cornish wood burner

We buy in our wood fresh at an agreed price and it of course reduces in weight as it loses moisture. If we buy seasoned timber we would pay more per ton in line with the weight it has lost from when it was cut. In effect the wood is the same price either way just we get less " free "water the second way. After it has dried to 25%mc and chipped both ways will end up the same cost. Standard way of doing it. You need to have a chat to him. Other way is by the cube but not so accurate

Thanks for that info. Too much power needed for us to consider I am afraid. We have a low hp requirement machine in mind that will suit us IF it does the job.You can't beat having enough horsepower for chipping / shredding, it certainly speeds the job up. I would be interested in a closeup pic of your chip if you have the time and inclination. Regards

Looks like it would shred our peat. Do you know what is the minimum power needed to drive it.

When you say you have checked the socket and charger wires is that positive and negative. A break in the negative line will have the same effect. If you have nothing with a 30 A plug you could use the lead/plug from your charger to power something else to check the cable and socket. Take the lead and wire a trailing socket on to it would be an easy check.

We store our biomass chip at a depth of around 5 metres. Normally 30%mc but sometimes we have had loads up to 50% then it can be like a steam room when moved. Doesn't take very long to start to heat up either. Best keep it shallow and moved. Not had experience in the open but I would think that you might be able to store your fresh chip shallow say 2 metres max for a while then higher after it dries. I believe chip piles shed rain by thatching.

They might need a bit longer on the tree. If you or the squirrels dont like to share then you have just got to persuade the squirrels not to take them. We have loads in our garden and share them with a grey critter. You could try storing them in your lawn, hanging baskets, planters flowerbeds etc. Seems to work for our squirel. Anyone need some hazel saplings.

Some years ago my wife had long haired miniature dachshund. Very good pedigree, small even by miniature standards but could have been a real show winner. My workshop was on a farm back then and after work I used to go ratting with the dash about and my springer. There used to be a corn store that had an exit hole at the end of a beam. I used to knock the rats off the beam for the dogs with a long piece of wood, the little dachshund had killed dozens at rats before it was a year old. My mate who owned a jack Russell was a little sceptical about the dachshunds ratting ability so one evening we took the dogs in the corn store. Dog either side of a bag against the wall so there was a rat behind it. Suddenly the dach yelped and jumped back for a second then went unusually mad barking etc. We moved the bag and it caught and killed the rat. My mate said he had never seen a dog kill a rat with so much aggression. After the dust had settled we examined her to see why she yelped. The rat had bitten the end of the dogs nose and a piece of it was flapping. My mate pressed it back with a trowel and it healed fine, not sure if the amateur surgery helped but it seemed funny at the time.

Are you sure its not that Manitous are paying his morgage, payments on his rolls, new van full of snapon tools and children to go to private school. We had one some years ago and it was fine for a job in the workshop but anywhere else it was too far to carry our tools. Have ran two JCBs for a total of 14 years and they have spent a quarter of the time in the workshop that our manitou did in two and that probably would include servicing. There are obviously good and bad machines but you might gather I am not a Manitou fan.

I presume the shredder is just for contaminated wood then. If that is the case quantities and space permitting I think I would be inclined to keep the chipper and shredder outputs separate and sell to different markets. Vast difference in value.

If you are thinking to continue to supply a power station then brash and slab wood is fine. Without doubt best quality chip comes from large round wood. However slab wood can produce reasonable chip when you screen it and remove the fines which will be a high percentage of bark. ( see above) Bit more labour involved but an improvement in quality. If you are aiming for G30 or G50 your chipper will have a big effect on quality so chose carefully if you need to buy one.

