Rob_the_Sparky

Had 3 chunks of ash by the back door that I'd left a bit large in the hope they would go in the fire as is because they were going to be nasty to split. Went out in the dark (nearby street light so not totally dark) last night with a sledge and the wedge. First two were hard work and part way through the third I wished I'd got the saw out of hibernation; it was a so and so. Good exercise is the only positive I can think of...

Measure your pile is the quickest way but I doubt it was 4m^3 for that price (or you got a bargain). I only started ~4 years ago and also over estimated initially. Also note that a loose pile will be larger than a neat stack (less air space). Try contacting local tree surgeons or add yourself to the tip site linked here and ask for waste wood. I did the former and only found tip site link later after I have a contact that is happy to provide more wood than I can split. Some use all their waste, others have left overs they don't want. Don't go asking for free hardwood though, if you want to pay very little then it is up to their good will what you get. I'm lucky as my chap is often driving past my door anyway on the way back so no effort to dump it at mine and saves him collecting lots of wood he doesn't want. I expected to have had to buy a trailer by now so think myself lucky. You also need to think about where you will dry and store your logs. It is part of the fun for me to make stuff for this. Can be very simple or as complex as you want to make it My first cut was some old wooden paving slab crates on their side with old pallet planks on top (just put, not held down) to keep the rain off. It was all stuff rescued from bins, part of the fun to me is to re-use as much as possible. Current effort is made from scrap fence posts and planks from pallets. I get much more wood in (about 1m^3 per) and it looks better. I use a Bosch mains electric saw (AKE40-19S IIRC), a Fiskars x27 (much better than the screw fix splitter I started with) plus a sledge hammer and a splitting wedge for the really awkward bits (Fiskars again). Use a tree butt log as an anvil for cutting and splitting. I sometimes wonder if it is worth the effort with the wedge, it often isn't TBH but some hard to split wood does burn well (e.g. Eucalyptus). However, I will not be beaten by a log...good thing I don't try to make money doing it!

Yeah but seems to me at least (no proof) the less dense softwood naturally burns faster than the more dense hardwood so to get more similar burn rates (power output) I use larger logs of lighter woods (less surface area) and smaller logs for the more dense wood.

A lot of variables is what I find...(my stove also calls for 9" logs but my biggest logs are ~12") As above to get a very longest burn then you have to stop the gases burning and that is inefficient and risks depositing tars etc in your flue. Not a good idea. Assuming you are not smouldering a log as above then I find it varies with wood type. A single big hardwood log is often hard to get to burn well (stove has to be pretty hot when it is added). A piece of lighter softwood in large chunks does work well, cut it small and it just burns very hot for a very short period of time, a bigger log gives a more sustained heat. With dense woods I generally chop it smaller (exceptions when it is a git to split) and for lighter (less dense wood) I use bigger chunks. To give you an idea I might split a 12" lighter wood into 4 pieces or 6 or even 8 pieces if it is a denser wood. I don't think though there is a single right answer and I am certainly still experimenting and only have one stove to play with.

Note I wouldn't agree with this statement: "Softwood is less dense meaning that it will burn quicker, create less heat and be ultimately more expensive to use." Softwood is often much cheaper to buy, or even given away free in some cases if you look for arb arisings, so no it is not more expensive to burn softwood. In fact is is often the reverse. Also some softwood is really rather dense and some hardwood is not. Even when less dense it generates the same amount of heat (or slightly more) per dry unit mass. The real downside is that the less dense soft wood (a lot of them are) occupies more space for the same amount of output heat and you have to put logs on the stove more regularly.

It is difficult to fight all the stuff on the web about softwood being crap to burn. I don't know if it is true on an open fire but certainly not the case on a wood burner. Good luck fighting against years of "knowledge" and keyboard experts wrt burning softwoods but certainly should be tried. As I'm not fussy about the arising I burn so burn a lot of "rubbish" and have no issues.

I e-mailed a couple of local arborists to enquire about green wood and one response was that they use all theirs and the other was sure, if I'm coming past on the way home I'll dump it at yours for a bottle of wine (I offered to pay him but he prefers wine!). He does garden work and small tree work. I have now had a wood supply now for 3 years for the cost of a few bottles of wine a year and not had to invest in the trailer I was expecting to need for logs. However, I'm not fussy what the wood is and as he also sells logs himself I get mostly softwood or the stuff that is not much fun to split. In a way though I prefer mostly softwood as it dries so quickly and if you leave in in larger chunks then the burn time is acceptable plus it is easy to light. Basically if you don't ask you don't get but you just have to ask in the right way. "Got any free wood?" is probably not the right way. "Got any free hardwood?" is certainly not the right way!

I've made a small ish log store ~0.8m^3 from scrap wood at a cost of a bag of nails and some large screws. You could probably do the same on a larger scale if you have the spare time. Main posts are from fence posts that have rotten off (cut off the bottom and you get a 5'6" to 6' post) and most places are more than happy to give you these. Roof made from over lapping planks recovered from old pallets. The most expensive bit was a can of paint but the most important bit was the wife approved, I'm told it looks much better than a stack of old boxes that we got paving slabs in (turned on their sides). Can't imagine why...

