Pumpy

I know what you said princess, so do you. Let the Karma fall where it's due.

Are we reading the same thread? I answered the OP, you were the first person to respond to my post, be dissapointed with yourself. You don't mind I cut my own logs, so you're wishing me bad karma for helping the OP then? Logic Fail.

Because I cut my own logs? Can you hear yourself? If you think my 25 cube a year is some sort of competition to your business sector, you either have a very small business, or a very small mind.

If it was just cutting and splitting cord it'd be even better on the time, can do 5 cube a day, so say 10 days processing for almmost two years wood best case. I'm spending a lot longer collecting & processing arb waste/"free wood", dropped a few big willows and polar here too, which doubles the time spent processing for softwood for same calorific value, but it all saves on the cash outlay in the end. I'm semi retired/taking a few gap years between businesses while we renovate our house, I could weigh up my labour/time against working/erning more but I don't want to work more thanks, I'd much rather potter about in my own time to save money bypassing log suppliers (and biulders) so I don't have to work:001_tt2:

You should have a copy of the map in your legal pack when you bought the land, photocopy/scan that.

It's not just microwaves, this happened to us a few yrs ago, left one in the Esse to dry out, came back a few hrs later after walking the dogs, house full of smoke and a nice bit of charcoal in the oven

Lobbyist claims Monsanto weed killer is safe to drink, then bolts when TV host offers him a glass... Lobbyist claims Monsanto weed killer is safe to drink, then bolts when TV host offers him a glass

I went down this route 6 yrs ago, it can be a massive saving compared to buying in logs, all depending on the price you can get it delivered in for, but you do need a lot of space, and a fair amount of time to dedicate to it, I reckon I spend about 6 weeks a year on firewood. Think about getting a small old tractor sooner rather than later, it'll run a splitter, and a power loader will make the job a whole lot easier, my Ford 3000 rig was cheaper than a new stand alone splitter. Build a massive wood store, enough to store 45 cube (about one artic load). I've tried using vented bags stacked 3 high in a pyramid covered with tarp, got full of rats so all the wood in the bottom/centre of pile was covered in **** and stinks of ratpiss, some of the bottom bags rotted (and they were on pallets) ended up jetwashing logs and re-stacking in a shed for 6 months just to try and get rid of it. I'm building my 4th woodstore this year so I don't have to use vented bags again, a 10ft lean to each side of a 20ft container I use as a workshop, this in addition to the c.18 cube stores I have already. Don't buy in softwood, it's just not worth it in terms of processing and storage (softwood uses twice the space/processing for the same calorific value as hardwood), you can't leave it in a stack in the open for long before it'll start rotting, it's only just about worth processing it if it's free. I'm sure pros/people on here will disagree as they can sell it, YMMV! I've just got through 50 cube of willow I got "free" (free is a relative term by the time the log hits the logbburner ) no way would I pay to go though that again It saves some cash, it's rewarding work, but after 6 years of waking up to freezing cold house in winter, we're planning to have undefloor heating fitted (open loop geothermal via boreholes) so the logburners will be more of an occasional thing rather than a chore. I'd still have woodburners tho, can't beat a real fire, and the resiliance factor considering gov energy policy is a real benefit for piece of mind IMO. Good luck!

ebay auctions leave too much room for dreamers and idiots, for large items an ebay classified ad is better IMO, I use a buy it now price 25% higher than I want with best offer, I find there's far fewer problems than with auctions, the fees are low and the ad can be listed for a month, plus there's no comback as the buyer can't open an ebay dispute. Clearly state the conditions of sale on tha ad, I find collection only is best, tho you can arrange your own delivery for a charge after cleared funds.

Some thoughts that don't really provide any answers, but may muddy the waters a bit more. Some plants develop "water roots" (think hydroponics) I can think of a few trees growing right on the waters edge who have healthy root mass actually growing in the water, Willow and Oak spring to mind. So presumably nature has quipped them to cope to a lessor or greater degree depending on species. Soil biota (bacteria/fungi) tend to go dormant when either temperature or O2 level is not ideal, high temps can kill them, low temps send them into a dormant state. For sure the ratios of soil biota will change, logically ratios will change with conditions, compaction will also be an issue.

