woodyguy

Skyhuck, don't really wish to fan the flames (pun intended) but I think you've got a problem with your arithmetic. Yes you can do wet or dry weight % moisture. Your 150% translates as 3 parts water for every 2 parts wood, ie 60% moisture by the method we normally use. I've personally never cut any wood that tested that high but bow to your extra experience. What it doesn't mean is that it has "3x as much water as wood". It has 1.5x more water than wood. Hope this isn't taken as insulting, just trying to understand.

wonderfully illustrated with sections like that. Thanks for sharing.

Found it and not exactly as I remembered but useful background. Its from my regular bed time reading - Carbohydrate Reserves in plants- synthesis and regulation. "According to the predominant carbohydrate storage compounds, starch or fat, trees are classified as "starch trees" like most ring-porous angiosperms, and some conifers like species of abies and picea, and "fat trees" like most diffuse-porous angiosperms and species of pinus." Sad but I find this quite interesting!

I grow Larch, Dawn redwood and swamp cypress. All three coniferous trees, with needles that are deciduous. Are they hardwoods then?

People keep talking about the moisture content which obviously is directly linked to the heat output. But Ash isn't drier than other woods. I was under the impression that Ash would burn with a higher MC than many other hardwoods because it stores its energy in the form of oils rather than starch, so will burn wetter. Can't remember where I read it and please correct me if I'm wrong. In reality though, it may burn but it still has to use most of its embedded energy to boil off the excessive water, so the heat output can't be great. Best firewood is any wood that's dry.

Yep its true. see below Toxins from the seeds of the tree Acer pseudoplatanus are the likely cause of Atypical Myopathy (AM) in Europe, concludes a new study published this month in the Equine Veterinary Journal (EVJ)1. The common name for this tree is sycamore in the UK but it is also known as the sycamore maple in some other countries. There is further potential for confusion because a completely different tree, Platanus occidentalis, is known as the sycamore or American Sycamore in the USA. The new research follows hot on the heels of a study in the USA earlier this year that has linked toxins from the box elder tree (Acer negundo) with Seasonal Pasture Myopathy (SPM), the US equivalent of AM2. The discovery marks an important step for the future prevention of this fatal disease. Atypical Myopathy is a highly fatal muscle disease in the UK and Northern Europe. In ten years, approximately twenty European countries have reported the disease. Incidences tend to occur repeatedly in the autumn and in the spring following large autumnal outbreaks. Horses that develop AM are usually kept in sparse pastures with an accumulation of dead leaves, dead wood and trees in or around the pasture and are often not fed any supplementary hay or feed. SPM is a very similar disorder, prevalent in Midwestern USA and Eastern Canada that is now known to be caused by the ingestion of hypoglycin A, contained in seeds from the box elder tree.

Gareth, on what do you base the statement "They only clump form when they are content. Under stress they run"? There are roughly 300 species of bamboo that can be grown in the British climate. If somebody posted a question about a tree and said it grew really big and how should I cut it back, people might wish to know what species of tree it is. Posting that trees like being cut back or some other generalisation would be soon questionned. Some bamboo species always run. Some never run. Many will run if the conditions are moist and good. Under stress they tend to not grow very much at all or run. So to provide a sensible answer to how he can get rid of it, we need to know what species of bamboo it is. Or would you advice on a managing a hedge without knowing if it was hawthorne, leylandii or holly?

Ph Aurea is a clumping bamboo that rarely runs and would be very unlikely to cover a whole garden. Do you have a picture?

You still haven't told us which bamboo it is which is central to how deep rooted it is ie whether it would be possible to dig it our or to how hard it will be to weedkiller???

Just describe it as RARE, always seems to work!!

All good advice, but you started by stating that this was a small area of woodland. You are hence incredibly unlikely to breach the 5cum per calendar quarter rule, unless you're clear felling large areas. I'd prefer to speak to the TO as if you start cutting and the neighbours complain, it wont be to the FC. Forewarned is forearmed.

The reason it changes with moisture content is the huge energy boost needed to boil off the water. The specific heat capacity of water is 4.187 KJ per degree kelvin. So stored at 20c room temp, then to heat the water in the log to 100 is roughly 400kJ. To boil that water off so that it can go up the chimney, the latent heat of evaporation is 2270 kJ per kg. So that same Kg of water will take a further 2270Kj to boil. so roughly 6/7 of heat to boil and 1/7 of heat to get to 100c. Hope that helps.

Its not hard to kill with glyphosate. So instant result is dig it up. Season or two is Glyphosate. What type of bamboo was it?

I thought that was hysterical. Could have been made as one of the Fast Show sketches. You wouldn't want to be his insurer though.

From the government leaflet on tpo's What is a Woodland TPO? A Woodland TPO protects all trees within the defined area, including natural regeneration - seedlings and saplings ie. trees less than 3.5m in height are not excluded.

SC likes sandier soils but grows quite happily in exposed places fairly far north (and on clay). It's pretty tough and I'm just about to plant 300 more in a cleared woodland area for coppice.

Birch will be pretty rotten within a couple of years if treated. I've got a wood where the oak was clear felled 80 years ago. Some of the oak stumps are still in pretty good condition. So don't expect them all to rot at the same pace.

What a great idea and beautifully done.

I use both and they have different applications. If its summer, perhaps wearing shorts and I'm only using a chainsaw for say 20 mins every hour, then chaps are great. If its winter and I'm using the chainsaw much of the time then trousers are far better. The only advantage of chaps is they stop you overheating in summer.

Found one on one of my sycamores last week. only seen it on forsythia before

Actually I ran it for a year on an 18 inch bar and it was pretty happy felling sweet chest nut and oak. I swapped to a 14 inch simply because the bigger bar was less handy in tight corners thinning and for bigger stuff I can use a 362. Don't knock the 241 till you've tried it!!

in the 1980's much of Philadephilia USA had these as street trees. They stink of dog **** and are vile. I picked a few seeds up and they are still growing as trees in my garden.

One of my favourite saws. I was running an 18 inch bar that it came with but swapped to a 14 and it's really fast and powerful. Lovely compact light saw for close woodland.

I've only used microwave as I described but never an oven. Certainly if you're patient, on top of stove also works. I did use it to prove that the stihl type meter is pretty useless.

Easier to microwave for 2mins on high. Leave it for a few minutes to cool then weigh. Keep repeating til it stops losing weight. Quicker and more energy efficient than an oven imho.