Steven P

Looking at his body language, he isn't too keen to get close to the machine, very wary.

looks like 3 members after it, 3 loads chip, 3 logs, one of each to each of them

The main point being of course that regular sweeping by someone will reduce the chance of a chimney fire so that it will never happen while I am fit enough to do it once a year myself. The second time each year depends if I can get a sweep with availability as to who does it.

Manufacture can cover a range of making - from taking a lump of iron, melting, adding the right additives and casting, taking some hickory and making a handle then assembling all the way through to handles from the US, axe heads from China and sticking them together and all things in between. Might be that the castings are done somewhere else in the UK and shipped in if google earth doesn't show exhausts

Coming back to this thread..... £60 for the sweep, similar for the brushes but the advantage is I got up this morning and didn't need the fire on first thing, took the chance to give the chimney a quick clean - can't do that with the sweep "come round right now while the fire is off" (the chimney was about 18 months overdue, but only half a carrier bag of soot and ash, so not too bad)

Just looked at L&S Engineers - looks like they have about half the parts new in stock so reasonable availability. All the consumables. £60 was a good buy if it runs well I think. Good clean, take off the starter and clean in there and it will look decent

He said on the news he'd run out of energy, which is a good time to leave rather than sticking around to get fired - and gives the club time to get a replacement

These dudes? Wood wasp larvae in the photo below. Whether it is safe to add tot he wood pile depends what you are planning to do with the wood. Like all firewood it is best to bring it into the house as and when you need it, not days in advance and this reduces any infestations. Keep the wood in the wood pile, they'll be happy there. If they are wood wasps you'll notice the adults pretty quick - they are huge

Might be that you could send a note around the -not so local- tree surgeons who could pick up work in your area, would have to take the waste a distance to their usual tip or come to yours as a lot closer. I also advocate a lunchtime walk in the area - great if you're working from home - general health and well being (which reminds me... time to go out) - but chainsaws are hard to hide, make a note of the firm doing the work and drop them a text or an e-mail (far better than interrupting someone 10m up a tree with a saw in their hand)

My stove is a multifuel stove and I'll burn wood till my garage is empty and then coal for the rest of the year. The design of the grate in mine is a halfway not perfect for either design. If it was wood only then no grate needed (as mentioned above). The gaps between the bars - in mine - are too narrow and with insufficient space for the coal ash to fall through cleanly, ash builds up above it, it cooks if you don't riddle it often.. and then warp, burn through and fall to pieces. I haven't had a chance yet to make my own with better gaps.

Wind can stop now, I have enough fire wood for 2024 / 2025 season now.... (going to cost me to replace what has just come down, not sure whether to go Scots Pine, Spruce or broadleaf - Beech, Birch or maybe an Oak. Willow along the river bank was planted last year so should take off this year)

If I can take it out of the fire box it is a consumable. Some more frequent (fire bricks) than others (grate). Mine are warping nicely just now too but not burnt through yet (they did before - pet coke did them in I think) (10 years later, 4th set of fire bricks this year, 2nd baffle plate, 2nd grate, 2nd glass). Grate will get too hot if it can't get air through it I reckon. Might be that you can fasten it to the flu, let it get hot take it off and quickly read what it says - then put in on the stove where you can read it, let it stabilise, note both temperatures - so perhaps at 200 degree flu, front of stove says 180, repeat you should find a reasonable link between the 2. I think on my thermometer I could loosen and turn the dial, if you can then spin the dial round so it shows approximate flue temperature from stove top temperature. Should be close. Or... as I do...when Mrs P takes her hoody off, I am burning the grate.

I'd ask their insurers to write an indemnity for your loss of the tree in the case that further cracks occur after the tree is removed.

Here is a general thought, if the driver has stopped and put their hazard lights on, then they know they are causing a hazard, a potential for an accident. So if it isn't a genuine emergency and a hazard, I think the police would be will within reason for dangerous driving, or without due care and attention. Regardless - logs or dropping off a take away, whatever. They know they are a danger, warning others

but tunnelling is about the most expensive civil engineering there is

Looking at it, it might be worth asking when the cracks started appearing, and going to google earth which the app version lets you go back in time. So.... if the 2 trees are there and at that size well before the cracks started you -might- be able to argue that since the trees haven't changed there must be a more recent change that has caused the cracking. The google earth thing just as proof of their size and so on. Could you also look at the pond north of the house to see if it has more / less water in in recent years than historically - these 2 trees have nothing to do with the water level in the pond but drier / wetter weather would, again -might- be an indication of other causes. Likewise has the farmer cleared or created a drainage ditch round the field. Can't blame the trees for a dry summer. Have their engineers assessed and discounted all of these? Could cause them to go back and investigate further. Not sure if there is a value you can apply to 2 mature oaks in the garden, and I don't know the answer here, but supposing they were felled and the house continued to crack, is there compensation on offer to the tree owner? Again another question that you can ask their insurers and engineers. Anyway. aske enough questions of the engineers and the report - being awkward so if the trees do go at least you know you have no friends at their insurers

Does it run - the parts you describe are cosmetic - so if it runs I'd be looking on ebay for a non runner, perhaps with scored piston which will scare most of the bidders off for that saw. The 171 is similar, not sure exactly and am happy to be corrected but do they share the same handle and plastic bits? Chain and bar are interchangeable and that gives you another option.

In their defence they, err... OK, get your point

What are your plans for the front lawn from now on? Grass lawn will need mowing every so often but is hardly high maintenance. You could try something like a chamomile lawn or thyme, low growing, and won't need mowing. Might need weeding by hand - not sure lawn weed killers will work. However what you do depends on what you want to do on it. my wildflower mix I did last year onto bare soil turned out to be 'wild flower grass' Bark and similar will change the PH of the soil, something to consider. Might be if you want to cover it over, some barrier plastic and then slate chips, adding pot plants for interest and lowest maintenance will the plastic gets holed and the weeds get through.

No, that was a rubbish daily rate when he was doing a days job and supplying 100k worth of kit for free.

Ahh that makes more sense

but it's true - round here anyway, often see logs 'handy' for passing motorists.

It's not tricky. If the tree surgeon is contracted to remove the tree then it has to make financial sense to tip at yours - so maybe you are closer to their usual tip site, maybe tipping at yours they can empty the van and get back to site an hour quicker - which might turn a 1 12 day job into a single longish day - got to make commercial sense for the tree surgeon. Sure we can offer an incentive but £50 will only realy be a persuader if they are working within 20 minutes of the house I think. Comercial work - might be wrong - but the client is likely to want to see due diligence and proof that the waste was disposed of correctly - comercial tips - so we might never see any of that. The home owner might want the wood, either they think that a fresh beech tree will be worth thousands and it will go on gumtree or they have a friend of a relative of a neighbour.... And the final thing is that a lot of tree surgeons have worked out that if they leave logs handy they will just go with no further effort. So 'free' wood and easy free wood that turns up on the back of a transit might be getting harder to get hold off, but the work is still getting done, perhaps have to just be in the right place at the right time

However will a fence rot quick enough to be useless by the next round of coppicing or will it just be bad enough to look a bit rubbish be then. My thought when I suggested it is that some of the willow might take in the fence and become more hedge like

Yeah, but those in charge are generally from privileged backgrounds and worked in 'city' jobs - finances, legal things - which places them perfectly for engineering solutions to our problems