Billhook

#i think the 20% figure would definitely be my parents old house and fireplace but I would put my Rumford much nearer a wood stove. You must know by now that I am simples! The air is controlled in my living room by shutting down the two 4 inch pipes under the floor that bring in air from the outside. The room is otherwise sealed with double glazing and draft proof door. The flue can also be shut right down. The room is like a giant wood burner and has the additional benefit of heating up the mass of brickwork in the centre of the house which creates a longer background heat. A lot of wood stoves do not draw in air in this way and it has to be sucked in under doors and through inefficient windows creating draughts and thus more inefficiencies. Fair comment, but is it not true that wood when burnt will create a certain amount of particulates no matter how it is burnt? In an efficient fire you burn less wood so less particulates, but the particulates are still there. My only comment about the health of people around wood fires is that my parents both had a huge open fire every day in the Winter in their draughty old house and both lived to a good age 87, and 91 and wood smoke was not put down as a cause of death.

Whilst you are correct for most situations, all I can say is that there is a world of difference between the old farmhouse, uncontrolled wide chimney system and the Rumford in my living room here. Basically the room is sealed, airtight with gas filled double glazing. The chimney is in the middle of the house and the brickwork warms the first floor as well. The air that feeds the fire comes in from the outside and has two grills either side that can be adjusted, the flue above the fire has an iron plate which can be completely shut. The result is that the fire can be controlled and the large area of brick at the back of the fire which is shallow pushes the heat out into the room. In this way my Rumford is acting more like a wood stove The result is that when I put exactly the same amount of wood in the Rumford as I put in the Aarrow, I find that they need to be topped up at the same time I admit that both have not got a secondary burn as in the very latest wood stoves, all am saying is that there is a world of difference between some open fires, just as there is between some wood stoves Are you really saying that wood stoves do not pollute the air? Vindico | Your Wood Burning Stove And Air Pollution WWW.THINKAIR.CO.UK How much does your fashionable wood burning stove contribute to air particle pollution? The result of that ‘homely...

In the old farmhouse where my parents lived, uninsulated with many drafts, we had a large open fireplace and keeping it going was like stoking the Bismark. My father used to sit in his chair with a screen on one side to protect against the radiated heat, and a rug on the other side to protect from the draft! I went on strike and ordered a Clearview Stove, put it on the hearth with a metal plate over the old fireplace and a hole in it for the short flue on the back of the stove. I lit the fire at about six pm and went off to play tennis leaving father in a grump as he wanted his open fire back I crept around the door at about eleven o'clock on my return and collapsed laughing to see father in his string vest and underpants! He said that he went to sleep and when he woke up he thought he was in hell! Yes, that worked in the farmhouse. when I built my house in 1983, before the popularity of wood stoves, I asked the old brickie to put in a Rumford fireplace which I had been reading about. He was very reluctant as like all brickies he had his own way of making fireplaces. "I 've never seen a bugger like this, still its your money and if you want to waste it that is your problem" etc etc. It turned out to be be a big mistake as I found them standing in front of it on very cold days when they were meant to be on the roof "Well I never would have believed it" etc etc! Rumford fireplace - Wikipedia EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG They are very efficient and we have had a good test this week as the central heating system has been playing up with poor circulation. We have two wood stoves, An Aarrow Stratford 25kw boiler stove and a Danish Aduro modern design. So those were lit plus the Rumford and There was very little difference in the amount of wood used between the Rumford and the Aarrow, but the Aduro was more efficient (But it is only 6 kw)but not as much as I expected, Aduro 9 convection stove with three side windows WWW.ADUROFIRE.COM An impressively large glass area is achieved by adding side panes and minimising the bars between the glass in the door... The Rumford kicked out a great deal of heat, reflected into the room by the tall brickwork at the back. Before the Rumford was built I also put two 4 inch drain pipes in the concrete floor to bring air in from either side from the outside and eliminate drafts. Also I can shut off the flue easily with the full width steel plate when not in use or to control the draft up the flue a bit. I would always light the Rumford if we have folk in for a Christmas drink as it seems to bring out a instinctive warm social atmosphere not quite achieved by the stoves even though they have glass doors. I would think about putting a Rumford in one of your fireplaces, but find the right brickie!

