gdh
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Everything posted by gdh
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Almost at the end of our nice straight beech, it might blunt chains fast but I'm going to miss it when we get back on bendy oak and alder.
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We just started bagging ours to sell as animal bedding, it's not big money and has to be stored because sales are inconsistent but it saves dumping it and every little helps.
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That's true, like us, it's probably cheaper to gather round a fire in one room than have oil heating everything.
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Just doing a few sums out of interest and heating oil is around 5p a kwh at the moment, that's the same as we charge for woodchip for boilers. Firewood is less efficient so would be considerably more expensive so although we have a lot of customers who rely on fires I can't see many others switching away from oil soon.
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I think it's the same everywhere, it's slightly better now but it's been a struggle to buy wood this year unless you were willing to pay very high prices which were being charged for a while.
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We usually put our prices up about £5 a year on our 1.8 cube load to cover increased costs, mostly buying timber. We always do it in September and advertise the fact to encourage people to buy in the summer. It does mean our load has gone from £99-£126 in 6 years but I like to think we sell a good quality product so we've lost very few customers and gained a lot of new ones. I think to a degree people are put off by the idea of a price rise more than the actual amount but I imagine putting £20 a load on would prove that very wrong.
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I call it a heated shed but it's the same principal as a kiln. It's insulated and there's radiators and heat exchangers on the walls powered by a chip boiler.
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We leave them in boxes in a heated shed, there's fans at the back to push air under and through them.
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I'm going with just under 2 ton if it's tightly stacked and fresh. 1.8cube loose fresh is around a ton from what I've experienced.
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What do you use to light your wood burning stove?
gdh replied to BowlandStoves's topic in Log burning stoves and fireplaces
Screwed up newspaper then kindling (just the small bits from in with the wood). -
Depends on the quality of wood, if it's hardwood etc. I'm looking for £65 a cube for dry hardwood collected loose as an idea. Probably be £60 if it's part seasoned.
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Presumably they're pushed up with a loader bucket. I wish we could get away with that, we cut a pile like that in the summer years ago but with our weather it was white with mold by the time it came to selling and we had to sort the whole lot by hand.
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Good choice in my opinion. I still think they're the best all rounder and good value. Only things we ever had to replace were the belt and oil pipe after a thousand tons and a few of the log support plates that got bent during use.
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We used to have that gun, worked fine for 2 years then every seal and spring in it seemed to have problems at once, it was taking longer to get it working each time than I was gaining over just grabbing a manual one. Have a milwaukee now and that's brilliant to use and well built (so far).
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Bit out of date but these are the Welsh averages for anyone interested. We got lucky and managed to buy a few hundred tons at £38 delivered last month but we were getting quotes at the same time for £50 so it's very unstable at the moment.
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Depending how tight the site is and how much you want to overhang you could also step up to 4.8/5m lengths. For chipping especially it's less handling for everyone.
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Amazon will be making another series for anyone who hasn't heard.
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Can't speak for Scottish prices but average I've seen is £30-35 for chipwood. It has been unstable recently though so could well go up.
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Timber trailers.... what to consider when purchasing?
gdh replied to swinny's topic in Large equipment
A hydraulic drawbar is a huge help, being able to slew it round tight corners is a big advantage. Personally I would want 4 wheel breaking if you're on hills. Whatever size you get, realistically you'll only get half the rated weight of wood on with most logs and when looking at cranes bear in mind that the lifting capacity is usually measured close in where you won't normally be working. -
Do you still use a computer or are you solely using a phone or tablet?
gdh replied to Steve Bullman's topic in General chat
Mostly use a phone for browsing but I always use a pc for anything for business (or gaming). There's still a lot more flexibility and power with computers. -
Have you thought about a thumb? They're pretty useful and you could make one yourself if you're handy with a welder.
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I get on well with ours. Really good all round saw, can occasionally be awkward to start but that's rare and a replacement oil pump is the only fix in 2 years.
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In general all hardwood firewood will burn well as long as it's dry. Softwood is ok to but will burn quicker so you'll want to pay a bit less. Ash is the traditional favourite but that's mostly because it's easy to process and dry rather than its burning (although that's fine to). Less than 25% moisture will burn fine, less than 20 is ideal and will be more efficient. As above m3/cubic metre is the best way to buy, try to avoid buying by the kg or worse a ton bag which is rarely accurate. Apart from the really cheap stuff being sold price will vary hugely and won't necessarily reflect quality. Finding a reliable and consistent supplier is the main thing.
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Finally cutting some straight wood with nice beech coming in. Also decided to prune a low tree on the way back.
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It's going to depend on the size of your yard, I would go with a front end loader because they're faster, more comfortable and can use pallet forks but as long as you're not under a roof an excavator with a grab on will be good for moving timber if it's not stacked tidily so both have advantages.
