coppice cutter

Interesting, that goes against everything I've read so far but since I seen your reply I've searched on it specifically and found a few other places making the same assertion. I've just planted out a couple of new Blenheim Orange trees which are a bit away from all the other cultivated apples but they both have a few crab apple trees nearby so it seems they'll be grand with that. Thanks. 👍

It's well known that a crab apple tree is a good pollinator for cultivated apples. However would it be safe to assume that in the case of a variety of apple which requires two other pollinators e.g. Bramley, Blenheim Orange, that two different crab apple trees would count as two different pollinators?

That was Phil Rudd, a drumming machine. Thirty years later and he's even cooler.

I assumed he was referring to them allowing Italy to be involved? Thus my previous comment.

I think the EU realise by now that Ms Meloni is not to be f**ked with!

Cherry.

In my experience bottled gas worked out a heck of a lot dearer than red, although if you were buying red by five gallon drum or similar it would probably push the price up. I'd say indirect diesel is the way to go, you waste a bit of heat out the flue but there's no fumes, and if it's for intermittent use loosing a bit of efficiency won't matter much. I picked up a 'portable' 250,000 BTU s/h heater on ebay a few years ago off a plant nursery in the south of England somewhere. It sits for months on end and does nothing, but if I'm having a workshop day and it's cold a flick of the switch and the place is warm in less than ten minutes no matter what the weather outside. The motor burnt out a few years ago but 100 quid rewound it, oil pump is driven off the same shaft as the fan directly from the motor and looks easily replaceable if needs be. I suspect the thing will outlive me if required!

Always had push switches on smaller angle grinders, used to be that just the way they were. Recently bought a new 40v 5in Makita and they do both on the same grinder so I was a bit stuck for which one to buy as it was something I'd never thought about before. Ended up being decided for me as Amazon warehouse had the push switch one at sixty odd quid less than anywhere else so that was that. Been paying heed to how I use it since I've got it though and push switch was definitely the way to go, for the smaller grinder anyway. 9in a different kettle of fish altogether though, always have to keep a tight grip of one of those buggers, and besides, they're so much bigger so that they suit the paddle switch design better.

Bought a Makita 40v stick vac a few weeks ago for £99.99 off Amazon. A few days after I bought it the price went up to £116.99. Had a look out of interest this morning, "Black Friday weekend" price - £99.99. So probably a good weekend to buy anything off Amazon or such like that you were going to buy anyway. Oh just remembered, Honey Bros had a genuine 10% off everything on their site this weekend last year and I stocked up on a few Silky spares for the cutting season. And I knew it was genuine as I'd been on their site a few times over the weeks before and knew the prices were the same but with 10% off. So things like that are worth watching for but probably few and far between.

Been using this crowd for years and always found their service excellent. Chainsaw Chains, Oregon, Stihl, Guide Bars, Files, Oils, Accessories WWW.NEWSAWCHAINS.CO.UK Chainsaw Chains, replacements from OREGON & STIHL. Low prices & FREE UK delivery from one of UK's largest suppliers... Can't vouch for what they're like dealing with problems because I've never had a problem with them.

Inspired by my own comment yesterday I decided to look a bit closer and the thinner stuff is definitely more dense than the larger bits which are much more open and coarse. Then again that could possibly be down to the willow itself which is all self-seeded, and I know that in the woodland especially there are numerous different types with considerable variations in both colour and texture. Although that having been said, all the thinner stuff does seem to be denser so maybe it just becomes more open and less dense as it ages?

I've found that willow burns much better as smaller branchy type stuff than as larger logs. Had a few larger willows that I cut down in an area I was clearing, ringed them up split them, let them dry well, but it was very disappointing as firewood. The thinner stuff, 2in and below though, never disappoints, but no idea why there should be a difference. Having acquired a s/h branch logger this year I'll probably still trim out some straighter poles to process in the sawhorse and keep longer but everything else will go through the branch logger. Same with the hazel.

Thanks, I'll have a look.

To be honest I've no idea as I don't use it for grafting, any grafting I've done i just used my no6 Opinel as I find the carbon steel blade on it much easier to get and keep really sharp. The grafting Opinel has the INOX stainless blade which I never found to be as razor sharp as the carbon steel blades. But I found the hook on the end of the grafting knife really good for clearing grass from around the base of fruit bushes and such like so I used it more like a mini bill-hook. That's why losing the hook rendered it useless for my purpose. Out and out sharpness wasn't just quite so critical either but the shape and profile of the blade was just perfect.

