Vedhoggar

Kiln dried firewood can be often be between 12% and 20% depending on supplier and dia of wood but have come across some chunky kiln dried logs at 22% when split and a reading taken in the middle of log but generally <20% with better stuff <18%, naturally season wood often 18-20% but can be lower. Will let you know what DEFRA mean by “calibration” when they respond to my email, if I don’t get a response then I’ll assume they don’t know either! Hope the new job goes well for you.

We look forward to seeing your article. The main points as far as I can see which need to be addressed are: 1. DEFRA needs to clarify what they mean by calibration (currently waiting a response from them); 2. DEFRA needs to clarify what they mean by <20% (is this on a dry wood or wet wood basis); and 3. the DEFRA leaflet is misleading in that it states all wood delivered over 2m3 bulk will need 2 years to season (oak maybe but some species will take only one drying season such as split birch also some wood delivered in bulk will be <20% wet wood MC or around that, the main thing is that wood is <20% (wet wood basis we think). We also have a problem those supplying moisture meters as many although not all will not state even when approach as to what basis their product works on i.e. wet or dry basis. Finally, White Horse Energy has misleading information on their web page which you may want to take a look at which states that: "unseasoned wood will be banned from February 2021" this is not true for bulk loads >2m3 according to DEFRA, also smaller producers have until May 2022 to make any changes.

Would have thought barrier cream helps, have used it in the past but so much can get splatter in your face I prefer to use a face shield and wear a cotton overall plus gloves.

L200 Series 4 (2006-2015) and 5 (2016-2018) 4Life single cab pickups are good work vehicles which come with ladder rack and lashing hooks on outside of vehicle as well as internal lashing points. Very good off-road and fine on the road, reliable vehicles and good value for money. Average fuel combustion on the road when not towing 32 mpg (have had 40 mpg out of both on good roads on a longer journeys when not loaded up but that's exceptional). Regularly tow about 2700kg plus a tonne in the pickup on the road as well as across farmland and forest tracks with no problem but of course fuel consumption will drop. The bed length on single cab is over 2m and can hold 1.5m bulk/loose load of split 25cm logs. The Series 5 is an improvement on the Series 5 and the one to go for. Wouldn't buy a Series 6 as a single cab work vehicle is no longer an option. There are better vehicles out there for those that need to tow more weight or want a more car like vehicle but as a work vehicle plus a bit of private use there're fine and not too big to manoeuvre among trees in wooded areas. Have had no experience of L200 double cab pickups except as a passenger and they seem a bit cramped in the back. If you need something to double up as a private vehicle and need to carry more than 2 persons then a double cab is the way to go but for work a single cab I fine is best.

If it were Giant Hogweed you would have large blister however Lesser Hogweed and a range of other plants can cause Strimmer Rash particularly on sunny days. I've been using a Stihl perspex face shield now for some years (don’t find a visor provides enough protection), wear an overall, rinse face with water after strimming and also use a blade rather that strimmer when cutting vegetation other than just grass if practicable to do so or sometimes take down some individual plants with a long handed hook. Got plastered a few years back which has left a few marks/dry areas on face which when sunny still itch a bit although factor 50 sun block seems to help.

It will be probably be referring to woodland communities listed in the National Vegetation Classification (NVC) and species of tree associated with those woodland types.

You definitely need to know location of all services before grinding stump, if there proves to be an unacceptable risk of damage then just cut stump as low as possible with chainsaw.

The tree has obviously outgrown its situation, it is only semi-mature and will get much bigger if left, remove it and grind stump, it is unlikely that there will be a problem with heave, there is more likely to on-going problems if left and may affect future house price.

Thats sounds like a retail price you have been quoted and on the high side in my view. I'm with gdh on price for none kiln dried wood at £65/m3 bulk collected for hardwood, seasoned/semi-seasoned or fresh as available but too far from North Yorkshire and going to need everything produced so far this year to meet orders for coming autumn/winter.

On trying to find out what is meant by “calibration” in the notice that we have to give to customers when sell >2m3 of uncertified firewood I contacted Woodsure this morning who could not say but suggested I contact DEFRA so did only to be told that it was the Environmental Agency I needed to speak to so I did that who in turn said it was nothing to do with them and told me to contact DEFRA which I did a second time but they could not answer the question instead asked if I would submit my question via an email to their helpline, so looking forward to receiving a reply hopefully within the next 20 days.

