Steven P

My neighbour had her pear trees pruned about 2 years ago (might have been 3 years). Last year there was lots of new growth - no blossom or fruit (but I guess thats usual if it was pruned the year before). The trees had been neglected for a few years. So on Monday one of the trees was pruned again back to where it was 2 years ago - I thought this was odd - and hence my question - how often should you prune a lt of branches from a fruit tree and is ir normal to do it again so soon after the astone?

There has to be a cost - the council arn't going to let you close the road to make money without taking a cut. Perhaps call the local police and say your plan is to do the work without closing the road and take their advice whether you need to close the road or not.

For the man in bed - I guess he answered the door and was awake - how long does it take to throw a t shirt and trousers on and show you where to go? Yup not sure I would be too happy to be told to wait in the van while the door was shut in my face

Quite simple in this case though, I guess you will have to chat to the neighbour about access to the tree, and while you are there, simply ask what they want to do with the tree afterwards. Simple. Appreciating the legal arguments about who owns the tree, whether you can throw bits back or have to offer them back and so on, isn't it normal to ask the trees owner what to do with the tree?

Look at it from the neighbour / tree owner - and I don't know the previous conversations regarding the tree of whether the neighbours are friends. So he is sitting watching east enders one night and the neighbour pops over saying "I reckon your tree is dangerous" "and?" "would you be able to fix it or take it down or something" "it looks OK to me though" "tell you what how about we get expert advice and see\" (conversation could be as blunt as that or it could be over several beers in the garden shed or whatever) A week later "'evening neighbour, I got the experts report about the tree, it is dangerous and will cost you about a grand to remove it (or whatever it costs)" "?" "it will cost you about a grand to remove" "errrr, but it's you that wants the tree removed, I am happy if you want to do that but you'll have to pay" Just wondering if your views would be different if your neighbour pushed for some work to do that will land you with a big bill - it is possible the neighbour would pay for it of course... but they might have to save up the cash, I know I don't have loads spare today - but could save up for it to be done in 6 months.

Tbanks - I'll look out for them when they come out next

Are they any good?

Mine started when I tried to clean hot glass - it looked a bit dirty so wiped it with a damp cloth and then the glass went cloudy. Never thought about wet and dry paper but thats irrelevant now.. a crack from top to bottom is a bit much even for a DIY fix

OK In smaller numbers, you can make them out of untreated wood pallets, cost is only really nails

So get in there quick before the sow gets walked on... sounds like a 7 in the morning job then. Thanks. Do they work as well on the UKS typical wet snow?

Just curious if anyone has ever used a leaf blower as a snow blower? I reckon iy should work but not sure how well (and before I start waking the neighbours at 7 in the morning with a 2 stroke engine I thought I would ask if it works)

2 ways to fo with this, either whoever is in charge / supervising should coordinate it or do your own. In our work we go to clients sites and even for all their rules, risk assessments and method statements we still do our own - and that way we know for sure that we have assessed the risks. There mght be particular risk that you have that they might not (for example driving to site might take you an hour and you might need to consider a break before you set off home, where as the others might be local and 5 minutes away, they won't need to consider that as much)

or write to the council and one of them will let you know who owns the land. Land registary does charge though. just to be sure. I would be it council land

however you might consider that the Scouts (typically) charge their members a subscription fee which is very similar to a fee paid to a fitness group. How do you distinguish perhaps between a run like parkrun, a charity fundraising run such as race for life where all profits go to charity or a pure commercial event like the Liverpool Half marathon - would it just be on the charge to each participant? number of participants or what? I guess my point is that the line between charging and not charging is quite fuzzy and you can argue either way for many things - though yes, a can of worms and he will upset quite a few people however he organises the fees

I'll add a comment - might add another. In the last couple of years my boys have been toa group in the local woods - their fees pays the leaders wages.. but not much and the fees are a reasonable amount, The group isn't running at capacity every week so there isn't a lot spare to pay a commercial fee, however since the group started the car park is no longer a meeting place for men wanting to enjpy the company of other men in their cars on a saturday afternoon... and this has carried over to the car park being a nicer place for families to park all week/ If this group was to go then the afternoon dogging would return. Charging a fee sounds reasonable but there is another side to allowing regular groups to use the paks - parks improve by having a regular and consistent group presence - which probable outweigs any license fee they pay. Then there are dog walkers and so on, whose presence doesn't necessarily have an effect on other park users - would a lone park dog walker deter the druggie from having a quite hit and leaving their needles by the path? A military fitness group might. So their are sums to be done, costs and benefits to work out and my gut feeling is oddly that a fee should be a flat rate for a dog walker as for a group with 20 fee paying participants. Then my second comment would be how do you distinguosh between a buisines and a community group? For example in my youth my Scout troop would often end with a 5 a side game in the park - so should they pay the same as a fitness group with 20 people each paying £10 a session? A big park user is parkrun - 5km runs through the parks and for no cost to the runners, - if they are asked for a fee they withdraw from the park rather than ask their participants for a fee (See Little Stoke Parkrun) - and the loss is that 20 to 500 locals are less likely to get out of their beds on a Saturday morning and do some physical exercise. So how would you distinguish who to charge and who not to? Final comment is how do you enforce it - do you ask anyone with a dog in a park if they are commercial dog walker and for their license? I think he is asking for a whole world of trouble asking for park users to pay a fee . He might do better sticking up the parking charge. Regular park users like the dog walkers would pay the fee every day and occasional users such as me and my boys wouldn't mind too much, groups like parkrun or the local Scouts could still organise their events for free.