I looked at those, very expensive for what they are. I made some last yr when the sphincter factor went into the red. 1/2" ply with 2x2 reinforced edges to box out around the sills, bolted to the walls each side of the doors, used plenty of silicon. Did our whole place for £300. As it happened we didn't need them, but it seemed prudent when levels were 6" from disaster. I could refit them all in 15 mins if I had to. I have to shake my head when someone says a changing climate is caused by "climate change" in other news, tail wags dog! They shoulda stuck to "global warming" so we could point and laugh when it stopped 15 odd yrs ago.

There does seem to be a back-story whereby this disaster was caused, or at least exacerbated, by following EU policy. from here And here is a link to a PDF of the offending EU policy document that seems to be responsible Heads should roll IMO.

If I didn't know it works first hand I would not have mentioned it. I was involved in some testing in the 90's, it does what it says on the tin, it doesn't say it overhauls engines on the tin read some of the industry reports on it, there's loads on the web. Power Engineering: Lubricant Additive Regains Lost Turbine Capacity Results of Third Party Tests of its FX1 Low Friction Surface Modifier whatever.

I use a surface modifier called FX1, it's classed as a Mono Molecular Surface Modifier. You put some in the oil and some in the fuel, it reduces friction at the molecular level, it pulls all the crap out of the surfaces of the engine, so plan a filter change a week or so after using it. It's amazing stuff IMO, over 20% fuel saving on old diesels when we tested it for a local bus company in the 90's. I put some in a dumper that was chugging out black smoke, within 10 mins it was running sweet with no smoke at all. I've not seen FX1 on UK shelves, but I have seen ZX1 in Halfords, reading the label it looks like the same stuff with a different name for UK markets, it was £22 in Halfords.

regarding your initial idea of a caravan club site: Log into your local council planning portal and download the Local Plan for your village, read what it says about Leisure & Tourism, if it's not clear read the county plan too. I think it is highly unlikely there is an excuse the parish council can use to stop you opening a small (5 vans or less) caravan club site. National Guidance is all about increasing tourism and revenue to rural communities, so this should filter down into the local plan. The Parish council can go as loopy as they want, but in the end they have to follow planning legislation, which will probably be on your side. Local chap round here wanted to open stables, the parish council were dead set against it on the grounds it would increase traffic to the village, he got planning permission with restrictions limiting who could use the facilities down to locals to avoid excess traffic. They cannot argue a 5 van club site will increase traffic, and if they try to the county planner will put them right with advise from the highways agency who will check access to the site. Edit: Try to find a similar caravan club site in your county, then read their planning application to see how they got it.

Look for a company registered as a Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier (NVOCC) and speak to them about your ideas, they'll know the full SP (another saying you don't hear much ) I suspect loose loads of logs means you'd be shipping a lot of fresh air between them, inceasing costs. I also doubt there will be many ports geared up for this sort of load handling, think about the logistics for the carrier, how many bulk tipper waggon loads of logs would need to be tipped to fill a ship, how would they dry store it at the port, and how would the load be transferred to the ship and off it again, stored again and then wagons loaded? For these reasons (and others) I think you'll find the reasons why imported logs are usually close stacked, and crated up in containers.

We had a JCB ram reconditioned by a company in Wellingborough a few yrs ago, it needed some new pipe welding on the cylinder and I didn't want to risk warping the cylinder (it was off a spud leg dredger, got worn in the leg tube) got the cylinder done and seals, it was £140 if memory serves. Is there another machine/forklift/A frame about to take the weight of the ram while you detach it? It'd be a hell of a lot easier so you can knock the pins out with gusto without worrying about supporting it I reckon you could tap into the hydraulics without the extra valves, just add male and female bayonet fittings into both the feed & return of the easiest ram to get to, uncouple as and when you need to use the splitter (put the males on the ram side of circuit) then have the control valve on the splitter, that one you saw me using was only £450 with the valve included. You could probably make a frame so the splitter can be swapped onto the back actor instead of a bucket, look out for a cheap bucket you can butcher up for the pin fittings.

