Jump to content

Log in or register to remove this advert

Rob_the_Sparky

Member
  • Posts

    315
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Rob_the_Sparky

  1. The reason for splitting before measuring is that moisture meters do not penetrate very far into the wood so the outside can be dry and measure as such while the middle is still damp.
  2. When I first had my log burner put in I bought a few nets of logs (in my case from Tesco) as I didn't have anything to burn. Never again, experience same as B&Q. TBH though if you look at the B&Q website the customer reviews tell you the same story. I'm not sure how they sell any, but I guess they must as there are several different types available.
  3. I do the same, process arb waste for home use (chain saw and axe). I sent messages to a few local tree surgeons before finding one that had more wood than he wanted for his own use and if he is passing will drop it off rather than take it home. You have to not be fussy as to what wood you get but it is great way to heat the house and get some exercise. There is also the tip sites part of this web site but I've not ventured into that as I don't have good access and my contact can deliver more than I can burn on my 5kW wood burner anyway.
  4. How about adding it to the tip sites section?
  5. I would have thought it would act as an insulator, certainly the colour will reduce the amount of radiated energy (matt black is best and polished metal the worst at a given temperature). This might be a good thing as it will raise the fire temp but would be concerned about getting heat out into the room. Our house has block partition walls and internal walls so thermal mass is not a problem. I think I would prefer to put some thermal mass near a black stove rather than wrapping it if that was the attraction.
  6. Not sure you will find a pro willing to pay. I get mostly softwood and some hardwood from a local pro for minimal cost. He drops it at my place if he is passing at the end of a job. Stuff that can not be processed easily does not seek to be worth much. I.e. not long straight poles.
  7. If you are lucky you will have someone locally who can use the larger bits for firewood, I.e. someone who just cuts wood in their back garden for their own fire. I'd have the branches for logs if I were local, oak is always welcome, but I'm up near Reading so not much help.
  8. Some interesting stuff in there (just got to the bit about wood humidity versus wood water content). Worth a read.
  9. We put a pitched roof on an existing garage under a TPOed tree as part of our building works. As it was part of a larger set of works planning were involved and we had to show that the work on the garage would not impact on the tree (roots and crown). I suspect that the reaction to such a letter will be that the garage will have to be modified to not damage the tree. It was there first so the new work on the garage should have taken the tree into account.
  10. Note: in "the book" it does refer to softwood as "Kitchen wood" but I didn't take that as meaning it is not as good as other wood but that it was different. For cooking you want a faster burning wood and for heating you want something that you can put on and forget for a while. It is not saying that softwood is bad, just softwood is different. For me though wood that is dry is wood that is dry. My wood is arb waste so I get what I get and it is almost free so I don't complain.
  11. I suspect that if you could find the source data for the studies then the real picture may be found. In the bits of cherry picked data given it is reducing the burn rate but also the fire temperature, no indication is given that there is any improvement in efficiency. If you burn less fuel and you get less heat then I don't see what is gained. I'd guess there is no proof of an efficiency improvement as that would be a key number to use in advertising if it existed. You won't find me buying unless you can show an efficiency improvement. Edit: A search for the papers quoted gets no hits on Google so no way to see what the independent reports in full.
  12. I will always be sceptical until proven otherwise. The independent tests would be interesting to read but there are no links to the complete data from their sites and snippets by a manufacturer can be misleading. The pretty picture at the start rings alarm bells as it shows air coming in from below the fire, which when burning wood on a stove should be minimal.
  13. The press coverage is certainly trying to panic people, headlines are all about wood burning stoves but what detail there is does not actually seem that focused on wood burning stoves. In fact it seems to be more focused wet wood and coal. IMHO the devil is in the detail and we don't have the detail yet. I think it is interesting that they might tighten wood burner emissions (by design of new products) but do not mention banning installation of new open fires. Seems to me that someone is targeting what is easy to enforce rather than what is going to make a significant difference.
  14. The one I have (cheap) uses an electrical measurement between a pair of probes so if the outside of the wood is dry but the centre is wet then it will read dry. I have read that the way to test properly is to split the log and then measure the newly exposed timber, but I have not tried this.
