Woodland Custodianship

[Broch]

Anyone have experience of bio-degradable chainsaw bar oil?

I'm a good way through this year's planned coppicing and thinning (I'll put some details up when I have a moment). My chain oil is now running low and I am considering switching to a bio-degradable type (Stihl BioPlus for example). It seems a bit irresponsible to spend the next 20 years (I hope) spraying petroleum based oils around the wood! I have heard rumour that they solidify and clog up the chain but this may be from people not prepared to pay the 25% increased cost or it may be true.

So, any of you have personal experience? If not, I'll get some and let you know

 

[TLM]

I have been using rape seed oil based chain oil for several years without any problems. At least so far it seems like a good idea.

 

[Broch]

I have been using rape seed oil based chain oil for several years without any problems. At least so far it seems like a good idea.

Thanks for that; any particular brand?

 

[TLM]

Don't remember, local anyway. I think that I have tried two brands and they were equal. There is quite a few chain saws around and if some chain oil does not work it would be kicked out of the market fast.

 

[slowworm]

I've only ever used Stihl BioPlus chain oil in all my saws and not had a problem if 3 or 4 years of use. I don't even drain the oil off when the saw will not be used for a while.

I gather heavy use with some bio oils can lead to gumming up of the saw a bit more but I keep mine clean so don't have a problem.

One word of warning, mice and rats seem to like bio oil so take care where the saw is kept. I only leave empty bio oil containers in the garage ant they get chewed by the rodents.

 

[Broch]

One word of warning, mice and rats seem to like bio oil so take care where the saw is kept. I only leave empty bio oil containers in the garage ant they get chewed by the rodents.

Ooh, useful advice, thanks.

Rodents have twice gnawed through the pressure side diesel supply pipe on my ATV and once through a brake hose in the last few months (the latter being slightly hairy in our steep wood!).

 

[Broch]

OK, an update on this season’s tasks. The truth is I’m quite a long way behind this year’s task list according to my management plan, but the wood’s been unmanaged for over 100 years so there’s no rush really. Nearly all my work is done on my own so I’m ultra-cautious – considering every possible outcome to my actions before starting (there are still a few surprises though!).

I’ve finally managed to get the last of the sheep out and repaired the fence where needed. I had to do that before doing any coppicing because they managed to completely destroy all last year’s coppice growth . I also had to put in a new hurdle in the bottom track. There’s no right of way along this track but the historic maps (the oldest I have is mid 1800s) show the track so I didn’t want to fence it. It’s steeply sloping so I had to build a hurdle that pivots on each joint.

I have no intention of opening up the interior of the wood but intend to coppice and thin around the edges to provide a better gradation between the fields and the wood and increase bio-diversity in those areas – woodland edge instead of dense woodland. The wood has no history of coppicing, so the hazel is old, overgrown and entwined. Anyone that has dealt with hazel like this will know the easy part is cutting it – sorting out the brash and any useable material then takes a great deal longer. Between the two stages the place looks like a storm has been through. Old hazel has a habit of knitting its branches and twigs together making it very difficult to sort out. There’s too much brash to leave on the woodland floor or use as dead-hedge so I’m having to burn a lot.

At the same time, I’m thinning out some of the younger ash trees; they’re overcrowded in many areas. They should coppice as well so I’m looking forward to a denser understory in a few years’ time.

Still lots to do but, because of the warm weather, the sap is already rising so the clock is ticking

 

[slowworm]

It has been a warm winter, we've got loads of hazel catkins out. I may have to curtail my winter felling as well, although with the windfall trees there's plenty of firewood down.

I notice you're burning the brash, do you not stack it to rot down? I've left mine stacked in previous years but there's a large amount to deal with this winter so I'm considering burning some of it as well.

 

[Broch]

It has been a warm winter, we've got loads of hazel catkins out. I may have to curtail my winter felling as well, although with the windfall trees there's plenty of firewood down.

I notice you're burning the brash, do you not stack it to rot down? I've left mine stacked in previous years but there's a large amount to deal with this winter so I'm considering burning some of it as well.

I know it looks a bit brutal but this wood is not short of material on the floor; it's been untouched for over 100 years and there is plenty of windfall. However, I do leave some down to create nesting areas and cover for wildlife. But, there is so much of it, because this is the first time it's been coppiced, that I have to burn a lot of it. I only use a couple of fire areas in the whole wood and even those are areas used for other activities so I'm being as sensitive to the ecology of the wood as possible. Current coppice best practice advice is a mixture of leaving on the floor, providing shelter sites, using it as dead hedges (to protect against deer etc.) and burning as far as I can tell.

 

[slowworm]

I totally understand. I would have been more against burning until I did a fair bit of thinning and now keep tripping over the brash. This is a newly planted woodland so I'll try and leave more piles to add material to the floor but I'll burn some to allow access. I may have mentioned in the past chipping would be better but too costly.

 

[Broch]

I may have mentioned in the past chipping would be better but too costly.

Interestingly, I have been advised against chipping unless you have a very wide area over which it can be distributed or can remove the chipping from the wood (maybe sell to a garden centre?). Apparently it suffocates the woodland floor with too much nitrogenous material and prevents growth of woodland flora.