Tidy machine mate, looks good! Has it got hydraulic clamps holding the back actor on? My JCB has these so you can have the back actor left/right/middle on the transom, might be what the spare lever are for

I just can't take any of it seriously anymore, it's like a re-run of a tired old play, some of the actors are the same, some are different, but it's the same lousy script whoever takes the stage. " In October 2011, Cameron vowed to "slash red tape" to boost the faltering economy. In November 2011, Cameron appointed an enterprise Czar telling reporters he planned to rein in red tape. In December 2012, the BBC reported David Cameron backed Mary Portas in her review of high streets in which she recommended we cut red tape. In January 2012, the BBC reported that Cameron vowed to tackle red tap by cutting back the "health & safety monster". In March 2012, Cameron pledged a personal crusade against bureaucracy. In April 2011, Cameron promised he would cut "red tape" by ripping up 21,000 rules that were holding back business by using ‘crowd-sourcing’ techniques. Later that same month he launched the "red tape" challenge. In May 2012, Cameron claimed that he had a radical plan to cut “lunatic red tape”. In September 2012, Cameron vows to "cut through the dither" as a new war on red tape is announced to "unlock growth". In October 2013, Cameron declared war on EU Red Tape " from here

It's an interesting program, in that it provides some insight into a life most of us will be lucky enough never to have to experience. Years ago we did a local authority adoption course, a lot of the course was designed to get people to empathize with the parents whose children they might be adopting, it was a real eye opener. We looked at many real life case studies, most of which were typical "middle class" families that had broken down to such a state the children were not being cared for properly, for one reason or another. In every case it was impossible to blame the parents, the circumstances could quite easily have happened to anyone. Course the cases were cherry picked, so as to encourage adopters to allow some form of contact (at least birthday cards/photos etc.) no doubt there are many cases where the parents could be blamed, but after the 3 day course all of the attendees said something similar to "there but for the grace of god go I" etc. Regarding the program, I would not want to walk in any of their shoes. The program is sensationalist, propagandist, designed to further divide society IMO. Because if society were ever able to become united, those at the top who really do screw the system for all it's worth, wouldn't last 5 minutes.

Ignore the guide price, bid what you are willing to pay. I put a bid in on a LR there some yrs ago, the salesman spent 20 mins detailing what it needed doing and told me the guide price, I bid 25% under that guide and got it, he had neglected to tell me the engine was fubar, I ended up 2 grand out of pocket with no recourse. "it's been through our workshops and is mechanically sound...but needed too much bodywork" yeah right! And count your fingers after you hand over the cash:thumbdown:

I've got one of those 8" single roller Chinese PTO chippers, not from the same firm as the one pictured, mines in green and yellow colours, supplied from a chap near Cambridge who's been supplying them over 10yrs, carries all the spares etc. It will chip 8" if you have just serviced it, but by lunchtime it wont. The main shaft is held in position by grub screws through the bearing housings, if you feed in 8" dia wood it will soon push the main shaft back a few mm so the chip width increases too much for the blades to cut efficiently, wood get battered instead of chipped, gets pushed down into the flywheel housing and jams the whole bloody thing up. I got round this design flaw by fitting collars to the main shaft behind the bearings, stops it getting pushed back, it's been pretty good since then, however I don't chip much over 2" as it all goes for firewood. You get what you pay for, if you think it'll be on par with a professional UK machine you'll be disappointed, but it is a useful bit of kit for the price. It will not do small stuff at all, the thin ends of weeping willow will wrap it's self around the feed roller, as will bramble etc. the small stuff is more trouble than it's worth to chip. I would recommend having a look at one working before you decide, it works for me, but I can see how professional users would poo poo it as they're used to machines costing 4 or 5 times as much, and the price difference really does show in use. HTH, you're welcome to come and see mine working.

I thought I'd not seen you for a while Rosey, if you don't need to tip chip here anymore can you drop my gate key back in the box when you're passing, I can then give it to one of the other local lads to tip here FOC. Cheers. Anyone need to tip chip/logs/rounds NN14 give me a shout.

Careful what you do with the DPF on the more modern motors lads, it's on the MOT from feb 14 to check it has the original DPF in the exhaust

I found this useful... Defender Buyers Guide Helped me find this