It's an ill wind.....

[British Red]

Those high winds of Winter caused our tree surgeon friend a lot of work. We talked the other day and told me he was extracting a large blue cedar that had dropped two large limbs and was threatening a neighbour's house in the winds. He asked if I wanted the wood - well of course with fuel prices as they are! Anyway today he rocked up and dropped this lot

Blue Cedar first load by English Countrylife, on Flickr

I said " nice wood, thanks!"

"You've got two hours to shift it" he said " that's the small stuff, I'm coming back with more"

So we stacked up the cord wood in the woodyard with some other that we are waiting to process

Cordwood in woodyard by English Countrylife, on Flickr

The rounds got stacked prior to splitting

Blue cedar small rounds by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Then the second load was dropped

Second load of blue cedar by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Again cordwood was stacked. We find it much easier to sort the woodyard so that we can process all the cordwood then split all the sections. So the rounds are lined up. I didn't stack these - one attempt at lifting them was enough

Blue Cedar trunk by English Countrylife, on Flickr

I'm hoping to process these in about a month, but unfortunately we are at the awkward stage where we need to use the seasoned wood at the back of the wood shed first!

Wood shed by English Countrylife, on Flickr

From the odd few needles, it must have been a lovely tree

Blue Cedar needles by English Countrylife, on Flickr

[Medusa]

Lovely! That will come in very useful, do you split with an axe or do you have a log splitter? We spent Saturday chopping up a cherry tree which was offered to us. Nice wood but we felt obliged to get rid of all of the tiny twigs and ended up putting it all through a chipper which the owner of the tree asked for to use as mulch. My arms are still aching from the chainsaw but we did such a good job of tidying up I got a nice bottle of red as a thank you.

[British Red]

I do have a splitter that I'll put the smaller rounds over. The big stuff is probably about 75cm across so too big for axe splitting. I'll break it down with maul and steel wedges until it's more manageable

Maul & wedges by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Once I've got it into quarters I'll either split it with the maul or splitter

Log splitting equipment by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Cordwood gets stacked up in the bench and chainsawed en masse

Log bench by English Countrylife, on Flickr

[Vitamin c]

It absolutely amazing these tree surgeons give away that wood it's worth good money.

[British Red]

The chap who gives it to us is booked solidly through the Summer. To sell it as firewood he would need a woodyard which he hasn't got and to take time out of tree surgery to section, split and stack. He then needs to season it for a couple of years. He believes he can make more money doing tree surgery than working in firewood. He is the exception as a small "one man band" and a really nice guy - we are very lucky. It's another of the " unexpected consequences" of all the regulation over selling firewood. He just can't be bothered with it. It's also true that lots of people are picky and want only hardwood or don't want to deal with massive trunks. Our attitude is "just tip your truck, get back to work and we'll sort it out".

We are very lucky with our rural network - the farmers, tree surgeons, engineers etc. are great people and really good to us. We try to find ways to pay them back. The bloke who delivers us tonnes of rotted manure does so because we take fresh eggs each week to his elderly father as an example. It's not really "barter" but more friends helping friends

[Arzosah]

That's brilliant, Red, and a network that's been built up over the years. And it's genuine too, you can't do that without meaning it.

Interesting what you say about the regulation putting off your guy about the firewood, it's so important that *somebody* uses a resource like that.

[British Red]

Honestly, the same happened with all the game meat handling regulations. People previously involved in deer culling and passing on the meat just take enough for their own use now - hence the huge surge in deer numbers. We should be making so much more of wild meat, but the desk jockeys have made it so that it's just kept as a local resource.

[jansman]

Honestly, the same happened with all the game meat handling regulations. People previously involved in deer culling and passing on the meat just take enough for their own use now - hence the huge surge in deer numbers. We should be making so much more of wild meat, but the desk jockeys have made it so that it's just kept as a local resource.

I can second that.

[grenfell]

The chap who gives it to us is booked solidly through the Summer. To sell it as firewood he would need a woodyard which he hasn't got and to take time out of tree surgery to section, split and stack. He then needs to season it for a couple of years. He believes he can make more money doing tree surgery than working in firewood. He is the exception as a small "one man band" and a really nice guy - we are very lucky. It's another of the " unexpected consequences" of all the regulation over selling firewood. He just can't be bothered with it. It's also true that lots of people are picky and want only hardwood or don't want to deal with massive trunks. Our attitude is "just tip your truck, get back to work and we'll sort it out".

Another option is to cut timber into turning blanks especially hardwoods and fruit woods. Suppliers seem to charge stupid money for them and some are relatively small sections and quick(ish) to season. I have a couple of friends who do a bit and have, given them timber in the past as the blanks are so expensive. Saying that I had a huge piece of old oak from a 16th century building that had been kicking round the garage for a couple of decades that I was almost getting fed up with. My friend said to cut it into blanks but in the end I couldn't be bothered so cut it for firewood

[British Red]

I have a big pile of lovely wood I set aside for a woodturner who has never bothered to collect Yew, cherry, cedar, Holly, bay and many more. I ought to quarter saw it really for turning blanks to stop it checking as it dries but who has the time?