The bamboo root ball is only half the problem though (unless it is clumping bamboo, which is unlikely) then there will be runners going out from the main root ball for quite some distance. Just removed two bamboos from mine with a digger but fairly small ones by comparison ~18" cube each but the runners are well over 6' in all directions. My runners are within a few inches of the surface (most are <3" down) though so can be removed quite quickly once found. If you don't take these out then it will come up all over the place.

I'm not that far North of Surrey so there is hope if you are happy with arisings...

3 years, Clearview Pioneer 400

A bottle of wine for a small delivery, 2 for a larger delivery - that is for arisings so any wood that he has left from a job that he does not want for himself (and assuming he is passing my place anyway).

Yeah, I like cherry but then I am comparing it to mostly softwoods. Oak and beech are also meant to be very good but I don;t get enough of either to judge so maybe you are just comparing good with very good?

Very very strict, how many images of logs against house walls are there in the Norwegian firewood book?

put in a naked flame (e.g. a some waste paper + match) and the gas will burn as produced. More heat and no boom.

It need not be a veranda but if you have a blank wall you can build a vented wood structure against it large enough to store your logs (or even put the IBC straight in??). If you have a door in this wall then instant access to logs from inside and out. Most of us mere mortals put up with logs racks and/or garage (I store dried logs in there) close to the back door though Don;t get very wet fetching logs into the house as it isn't very far and paths ensure no mud.

Don't understand. Any carbon that can be locked up is less in the atmosphere to worry about. Got nothing to do with kids, it would be in the atmosphere quicker if chipped or burnt having a worse impact on the atmosphere. Got any better suggestions to add to the discussion?

How can you smell the laurel when it is on the burner? TBH I'm much with the earlier statement, if it is seasoned it is good. Maybe because I'm burning arisings so I burn what I get. Some woods are better for slow burn, some for getting quick heat. I have also learned (only been doing it a few years) that it is better to split some woods into larger chunks and some into smaller bits. I.e. the lighter softwoods just don;t last long enough in small chunks and also can burn very hot if you put several on at once, solution is to leave it in big chunks. These last longer and don't burn so hot. Do the same with a dense wood though and it could the fire too much, with these it is better to put on two smaller chunks than one big one. Sorry for not doing it by species, I generally don;t know so judge it by density generally. The load of Cherry I got last year was nice and Laurel is good but I rarely get decent diameter wood.

I've got a magnetic thermometer as above but this was my first log burner and it certainly has helped to learn to drive it. I still find it useful occasionally but don't sit there monitoring it. It was so cheap so I'm not sure why I wouldn't have it...

As above total price, if it is something that is branded so you know you are getting the same thing regardless of where you buy it. If it is offered locally then I'm happy to pay a bit more to support a walk in store but depends on how much more.

The slab "pallets/boxes" I use on their sides are not as big a standard pallet and made from hardwood, very similar to these.

Ask your solicitor. There have been similar agreements on both our previous properties (in our case for buried high voltage cable) and it took a while for them to surface. Including one that gave the electricity board the right to knock down an extension on one house as they had built it in an area that was affected by an exclusion zone around a buried cable. Worth checking these things...

I (a DIY type) do something similar. Around this time of year I will empty the logs from my outside racks where they have been drying for a few months and transfer them to the garage. It is not heated but is pretty well sealed plus I keep a de-humidifier running in there to keep the cars dry (fun car in storage over winter). Single stack them against the walls with brick returns keeping the stacks in place, nothing clever needed as these are already dry (unless I have messed up!). Approx 0.7m^3 per stack and I get about 5 stacks in there, plus the outside racks will get re-filled. Garage smells lovely and dehumidifier is certainly not having any issues keeping the place dry enough to prevent condensation, which is my aim. Outside I have made log racks from various things. Simplest are "box" like pallets used for paving slabs turned on their side, stacked and some planks thrown on the top for a roof. Also made one from 3 pallets, 2 planks and 4 nails + a roof from some old material. N.B. all planks are from broken up pallets. Then also have a posher rack made from old fence posts with rotten end cut off for main structure plus load of planks from broken up pallets for sides, back and roof (+ wood treatment to stop it rotting). Nothing complex but the wife prefers the "posh" option! Looks nicer than old pallets but doesn't dry logs any better.

Mine was install of hearth, surround and burner in a new build fireplace. I had no major issues but the connection from the burner flue to the chimney isn't great. The average person might quite happily accept it as it is functional but I'm picky and it bugs me. However, as I have a lot of jobs to do and it functions, flue gases get drawn up the chimney, (albeit with some air from the room as well) it won't get changed for a while...

Pay more attention to how the fitters were attaching the burner to the chimney. It is bit of a bodge up with lots of fire cement to fill the gaps, some of which is now falling out. Something to tidy up when I get a chance but it is out of sight out of mind... I knew from previously installing too large a gas fire in a previous house not to oversize the fire, got a Clearview Pioneer and very happy with it.