I split most of mine and stack them outside for the summer (last year into a circular stack with a roof on... also doubled up for the kids play house) to let the sun and wind do its work. No specific log store outside (inside yes, to keep the garage a bit tiduer) Then I take a guess when the last of the good weather is here they go into the garage - this year I miss judged it and have a pile of wet wood outside and nothing left inside... so the coal man is getting more business

Reading ir, I can see how it would easily cost more than his £150 to employ 2 people to go to site, chop the tree down and so on, but can't see how it would be £450. Mind I am also remembering he said he lived on a farm and in my mind I always thought farmers were pretty hand with power tools and so on so wondering why he would want someone else to do it and not someone in the farming community he lves in.

Good reading all of this, normally U give up after a page or 2. A couple of things, I got this pair of book:s http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Norwegian-Wood-Activity-Book-and-The-Log-Book-2-Books-Collection-Set-NEW-Pack-UK/152409566633?hash=item237c516da9:g:RiYAAOSw241YiD1H the log book had all tables and so on with weights, moisture content, and energy from different types of wood (my brother has it now). I'd agree, 1kg of wood has the same energy as 1kg of wood (with the same moisture contents), just one piece will be bigger than the other piece. Second comment - price - if your selling wood then you have to make a profit to pay for someones time to process the wood, should you pay a lesser rate if your employee is splitting softwoods for a day? So the costs are going to be similar - but I want to have a warm home and for me its all about how much heat do I get for my ££, so I am more likely to go for 'hardwood' when buying it. However for the last 2 years I have had a source of free wood, today I picked up some leylandi, some beach and some birch, it will all burn - I don't care which hard, or soft, but my wallet will

Free.... a few pallets split up plus a few pounds for nails, ec

Start with a few kindling fires? I suppose I am impatient - I had small fires in before the stove went in on the concrete slab and then went full on fire when the stove was installed Its a good learning experience seeing how your stove and chimney work togther, enjoy it! As for the wood types... don't get too hung up about it unless you are offered different types for similar prices. Axes - I have a £10 hand axe / hatchet from B$Q for kindling - never been sharpened in 5 years but will split a dry log well enough (maybe its learning where to hit a log to get it to split the best you don't need the best for making kindling), and then for bigger stuff a free axe that we confiscated from a couple of vandal / thief types. This will happily split 12" - 18" diameter logs . I tried a maul but never got on with it. Point is, oftentechnique is going to do just as well for you as an expensive axe will

Just to add my thoughts, when you first get a stove it is very rare (or never) to plan ahead a year or so to get a stack of wood, and dry it yourself ready for the day the stove is instaled... I'm with the OP here - Kiln dried or dry wood for the first winter, and then start thinking ahead to get it cheaper and dry your own over the summer ready for next winter. Get next winters wood now to give it a good chance to dry... and get it covered up early at the end of the year (I saw as I look at a wet wood pile that was dry a couple of months ago). I've never used any of these companies to get wood so I can't comment on them. The obvious suppliers of cheap wood probably have their own customers now so it might be tricky to get into the free wood market to start with - but wood is wood, hard woods take longer to burn, soft woods and you need to fill the stove more often (and it will be more likely to go out if you do)... however people are snobby, they want oak, oak, oak - get a softwood and you have more chance of getting it free. Buy yourself a splitting axe and a hatchet, chances are some of the wood you get will need splitting.

How much effort are you wanting to put into the free wood if you get any offers? The more processed it is the more valuable it is. So you are unlikely to get kiln dried spit and ready to burn logs for free, more likely to get fresh off the tree logs which are wet, will need to be sawn to length then split, and stored for a year to dry. Do you want the logs from a nice pile, drive in load the car, drive out again out are you willing to collect them from where they lie. Wil softwood be OK for you - many people turn their noses up at it, and OK you might need twice the quantity and refuel the stove twice as often (and it will die away quicker once you leave the house) but more likely to get free wood if it is less commercially viable. Have you looked on Gumtree - every now and then there are adverts for free wood, local facebook groups sometimes (and even put an advert on both saying you want logs for firewood (people will confuse old pallets as suitable for a wood burning stove) what about local community land owning groups - community woodlands might be able to help out but you might have to volunteer.. with a chainsaw and take what they clear. Lcoaltree surgeons and if you can take wood from site or dumped from the back of their van / trailer onto a drive makes it easier for them. However my view, wood is rarely free but it should be cheaper than electricity or gas.. if you can get a supply and can store it and acquire it in bulk then you should be able to get some and maybe a regular supplier. Me, I get some of mine from where the local council tips wood chip (they store it there and use in the parks and so on) the pieces that won't fit through the chipper are left on one side as waste, 24 beer a year for the employees and I get heating for a few months. I have to work for them, chainsaw to length and often splitting 18" to 24" knotted but I don't want to only take the good stuff, I'll take it all to help them reduce the number of skips to take it away each year.

Good idea Spud... I'm just outside Glasgow if that helps anyone (there is a handy enough Stihl dealer just near where I park for work) Thanks for the other suggestions - its due to come inside this week to be sharpened in front of the TV (-3 in the garage tonight, I'm not sitting inactive in there for half an hour!) - so will check the exhaust then

Good evening, taking the opportunity to chop some logs today reminded me to ask this. For a while now my MS181 has sounded tinny when it runs though I can't remember what it sounded like when new - is that a normal sound for this saw or would it indicate a problem I need to look at? (saw is 4 years old, gets light use for firewood and generally still runs well) Thanks

Tomn156 is right, very doable but get a qualified electrician to do the doing.