Will76

9 hours ago, spuddog0507 said:

Hi are you having to pay for this service or is it for free ?

we have access to same sort of floor, a price is sorted out but we havent used it yet as its not as good as i thought it would be, for drying logs, 

some one else has used it and i have been and robbed a few logs out of a crate and i was very dissapointed at the result, we tested several logs out of several crates and from different positions in the crate, ok not covered up just the heat n draft going through,

The results after 10 days on the floor where, logs from the outside of the crate where down to 8% on the outside but when split 32% on the inside, logs from the centre of the crate 18% on the outside and still at 42% when split, but this guy who the logs belong to is addvertising and selling them as super dry kiln dried logs, i think he might just get 1 or 2 complaints, so if you cover yours the results might be slightly better but i know i need to come up with a different plan for getting my logs dried, i have an idea and i think it will work and i think i could get logs dried down to 15% from fresh cut in 5 days but time will tell,,,,

Thanks - very interesting to hear real world examples.

I would have thought I'd need to cover the IBCs to have any chance of success. I guess it's worth trying to find out.

What's your 5 day plan?! Sounds interesting!

I think polytunnels in a windy location are the answer here....

Thanks for the comments.

My idea is to cover the IBCs with tarps to help retain heat (and therefore drying rate) but to do so imperfectly so that it can vent moist air. I might need to include fans inside as well.

Obviously this is sub optimal, but I do have access to a £500k drying facility without having to invest capex, and large quantities of chip, so I am looking for a way to utilise it for log drying!

Has anyone got experience of this?

Thanks for the reply.

We'd have as much access as we wanted in essence. We could get approx 200 IBTs at a time, assuming stacked 2 high.

I am envisaging putting tarps or similar over the IBCs to create a temporary kiln. But other experiences or ideas would be appreciated.

I have access to a farm with biomass powered crop drying floors. They have spare capacity.

I am considering how I might go about using these to kiln dry logs.

The main issues I can see are that the drying floor is not in a sealed room, and has no method of retaining heat and air moisture control etc.

Does anyone have any experience of this and would be happy to discuss with me? Thanks!

Hi

Has anyone got advice/experience on packing loose kiln dried kindling, into boxes. The kindling cannot be kiln dried in the boxes - it must be dried before packing.

I'm thinking an auto aligning machine or similar (like a Vepak Log Bagger but in miniature) or any other good ideas?

Obviously we can do it manually but that isn't scalable or cost effective.

Thanks!

Hi

Does anyone have a electric Kindlet they'd be interested in hiring to me by the day. Alton Hampshire GU34.

Thanks

Will

I was thinking more something like a HR115 Horizontal Resaw. But with a chainsaw not a bandsaw. 

8 hours ago, Conor Wright said:

If I had to take 5 cm off a big ring I'd probably stick it on the woodmizer.
Cant see how it would justify the investment to be honest, unless you're happy to put in long days for well below average pay.. might be more economical to sell less uniform logs at a reduced rate than to up the spec and eat into your time.

I;ve been looking at those. I didn't realise you could stick a large hardwood round through them.

Which one do you have? Have you used it to cut rounds?

I am surprised that no one has built a machine that automatically does this - cuts rounds down to specific length automatically. As they have done for long lengths. I cannot be be the first person who has wanted to shorten many rounds quickly, safely and automatically....

13 minutes ago, muldonach said:

but it is a seriously bad idea and very dangerous in my view

Thanks for your reply. I didn't quite follow your response. Are you saying a processor or a rocking beam circular saw would be very dangerous?

on point 2. Will a processor take quartered rounds?

Thanks for replying. It is arb waste, of all kinds of lengths and diameters.

I think I understand how I will deal with long lengths that have a diameter suitable for processor machine. That seems easy enough.

However a lot of the wood is in rounds of various lengths and diameters.

I guess I have two problems that are vexing me:

Let's assume I require logs that are 25cm long.

1. Rounds that are say 30cm long and have a diameter that fits in a woodcutta. Can something like a woodcutta take a series of 30cm long rounds and then cut to 25cm, for feeding into a splitta? 

2. Rounds that have a diameter too large for a woodcutta. How does one feed these into a woodcutta? Split them into quarters first? Will a firewood processor deal with quartered rounds?

Sorry we're newbies at this and doing some research before we invest in any way. Sorry for the dumb questions. I am sure there will be more!

I have an onging supply of hardwood rounds, that I want to feed into something like a Splitta 400 to make logs.

The rounds are are various length, but I require a consistent log length. I require that I can control and vary that length based on packing and customer demands.

What machine(s) will cut rounds accurately to a given length? Preferably automatically. Can I use a firewood processor such as the Woodcutta 400?

Thanks in advance!