vegplot
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Wood chippersWe've just had some chaps trimming the trees around the back of Intec (the council owned business premises) here at Parc Menai. They removed the larger peices of timber but chipped the smaller. Is this a good thing to do? Would it be better to collect the chippings for fuel rather than leaving them to rot? Does it add anything to the biodiversity mix if left in situ?
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RichardW
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Had some one from coed cymru come & look round by small woodland. Did expect him to moan that I dont shread the smaller branches. In fact he said it was better to leave them "as is" for the enviroment.
On a diff point chippers for making fuel tend to cost a LOT more than standard forestry chippers / shreaders. I think its do do with size & conformity to a standard so that the auto feed systems will work. Also moisture content will be a problem, fresh chippings tend to rot & not dry out unless turned / aired daily (we do it to some of the chainsaw chippings to make bedding but only on sunny days & small amounts).
Justme
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vegplot
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I'd rather have the small branches left as beetle piles but Parc Menai manicures wildlife out of existance. I see your point about moisture content.
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bodger
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I'm off on a charcoal burning course on Monday and Thursday of next week.
Last week we travelled down to Hampshire and on the way down, we passed several gangs of council workers at the side of the road who for no apparent reason were cutting down healthy young native hard wood trees. They had large shredders and were putting the trees straight through. I thought that this was a great shame, as I would imagine that the stuff they were putting through them would have made ideal material for charcoal making.
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Treacodactyl
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About this time last year storms blew over a huge oak tree nearby. We got talking to a tree surgeon who was removing it and he basically gets nothing for the wood. Logs have to be cut up into manageable lengths, loaded into a van and taken to someone so he shredded as much as possible including branches about as thick as my leg! The chippings are dumped for free, often used for paths or parking areas IIRC. Luckily he was happy for us to collect as much as we could which has been relatively easy to process.
I don't think much has changed in the last year and as bagged seasoned logs cost £3 - £5 round here I'm sure a reasonable living could be made if you had the room to store all the material.
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bodger
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I had a friend who use to make part of his living by cutting and selling logs. He had a large timber yard and the council actually brought fallen trees direct to him to dispose of.
He used a massive circular saw bench with a lethal looking blade. He did quite well at it, but he had to give it up when it got to a stage where he's actually lost more fingers than he'd kept. 
He was only a young bloke at the time and his hands were one hell of a mess. He never did learn to play the piano 
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HippieGal
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| bodger wrote: | | He never did learn to play the piano |
hahahaha
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tonythetree
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| Treacodactyl wrote: | About this time last year storms blew over a huge oak tree nearby. We got talking to a tree surgeon who was removing it and he basically gets nothing for the wood. Logs have to be cut up into manageable lengths, loaded into a van and taken to someone so he shredded as much as possible including branches about as thick as my leg! The chippings are dumped for free, often used for paths or parking areas IIRC. Luckily he was happy for us to collect as much as we could which has been relatively easy to process.
I don't think much has changed in the last year and as bagged seasoned logs cost £3 - £5 round here I'm sure a reasonable living could be made if you had the room to store all the material. |
Hi speaking as a tree surgeon one of the biggest problems we have with big trees is the amount of metal in e'm nails etc, I've been toying with buying a portable saw mill but the amount of junk we find i'm not sure its worth it. So we have cut any hard wood we get into fire wood 
Also Its not so cost effective to cut large lumps of timber up, cord wood is quicker,we have a fire wood processor running off a tractor, will process 3 ton per hour 
Tony
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Treacodactyl
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| tonythetree wrote: | Hi speaking as a tree surgeon one of the biggest problems we have with big trees is the amount of metal in e'm nails etc, I've been toying with buying a portable saw mill but the amount of junk we find i'm not sure its worth it. So we have cut any hard wood we get into fire wood
Also Its not so cost effective to cut large lumps of timber up, cord wood is quicker,we have a fire wood processor running off a tractor, will process 3 ton per hour
Tony |
I don't think the oak tree I mentioned would have been suitable for timber, it was rotting in places. What surprised me was this tree surgeon wasn't getting any money for the logs either.
I understand about the metal in the trees, I've found quite a few old metal things in the ash of a wood fire and you often see nails, bits of metal fencing etc embedded in trees growing in peoples gardens.
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tonythetree
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I don't think the oak tree I mentioned would have been suitable for timber, it was rotting in places. What surprised me was this tree surgeon wasn't getting any money for the logs either.
It would depend what part of the country you are or rural/urban, and if the surgeon markets the logs properly.
Tony
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