Mr. Ed

It does sound like a challenging project. Good luck with your decision making process! Here’s something I didn’t know: from the paper that Amarus referenced, with reference to your location. <<. In terms of environmental conditions, wetter sites have been observed to have higher mortality, although in the UK ash growing on chalk (very dry) has also shown high mortality. >> In our own mixed woodland (SW Ireland so not notably dry but most of our land is quite well drained) our management plan for the oldest area (in terms of established trees) is to do absolutely nothing beyond keeping the main track open. It’s an area of gullies and there are beautiful tall elegant mature Ashes growing from the bottoms of the gullies (one of the most beautiful things I know is the sight of these trees dancing in the wind in a summer gale, with their neighbouring big old oaks looking on in benign amusement like elderly relatives at a ball). After the heartbreak of realising this magical place was going to change we are resigned and will watch and see. They are lasting longer than younger trees (we felled several thousand 12 year old Ash) but after each of this winter’s gales the floor is more littered with branches and quite big boughs. We hope the trees will “monolith” themselves naturally and remain standing as vertical habitat piles but if they fall we’ll leave them there. We’ve had to get tree surgeons in to remove the big ashes beside the main access road to our house and I’m glad we did it before they were completely dead for it made the work far easier - they were still nice and Ashy and make fine timber and firewood. At this stage I wouldn’t be particularly anxious about a danger from falling trees (though we don’t go out in the woods in big gales, not least because the noise is terrifying). I’d be more frightened by the big old willows who randomly drop big boughs on the ground.

Mine’s not at all posh but it doesn’t have a return trap either. Which is good now you point it out.

I’ve got nothing to compare the splitter with beyond an axe. It’s easier on your back than an axe. There? I’ve said it. I play a bit of keepy-uppy where the goal is to keep the wood off the floor - from saw horse to barrow, from barrow to table to splitter, back to barrow again then on the pile. I’d like to say my back is fine but the barrow and the splitter are just a few inches too low for comfort. And I’m aware that the process involves handling the wood many times before it even gets on the pile. I’m sure there’s a better way: maybe I’ll invent a machine with chainsaws and conveyor belts and maybe even a splitter as well, ah it would never catch on….

Talk about a difference in scale! this was a days production for me! my processor and my conveyor.

Finally getting round to Ash dieback casualties. Lots of work for modest return! My break through was to use the ratchet strap to hold the bundle together - it stops them chasing me around and means I can saw it like it’s one big piece.

The nice thing about a grate is the ability to turn it up to turbo mode for a moment by opening the ash door. Makes it easy to relight from embers for instance.

My warning is when Mrs Ed takes her shirt off. Time to damp down the fire then I suppose, but you know, what else so you have a bearskin rug in front of the fire for?

I've got one of those little logrite arches, and they're lovely things. So neatly designed and well-made. They lift the log just with the geometry of pulling down the bar, and a heavy log takes quite a force to get the centre of gravity up and over the wheel, so that's a bit of a limitation. The other limitation is length - walking with them is a bit like taking a dog for a walk (that's why it's called "junior" I suppose) and if you have a long one it's always nipping at your ankles, threatening your achilles tendon and back of the knee like a malicious cowdog. There's a handle you can extend with, but you still can't use it with really long logs. I use it in the yard mostly for pulling little bits about, or for lifting one end of a bigger log so you can saw it. The basic concept is so delightful that I use it whenever I can.

I’ve used this a bit,including on back roads (shhhh). Not in the woods yet till we get our nimbler tractor. The winch is a bit feeble. I have fantasies about using a tractor winch to pull big logs up close and then swapping out lines and using it to lift them up. A very good idea to strap the sticks in!

True. The 835 ranges from 22 to 26 based on tires.

Interesting that a Holder A50 according to its test data has similar ground clearance of 25 cm or so

I was assuming I'd go straight to Germany to be honest. After the events of recent years, Ireland is learning the joys of auto-translate and buying a lot of stuff from the continong rather than the UK. There's a sizeable community of Holderphiles in Germany and Kärcher, who now own the remains of Holder, have a spare parts service.

The Holders? Apparently yes - the earlier ones can be problematic apparently. But you always can get until suddenly you can’t. They’re supposed to be very robust, although I’ve seen several distressed messages on Arbtalk about finding clutches.

Understood about the centre of gravity. I’m reconciled to buying one in the UK or Europe-land. I work in the UK most of the time - Am here now for instance.

Thanks OSM. I’m in County Kerry as it happens. Very few such machines in the country let alone the county … Rigid with 4 wheel steering? You mean as opposed to articulating?

I need help! I need/want a wee tractor to negotiate our quite steep-in-part woods for winching and towing. I only have a modest budget and am generally happy with old scruffy things as long as they work. I’m no mechanic but our neighbourhood is full of good mechanics who can fix anything. I’ve gone all OCD about it and am torturing myself over a 20 year old AGT 835 and a 40 year old Holder A50. Similarish costs …. I do like the Holder vibe but also know I need to be practical. The only thing I know about these things is that I know nothing about these things. Apart from having a nice old Ford 4000 in the yard I have no practical experience and would very welcome advice from people who actually know. I’ve ransacked these forums quite extensively. I suspect either one would be fine - the Holder in question has a front loader which would be great, but will the loader make it more cumbersome in the woods? Take the bucket off I suppose and point the thing in the air? Also the Holder has a cab which is nice in the rain but I’m a big chap and it looks like it might be awkward to get in out of.

Thanks again Paul. I’m surprised they don’t specify what season the wood was felled - there must be a big difference even in hardwoods.

Wouldn't help with this one that seems to be under-registering!

Thanks Paul - in fact the 32 is the max reading of the Wagner! It so happens we have a flue man here doing a different flue and he's also given me a very stern telling off about the amount of creosote we've added to the flue he did just a couple of years back. I think I know what did it, as well - I used a whole metre bag of stuff that the cheap one had at 19%.

I used the spiky one on fresh split and across the grain and along the grain and on freshly cut endgrain and they all gave much the same number. I cut across the grain on purpose to give the posh meter a nice flat surface, in an attempt to remove a variable. And yes, the sticks are still quite heavy and yes they make a good thwack when you hit them together and they weren't grey but still a bit shiny, but I don't trust my instincts - I can't tell you how much trouble I've got into by following them throughout my life . . . Oh, and the wood itself is young ash - left cut in lengths for three years (I was busy) and then cut and split this last summer

So, I've managed to get in trouble (only for our domestic) by believe a cheap meter off the interthingy. Which one would you trust? The one that cost £15, or the one that cost £300. I wonder... By the way, the Wagner only reads up to 32%. In other words it's maxed out

Do you season in billets for ease of handling and then saw them, or use/sell them like that? I see lots of photos of cold European parts of the world doing it like that, but assume that they have very long burners.

It can be a great investment, as long as your accountant understands the PRCI basis: Psychic Return on Capital Invested.

aha I see they steer with a hydraulic ram at the hinge like an articulated tractor. Attractive also because it’s made from bits and pieces lying around I guess.

because he could? If it’s enough reason for dogs to lick their elbows … yours for 15k