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Paul in the woods

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Everything posted by Paul in the woods

  1. Paul in the woods
    I don't have a specific use but do need wood for floorboards, a new kitchen, shelving etc. I'd rather have some planks sitting about waiting rather than having to buy stuff in. I have plenty of mature ash as well but the access to that is terrible so that may be logged. The young ash would be more manageable for me as a hobbyist with a chainsaw mill, although I've noted Mr Hewn's comments about a bandsaw.
  2. Paul in the woods
    I've been cutting and splitting some young ash and mature ash into logs and the difference is noticeable. The young ash is much more stringy and fibrous than the older ash and the older ash seems more dusty when cutting. I wonder if planks from the young ash would be less durable.
  3. Paul in the woods
    Thank you for the reply. I don't have any use in mind, I'm looking at it more from a woodland management point of view. I.e. these ash are unlikely to be here in a few years and it would be a shame just to log them. There are a few I could get a couple of meters lengths of 8" boards from.
  4. Paul in the woods
    I've been thinning the young ash on our woodland and I've been wondering what the smallest diameter the remaining trees need to get to to be worth milling? Normally I would say they are far too small but with ash dieback looming I would like to mill some for future use.
  5. Paul in the woods
    The RHS has some good advice on getting figs to fruit. Worth a read for general maintenance even if you do get someone in to bring it under control initially. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/fruit/figs https://www.rhs.org.uk/Advice/profile?pid=106#section-2
  6. Paul in the woods
    Was the grey hound insured? If so then speak to them. Does your sis-in-law have legal advice on her house insurance?
  7. Paul in the woods
    To my uneducated eye they look like sycamores. Sycamores (aphids on them) will drip sticky substances onto the cars in the car park so I would have thought someone has asked for them to be cut.
  8. Paul in the woods
    I've been thinking a bit about this, i.e. the output required. Our last elec bill shows a daily 9.3 kWh usage, so I'd only need 0.5kW generation for my needs. Something capable of 1kW would be ideal, and just dumping the energy in a few storage heaters and a hot water tank to keep things simple. @Ernesto thanks for the link, Evans aren't that far from me so I'll bear them in mind.
  9. Paul in the woods
    Ours were still on our ivy a couple of weeks back. They are now on the gorse when the weather allows but are mainly bringing water in. @Wonky, I'm glad I left a super on each of ours as it has been warm and wet so the bees will have been munching through their stores. Have you 'hefted' your hives to see what they have left?
  10. Paul in the woods
    With the hydroram I've used you build a small header tank and have a feed a few foot under the water level. No maintenance at all for removing leaves or twigs. The only problem is the feed is too close the the bottom of the tank so the odd small stone can cause problems every 3 months or so. (I will ask though, do you know of anywhere to buy the clacks for a good price, £100+ for a rubber washer is rather frightening). I'd expect with a well set up turbine you wouldn't have too many problems. Having said that we occasionally get the odd large log going down stream in times of flood!
  11. Paul in the woods
    On our stream there would be no real negative impact as the wash off from the farms has seen off a fair bit of wildlife. If anything a small dam and a little dredging might save some of the soil from ending up in the sea. I also gather there was a mill on our land in the distant past so there's a fair bit of power that could be harnessed in our stream. Build costs I wouldn't think would be much for us, just a few oak beams to expand one of the natural pools. Less than a solar install. I would also expect it would be fairly easy to maintain a small hydro-generator compared to a gas or oil boiler, or even roof mounted panels?
  12. Paul in the woods
    I'm going by our own observation of our own honey bees. Not all flowers are as useful to bees as others, some produce more nectar or more pollen, and when you look at pollen some has higher protein that others. So, honey bees will be choosy and may well prefer a different plant than your fruit trees. Some may well visit them but the bulk will be on something more useful. With regard to the US, thankfully we don't farm like them but I thought it was crops like almonds rather than apples that have huge hive movements? I'm all for people keeping honey bees but I doubt they are necessary for most orchard keepers to ensure good pollination, in the UK at least.
  13. Paul in the woods
    I was going to use our own woodland to supply all our heating and hot water. But after a couple of years sorting out the firewood and running the stove I will go over to electric with smaller stoves. We could use oil or LPG but our last house seemed to cope well with electric storage heaters and then you don't need a large tank, the risk of theft of your oil, the large boiler, rads, annual serving costs and then costly repairs. Not everyone's cup of tea but our running costs were not bad. If only there was as much investment in mircro-hyro generation as there is solar, I think we could generate a fair bit of power from our own stream in winter.
  14. Paul in the woods
    Sadly Codling moth isn't prevented by grease bands according to the RHS. With regard to bees for pollinating apples, if you're thinking of honey bees they often go elsewhere as other plants provide better forage at that time of year. We tend to see bumble bees on our apples a fair bit while our honey bees go off elsewhere. Good idea about a fruity subsection.
  15. Paul in the woods
    This place seems to sell an identical bottle which makes me wonder if the stuff you bought was a small producer's attempt at a Metaxa style drink? (I would have thought if it was a genuine Metaxa the bottle would be unique). https://www.world-of-bottles.co.uk/Glass-bottles/500ml-clear-glass-bottle-Amphora.html At first glance I would have said Greek olive oil. Are you sure you've not been drinking perfume?
  16. Paul in the woods
    It's also down to personal preference. I tend to find, as the nights draw in, I like the wood burner on. When the days are getting longer and Spring is, hopefully, just around the corner I can cope with the colder temperatures better and the burner may not be lit. I also like it lit if it's wet and damp rather than just cold.
  17. Paul in the woods
    If the skirting is dry then don't worry.
  18. Paul in the woods
    Woodworm are the larvae of beetles that are flying about all the time in the warmer months. I don't worry about bringing them in on logs, the beetles will fly in when they want to in the spring. I gather you shouldn't have problems with woodworm unless the wood isn't well looked after, e.g. damp?
  19. Paul in the woods
    Dogs chasing deer would be a breech of the hunting act, but it would be up to the police to investigate and I doubt they would. If your friend is a member of BASC, or might consider joining for a year, they would be able to advise him better. It would be worth checking their site as I'm sure they offer advice if your approached while shooting on your land (e.g. bag your gun before approaching people). Your friend may also have legal cover on their business and house insurance, might be worth calling them for advice.
  20. Paul in the woods
    One thing I'm not sure if I missed in these sort of questions is how can you be confident of the exact location of the boundary? I know in many properties it's going to be fairly obvious but in others how can you be sure?
  21. Paul in the woods
    Tis the season.... to be overloaded
  22. Paul in the woods
    Any idea what those ash planks will be used for?
  23. Paul in the woods
    WRC is used to make bee hives so I would expect it would go through a thicknesser ok. Occasionally, on cheap hives, I've found the fibers have pulled out the wood during manufacture but at the premium end of the market you get a nice smooth finish.
  24. Paul in the woods
    Last Christmas I got a book about dealing with procrastination, I've not got round to reading it yet... Seriously, when I was getting paid an hourly rate life was so much simpler. Now I'm trying to set up a small holding, and not likely to earn anything for a good few years, it can be a bit of a struggle. Sometimes it helps to look at what I have achieved and that helps me realise what else can be done if I put my mind to it. It also helps if something it too daunting to get on and do something else to at least get something done.
  25. Paul in the woods
    Looks a bit like a Hunter Herald 8 single door. They will have dimensions on their web site if you want to check.

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