coppice cutter

I keep a large (120ft plus) extension lead permanently connected in one outbuilding, and put a couple of wall brackets beside it to make it easily trailed out and most importantly gathered up again. It's main job through the winter is keeping batteries topped up, I've two Kubota tractors and a Kubota digger, all 04/05 and still on their original batteries and working well. Failing that, shift something to where the power is and get it on the charger before the battery gets so low that it won't start it. You just have to discipline yourself to make the effort to hook something up for half a day when it hasn't been used for a while.

I can only repeat that our experience of them over many years is very different to that. Maybe you need to look at your battery maintenance a bit more, any battery left for any period of time in a state of discharge will be life limited as a result.

Have you tried Yuasa yet? For me they are the best battery on the market and by some margin. We use them in everything, tractors large and small, diggers, our own cars, and of-course bikes! Only issue with them is pricing. They seem to have a pretty disorganised supply chain with prices all over the place so you need to be especially careful where you buy and what you pay.

Especially given that the same two-faced hypocritical b@stards have been lampooning him for years just for speaking his mind.

And who is the single largest customer of the quarrying and construction industries?, .....................the government itself! So it'll be the same as the land fill tax, a huge percentage of the tax they get will just have to be paid out again in higher contract costs for social housing, roads, schools, hospitals, etc, etc. Only with a heap of pen-pushing and bureaucracy attached, all at considerable expense itself. Where's this 'light-touch' governance that the Tories are supposed to deliver?

Yeah, I'll agree with that, pretty strongly actually. But it proves my point, the guy who wants to play by the book will have hassle and expense whatever way you cut it to be in a position to change over entirely on the 1st April. Alternately, there will be those who'll just work away totally ignoring the rules and most likely get away with it. They really should introduce legislation in such a way that it's easy for the law-abidding guy to comply, and difficult for the law-breaker not to. This is just another classic example of the exact opposite. Oh, and FWIW, this isn't sour grapes as I'm agricultural (genuinely) so won't be affected. However, that doesn't preclude me from being exasperated knowing that yet again a whole sector of those who wish to be decent and law-abidding will be put at a disadvantage to those who couldn't care less.

"The government said this week that not only will those losing the rebate not be allowed to buy red diesel on or after 1st April 2022, they will not be able to use any. Storage tanks must be emptied and flushed out ahead of the deadline so that enforcement inspectors can clearly tell the difference between illegal red diesel and standard ‘white’ diesel." This is the sort of idiotic nonsense consistently spawned by politicians/civil servants that really, really, boils my piss. So what do you do with your red diesel that you are emptying from your tank on 31st March 2022. Totally impractical idiotic bullshit, formulated by people who couldn't change a wheel on their car if they got a feckin puncture. I thought leaving the EU was supposed to help get us away from this sort of crap.

New Zealand do it quite sensibly. All diesel is taxed at a much lower rate, probably the equivalent of our red diesel, but users of diesel vehicles on the public roads then pay a "road user charge" to compensate for their cheaper fuel. Therefore there is no market for, or benefit of, diesel laundering or any such sheenanigans as it's all sold at the reduced rate.

There is actually an organisation called the Pasture Fed Livestock Association (which I happen to be a member of) striving to steer people in that direction. PFLA You may find that much of their philosophy strikes a chord with you, unfortunately though, the majority of farmers not so much.

After much, much, deliberation I've just recently bought a new Echo 390esx, 39cc, 15in bar, would probably be classed as a "pro" type saw rather than "homeowner". Plainly I can't yet vouch for it's durability, although feedback from owners on here and the 5yr warranty would suggest it won't be an issue, but I've cut a fair bit with it already and it is a delight to use. Been using chainsaws for well over 40yrs and never had a small saw before so was slightly apprehensive about using one but those fears were totally unfounded as regards this small saw anyway as it absolutely flies through anything put in front of it. Then add in the small size, light weight, and effortless starting and it's just been brilliant. As a footnote, I would have traditionally been a Husqvarna user. First decent saw I used 40 odd years ago was Husqvarna and up until recently my do everything saw was a 266xp, which I will now put in to semi-retirement unless for something huge that needs cutting. But I was recently in my local Husqvarna shop, ironically getting a file to sharpen my new Echo!, and who I would probably have ended up buying a new Husqvarna from if they hadn't been shut, and looking at the 435/440/445 range, I certainly have no regrets about buying the Echo instead! A wee bit dearer (but not much!), but the Echo actually seems more in keeping with what I would traditionally have consider Husqvarna to be, than the new Husqvarnas!

A tenth seems a bit OTT, I think with correct use of the earths genuinely renewable resources we could probably sustain a bit more than that but being such a taboo subject it's never examined properly to be more precise. However, I've no doubt that you are entirely correct in referring to it as where the true solution lays.