just found this on the web Tighter than a .... in The AnswerBank: Phrases & Sayings WWW.THEANSWERBANK.CO.UK "Nun's Chuff" made me chuckle

The bearing shaft seems to be as tight as (I cannot think of the proverbial!) and there ia no play but it runs freely. It must have been something to do with what the guy in the video is trying to correct by judicial hammering. I wire brushed the blades and the castings before fitting to make sure that nothing might cause distortion on tightening, and I did not tighten very hard as the motion of the saw is self tightening

Took the new blade off and tried two more which worked fine without wobble and demonstrated that the new blade was faulty so it has been sent away to a saw doctor together with the first blade.

I think that we should all push for it to be law in the UK!

Here is "Pro Putty, Pro Putty, Pro Putty!"

We seem to be enjoying the lull before the big storm here in the East Midlands. Like they say in the best Westerns. "Sure is quiet ain't it?" "Yeah, too quiet" then an arrow comes out of nowhere and pins his hat to a tree!

But have you fitted a wood burning stove on board???!

Telegraph Today he meant to say diesel, gas stoves and firewood!

Here we go again with storm Barra coming tomorrow. Some three thousand homes are still without electricity or heat from storm Arwen. I think that the law in Norway should be brought in here for rural communities. I still say that we are due for a normal hard Winter in spite of the nay sayers and catastrophic climate pundits

Just found this recording amongst my father’s old reel to reel tapes. Took a bit of work to put it on YouTube but it is an accent that was quite common fifty years ago and now only heard in some remote areas. Do not know who did the reading but he was brilliant. At the end there is a link to a robot trying to recite the NewStyle version! After hearing. “Pro Putty Pro Putty Pro Putty” a few times I had to turn it off!

I think that in America you would be called a serious prepper!

Here are some ideas How to Cook Food With a Log Burner | Direct Stoves WWW.DIRECTSTOVES.COM Have you ever wondered whether you can cook food with your log burner? Here, we show you how, with help from the best... Turn your tiny wood stove into a tiny cookstove with a cast iron cook pot. SALAMANDERSTOVES.COM Turn your tiny wood stove into a tiny cookstove with a cast iron cook pot. Amazon.com WWW.AMAZON.COM

All the rest were just poking about in the dark!

Never had sex till I was married (at 60!)

Never come across a girl like that!

‘‘Tis an ill wind that blows nobody any good!”

I expect that you will have several trees down to top up your firewood shed!

I think that the tragic death in Rothbury and the 16000 homes with no electricity in the North East and Scotland, does demonstrate the need for a reliable backup heat source when the electricity supply is cut by storms, overloading, breakdowns or even terrorism. A wood burning stove is not just a very pleasant form of everyday heating, but could be the difference between life and death in some circumstances The more we become reliant on electricity the more likely it will be overloaded, especially if everyone has an electric vehicle

Just found this link which states further down the page that bats do indeed eat woodworms! Bat BOOKS.GOOGLE.CO.UK Readers will discover a variety of information about this night creature. Topics cover nutrition, movement, growth, and...

The cabin did have a bit of wood worm in the first year, but since the logs are over a foot in diameter,, many 18 inches they do not seem to penetrate very far. Because it was built in the BSE year Mad Cow disease the team from Devon run by the talented Dan Franklin could not build it in situ in the Summer so we had to build it in a barn that Winter and then move it the following Summer. This meant that some of the logs in the top layer had warped slightly, not having had a heavy roof to hold them down over Winter The result being a tiny gap which a Pipistrelle bat could just squeeze through and there now is a thriving colony there doing well by the lake where there are plenty of insects. Perhaps they also feed on woodworms??? I need to build a whole lot more cabins for people who like Glamping and want to escape the next ever so scary mutant strain that the government can control the population with Woodenways | WWW.WOODENWAYS.COM

The reason I did the cabin was because a friend from Oregon told me of a Church there built of poplar that was 120 years old and still in good order. The log cabin here stairs on six large lumps of sandstone so is off the ground with plenty of air under it It is true that a poplar log lying in the ground will rot quicker than nearly any other wood I can think of, but the cabin shows no signs after 21 years

Fuelwood Warwick may be able to help https://www.fuelwood.co.uk/