  15. Will be interesting to see if they try and regulate for people selling wet wood for logs (unprocessed) rather than logs. I suspect that there are quite a lot of people who process their own logs out there from arb waste (I'm one of them and I know of several others where I work that do it). In my eyes arb waste is not fire wood/logs until processed so I'd hope that this new regulation would cover only the sale of processed logs. I've only been doing this for about 3 years now but I'm using local arb waste that is dropped off as my contact is passing on his way home, processing by hand and air drying so almost no carbon footprint to produce it and I now use less gas to heat the house so it is reducing the amount of CO2 produced to heat the house. In the process it also reduces the heating bill and I get some exercise and satisfaction from swinging an axe. Also learnt a lot about how to/not to sharpen my chainsaw last year
  16. TBH from the limited amount said so far logs aren't going to be affected very much. New wood burners will have to meet stricter standards, coal may be banned, logs have to dry. The pain may come in the finer details of how logs are ensured to be dry enough and what "dry enough" means but otherwise I don't see too much to worry about. As this is politics they conveniently have picked the stats on local air quality and ignored the bigger picture of global warming as a full and balanced discussion does not make headlines...
  17. Does this help? Particularly this bit: When to consider controlling ivy If the branch canopy becomes thin and allows sufficient light to enter, the ivy will develop into its arboreal form. Fraxinus (ash) and Larix (larch), are both trees with a naturally thin, open crown so may suffer heavy infestation. For this reason ivy on ash and larch trees is often controlled
  18. When I needed some for home use I rang my local tree surgeons. Some understandably use the waste wood for their own log businesses but not all do. I had an arrangement for last year where one of the locals will drop off a load on his way back from site if he is passing, I got about 5 cube (after I processed and stacked the as logs) from him last year and he was happy to deliver more. You just have to not be fussy, all wood burns...
  19. There is a thread on stove top fans. I think it depends on your situation whether they are worth while or not. My opinion is that in my situation where the burner is in a fairly small recess (what would have been a fire place) then it helps move the hot air out into the room. Not so sure they do much if the burner is more out in the open, anyway best to go look at the thread.
  20. My neighbour stores the dried logs he buys in the garage, in a heap where they are delivered. They have a huge double garage full of crap and two cars out on the drive...
  21. As a small consumer: I process my own logs. I get arb waste dropped off at the door when the local friendly tree surgeon has stuff he doesn't want for his own use (mostly softwood out of garden hedges). I then chop and dry it. I think it depends on the consumer. If they are only using 1 or 2 cube a year then the price of a commercial log store will out weigh the cost saving on the logs and many of joe public are just not interested in learning how to dry wood any more than they are interested on how their car works. Those of us that are interested may want to process as well rather than buy green logs, I know I do.
  22. Ever considered building your own? Depends on what size you are talking about but I have built myself one from old fence posts (rotten bit cut off) and planks recovered from pallets. It cost me a few nails and some paint.
  23. The x27 is described by Fiskars as "Splitting Axe XXL X27". The XL is the x25 "Splitting Axe XL X25" and according to the Fiskars advice probably as big as you should be using: https://www.fiskars.co.uk/products/gardening/axes/how-to-choose-the-perfect-axe
  24. I've been using a cheap 6lb maul from screwfix for the last few years, bought as a set with a hand axe and a "wood grenade". I also have a 12lb sledge, a Fiskars wedge (one with a twist in it) and recently bought but not used yet x27. My experience is that the maul needed some work with a file to get it to work but I'm pretty happy with it now. I modified the shape a bit as well as giving it an edge of sorts. The hand axe is OK just needed sharpening but I don't use it much. Both are made from pretty soft metal though. The wood grenade is pretty useless but if desperate I can use it as a wedge in a crack already opened by the fiskars wedge or maul. Otherwise it just acts more like a giant nail and is a so and so to remove from the wood once it does split. The fiskars wedge is great for really knotty stuff but is a bit of a last resort as it is slow. The sledge I use on the maul and with the wedge, it is a bit OTT but it works Looking forward to trying out the x27 this season.

About

Arbtalk.co.uk is a hub for the arboriculture industry in the UK.  
If you're just starting out and you need business, equipment, tech or training support you're in the right place.  If you've done it, made it, got a van load of oily t-shirts and have decided to give something back by sharing your knowledge or wisdom,  then you're welcome too.
If you would like to contribute to making this industry more effective and safe then welcome.
Just like a living tree, it'll always be a work in progress.
Please have a look around, sign up, share and contribute the best you have.

See you inside.

The Arbtalk Team

Follow us

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.