My go-to reference source (for the moment) is "Coppicing and Coppice Crafts by Oaks & Mills".

 

[TLM]

You have the more complicated job, I am just trying to keep 6 hectares of taiga neat.

Some people spread the ashes around to achieve something similar to blowing the chips around. I understand biologists would like to see the trunks lying around but that easily tends to create a fairly impenetrable thicket. I usually cut fallen spruce away just for that reason, pine and birch are not really a problem that way.

 

[slowworm]

Interestingly, I have been advised against chipping unless you have a very wide area over which it can be distributed or can remove the chipping from the wood (maybe sell to a garden centre?). Apparently it suffocates the woodland floor with too much nitrogenous material and prevents growth of woodland flora.

My go-to reference source (for the moment) is "Coppicing and Coppice Crafts by Oaks & Mills".

Thank makes sense for established woodland but the area I'm working on still has the meadow grasses as it's main flora. I would use the chippings to create a ride so they wouldn't be spread over a huge area. I do take some brash home and put it through a shredder for the garden compost but that's just a tiny amount.

 

[Broch]

You have the more complicated job, I am just trying to keep 6 hectares of taiga neat.

Some people spread the ashes around to achieve something similar to blowing the chips around. I understand biologists would like to see the trunks lying around but that easily tends to create a fairly impenetrable thicket. I usually cut fallen spruce away just for that reason, pine and birch are not really a problem that way.

That's interesting, that's exactly the same are as I am managing Most of my wood is on a slope so it's only the rides/tracks that people tend to walk through and I can leave windblown material down. I only have a few old larch and a small copse of Spruce - the rest is deciduous (21 native tree species but mostly Sessile Oak and Ash). Is there much understory in Taiga?

 

[TLM]

I have just about all forest types available in small amounts. Pine, spruce and the two birches are the main species. Two alder sp. several willow sp., rowan, aspen, bird cherry. And junipers all over. The undergrowth in an old forest is quite sparse, a lot of blueberry. My area was last cut some 60 years ago and there are no plans for cutting. I am mostly trying to keep spruce from covering everything and occasionally culling pine suffering from Cronartium infections. Also cutting very old birches in areas I want to keep neat, in some places leaving them to the birds.

 

[Broch]

I had a very enjoyable day working down in the wood with my son today. He doesn't get chance to come down very often but enjoys it when he does and it's good time spent together on 'honest work'

However, the main reason for posting is we tried out a new Makita battery chain saw (2 x 18v). I was very impressed and loved the fact that it was so much quieter when cutting and, of course, no noise at all when moving between cuts. It cuts very well, easily coping with stuff between 3 and 6 inches+ and we used it to fell an ash that was 10" diameter. That's probably the sensible limit TBH. It won't replace the petrol saw but would do all the jobs coppicing and felling up to those kinds of sizes. We will need a few more batteries to keep going for a day and a way of charging down in the wood - some kind of inverter on the ATV probably (but that would mean having the ATV engine running which kind of defeats the idea of quiet operation).

Does anyone have experience of compatible but cheaper makes of batteries than Makita's own? Is it worth the saving or do they not perform as well?

 

[Paulm]

Can't help you with the compatible battery question but I'm a recent convert to battery saws as well for coppicing, snedding and general light to medium sized work, which to be honest is the majority of what needs doing most of the time !

My cordless tools are all bosch and are great, but they unfortunately don't do a decent small battery chainsaw so I went with the stihl version. The dealer tried to upsell me to a bigger version but I purposefully went for the smallest, lightest one, marketed as a pruning saw, as I wanted it as light and manoeuvrable as possible for coppicing the overstood hazel stools, having a couple of bigger petrol husqies for heavier jobs.

Very impressed with it, even got carried away and have been using it for logging up 8 to 10" beech, sure it's slower than a bigger saw and you can't force it, but it get's through them just fine and does a surprising amount of work on one charge. I picked up a second battery at the same time as the saw, but haven't actually needed to use it yet, unlikely I would ever need more than the two in a normal work day as I'd probably tire out before the batteries !!!

 

[Broch]

Yeh, I was tempted to go Stihl (as in all my petrol tools) but I already had a couple of Makita battery tools so I've decided to keep to one battery format. It sounds like this saw is not quite as efficient as yours though as I will definitely need more batteries to do a full day. I do take your point about running out of juice before the saw though; on the slope this work is very tiring (but satisfying).

 

[slowworm]

I have the domestic Stihl MSA 120 and it's great for small stuff up to about 6".

This thread might be useful for Makita compatible batteries, no experience of them myself: https://arbtalk.co.uk/forums/topic/118674-makita-18v-battery-replacement

 

[Broch]

I have the domestic Stihl MSA 120 and it's great for small stuff up to about 6".

This thread might be useful for Makita compatible batteries, no experience of them myself: https://arbtalk.co.uk/forums/topic/118674-makita-18v-battery-replacement

Thanks for the link; on that basis I think I'll get a couple and try them out