I suspect what is meant by "calibration" is to adjust/check settings before taking a measurement such as options for wood or building material or species selection/wood group as some meters have fine tuning of moisture based on species. Some devices have self calibration built in. The statement is a bit ambiguous and needs reworded/clarified in my view.

You could consider just purchasing a Valiant moisture meter as Valiant say that their meter has been tested by Hetas/Woodsure for several years and claim it is accurate for measuring the moisture as a percentage of water/total weight i.e "wet basis" (see post by Cessna on Monday). Cost of meter from Valiant £21.99 or Hetas £18.50. Moisture meters are only ever going to give an approximate indication of the moisture content anyway, pin meters are sensitive to temperature (they are affected by wood temperature, air temperature, temperature of meter itself) as well as chemical composition of the of wood, the battery power at times can influence readings I find and pins often bend which affects readings too.

The price quoted/advertised is the price you sell at and what a customer is expected to pay. That government notice referred to is actually nonsense ... why would anyone need to dry firewood for further 2 yrs which is down to <20% is beyond me!

If no sanitation on site toilets chemical portable toilets can be hire for sites with no water or waste drainage, longterm hire wouldn't cost much per week and weekly servicing/cleaning can be arranged. If site turns out not to be level enough it might be possible to created some level pitches if even just for small tents. Good luck with it.

If Cumbria what about diversifying into tourism during summer months by way of a tiny campsite over part of the land, that is if any reasonably level areas and manage the remaining pasture areas to maintain floral diversity. 10 pitches at say £10-£20 night has the potential of making £700-£1400 per week during the peak season and camping sites are in high demand at the moment. See Tiny Campsite Guidbook by Dixe Wills.

You might consider just letting out the grazing on an annual basis to someone local if you are not particularly interested in keeping livestock.

Its Lime, not much smell to it when dry but bark will be a bit stringy (rope can actually be made from the bark of lime), when dry it is relatively light in weight.

It’ll be top dia under bark

In practice whether the Valiant moisture meter measures on a wet or dry basis wood doesn't burn very well when red displayed (above 20% on meter) however air-dried seasoned wood is burning fine on 13kW and 4kW stoves when amber is shown (15-20% on meter), never had any air-dried wood yet hit green (6-15% on meter) but might at end of this drying season if we get a good summer. Moisture content accuracy is +/- 2% on this meter and at 22% find no problem burning wood at 22% once the stove gets a going. It would be interesting to know conclusively however if the Valiant moisture meter works on a wet or dry basis just out of interest.

With some furloughed last autumn/winter prices may be a bit inflated due to supply and demand, therefore it might be worth reviewing pricing once things settle down and get back to some sort or normality.

Subjective I know but generally I would say for "decent' stuff we are talking about first-quality species of firewood such as ash, beech, birch, hornbeam, sycamore etc, reasonably straight and with dia around 20-40cm but depends on method of processing. Alder burns fine, dries relatively quickly but is generally regraded as a third rate firewood by many like lime, pine spruce etc. If sold as part of a parcel with first rate firewood it might be easier to move on. I think its a bit under rated though as firewood however customers do complain if too much in a load saying it burns too quickly but is generally okay to sell on in a hardwood mix if not too much of it. It takes the same amount of time to haul, process and deliver low grade firewood as it does first rate firewood so you won't want to pay the same for low grade firewood. If putting a value on it I would say tops 2/3 the price of what someone might be prepared to pay for "decent" stuff.

Price range probably £50-65/t at roadside ex vat on the whole with an average price say around £57 depending on quality, species and if part seasoned or fresh felled. The prices quoted in Famers Weekly seem a bit off the mark at £35-£45/t at roadside unless not taking into account the standing value. The harvesting cost maybe >£30/t, then the the grower/landowner might want say £20/t if decent stuff (species in demand, reasonably straight, no over-sized or too small in diameter) which would put a price on it >£50/t. Some low grade firewood maybe worth only £35-45/t but anything decent must be worth >£50/t.

If you can get hold Birch it dries quite quickly - split now down to about 10cm and kept dry/well ventilated it will be good to go next autumn/winter.

May has always been a slack month as far as I can remember.

Just wouldn’t be cost effective. Wouldn’t save your back either if you’ve got to manually lift some larger logs up. Either hire in as suggested or think about vertical splitter and circular saw which would be within your budget range but still it’s not a lot of wood to process over 2 years.