Happiness is large piles

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British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,715
1,962
Mercia
That's where my buddies gear comes in so handy, a tractor with forks and grab and a huge braked tipping trailer. So we bring everything home for processing. We get much more people asking too since we can clear stuff away for them. Different with your own woodland of course.
 

spandit

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 6, 2011
5,594
308
East Sussex, UK
That's where my buddies gear comes in so handy, a tractor with forks and grab and a huge braked tipping trailer. So we bring everything home for processing. We get much more people asking too since we can clear stuff away for them. Different with your own woodland of course.

Most of the trees in my woodland could be cut with scissors :)
 

Tony

White bear (Admin)
Admin
Apr 16, 2003
24,174
1
1,931
53
Wales
www.bushcraftuk.com
Great pile there, we're gradually clearing our piles and getting them stacked, oak, Hawthorne, pine, ash, alder and anything else we've got our hands on over the last few years, it's very satisfying having a nice pile of chopped wood....
 

dewi

Full Member
May 26, 2015
2,647
12
Cheshire
I have pile envy. :(

IMG_0432.jpg
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,666
McBride, BC
May I suggest that you evaluate the wood for carving as you go through it?
Straight-grained, knot-free, near as you can tell. Expect 6-8" splits each end (firewood some day).
Paint the ends, strip the bark and set in the shade to air dry about 1" thickness/year so a 4" piece
could be air-dried (Moisture Content down to approx 12-14%) in 2-3 years.

I ask since I read so often that British wood carvers have some trouble finding wood (suitable or not).

Each Friday in the local Farmer's Market, I have several things to sell including a stock of basswood ( like lime)
2" x 2" x 12" pieces. The very first piece I sold was to a tourist from France.
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,715
1,962
Mercia
Anyone wants wood to carve RV they are welcome to it. I had some huge burls recently but no-one wanted them...or the seasoned lime, hawthorn etc, so into the log burner it goes :). I did sort QG with some ash, but that's about it. Trouble is its a horrible price to post.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,666
McBride, BC
If you were willing to give it away, I'd expect the carver to do the travel. Nothing else will do.
Otherwise, they must share a chronic habit to complain (probably about anything and everything.)
 

Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
I'll need to get you up for lunch one day next time I'm over, you can play with any axes I have left. :)

That would be cool cheers. Only two axes left myself. Could always help you restock that wood store :D

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,666
McBride, BC
The bits behind me in my avatar used to be a Douglas-fir log (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
Nothing that a gas engine, hydraulic splitter couldn't fix.

Personally, I burn compressed wood pellets in a Harman PP38+ wood pellet stove for winter heating.
Ground up and formed from all the crap and salvage wood & branches of no other merchantible value.
This winter past had a few cold (-25C) spells and snow falls (max 36" overnight) so I burned
just more than 4 tons = 8,000lbs.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,666
McBride, BC
I buy them, a ton at a time, 50 x 40lb bags. The stove feed is automatic just as long as I remember to fill the hopper (holds 2.5 bags.).
The pellets are extremely dry and compacted so fuel value based on weight is the significant measure.
Depending on ash content, I shut the stove down to cool and clean about every 500-700lbs. Of course the pale brown ash is light, fluffy
and incombustible, the volum might be that of a good sized loaf of bread.
Not long ago, I did learn that a home owner can buy small scale machinery for DIY. I live in the village with no source of supply but the
debris piles from logging and normally, there's too much dirt/sand/stones in the pile. With maybe 36" snow on the ground, I can't
get there from here!
In Britsh Columbia, the industrial feedstock is spruce/pine/fir/Doug-fir. Much is shipped by rail across Canada
and to Scandanavia from east coast ports. Boat-loads of the stuff.
 

sunndog

Full Member
May 23, 2014
3,561
477
derbyshire
Nice score for free that BR

seeing as we are posting pics of woodpiles, I'v put this one up before, but its the only one i'v got on my computer :D


 

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