Vedhoggar

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.

A Valiant moisture meter arrived this morning and did a quick comparison test with two other moisture meters the Dr Meter MD 812 (same as Dolmar MM-400) and a MD-4G moisture meter which is a 4 prong meter unlike the other two which have only 2 prongs and best suited to measuring firewood. First reading taken was on Scots pine felled and split August 2020 and stacked outside in 50cm lengths uncovered for 8 months before being cut into 25cm lengths and stacked in a well ventilated shed for a month. The log was split down the middle and readings taken 5cm from each end as well at the centre across the log, the Valiant average was 18.7% (Amber wood okay to burn), DR Meter 812 20.67% and MD-4G 22%. The Scots pine burns "okay". Second reading was on an old pine kitchen table in room with woodburning stove on most of the time (room temperature 21.5C), so very dry, the readings were Valiant 11%, Dr Meter 812 10% and MD-4G 13%. Measuring accuracy stated for Valiant +/-2% and the other two meters +/- 1%. The Valiant seems well made, compact and easy to use. The function modes are wood, plastered walls and temperature. The meter it states can be also be used to measure the moisture content of structural wood but no separate function for this but when reading the moisture content of firewood the screen is colour coded according to how suitable the firewood is for burning so I suppose just consider the colour of screen for firewood.

Leave it. Third rate firewood, which doesn’t burn well, doesn’t smell great. It splits relatively easy and dries quite quickly.

If any chance of investment coming to a region is probably a good reason to voted for those that will decide where money will be spent I would have thought, Labour also seems to be more of a party of the WOKE and student community these days and at odds with many working class voters who have been drifting away from the party for years.

I suspect it is actually measuring on dry basis but colour coding adjusted for measuring firewood whatever it is sold on shophetas.co.uk as equipment to measure moisture content of firewood so use Amber is good to go for seasoned firewood.

7.30am - 4.30pm isn't a 9hr working day unless you never get a break which would be against employment law, it's 9 hrs less break times is what will be your working hours. UK min wage over 23 £8.91 (no London weighting). For someone doing the sort of work you do with little experience we would pay £9.50/hr (£10.85/hr London) which is the UK Real Living Wage (Living Wage Foundation), if self-employed labour only £12/hr, we work a 7.5hr day before paying overtime. For an experienced ground worker we would expect to have to pay out £12-£15/hr. My best advise would be if you like the work and are comfortable working for the company then when the probation period ends discuss what training might be on offer if you were to continuing on working for the company. You will need a more than just CS30/31 if you want to get on but its a start.

Got 4 supplies under 20 miles one of which is new, one is a joke as they were selling kiln dried wood which wasn’t season never mind kiln dried, the logs were over 30% MC ... might have driven past a kiln but the wood had never been in one that’s for sure.

Liriodendendon is a species that will respond to pollarding but not sure about coppicing but I suspect it will. A tulip tree at Stourhead Gardens, Wiltshire planted in 1791 was cut back by about 1/3 from memory in the late 1980s or early 1990's because of a large cavity in the stem, it was at the time the largest tulip tree in the country and it responded well (the tree measured 32m x 5.5m at 1m in 1974 and 28m x 6.65m at 1m in 2011).

I’ve sent you a message. Thanks

I have a couple of conifers to take down for a client who wants to hire in a chipper and chip the branches himself afterwards along with other stuff which has built up, everything over 3” would be used as firewood but last time he hired in a chipper he had to un-jam it a few times and sites offering Timberwolf chippers for hire he says state that you must not use them for chipping conifer and he wants to chip Leylandii. The trees are at the rear of house with limited access but could get something like a 3” Timberwolf gravity chipper right to job or smaller road tow chipper near to it, burning is not a good option as urban setting surrounded by other houses ... any thoughts on hiring in chippers more prone to jamming and to be avoided when chipping conifer and those that are less likely to be a problem?

Well organised, tidy and low impact. On rate it really depends on your operating costs/what you are prepared to work for plus a profit of not less that 15% but ideally 20%.

A local farm machinery and groundcare equipment company replaced the belt on our 2014 model SC 700 last year however Andy at DLB Machinery, who I have found to be very helpful and reliable, would be able to supply part/advise on fitting (mobile 07704 032033), Balfor part required no 005.01.013

Possibly battery needs charged, if some way you can turn off the hydraulic pressure it should come down.

Tarpaulinsdirect.co.uk a Yorkshire based company. Decent products at a fair price and good service ... product ordered came within days.

That would be my advice too cut them all down if you feel something needs to be done now however I think it actually looks alright as a multi-stemmed tree and so going forward an option might be to just cut it back periodically as and when it is felt it has outgrown its position and let it regrow. I’m not that familiar with this species but if you want to single it or have less stems probably try doing it when about head height.

David Douglas’s three expeditions to America were funded by the Horticultural Society of London (now the Royal Horticultural Society), so a bit of a British connection you might say as a botanist although of course Scottish.

I see you are using only about 4 wraps on the capstan instead of 8 for a 10mm rope, I find 8 wraps is too many a lot of the time, it looks like you've also add a piece of wire to the rope guide, the Red Iron now comes with a rope guide spring now which can be added to the earlier model if required. Why did Husquarna stop making those combi cans ...

Depends what you're doing, sometimes tractor and winch will be best option/more efficient and sometime a portable winch will be the best option/more efficient, its about choosing the most suitable machine for a particular job.

Read quickly through posts so might have missed something but as I understand it the Forestry Authority in England will notify LPA about the application and get opinion but once felling licence has been issued you need to give the LPA a min of 6 weeks notice before undertaking the work within 2 years of work starting in order to give LPA time to protect trees with a TPO before commencement of work. This is how it used to be unless things have changed.

In general a felling licence is not required if felling not more than 5m3/quarter or selling more than 2m3/quarter, if more than this is to be felled or sold then a felling licence will be required first, then 6 weeks notice given to planning authority otherwise just need to given planning authority 6 weeks notice.