aesmith

Thanks for that. Looks as if my 1.5cu stack would represent a bit over 2 cu m delivered.

I understand, maybe I should explain why I ask. I know roughly how much we get through in terms of stacked volume, about 1.5 cu metre. What I'm not sure of is what sort of delivered volume would replace that, since I'd be ordering and paying by the volume it occupies in the dealer's vehicle, not by how much space it takes up once stacked. As an aside, wouldn't it be better sold by weight, given that almost all dealers round here claim it's at or below 20% m/c? Tony S

We use wicker baskets similar to this one, but we got them at trade price.

Hi, What I was wondering was whether there was some general rule of thumb to relate the volume delivered, vs the volume once stacked? I'm assuming that a truck or trailer load of split wood is going to be significantly looser packed. Thanks, Tony S

Cheers. The broken branch in the second photo is quite big, maybe 8" diameter, and the area of the break bends over nearly to the horizontal. That looks to me as if it wasn't growing upright even before the break. I'd rather not lose the tree at the moment, although that might change when some of our newly planted trees get going. The tree shows no sign of trying to produce a new leader, do Larch not do that? Tony S

Hi, We have a Larch in the front garden with a really strange growth habit. The crown, such as it is, seems to consist of branches lying horizontally across each other. It's difficult to explain, and I can take pictures from other angles or zoom in if it helps. Here's the tree in context .. And a couple of pictures from below to try and show what's going on (colours a little funny as I had to use flash) .. [/img] Any suggestions welcome, even if it's just to say leave it as it is. Thanks, Tony S

Will take some pictures. Here's the "before" (only kidding) ..

Doesn't this comment fly in the face of accepted wisdom? I thought it was well established that moisture is lost quicker through the end grain, after all that's why boards being dried for timber are always end sealed. "The logs are a little behind the fire cords, which is interesting as they have more grain ends exposed than the fire cords, but less grain face area exposed. This suggests that moisture may more readily leave grain faces than ends, and may also demonstrate the waterproof nature of bark." Tony S

I'm afraid you're correct, it's just a farmyard Ash tree not a specimen of great beauty. All the same we're trying for more trees rather than fewer, so don't want to ill treat any of them.

Polysteel is used in the fishing industry where service life may be quite short due to abrasion or damage so low price is important. It's quite stiff, not that pleasant to handle or to splice. But it's cheap and strong. You can get it in 220m rolls from here, along with their other variants ... Gael Force Polysteel Rope Gael Force Seasteel Rope

OK, that's my inexact terminology not being clear on the difference. But it seemed to be said earlier that this much clearance was needed for any pruning work as well, or did I just jump to that conclusion as we started off discussing pruning? Looking back he actually said "cut" so maybe I misunderstood.

Thanks for all the comments, from what you all say I'm sure I'll be happy with what they propose. I might get the offending limbs taken back to the main stem rather than cut short as was done before. There were a few interesting related points raised. I hope I've not quoted anyone out of context .. I see that logic, but the clearance was being quoted as twice that, and only in the context of an arborist pruning the tree. The examples you give are the result of the tree simply being there, not the result of it being worked on. SSE are only saying they need 3m clearance, unless I misheard in which case I'll know more on Saturday. In a lot of cases the trees were there before the power line. That's not live 66kV I assume? Or are you allowed to fell closer than you can prune? Thanks again, Tony S

Thanks, there's some good figures there. I suppose manufactured pellets would be about 10 or 15% M/C, would that be correct? Or are they lower and kept low by keeping them in sealed packaging.

Hi, I understand it's generally recommended to get firewood down below 20%, but wondered if there were any figures floating around relating useable heat output at different moisture contents. It's just for general interest, but also because I've noticed adverts now and again for kiln dried firewood which seems pretty far fetched. I thought about having a go at calculating loss due to latent heat, but when I think about it I'm not sure that would be accurate. As I understand it the water is bound to the wood structure in some way, so maybe takes more energy to extract the water in the first place. Anyway, as I say I would be interested if there were any figures floating around. Tony S

Thanks. That's a surprising distance, for example some of our mature ash trees must be over 20m, making the safe distance quite significant.

Thanks for the comments, that sounds good. I can discuss the detail when the guy's round. He said they need 3m clearance, and also mentioned that it was a five year check so I assume they cut back so that it's not likely to encroach on their 3m before the next check. Could you clarify what you mean by "tree length"? Thanks, Tony S

Hi, I have a guy from SSE coming to see me on Saturday to discuss cutting back one of our trees to increase clearance from their 11kV line. I have no problem in principle, but was wondering whether I should let them go ahead, or arrange the work myself. Do these power distribution guys normally do a decent job, with the work done by a proper tree surgeon or at least by someone who considers the affect on the tree? Also, looking at it from another angle, how close to 11kV lines would an independent arborist be happy working? I just wanted to get a bit of an opinion so I know how to play it when the guy comes round. Thanks, Tony S

That's an interesting set of results. Of course I always knew that some water was lost through the long grain, but I was convinced it wasn't significant compared to the loss though the end grain. Clearly wrong looking at your sample 3 which got down to 80% in 5 days, compared to sample 1 taking 14. And that doesn't even account for the extra long grain surface area once a given log's split into many chunks. I suppose that's it actually, the end grain loses water faster, but there's much more long grain area so it's total effect is greater. I wonder if you'd see similar results with diffuse porous timbers.

Cheers, I wouldn't question what you say about intact logs. I was thinking more in terms of sawn to 9" lengths but not split (my preference), compared to both sawn and split. Similar to your comment we had some Ash and some unspecified softwood that had been felled several years ago and just left as logs. As you say once you're away from the immediate sawn ends it was as wet as wet.

Do you find that makes much difference? Common wisdom is that most water is lost through the end grain (although clearly some is lost through the long grain otherwise end-sealed timber would never dry). I like to stack firewood "round" as the splitting gives a quick visual estimate of how it's drying. Tony S

Cheers, it looks so obvious when you see it done.

How would you do that (in layman's terms)? I can't see how you'd get the rope through the second eye. Thanks, Tony S

Cheers. Slow is OK. I also think the simpler the better for something that's not going to be used everyday so your completely symmetrical suggestion makes a lot of sense. Tony S

Hi, Can I chip in with my question/requirements? We have a few trees on our grounds and every now and then I have to go up one to prune, or remove dead branches or other reasons. I've decided that I'd like to kit myself with some basic gear to enable me to use one or more ropes, primarily for protection and to rest on if I need both hands free. I'm not as this stage thinking of using the rope for actual ascent, more for assistance and static support. For this sort of occasional ad-hoc use I don't want to splash out too much, but want to make sure that what I do arrange is reasonably sensible. I don't want to give myself a false sense of security. What would be a good basic rig? I was thinking along the lines of using a single main rope, the bitter end attached to my harness, and a lanyard from the harness to a prusik loop around the main line. The idea would be to keep pulling the prusik loop up (or pull the line down through it) to take the slack out as I climbed. Then either pull it up nice and snug when I reach the desired point, or maybe I'd clip into a separate sling when I'm in position. Does that make sense? What are the sorts of hazards that a newcomer wouldn't necessarily spot? FYI I sail so I am familiar with ropework and knots and splices in general, if not with the particular techniques for tree work. Thanks, Tony S