Ashes_Firewood

The fumes from normal 2 stroke fuel was why I switched to Aspen. Used normal 2 stroke for years then I started to get a headache from it and my eyes felt irritated and generally felt a bit shit all round. Not had any of that since I started using Aspen.

I’ve got a 700mm tungsten tipped circular saw blade I want sharpening but don’t know of anyone near me that does it. I’ve spoke to someone about 100 miles away that could do it but the postage there and back for an 8kg blade is going to end up costing more than the sharpening. Any suggestions of companies that might be able to help? I’m in South Cumbria.

I've got 45 Ash centre pieces sat in my cellar stacked and sticked like you would with sawn boards and got the cellar window open for a bit of airflow. I cut them about 6 weeks ago for my mates wedding that's happening this weekend. They've a little bit of cracking on them from the middle of the log but nothing serious. I wouldn't get too hung up about a bit of cracking, it all adds to the rustic look! If I hadn't put them in the cellar they would have cracked a lot more with the heat we've had. If there's a bit of stress in the wood they'll crack slightly the moment you cut them anyway.

I guess it's not an option to have a 12 way splitter made to fit the farmi? Would it struggle to push the wood through a 12 way?

I've got the Balfor SC700 PTO powered that can cut up to 12". I've cut a lot of wood with it and it's been brilliant. I saw on facebook they've recently brought a whole new range of saw benches out. They do some that cut larger diameters now but to be honest it can be hard enough work lifting a 12" diameter log on so I wouldn't want a larger cutting diameter than I've got at the moment.

I do more logs than that with a Balfor circular saw bench and log splitter and I can't justify buying a processor to do it with. As much as I'd love one! A saw bench cuts so much faster than a chainsaw as well as being more comfortable to use.

I prefer the metal ones for longevity. I've got some that are a mixture of plastic and metal bases too. The big flat parts are metal and the blocks are made from plastic. Easy to snap the plastic blocks when putting the forks in though so still prefer the all metal ones!

What wood are you burning? I find I get a bit of hazing if I burn softwood but not much at all with hardwood. I give it a clean every couple of weeks once it's built up a bit and it goes back to looking like new again.

Bet your sheep loved that!

If they were dry they shouldn't get mouldy?

I'm not really mixing it that much, put a bit of birch in with it now and then but that's it. I find the grate bars are exposed in the middle when burning softwood whereas hardwood leaves a layer of ash over the top of everything.

Clearview Vision 500

Most if not all hardwoods, not that fussy as long as it's well seasoned! Ash, Hazel, Hawthorn, Alder, Silver Birch are mainly what I have. I do burn softwood from time to time but always find myself looking forward to getting back to hardwood. Just seems to burn nicer and for longer. With softwood a lot of ash seems to fall through the grate so I have to empty the ash pan out at least twice as often as I do when burning hardwood. Burning some kind of conifer at the moment and it's really weird stuff, be glad to get to the end of it.

I only go 3 when they're stacked inside an open fronted shed that's got a good concrete floor. Can't go higher as that's as high as the tractor can reach. Can't see why you couldn't go 5 high with a telehandler on a good surface inside. Hardest part at that height would be seeing that you've got the base lined up properly with the IBC below that it's going to sit on

They're loads better than bags for seasoning and handling. I can stack them 3 high to save space, higher if you had a telehandler. I wouldn't bother putting mesh round them, I don't tend to find too many logs fall out. Only thing that's a bit more difficult is unloading them by hand but if you're going to get a rotator that's not an issue for you. When I run out of inside space I do as Woodworks posted on here years ago and cut the tank inners in half to make roofs, drill a few holes near to the bottom edge and tie them to the IBC with baler twine. It's really only the ends of the logs that get wet in driving rain so they soon dry out even in winter. The main thing is stopping the rain getting in to the middle of the crate.

I'd definitely buy a Clearview again despite them costing a bit more.

I ended up logging that lime up and selling it cheap to my mate as rounds. They were splitting it with an axe and said it was bad stuff to split and didn't put much heat out either.

The original chimney is clay pipe built in to the wall then it's had a metal flue put down it when we had the wood burner installed. I've had that happen before when opening the burner door it's released a puff of smoke in to the room but this was a prolonged smell as though it was constantly releasing smoke although no visibly. No it's been lit probably 10 times since it was swept. It sounds like I need to get my chimney sweep to investigate. I poked my head up there and couldn't see anything. I think my chimney sweep can do a camera survey if required so will see what he says. I did light the burner again last night with the upstairs bedroom window closed the whole time and no smell of smoke at all! So I'm thinking it must be something to do with negative draft but that would still mean something is wrong as the smoke smell shouldn't be getting in to the house

Is a chimney sweep the right sort of person to ask to carry out any kind of test to determine if there was a leak? It's a strange one to get an answer with there being no visible signs

The flue was swept about a month ago. The chimney is the tallest part of the house and it's right at the ridge of the house. There's no air bricks partly because it's an old stone house and partly because the stove has a direct air feed to the outside. The only thing that I can think is different is the window being open upstairs creating some strange draft situation. 99% certain it wasn't coming in through the window, the smoke smell was much stronger on the landing outside the bedroom than it was in it.

I couldn't obviously smell any smoke coming in and the smoke smell was at it's strongest right outside our bedroom door. Will try again tonight but with the window closed. Just bizarre and it's the only thing that I know that's changed as don't normally have the window open with the burner lit. It just got that hot!

Hi. We've had our woodburner in for 2 years now, no problems until last night. The chimney is lined. It all seemed fine and burning as normal. Went to bed, opened the top sash of the bedroom window slightly. About 20 minutes later we could smell smoke in the room. Opened the bedroom door and it smelt even stronger on the landing. Went downstairs all burning fine and didn't really smell. Checked all around the woodburner and walls upstairs and downstairs for hot spots or signs of smoke but couldn't see or feel anything. Checked outside but all seemed fine. Smoke alarm didn't go off, carbon monoxide alarm didn't go off. When I stood part way up the stairs where I could feel the heat rising up I did get a smell of smoke again. Could it be that having the window open upstairs is drawing air and smoke down the chimney, into the house then upstairs towards the bedroom where the window is open...? Looking on google it could be a negative draft? It's definitely not coming in through the window.

What about splitting them down in to still largish but much more manageable 1m lengths with your Krpan (e.g. split 1 oversize log into quarters) then run through the processor to cut and split to final log size. Think I remember you saying billets are slow though!

I've lined the sides and bottom of our log basket with some of that clear plastic sheeting that comes on a roll

Resisted so far but if we had been around in the evening a bit more this last week it would have been lit as it's been 17 degrees C in our living room when I've got home from work! We seem to have the stove lit most days from September until start of May. So only 4 months of the year it's not on. Bloody crazy!