mr_magicfingers

Dunsley Yorkshire, meets the various eco standards and burns cleanly. Boiler is built in, has thermostatic control. I've just sold ours after 8 years of use running hot water and heating in the farmhouse. I'd have kept it but we've put in ground source heat pump and central heating and the Renewable Heat Incentive payments means we can't have the woodburner connected to the system. Highly recommended bit of kit.

Thank you, that's great.

Looking into the entrance to the wood This is the sort of over stood coppice all through the wood. Here we opened up a central clearing and are building a small shelter for when the weather's less cooperative. There's a fireplace for brews and some log benches around it More of the woodland Looking down the larger ride from one end, this winter I'll continue opening down the bank to the left. and looking back from the other end, you can see the difference it's made so far. The bank to the right goes down to the stream, we've put some leaky dams across it on the advice of the local biosphere people and the bluebells came back rapidly last spring, hopefully there'll be more along there next spring as we continue to open this ride up.

No ponds in the wood but a stream goes through it, well not a proper stream, it's fed by drainage ditches around the farm that end going through the woods. We do have two other ponds next to the wood, one kept as a swimming pond and one as a wildlife pond, full of life both of them. I'll take some photos when I walk the dogs later and give you an idea of the place.

I've just spent the past couple of days working through your fabulous thread TVI, thanks so much for recording all that you've done. 8 years ago we bought a small farm with 7 acres of over stood hazel coppice under oak and ash standards. I'm slowly opening up the main ride thought it and have cleared an area in the middle and the change in biodiversity in those small areas is amazing. Seeing what you're doing is a huge encouragement to keep on with what we're doing. I have years of work ahead of me as a hobby forester but hope to imitate a little of what you've achieved.

Steve, I did do when it was first set up but I've only ever been contacted once in all that time. I thought throwing an appeal out might help in the short term.

Hi all, I'm near Torrington in North Devon and looking for a few loads of wood chip for covering our chicken run, allotment and other muddy areas on the farm. Just wondering if anyone might be working in our area and need to get rid of some chip. Thanks.

Looking to get a new cylinder and piston for a 550XP. new prices from the dealer are close to the cost of a whole new saw. Does anyone sell pattern parts for these saws? I scored the piston/cylinder on mine when virtually new. Dealer said wrong fuel mix but I was convinced I did everything right and I've never had an issue in the 2 years since. Bought a replacement 550XP for £30 more than the cost of the repair (my credit card hated me that month) and the old one has sat on a shelf for the past couple of years while I hope someone brought out pattern parts so I could repair it. Google didn't help when searching recently, just wondered if anyone might know of someone who's now making them. Thanks.

Morning all, I'm looking to buy a chipper to help deal with sorting out our little woodland and would appreciate some advice on suitable models. We've 7 acres of over stood hazel coppice with some oak and ash standards. It's not been touched in 30 years or so and is a bit of a mess. We're gradually taking down all the hangups and windblown trees and then I'm going to gradually return it to a coppice rotation but along the way I'll be clearing it and dealing with the overgrown hedgerows too. Anything big enough to become firewood goes into our log store as we heat the house with logs and solar. Some of the brash will get used to cover hazel stools and rebuild some hedging where it's thin but that still leaves a huge amount of brash and small branches that would otherwise need burning, which I'm not too keen on. We're opening a small glamping campsite and so wood chip will always come in handy for laying out paths and for mulching areas of garden and smallholding, along with lining the chicken houses and for the composting loos on-site. It won't be full time work, and it's not a big commercial operation, just me and my partner or a friend working our way through the woods in the years to come. I've a Massey 135 so a PTO chipper was what I was thinking unless a standalone is considered a better option as I have a Kawasaki Mule that could tow it if needed. Budget is £2-2.5k which I realise doesn't put me in the professional league of machines but hopefully I can find something that will last if not being put through professional abuse. Given the size of the coppice I can't see it needing to do anything bigger than 4-5" as larger than that becomes firewood when snedded. I'm down in Devon if location helps at all. The only one I've looked at so far is the 6" one on here Home Page as they're close to us and we bought one of their finish mowers. Grateful for any advice. Thanks.

Hello, have a bunch of wood that's been felled for the past 6-12 months. My woodstore should be finished by the end of next week and I'm just wondering what it would cost to have a processor come in for the day and process it. I'm in North Devon, near Torrington. This is what would need processing. I don't know if that's a morning/day/weekend worth of work for a processor so any advice would be appreciated. I might just spend my spare time over the winter doing it but then again it would be nice to have it done and conveyored straight into the new log store right opposite the pile once the outer boards are on next week.

Finally, I have a woodpile worth sharing The thinings from the trees overhanging our drainage ditches that hadn't been touched in 30 years, plus a few other ones that needed some attention. and what has been built for it while I'm away working. Won't be fuel for this winter, but next winter I'll be burning our own produce at last. All bar the front uprights is salvaged from an old workshop that's being replaced with a new building. As you can see, I've got a bit of work to do when I'm home for a few weeks.

Good to know thanks. If some spare slabs come up I'll use them, otherwise it'll stay as it is for now.

Good thought, thanks. Concreting the floor would be expensive, but i might have a load of paving slabs available in a few months that could be put down cheaply on the stone that's there. Wouldn't be the best floor but likely better than bare stone chippings. Thanks again.

Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely go with pallets then, thought I probably would but always good to get some feedback. 2" gaps sounds favourite and I'll screw them on. Plan is to create 3 bays and work from one end, refilling as it's emptied. This year we've been limbing all the trees that overhang the ditches that drain the fields and that have been neglected for 20 years or more before we bought the place. We've got a fair bit of work ahead cutting and splitting the dozen or so piles of trees sitting in the fields like this one. Should keep me busy

I'm taking down an old carport and reusing most of the timber for my new log store. Posts are going into concrete and the store is lined with stone chippings. It'll be 38' x 13' and about 7-8' high. I've a load of 6" wide cladding boards to go around the store. Here's the ground works: Questions: What sort of gap should I leave between the boards around the sides. Is it worth wrapping the sides in rainmesh before the boards Can I leave the base as stone rather than pallets (there's geotextile underneath it) I know you normally raise wood off the ground but pallets are great for twisting your ankle and the store is on a slope with a drain, guttering and stone chips underneath so shouldn't be too damp. Thanks.