sandspider

Sure chap, no hurry! If you could see your way to moving the wood close to Bristol, I'd be happy to come and help out?!

Sounds great! Pictures please?

Thanks tgb.

Thanks. I don't actually sell logs, so don't have many to experiment with! But I'll give it a go when I get a chance

Do you put the firelighter / birch bark in the top of the cut or at the bottom? I've seen both suggested? I guess it would burn for longer if at the top of the cut, but light and burn easier if at the bottom?

Yes please!

Ha! Didn't know where that one came from!

Cheers TVI. Hopefully soon - land prices are only going up it would seem. Incidentally, do you have a blog or website or anything? Need more pictures etc. to feed my woodland management habit until I can get some woodland!

Great thread TVI, thank you. I'd love to do what you do - but am stuck at a computer in an office. One day though, I will own a small patch of woodland. Please keep the pics coming in the meantime. Oh, and I like Terry Pratchett and Hammond Innes too! Especially TP.

Does it not burn with a black and smoky flame full of nasties? Or if you force air into it does it burn fairly clean?

Agreed re the X27. I used to use a £12 splitting maul from Toolstation, and split a lot of wood with it. I bought an X27 because of all the hype, and didn't find it amazing at first. The X27 is light so needs a bit of welly behind it, whereas the maul was heavier, so only really needed to lift it and use its own weight on the down-stroke. As I use the X27 more, and changed my splitting style to match it, it does improve. I'm not sure it's worth the £50 odd I paid for it though, vs the £12 maul. I only split wood for my own use, so perhaps if I did a lot more I'd prefer it.

Nice work, good location - and a good deed for the trees and the community. Nice one.

Stronghold has worked well for us in the past. And sea bathing for the dog seems to help too.

Over 1500 now!

Cold as balls.

Worth reading Roger's books - reference is made to the ash arches and lots of other things. Not so much a how to of grafting, but a good read anyway.

I like those. Simple but elegant.

Very nice. However, shouldn't there be some sort of longitudinal brace down the centre, between the tops of the legs and across the lateral bracing struts? To kind of hold it all together? Without the top on, it looks a bit naked in the middle, and like all the weight is resting on the two end sections of the frame. I should say that I've never built a table so am probably wrong - but would be interested to hear your thoughts? Thanks.

Picture:

Cheers chaps. Think I've sorted it as it happens - no screws, just 4 lugs that slot into the body. One of them had broken off, but I've cleaned it all up and fixed it back in with lots of high temperature gasket sealant. Fingers crossed this works anyway... The baffle is deinitely cast / welded into place - no movement in it at all, and the seams are all smooth and even. And there's only a bit of surface rust on the outside of the back of the stove, still plenty of metal thickness left. (Chimney pot is cowled). I clean the chimney through an access plate in the flue, and can also get a brush round the baffle and up the chimney that way. Thanks for the pointers Alcidyon - hopefully won't need any new parts yet. The stove (not including the cowl, legs, hinges etc.) is: 66cm wide; 37cm deep and 46cm high. It's also got some boiler pipework coming out of the back. I'll put a picture in below - does it look like a Villager, and can you hazard a guess as to the model if so? Many thanks.

Hi all Bit of a long shot perhaps but I know there's some stove installers on here. I've got what I think is an old villager wood burner - it came with my house. The flue comes out of the top, and there was a metal blanking plate covering the rear flue exit. The other day the blanking plate dropped out, so I've got a hole in the back of my stove. The baffle plate inside the stove seems to be welded in, so I can't easily get to the hole at the back to patch it from inside. Is there a trick to replace this without having to take the stove out of its alcove, disconnect the chimney etc to get to the back of it? I don't want to do that unless I really have to! Also, I imagine to replace the blanking plate I just stick it in with fire cement? Cheers.

Interesting! Is that people being pushed down a hill while riding what is basically a sofa?!

Hope so! Lots of botanical gardens. Any special trees etc. to visit? Thanks.

I don't live or work there. But I've been to the Algarve before and am off to Madeira this weekend!

I like to see the grain and figure of the wood, before it's painted.