spandit

I suppose I was thinking of putting some pigs in and feeding them with pellets, whilst letting them grub up brambles and bracken. They do make a mess but will expose seeds whilst fertilising the ground. If you want a scrubby area clear, they're a great means to do it and then after 6 months you eat them!

Why not just electric fence and put some regular pigs in? Bacon breeds are pretty large and should be easier to handle than wild boar.

Would an MS181 handle a 60" bar?

Need to buy a Tirfor to tension it...

Got a few logs to cross cut and my MS181 is just a bit weedy so thought I'd better get something more appropriate. It's not top handled but I might use it for a bit of climbing too...

Thanks for all your replies, glad to know it's not some horrific fungus that is going to eat my log pile. Thinking about it you can make ink from oak galls and iron, so this actually is an ink stain!

Built a large one near the back door as wife refuses to have a big log basket inside. Still find I'm the only one who brings them in. Made sure the little log holder by the fire was full when I went to bed so they'll be warm and dry for today

Tree surgeon who cut it down didn't mention finding any metal. Seems odd that it's vertical - I've seen plenty of fence wire embedded in trees - or is it the tannins travelling up the grain from one particular spot?

They're arguably more attractive than ibc cages and also cheaper. Whether the logs dry in the middle I don't know but given another summer like this year's and they'll be baked. Wind is the best thing for drying them, though. That said, ran out of storage space on pallets so piling them like these at least keeps them off the ground although the bottom ones are sacrificial

Interesting. There were multiple spots on multiple logs so must be wire running up the tree if that's the case

Some of the red oak logs I was given looked like they'd had had ink spilled on them but when split it went all the way through the grain. Is this natural or the start of some rot?

Did a bit of a tidy up this morning - chainsaw ran well for a change. Mainly cut the thin branches to length but did split a few of the large red oak rounds. Fortunately I had already removed the tailgate from my Hilux after exploding the rear window, which made loading easier... Added a couple of feet to Holzhausen Number 3. Doesn't look like much but it's about 8 feet across

I've offered a free tip site here for a few years now and have been inundated with logs and chips by generous tree surgeons. I'll take anything and normally it's leylandii or one of the lesser hardwoods (willow, horse chestnut etc.) but 100% of it is burnin' wood and although I always ask for the next load to be well seasoned beech, I never turn down anything. So earlier this week I had a text: "Taking down some ash and oak, do you want it?" Too bloody right! The stuff in the foreground was added to the pile in the background. For scale, the large round in the top right is 3 feet across. The ash is a joy to split - took out some of frustration at life in general with the maul and it took a feather touch to send a beautiful log spinning off. I've added a few barrow loads to one of the Holzhausens and due to the way it was tipped, new bits keep being found buried in the chip! Wife isn't happy with the amount of toil it's going to generate so situation normal there. She pays a subscription to a gym - I do a workout and come out with a load of logs Thanks all!

No harm done, just letting off steam.

He'd need to use silver bullets

I see the accusations of tax evasion have been edited out. I'm doing nothing illegal, we have just minimised the liability when the day comes. My wife owning her mother's share was the easiest thing to do. It's all been done through solicitors and despite me feeling like I've been screwed, it's all above board. As AHPP said, it is only a hedge and although it upsets me, it's relatively minor in the grand scheme of things.

Bingo. Just trimming some back today - it should resprout again, at least I hope so

Be more specific...

Unfortunately, my wife sides with her and we do still have to live together. Issuing a bollocking does not make for a happy atmosphere and as I work away quite a bit I dread to think what I might come home to if she was set for revenge.

We've discussed cutting it lower but she wants it gone, apparently being against it from the start. The view beyond includes a power transformer and the corrugated iron siding to our neighbour's compost heap as well as a couple of his sheds. She murmured yesterday about cutting down a mature hedgeline so that she could see the sea more clearly on the two days a year it's clear enough to actually see with binoculars. We'd have to see about getting the South Downs relocated too but she could just sit on them

That is a good idea, but she'd do it anyway and I'd face the brunt of the planning department - it's happened before. She feels entitled to do what she wants because she's widowed

Wilderness is absolute anathema to her. She likes things twee and formal. Before she got going the garden looked like a Monet painting. It now looks like a Bovis home.

Reading that in a Geordie accent

No. You'll kick yourselves when you find out

Is that from Anne Summers?