I broke the tip off my Opinel last winter (totally my own fault), salvaged the situation somewhat by grinding the blade straight and repurposing it as a sheep's foot trimming knife, but now I need a pruning/grafting replacement. The Opinel always done OK until I broke it, but anything else I should have a look at before ordering another? Thanks.

Nowadays if a 2-stroke oil isn't good enough to be mixed at 50:1, then it's an oil I wouldn't be using.

Must be something like that going on with it. The ground it's in is very dry but that's just because it's very free draining, there's a decent depth of loam on top which it could be rooting much deeper down in to than what it is, so must just be in it's nature. Probably best keep them height limited from now on. Will make the berries a lot easier got when I do get around to doing something with them anyway.

Was working at it yesterday and a few of those have developed on my hands today, just minor scratches, totally insignificant at the time, and now they're stinging like buggery. Never had the like before. Against that, I thought the smell of the berries was lovely, very unique!

Winched back up in to place with a couple of heavy duty ratchet straps, then staked it which will hopefully keep it secured until something gets the berries. Seems very shallow rooted so when the berries are gone I'll reduce the height of it a bit and probably do the same with the rest from now on to prevent re-occurrence. Took a few quick snaps with my phone so those interested could see the scale and quantity of berries. It's a cheap phone so the pics aren't great but hopefully you'll get the idea.

Yes, berries was the initial attraction. Last year was the first year I seen any sign of berries, this year the same plant is laden, but I haven't figured out what to do with them yet or really have the time anyway. However no doubt they'll help sustain something through the winter in the meantime. They're like Holly that you need both male and female plants for berries so I'm just happy that I haven't ended up with just all one or t'other. I haven't seen any signs or suckering or spreading by any means but frequently you find that something classed as aggressive or invasive in a garden setting is merely tough enough to survive in a woodland setting. That's possibly what you may find with the commercial cultivars? For all the aggressive nature of bramble, I tried a few thornless cultivars of blackberries and they struggled to survive at all in the woodland, it was only a year or two after getting them I read that they are also much less aggressive than wild blackberries. A big plus in the garden, a big minus for me. Going back to the initial query, seems if I need to cut a bit it should be fit for it.

Not a species generally found in woodland but I have a few Sea Buckthorn in a very dry area and they're doing really well. So well in fact that one tall one (15ft at a guess) loaded with berries has got tumbled over the past few days. I intend to pull it back and stake it but it would probably help if it had a whack taken off it to reduce it a bit for a few years till it gets established again. Anyone know how robust it is and will it be OK with having the main stem reduced substantially? Thanks.

No, I think you're probably right, but fore-warned is fore-armed. A bit of experimentation required no doubt but I know some on here have done well with it as a method so will be worth the effort hopefully.

Correct Alex, any cereals grown were always for stock feed so preservation was the objective rather than drying. I'm pretty happy dealing with stuff at present down to inch and a half or so, therefore it's primarily below this that I see the branch logger working for me as rather than trimming out or discarding fine material (time consuming or wasteful respectively), I'll just feed the last stuff in to it. Should do especially well with hazel and willow I'm thinking. Also have a lot of crab apple to trim back this winter which is great burning but hardly a straight six inches on it so it'll just all get fed in. But I'd probably want to process every few days or so to prevent too much getting ahead of me however I'd have enough covered space to be able to hold that until it was at least surface dry. The vented bags seems like a decent option as I have a drying alley in the hayshed for any hay that's rushed a bit and they could sit there with good airflow around them.

Have just acquired a secondhand branch logger which will be used for our own firewood only. I'll be using it primarily on green wood and would hope to store the loggings in a pile under cover but I'm a wee bit worried that they might be very slow drying if the pile is too big. Has anyone else using one found any difficulties in getting the processed material dried out properly? *edit* - when I say "under cover" I mean under a roof, not a cover over the pile.

"British Farming Forum" and "The Farming Forum" run simultaneously for a good while but BFF fizzled out and TFF went from strength to strength. It's a pretty well run forum and as far as I could ever see, pretty sensibly moderated. Just don't go on to it and expect to see much love for trees or a glyphosate ban.