Charger should still work with a low battery voltage. Have you a socket on the forklift you plug into? Check this for connectivity to your battery. If you have a plug socket arangment how many wire are there? Can you bypass the timer? Presumably the mercury switch kills power through the timer. Small diagostic hint for you if needed. If you check fuses,switches etc with power on, any open circuit will have voltage across it. Sometimes poor continuity will only show when under load. Be carefull do not get complacent. Probably no RCD on your 16A /32 A socket

Good result. Normal pond koi seem to feed anytime but if your fish are on the timid side then sundown will probably be best. Easier on their eyes. They love bread but if they are nervous taking from the surface or are not used to it, give the pieces a a squeeze so they sink. Normally then taken as it sinks. Great way of getting the fish to know you. In moderation though and if you feed sinking food make sure the fish are eating it as there is obviously a danger of pollution.

Slab wood makes fairly good chip for biomass. Higher percentage of bark than round wood wood but it dries quicker. More susceptible to rain raising the MC of the finished product. Just make sure you have a reasonable chipper otherwise you can get long slithers going through the screen. Same as twigs from the brash. Probably better for G30 than G50 or G100 due to the smaller section to start, but you will get more fines. Better than brash chip from my experience.

Presumably everyone has heard warnings about diesel from injector pipes

I would second the good service. Had a reply to my late night email asking about a recomendation for the toughest line they sell, as I couldnt find large diameter diamond edge on the web site. 21.40 and still a reply. Now that is good customer care. Ordered some 3.9 mm diamond edge from them today. Again Brian was very helpfull on the phone. Companys like this deserve our support.

Of course, all is clear now. Thats the one in Stubby' pic Thanks.

I was going to ask which company but just noticed the label. Nice touch.I use a portek 4 line cross head on the strimmer I use for the tough stuff. A friend of mine said he was shown a head that the lengths of line just pushed in and presumably was held with a kind of ratchet system. Not seen it yet but sounds interesting.

Brave? I dont think so but I hope I don't live to regret it. My thoughts were, we buy our wood in and everyone here must know the price of chipwood, moisture loss is easy and chipping costs are readily available. We don't sell chip and frequently mention that price when buying so I cannot see any secrets. Not sure if this will prompt anyone to consider selling wood as chip instead of round but if they have dry wood to shift and want a quick return then would it be worth considering?

Buying chip, losing weight through moisture, chipping costs and our labour we end up with a cost in the region of £52 to £55/ tonne. Although I would rather not break these down further from a confidentially point of view I am sure you can work it out anyway.

I agree using your own wood is probably the best way to produce chip otherwise you would be paying hauliers twice. As for the £40/ ton I think they were getting paid to clear. Very poor quality chip as well. Any ideas what good quality G50 W35 is selling for, or even any offers?

Last loads we bought were about £40 /tonne delivered. We would pay more for good quality.

Space is adequate for our needs. The noise consideration for our neighbours is the main reason to buy some in. Sometimes it makes sense to top up with a couple of hundred tonnes before Christmas rather than chip with a half full shed, as chipper transport is a standard cost. It keeps options open. Yes G50 suits both although I would not turn away G100

Consistantly good is better if you want repeat orders I would think G30 would command a higher price. Councils etc don't seem to have much idea and have heard of them paying ripoff prices. Alternatively if you want a customer to start your business model we would be interested in buying around 500 tonnes of preferably G50 pa. This of course is providing the chip is reasonable quality and preferably MC 35% or better

Even with a screen you still are left with the fact that it has been shredded. Shredders normally give a long thin chip. This shape promotes the chip to lock together and stops it flowing as it should. It will bridge in the store over whatever output path it needs to take and it will jam auger infeeds. I suspect your customer will soon come to that conclusion and you will have wasted your money on a screen. The only thing I can see that a screen might be an advantage for is to take out long twigs. We have a very robust feed system and would only take a small percentage of shredded chip because of its shape. We burn 3000 tonnes a year and have been running biomass for many years so have some experience with this.

I would say forget it for biomass. Sorry that does not sound inviting even for free. If you look at some biomass chip specs you will see what is needed. Search G30 or G50 chip spec. The spec specifies % fines % between certain sizes, max length etc. Whole new ball game.