Happiness is large piles
- Thread starter British Red
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You people are right = there's nothing like an open, round-wood fire. Might not be efficient but there are winter days(!) when I would not care.
The mountain ranges to both the east and west of my house are just a few miles away. So sunrise comes late and sunset comes early, no
matter what the calculations will say. Winter solstice, Dec 21 = sun behind the west range at 1:52PM. Overcast is even worse.
Any really common species or do you all just take what you can get?
The mountain ranges to both the east and west of my house are just a few miles away. So sunrise comes late and sunset comes early, no
matter what the calculations will say. Winter solstice, Dec 21 = sun behind the west range at 1:52PM. Overcast is even worse.
Any really common species or do you all just take what you can get?
I'll burn any wood - when seasoned it all produces heat. Some better than others but I'd rather get free softwood rather than paying for hardwood.
In a few years I'll be hopefully burning mainly alder although with any luck I can keep scrounging...
In a few years I'll be hopefully burning mainly alder although with any luck I can keep scrounging...
I still have splitter envy
That splitter was surprisingly cheap mate. If you already have something to power it, its only a ram and a bit of fabrication work
A self powered 20 ton splitting would be a very expensive machine
Heres my style of log pile. This one has had a winters worth taken out of it
Theres another forty bags in another stack and a couple of more traditional log piles too.
dont think i'll be cutting anything this year. we've got a very mature ash and sycamore to fell but i'm leaving them standing till theres somewhere to put them
We were discussing powering such a beast this week. Tractor would only have one way hydraulic lines so would be slow to recover the ram. The Unimog has rally powerful two way hydraulics but a 5.9 litre engine might be deemed overkill....and a little thirsty too!
This has been posted on BCUK several times before, but I never tire of watching it.
[video=youtube;5ZQCA-mTzjs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZQCA-mTzjs[/video]
[video=youtube;5ZQCA-mTzjs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZQCA-mTzjs[/video]
I'd go for the mog mate, that way you could chuck the logs straight in them bins of yours and use the tractors forks to shift em about
Thats the joy of using the JCB like i do in the pic. got the spitter at a good working height and the split logs drop straight in the tons bags. Then i just hook the bag to the splitter jump in the cab and stack it
A timely reminder that our own log pile is now completely empty. Time to start on building the supply for next winter.
Eventually, the chips from the chainsaw kerf amounts to a serious volume of wood.
You can't use it? Fine, compressed as pellets, I will.
You can't use it? Fine, compressed as pellets, I will.
Thats one reason i like cutting in a shed. All the sawdust is easily swept up, bagged, and burnt
Chicken coop poop. I believe that wood chips will not readily compost due to the high cellulose content.
My compost bin is just 5' x 5' x 4' deep (and heaping full at the moment.) Quite by accident, some grape vine
clippings get in there, they last for years.
I like to think of wood for all the solar energy/heat which is released into my home in winter.
My compost bin is just 5' x 5' x 4' deep (and heaping full at the moment.) Quite by accident, some grape vine
clippings get in there, they last for years.
I like to think of wood for all the solar energy/heat which is released into my home in winter.
Chainsaw chips compost just fine if you get your mix right. Its all about getting the temperature up high enough for a really fast rot. Too much green you get a wet mess. Too much brown and its over dry. I like about half green, a quarter lightly chipped woody stuff and a quarter manure and straw. Needs to be turned regularly and packed together.
So I guess the temperature thing is moot by the end of January?
I save apple sawdust for my meat-smoking BBQ.
I'd like to turn my compost over but it would take up 1/2 my lawn and garden to get it done.
I add fertilizer and lots of water, use an iron T-post to bore some holes maybe 16".
Essentially, it's no more than a means to get rid of many cubic yards of clippings.
One year, January I recall, I needed some compost for something.
No more than 24" compact snow on the ground, maybe -10C for a couple of weeks (nice winter days.)
I thought that I could hack into the pile with a shovel or an axe and chip off a chunk.
Started to clear the snow, hit solid ice! The heat from decomposition had melted enough snow
which froze on the top, creating a 2" thick ice dome over the compost.
I save apple sawdust for my meat-smoking BBQ.
I'd like to turn my compost over but it would take up 1/2 my lawn and garden to get it done.
I add fertilizer and lots of water, use an iron T-post to bore some holes maybe 16".
Essentially, it's no more than a means to get rid of many cubic yards of clippings.
One year, January I recall, I needed some compost for something.
No more than 24" compact snow on the ground, maybe -10C for a couple of weeks (nice winter days.)
I thought that I could hack into the pile with a shovel or an axe and chip off a chunk.
Started to clear the snow, hit solid ice! The heat from decomposition had melted enough snow
which froze on the top, creating a 2" thick ice dome over the compost.
