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Nail on head!

Lad here on the Facebook selling dry ready to burn hardwood saying it is all "mostly below 25%". I'm pretty good with my stove but I don't relish the challenge of getting that stuff going. Life is too short. This thread made me go for a little looksy around Facebook and Gumtree for the local and semi local area just as a wee experiment. Vast majority of what you see for sale and what is being sold/re-listed with more stock etc is all hardwoods. Birch/elm mostly. One lad selling some nice looking Ash actually and I have ended up contacting him.... bloody internet!! But yeah I find it incredible that with the abundance of softwood cut sites around me right now, all of which are spruce, pine, larch! That it's almost pretty hard to find any soft in amongst the troves of h/wood. Goes to show the guys selling are appealing to the dumbing off the masses. Which I of course do not blame them for but I just don't get this mentality.

Just started burning some pine that's been in the log store outside for just shy of a year and it's measuring 14-16%. The log store is as basic as you can imagine and lives behind a shed at about 180m above the snow line in the Highlands. So it's baltic cold 90% of the year but on the other hand it sure does get a hell of a lot of wind blowing through it. Pine cut and stored will be fine for burning (<25%) in less than 6 weeks if it's decent stuff not being lying in the elements for ever before cutting it. Larch much the same and these are woods we predominately have up here so it's what we burn. Got a massive load of Poplar which is fresh fell 4 weeks ago. Already chopped it all and building a new log store for it but we shall see how long that stuff takes to dry. I reckon I won't get that down to 20% even by next winter, that's for sure. I'm with a lot of you guys in here thinking it's absolute pish this mentality of not wanting to burn softwoods. I have people in my own family bending over backwards trying to get birch, oak, elm and all I can say is I will burn pine/larch over that stuff any day of the week. I will chop, stack and dry pine/larch in a quarter of the time for heating my house any day of the week as well!

So it has taken the council over 2 months to reply to a FOI which they are meant to reply to within 20 working days... Anyways, after 2 months, they have confirmed that there are NO smoke control zones in the Highlands of Scotland at all.

As per above, check the rope seal on the door using credit card or paper test, it could be that you have a lot of air getting through what should be a tight seal with the rope. Where is your stove thermo located when you are getting those temps from it? From my experience with Clearviews you should be able to close the front wheel once it is up to temp and get a nice burn that can be ignored for a long time with the bottom vent 3/4's of the way in.

I have always rated Fury as a fighter. He is a good counter fighter who works off his jab and uses his massive reach both to work that jab and to defend himself and make it really difficult to hit him. I just love watching fighters who work off their jab, it seems to be a dying art in boxing these days almost. He needs to fight AJ in the summer at Wembley. That would be amazing. But I don't see much of a fight in all honesty. Fury is the far superior boxer in my opinion but Brit vs Brit for undisputed would be great. Whilst I do seem very pro Fury, I'm actually not. In my head a cheater is always a cheater. But he is a good boxer to watch.

Bigger displacement and the extra weight will help with vibration levels, I think the 555 is certainly a smoother saw to use than a 550xp but the mk2 has made big improvements I believe. Both are 4bhp saws anyways but I see what you are saying. 555 may say "professional" on it but it's more a semi-pro level of saw in comparison to XP saws. The 555 is marketed as their top farm/landowner level saw (equiv to MS391 from Stihl I reckon). The 550XP is a pro saw in every way and really is meant to be run day in, day out. With autotune and especially on this new Mk2 I think you will likely never need to tune the thing in its life. That half a kilo will make a noticeable difference but it is not all about that overall weight either. It would definitely be worth handling both at a local dealer (555 and xpmk2) because you will most likely feel the XP is better in the hand balance wise. The distribution of its weight and how it handles will make that overall figure seem a bit more than a little 500 grams. XPmk2 is also a brand new saw essentially. So spares, servicing and repairing is going to be good times for many many years from now. If it was a £450 versus £550 choice here I'd be kinda stuck also. But with them both being same price I just think the XP beats it so many ways even dis-regarding use intentions.

