gdh
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Everything posted by gdh
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From what we've used Stihl chains are just about the best performing but at a price, Oregon and Husqvarna are decent and reliable and rotatech are the best for day to day because they're cheap for similar performance.
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About 5 years ago I was felling what looked like a straight ash in a dingle (didn't realise the bigger branches were one side) and it barber chaired 10-15ft up then sat there with the top end balanced on some thorn bushes. It was one of those horrible moments where you don't know which way to move. Only way I could safely get it down in the end was with a winch, I wish I had taken a photo because I doubt (and hope) I'll ever repeat it.
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We've completely run out and ironically the cold weather also slows down our drying. I've got a couple of hundred tons cut ready but it's just sitting there damp waiting to dry. I've also noticed prices going up for buying in, especially softwood and it's getting harder and harder to find ash.
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Naturally drying cordwood down to 20% March to Nov???
gdh replied to cessna's topic in Firewood forum
About 25-30% if I can get it covered but it's the wet layer trapped by the bark that puts it up. -
Haha, my mistake. I read my post and realised it made no sense if you didn't know which parts were series and thought you meant that. And, yes, the first few series of Not going out were really good. Taskmaster is celebrities doing stupid challenges but better than it sounds and Angie Tribeca is like a hot shots, naked gun etc.
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I'm tired and missed out the capitals. Taskmaster, Brooklyn 99, Angie Tribeca and Not going out are all comedies. Unless you're French then yes it is in a foreign language.
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I think there's plenty of good panel shows but you don't get many sitcoms now, let alone good ones. Taskmaster is the last thing that really made me laugh, brooklyn 99 and angie tribeca are good American comedies but other than not going out which isn't as good as the earlier series I can't think of anything else I watch. Father Ted and scrubs are still my favourites.
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Naturally drying cordwood down to 20% March to Nov???
gdh replied to cessna's topic in Firewood forum
I have had the odd stack in the round get there for a couple of days in the summer but only on the surface. I can't see it's possible to do consistently and we used to struggle to get firewood to that, let alone logs. Only way I can think of doing it to buy a splitter (but that's minimum 15k) and quarter them then restack them alternating directions to let the wind through then sheet the top. If you had time and space to do that though you would be better processing them first I think and trying to dry them like that. Short answer no. -
Same with our labrador, it did singe it's hair as a puppy when it pushes past but only once...
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You can take out anything that could be dangerous. Also small trees (less than 8cm diameter at 4ft) can be felled. There's a few other exemptions to but in most cases you'll need a licence.
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As said, everyone needs a felling licence, they're not to hard to get and they're pretty sensible in what you can cut. The 5cube is just so you don't need one if you're felling for personal use. There are too many regulations (I'm sure someone will ironically complain yet again about a farmer complaining now ;)) but in this case it's a fairly simple one that stops people buying up large areas of land and clear felling them without consideration.
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I don't know anyone locally unfortunately, I'm not sure if bowcetts/border firewood go your way much but they would have to come a long way first unless we got lucky with a back load. If you don't find someone closer give me a message and we can see who's about if you want.
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I think we're a little far (sa20 0qb) but would be interested. What sort of quantifies are you after? Would it have to be a regular thing or could you take the majority in the summer?
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Best decision we made was getting an electric one, it saves a lot of time. Currently using a milwaukee which is brilliant, if expensive. Battery lasts ages and it has plenty of power, only issue is the cartridge can get caught but pulling it on a gate hinge fixes that.
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Best decision we made was getting an electric one, it saves a lot of time. Currently using a milwaukee which is brilliant, if expensive. Battery lasts ages and it has plenty of power, only issue is the cartridge can get caught but pulling it on a gate hinge fixes that.
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It would be interesting to do some costings for electric and oil drying, I suspect they would be cheaper than logs and around the same as chip. I think realistic running costs for chip, including electric for fans, for us are £8 a cube 45% - 15%.
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Hopefully we don't see any regulation, firewood is one of the only fuel sources where you can cut down your own tree and burn it or buy perfect dry logs from a supplier with relative freedom. While it seems ridiculous to simultaneously ban payments on and force (for those of us it wet areas) the drying of wood it does seem true.. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-non-domestic-renewable-heat-incentive-further-proposed-amendments
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Just over 3 cube for biomass grade. I don't think a sloped floor will work unfortunately as chip, especially damp, doesn't 'flow' very well. You could get technical and make your own tipper, push off floor or even a conveyor type if you're feeling ambitious.
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I think you're right about RHI, it's already dropped off to less than a third of the original rate so it will probably be phased out soon. It will be interesting to see if/how it's replaced, as you mention tax payers have to pay for these schemes but at the same time more people are voting for green energy policies so there will be pressure for a replacement. Interestingly things like the BSL require less than 20% moisture which we couldn't get here consistently without kiln drying and newer stoves designed to lower emissions are recommending dryer logs than that so there could well be grants (hopefully as opposed to regulations) to dry logs.
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I was under the impression that RHI was from the UK government not the eu, I could well be wrong but I can't see it stopping anytime soon as it's still available and renewable energy is being pushed more all the time. I haven't heard anything about it being stopped for drying logs unless that's to do with the issues with no limits in Northern Ireland. I suspect log drying is a major percentage of claimants and they'll also be the people who supply below 20% moisture wood to the other boilers.
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Yes, the electrics in there which is a big cost but you would probably have to add another £3 for the boiler /fans. The cost of softwood is going up now which could push it up but we chip alot of smaller or bent hardwood so it won't be so bad. Air drying I think would realistically cost us £8 if we covered boxes outside without any risk of a cost rise. Unfortunately we don't really have the space and we've just had 6 months of rain which would have slowed the drying and if we ran out we wouldn't be able to cut more this time of year. I think it depends a lot on location which method works best.
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Would be interesting to hear what it's costing people. We're around £9 a cube before rhi which is similar. That's averaged with the chip we do and doesn't include paying for the boiler itself.
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About 5% of our sales are softwood but the price has just rocketed so I can't see it being worth it compared to hardwood soon. Personally I prefer to burn hardwood because it's less work but I've got no issues burning softwood.
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I don't see it making a major difference when RHI stops, RHI was a bonus to encourage boilers but it's not a necessity. At a guess it would only cost an extra £10 a cube but even then it would be better value than having 5-10 times the storage for a lot of businesses. On top of that regulations are demanding drier wood all the time so there will be plenty of customers who demand their wood is dried.
