I need to get out more

[Bixxer Bob]

Since moving home in the summer I've become a bit obsessed with our multifuel stove and how to get the best out of it for the least money.  I got it running fairly efficiently on a mix of logs and smokeless fuel so was quite happy, then I got the chance to use my recently gained tree-felling qualification.  I felled two Ash trees for a neighbour with one more to do.  I now have enough logs to see us through a whole winter for only two day's work, well happy!  :D

Those that live in the woods might not appreciate how rare an opportunity this is, or that heating in the UK is normally mains gas or oil these days.

Oh, and I found this amusing little piece when searching for guidance on which species make the best fuel:

Beech-wood fires burn bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year;
Store your beech for Christmastide
With new-cut holly laid beside;
Chestnut's only good, they say,
If for years 'tis stored away;
Birch and fir-wood burn too fast
Blaze too bright and do not last;
Flames from larch will shoot up high,
Dangerously the sparks will fly;
But ash-wood green and ash-wood brown
Are fit for a Queen with a golden crown.

Oaken logs, if dry and old,
Keep away the winter's cold;
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke;
Elm-wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold;
It is by the Irish said;
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread,
Apple-wood will scent the room,
Pear-wood smells like flowers in bloom;
But ash-wood wet and ash-wood dry
A King may warm his slippers by.

I'm losing it aren't I? :roll:

[PeteH]

I got it running fairly efficiently on a mix of logs and smokeless fuel

Ours has ran on logs(various) for last few years and the heat output is brilliant. Even with the vents and flue gagged we still have to open a door the let heat out.

[KuzzinKenny]

I'm losing it aren't I? :roll:

It must be the fumes      :shock:

KK

[Chris Canning]

I'm losing it aren't I? :roll:

It must be the fumes      :shock:

KK

More like ajusting to living with the bloody inbreads over there  :D ,bet he feels like Jack Nicholson in One flew over the cuckoos nest.  :)

[metalguru]

I got it running fairly efficiently on a mix of logs and smokeless fuel so was quite happy, then I got the chance to use my recently gained tree-felling qualification.

Just got this vision of a fully farkled, heated grips, remapped high performance chainsaw flying around the neighbourhood emmitting a shrill cry from it's smokeless expansion chamber!!

Lookout the locals may try to breed from it!


 

[KuzzinKenny]

I really shouldn't post this, but it's me   :lol:



i wanty one O these  :lol:

KK

[KuzzinKenny]

and on a serious note  :roll:

http://info.cat.org.uk/sites/default/fi ... edHome.pdf

might be usefull  

KK

[The Midnight Rambler]

My wood burner arrives saturday, a Swedish Morso. really looking forward to having a real fire again. Chainsaw is poised so Bobs little verse is good to know when stocking up for next winter.

[Spud]

Bin the chain saw and get a good axe, that will keep you warmer, burn a few calories and keep you entertained cheers Spud  

[The Midnight Rambler]

My old Dad worked for the Forestry Commision in his youth and I still have his collection of axes and wedges, but those new fangled fat splitting axes look interesting. Farkling my chopping block!?!

[Geoff W]

My dad was a miner, so I was brought up with a proper fire. I still have an open fire in our house now. By far the best wood is the free stuff nicked from local skips. Or bits donated by locals getting rid of trees. Someone else does the work, and you get your heat for free.

[oxnsox]

I'm losing it aren't I? :roll:

If you have to get a qualification to make firewood.... then quite possibly....

[Sin_Tiger]

There is nothing in that ryhme about how the remains of your old shed burn  :?  The wife is about to find out this winter  

[oxnsox]

...or old Landys that were in the old shed....

[Bixxer Bob]

I'm losing it aren't I? :roll:

If you have to get a qualification to make firewood.... then quite possibly....

I don't need the qual for making firewood per se, but I thought since a local tree surgeon very nearly beheaded himself this summer (if it wasn't for clotting drugs developed by the military in Iraq and Afganistan he'd have been a gonner) and I have no experience of using a chainsaw or cutting wood, and there's the possibility of earning some pocket money, I'd get myself properly trained in the basics, they progress from there.

It turned out to be quite an interesting course; the chainsaw maintenance was straightforward for anyone used to 2-strokes but it was my first experience of sharpening a chain.  The actual felling covered straight, leaning back, leaning forward (the tree that is) and dealing with hang-ups.  So, all in all, very useful.