I can't see beyond the 550XP Mk2 just now. FR Jones have it just above that £500 you were speaking of. With a 15" bar I do not think you can go wrong with it for FW processing side of things and you can buy a 18" bar at a later date and have a very capable saw for felling if you need to. The 555 is a great saw but if you do buy new in that bracket I don't see why you would select it over the 550xp. Power to weight and for use the 550 is just way better and they are same pricing. No brainer between those two IMO Other options are to shop around for a decent 550xp mk1 or 261c second hand. They can be had and can be perfect saws but it is a lottery compared buying new of course. I think you are on the right lines of that 50cc 500ish quid zone and to live within that for what you want to do and to have a scope for doing more with your saw further down the line. I would absolutely not be spending £400 on a second hand 460 though.

How the hell would they police it? Semi related is that I requested from the council in my area info on where and what exactly is a "smoke free zone".... it has been 26 working days and they've still not sent me anything because they dont even know that!

As per Rob's comment, a cube won't come in a bag. If it's bags you are buying then it'll be builders ton bags. There's a lot less wood in a builders ton bag than in a true cubic metre to the tune of only around 0.7! It's not exact of course but 3 builders ton bags will be round abouts 2 cubic metre. I have a 5KW stove and only burn it evenings & weekend. 2.5 cube will do me an entire winter. Father in law has 6KW stove, in a 3 bed stone built cottage in the Highlands. Burns it night and day alongside oil-fired CH system. He'll get through 6 cube in a winter for sure. There are so many variables really but if you bank your calculations on 6 cube for a winter I don't think you will be far away. That would be on the rounding up side of things as well if anything. Not sure on your prices down there. Ton bags of s/wood are 40-45 here right now and h/wood 60-65.

I work in a town up here that is now berthing over 100 cruise liners per year. Just lookup the unchallenged and ignored figures for one of those bloody things and what they put out compared to the little people burning some wood. The article literally states that the most common areas for these deaths is in the biggest/busiest cities. So it's not bloody wood burners causing the problem is it? But people in their homes are the easiest thing to attack and blame to gain false perception of "doing something about the pollution problems".

The mk2 550xp in the FR Jones sale at the moment is difficult to ignore at that price point. If you are cutting through 20" oak though take a look at a 555 with 18" bar. I've had a few days using one that my mate bought recently and it's a superb saw. Can be had for shy of the £500 mark for a mid range 60cc saw which is a load of machine for the price point!

Hi everyone Please could you help me ID the 2x large tree's pictured? There was a good mix of small Rowan and Birch in among these with the ground being pretty boggy. At largest measurement was 18" dia on the base cut for the tree on the right. Tree on left 15" dia. I would have thought Poplar or Willow but would rather see what you guys think to put my mind to rest. Also the dark core I wasn't sure if this is normal and may depend on the tree. This was prevalent in even the smallest limbs and there was quite a lot of dead limbs. Is this dark center normal or does this look unhealthy to you? They were extremely fast growing but it may all make sense depending on what they actually are. p.s. I am sorry if I come across a bit dumb to all of this. It is all new to me but I am very keen and doing my best to learn Thanks.

Clearview. We have a 400. In-Laws a 500 and 2x sets of friends with 400's. Then we have a relative with a 750 in his new extension. Opinion from all above is that these things are outstanding. Nobody would change them for anything else now.

I've got a really good condition MS280 nearby. Not a saw I have come across before so I registered here to do some searching and think it has helped me make up my mind.... but thought it would be best to ask and see what people think either way! From searching here and on Google I can see it was a bit of an odd-ball saw in terms of where it fitted in the range (10 year ago! oaft!). So it would appear that parts for the thing when it does need them will be a right pain and potentially not worth the drama. Price is £280 which is an absolute no. I don't think the saw is worth anywhere near that figure despite how tidy it is. Sub £200 could tempt me though if I could get it for that. Or would you guys not bother with this hassle of a saw even at that price point? The decision gets harder to justify really as there is a tidy 261c-m around also and I'd have one of those in a heartbeat. (£350ish asking).