You'd probably need to elaborate on that a bit.

Any Nightwish fans in the house?

What sort of lift capacity are you after? Smaller horticultural type tractor and loader will probably be more affortable than agricultural. On top of that you simply won't beat Kubota for manoeuvrability in a 4wd tractor due to the design of their front axle. I've a ME5700 with loader and it turns as tight as any 2wd, but you probably wouldn't even be buying as big as that so something smaller would be nimbler again. Don't rule out turf tyres either, although if you're going to be ploughing through a lot of clabber you probably need agris, but then they frequently create the clabber in the first place! Agricultural tractor prices are absolutely nuts at the minute, even for old knackered stuff.

I had an Avant a good number of years ago before they really took off in popularity, it was one of the smaller skidders, not the now more common pivot steerers. Also have a bit of experience with Bobcats on various jobs I was on. My advice would be than unless you really need that turn-on-it's-own-axis ability, then you should get something else. Unless you're on a concrete yard it'll rip the crap out of it in no time, and if it is a concrete yard unless it's a very smooth concrete yard (floated ideally), it'll rip the crap out of itself. They are a specialist machine for particular jobs, and in these cases the potentially high running costs can be justified, otherwise pivot or 4ws will beat them everytime and it's not surprising that the mini/midi pivot steer loaders have replaced them in so many cases. Just my 2p.

A bit of a bugger to split if you're doing it by hand, and a bit more bulk to deal with for the same heat, but apart from that it's grand and there's certainly no reason to avoid using it in a stove.

I recently acquired it's smaller brother the 109 and was able to get anti-vib mounts for it no problem as a Makita part. So you could possibly look in that direction as well.

Thanks gents, happy days!

Don't get me wrong, I am firmly of the "any well seasoned wood is good burning wood" camp. But there are differences. Burn well-seasoned Leylandii all night and you'll be nice and toasty warm. But throw on a couple of chunks of hawthorn and you're put out of the room. So that's why the question was purely out of interest as I know it'll do a good job whatever.

Could I just stress again, this is a new planting, and has never been touched since planting. As a result I have bushes with stems up to two inches literally side by side with pencil thickness stems. The regrowth from the cut stumps will probably soon catch up with the thin poles left possibly meaning it could all be cut together next time. As I said before being mindful of Alec's advice, rather than take out the thickest, I will now probably just leave the thinnest, which isn't actually the same thing. Or any of the plots where the hazel is side by side with other hazel I will indeed cut the whole thing to leave a proper clearing. As an aside, and purely out of interest, when properly seasoned where would hazel sit as a firewood and what would it be comparable to?

Good man, be sure and let us know how you get on, type of file used, etc.

Is it possible that the point Alec made is coming in to play and the cut Is it possible that Alec's point is relevant here and they are being shaded by the stems which remain uncut? Just a thought.

Thanks for all replies so far, all useful and relevant. Rather than reply individually I'll just do one post addressing all points raised. Yes I understand why coppicing was traditionally clearing an area. The ones I would be thinking of doing this with are generally singles planted randomly throughout the area or along edges therefore their neighbours will be remaining anyway, however as these are mostly oaks the hazels will probably be able to be thinned and overtake them again anyway! I have a couple of areas of hazel only which I probably will cut in it's entirety when the time comes, although even then there's always one or two lagging behind and they might just get left to get a head start on the new growth. I also have a couple of areas of alder ready to cut but don't have time to do them in their entirety this year so they'll wait until autumn/winter. That having been said I will be mindful of the issue of shade within the one plant itself as Alec has mentioned, and not leave so much that it chokes out the new growth. That's relevant irrespective of what else is around it and something which I may not have considered. Finally, as this is my own wood and I'm cutting it just for my own use, I'd most likely be cutting by hand so no chain scars. :)

Accepted practice with hazel coppicing is to cut the entire bush and use all the various thicknesses of stems harvested as a result for different purposes. Recently I came across a video of a guy who questioned the relevance of this in present times as he was only interested in thicker stems for firewood. Therefore that's all he cut out of the bush, leaving the other thin poles to grow, which should give him more firewood from the same bush much sooner than cutting it all (a lot of which he would have no use for anyway) and waiting for the regrowth to bulk up. It seemed entirely sensible and very relevant to myself as I have a lot of new hazel to coppice and many of them have stems varying from pencil thickness up to 2in+ from the same root and it would be very useful to just take out the thick bits and leave the thinner stuff to grow on. Can anyone see any issues with doing this? Thanks.

Fixed that for you. Fully agree btw, indeed I could probably even convince myself that it was cutting at least as good as new.