half the size of the oak and ash so as well as less distance for the moisture to migrate the surface area exposed was proportionately higher too.

Not as cheap as a small capstan, like the flip flop winch made using two poles, fiddly but useful in an emergency.

If you must do this make sure the piston is above the exhaust port when you feed the string in, otherwise you can jam the engine and break a ring. I've worried about bending a conrod using this method which is why a battery impact driver with a free engine is better. My old husqvarnas had a shallow nut which a combi spanner fitted so I adapted a spark plug socket by grinding it to 3 prongs to increase the contact area

Yes but they excavate a trench in no time if the going gets soft and pick up wood from the brash mat to batter the mudguards. I haven't used mine since 1990 but used them constantly for uphill extraction before then.

That'll teach you to put a diverter in front of a main relief valve, done the same myself when I depended on the relief valve in the spool block but I think I just burst a hose.

Switches between draft and position control IIRC Woody got there before me

Actually as softwoods tend to have more lignin they contain more energy by weight. Also the presses you link to seem to be pillow presses used to make briquettes from powders with a binder, typically used for coal dust, e'g. phurnacite. rather than extruded at pressure to make the lignin flow and cool to bind the particles.

I'm not sure about the issue of suspension because my jussi has tyres marked not for highway use so I wouldn't consider it at all but with highway tyres, empty and towed as an agricultural trailed machine, less than 750kg, you should be okay up to 25mph.

I would not expect to see an improvement on good soils. The perceived wisdom is that biochar provides sites for water retention and associated microbes which recycle nutrients and prevents them leaching away. Protagonists suggest using urine. It's importance is more likely to be in the fact that it can distributively be used to sequester carbon.

Nothing old and in the length to hand. I just weighed each of the firewood logs and they had lost 70-100 grams. I suggest that indicates that airflow is the limiting factor in the early stages. As I pointed out in an earlier thread from an energy yield point of view just getting that first 50% of the moisture out is probably sufficient.

I cut out 3 circa 30 gram samples from the middle of the other parts of the cleft logs and weighed them, on checking again this evening they have all lost more than 5 grams, the birch lost the most, 7 grams which is 24% of its weight and assuming 50% mc when green is near enough half the water gone in 10 hours.

That's because the bark insulates the cambium from the fire, kills other species so thick spongy bark is a evolutionary ploy, as is the adventitious growth.

I'm a bit further down the line than that: The saw was apparently a bit of a screamer from new but the dealers said it was okay. It had a clutch failure rebuild under warranty and worked for a year. Then it was seized, not badly. I suspected the main fault was carburation/weak mixture, so cleaned the bore and bought new, genuine, rings. After the rebuild I ran it up and checked the revs which were 14800 on high idle. Limiter caps fitted to carb so no scope for further adjustment. I stripped and cleaned the carb but no obvious problems, while it was off a colleague pressure tested the engine which showed no leaks. I removed the HI limit cap and there was little improvement on richening this, so I suspect either a restriction in fuel flow (possibly in the needle valve if arm too high) or a blockage in the gallery to the main jet. Easiest to test by swapping the carb with another but none of the gangs will lend me a 261 for the weekend:001_smile:

This cube mentioned, is it a jumble of wood in a cube that measures 1metre length, width and breadth? If so would the transit load I just struggled to split and load for myself with dimensions 3.21 by 0.41 by 2.09 level load with as many peaks above the line as troughs below be 2.75 cube?

I've had a chance to revisit this saw to cut some timber for logs, It definitely has a fuelling problem as it revs too high, the exhaust is showing very light brown and there is crackle on the over run. I just ran it for one fill. I shall replace the fuel line and filter as a matter of course but feel the problem is fundamentally in the carb. Does anyone know off hand what other carbs will fit so I can see about swapping one out with another saw to see if it improves?

Is there any reason for this? Is it built in impact protection. My ideal truck was the peugeot 504 because it was small with a large payload and LSD. travelling on the M25 passing a convoy of old minis makes you realise how small they were compared with modern small cars.

That was my take and the fact that cash flow begins to seriously hamper you if you need to cut, split and store wood a season in advance. I always likened it to owning a combined harvester, it only works for a couple of weeks a year but you cannot harvest your crop without it, mind nowadays I guess they work a bit more if a ring shares them. Similarly in the late 70s early 80s there was a seasonal variation in demand for bars, I calculated that a growing area of 2000 ha of conifer could justify £80k for a poclain and sifer head on the timeliness grounds alone over having to maintain a gang of hand cutters harvesting year round. Anyway I have just set up a little air drying experiment of wood fresh felled this week: I'll calculate their actual moisture content in the morning and will hang them in a sheltered spot to see how dry they get before October.

I think I noticed a mention on here that some of the chinese saws have walbro carburettors, are they a standard or cheapened made under licence version?

Very large spiral of garden hose and a central heating pump, switch the pump on when sun shines.

Does polythene cut out the UV passing though like glass? On a related note is a commercial bubble wrap available for insulation in wide rolls, I only see packaging grade at 1.5m. I want to try using it draped from the 3.6m roof trusses in our 14 by 17m workshop as a false ceiling to cut the volume needed to heat and provide a bit of insulation. I have a worry about is fire risk, any thoughts?

Luv it and interesting too. I might try one on a chainsaw to see how much it actually works in a week.