caveman1

Yeah. Well. The grass is always greener untill you really think it through and work out some numbers. Best to stick with, improve efficiency and work harder on what you know best. And may be better to work with and supply your local coalman with bagged logs at trade price while he supplies you with bagged coal at trade.

Have an artic load tipped up and bag it yourself in some coal delivery bags.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjRqrfS3plc]URBAN TR110 - YouTube[/ame] I want something like this. Stack the bags up. Get a shovel to feed the stove with.

Plant a sweet chestnut coppice interspersed with oak to grow as standards and draw successive crops of chestnut up straight Fencing/garden furniture making material or stove firewood.

Saw it into planks and "stick" it. Process the waste for firewood. Used to transport loads and loads of French beech boules, all sawn, sticked and banded, from dock to various furniture makers.

Does your local council give you those bins to use, that you are supposed to put recyclables in for collection?

You want more excuse for regulation and conformity? Are you for real? Be carefull of what you wish for.

Supply and demand. Apart from becoming as efficient as you can be, you will either have to pay more for your input timber or charge more for your finished product. Or move into the softwood for wood stove business. Or buy your own native species woodland. In which case, you should still input your raw timber at the value it would be on the open market. Or get on the bio chip band wagon.

Log up and fill your trailer to what you will be doing, but, measure the timber you use to fill that first load.

Rayburn multifuel running 4 rads and all cooking with lashings of hot water in 3 bed semi. Never goes out. Gets through about 2 cube per month of seasoned softwood and other carp which can't be sold to customers. One of those recycling containers, approx 500mm x 330mm x 330mm per day.

Back in the day, when I was a young buck, cutting hardwood underwood for pulp, logs or fencing materials all the year round, the coppiced stubs would all grow back, whatever time of the year they were cut. Only difference was those cut in the summer would be said to be "losing" a years growth. I would suggest that pollarding is even more advantageous to regrowth as the shoots are well away from grazing pests. I actually pollarded an acer in my daughters garden yesterday, taking every thing off at the crown and leaving a bole about eight feet tall and about a foot in diameter. I shall take some photos of it's progress from time to time and post on here eventually. It was showing signs of waking up for the year in the buds. Cheers