How to stop those uninvited Facebook friends....

[sonnetpete]

.....actually calling in person.

 

[Lazarus]

Logtastic, mon brave!


(Any Couleuvres ou Vipéres?

 

[sonnetpete]

Ah non!

I've got a mate staying for about a month who's the energetic lumberjack. (He's looking after the place next week while I visit my Mum for five days). The tree had about a metre taken off the top just less than two years ago by EDF as it was brushing my supply cable. Sadly, the shock (of trimming not electricity!!) killed it stone dead so it's needed clearing out. Unfortunately it hasn't improved my LOS in any way as it lined up nearly spot on with 1°W and I already cleared it comfortably.

Any logs we gain from the tree are useless for burning even after two years drying, due to the tar like residue they leave in the flue.

 

[waverider]

Your mate doesn't carry out "hits" by any chance? I've got a huge willow tree in a neighbouring garden that needs taking out!

 

[Lazarus]

Today I have also been at the brushwood: Removed a big run of wall-clinging Ivy.

Very satisfying, apart from the suckers (whose stubborn-ness rhymes with their description).


Got an awful lot of scraping to do.

That said, the pointing is in decent shape. It's a bit of a myth that Ivy damages it. It will exploit any crumbly bits and cracks, but then a properly pointed wall won't have those weaknesses.










More room for Dishes now ...................... shame SWMBO wants a Garden Bench.

 

[Analoguesat]

More room for Dishes now ...................... shame SWMBO wants a Garden Bench.

What attached to the wall?

 

[sonnetpete]

Your mate doesn't carry out "hits" by any chance? I've got a huge willow tree in a neighbouring garden that needs taking out!

No sorry!! He's with me until the end of the month, off to the Dordogne to pick apples for a few weeks and then back to Bulgaria until next year. (He's actually from Hull originally)

 

[Huevos]

Any logs we gain from the tree are useless for burning even after two years drying, due to the tar like residue they leave in the flue.

If they are leaving creosote in the flue they are not ready to burn. Have they been cut and split for at least a year? Here, in the desert (well almost) I leave my wood split for at least a year otherwise it smokes, which is a sinful waste of fuel. Also, has the flue got a liner, and does the stove have secondary combustion?

 

[2cvbloke]

Mix the wood in with other cleaner & hotter burning woods to reduce the tar problems, the chimney only gets tarred due to inefficient burning...

Plus, you must cut the wood in the late autumn & through winter when there is no or little sap flowing, which will help speed up the drying & seasoning...

 

[Channel Hopper]

Your mate doesn't carry out "hits" by any chance? I've got a huge willow tree in a neighbouring garden that needs taking out!

All a willow requires is a large wayward firework (on a dry night), so you have less than 3 months to go.

Unfortunately they do grow back quicker than most unless you really go to town (not that I would ever approve of dropping some diesel over the fence beforehand)

 

[sonnetpete]

I know 'green' wood has to be seasoned for at least two years (and preferably three) before burning. Unless it's ash which can be burnt straight after cutting I'm told. The tree we took down was an evergreen fir, possibly a Lleylandii (not sure of the spelling). A friend with a central heating boiler which can run on either oil or wood had problems after burning this type of wood. It reduced the width of his flue to about a 2" diameter and carbonised to such an extent that they has to dismantle the chimney tubing and knock out the blockages. Hence, I've always avoided trying this type of wood, sticking to beech, oak, elm or chestnut (all of which are available locally). Maybe he was burning this wood at low temperatures, but I'd rather not risk it. BTW, never put chestnut logs on an open fire unless you want run all over the room, stamping out glowing embers spat out like speeding bullets.

@Huevos : No, both the log burner and the Rayburn are just straight tubing. The log burner does I think have secondary combustion, certainly it's very efficient but I really use it for background heating. The Rayburn runs mainly on anthracite but can burn logs too. It's easier to keep it in all night with anthracite, a big plus as I cook on it and it heats four upstairs radiators and a shower room towel rail.

 

[Lazarus]

Using unseasoned wood cost one of our neighbours a lot of dosh to have his chimney rebuilt and relined. Narrowing not only meant the combustion gases and heat were not efficiently dispersed, but in this case the chimney fire persisted so long and got so hot that the masonry was terminally affected.

And they had an open fire, so presumably were at risk from fumes.

 

[2cvbloke]

Unless it's ash which can be burnt straight after cutting I'm told.

Yup, that's true, though it actually burns better when dry than it does green:

Ash: Considered one of the best burning wood with steady flame and good heat output. It will burn when green, but not as well as when dry. Easy to saw and split.

 

[sonnetpete]

It's strange, I've never been offered ash for firewood in the ten years I've lived here. Perhaps the farmers keep it for themselves or it's not common here. I do have a huge ash tree in my 'hedgerow'. I reckon there would be two or three winters worth of fuel in it. However, it's such a lovely tree I could never bring myself to chop it down.

 

[waverider]

All a willow requires is a large wayward firework (on a dry night), so you have less than 3 months to go.

Unfortunately they do grow back quicker than most unless you really go to town (not that I would ever approve of dropping some diesel over the fence beforehand)

Thats what I like about you CH, your on the same level in my way of thinking. One other method using diesel I stumbled across was to dig down to one its main roots and insert a intravenous drip, this works well in spring when the sap starts to rise, apparantly the tree will suck in as much as you can feed it!

A stray firework after a few gallons absorbed would I imagine create an impressive spectacle!

 

[2cvbloke]

It's strange, I've never been offered ash for firewood in the ten years I've lived here. Perhaps the farmers keep it for themselves or it's not common here. I do have a huge ash tree in my 'hedgerow'. I reckon there would be two or three winters worth of fuel in it. However, it's such a lovely tree I could never bring myself to chop it down.

You need to learn the art of coppicing, basically cutting bits off of multiple trees, then using the cuts as your firewood, while leaving the tree intact and alive, but again it's best in late autumn/winter to cause the least harm to the tree...

Of course, it is useful to have many trees to be coppicing, like in say a copse...

 

[sonnetpete]

Well, most of the trees on my property are evergreen Leylandii (the ones at the rear of the house are between 20 - 30 metres tall) Counting the rings on the stump of the one we felled today they were planted about 1985, just fitting in with the purchase of the house by the previous owner. Being English (and a teacher from Lancashire if memory serves) I guess it was him that planted them.

If the place had remained in French ownership, I have no doubt there would have been far more fruit trees (cider apple and cider pear), though I'm fond of the ones I've got and the two walnut trees too.

I don't think I want to begin coppicing, or even begin to learn about it, as this place is going on the market in four years time. If another English person buys it, I have a feeling a lot of trees will be coming down anyway.

 

[Lazarus]

Keep me and SWMBO in mind afore ye appoint an alleged "Agent".

 

[Analoguesat]

Keep me and SWMBO in mind afore ye appoint an alleged "Agent".

In that case Pete - you better leave the dishes as well

 

[sonnetpete]

In that case Pete - you better leave the dishes as well

Well, I intended to as they are doubling the value of the house LOL

In truth, I plan to take the multisat dishes down when it does go on the market as 99% of prospective buyers will see them as eyesores. Should a like minded person buy the place I've no doubt the trees blocking a lot of my western arc will dissapear, or at least be severely trimmed.