I don't think our stacking system is particularly efficient, but it works well enough. We have a wood-shed near door that holds about a year's-worth. Kindling and 'bits' live in bike shed - filling back wall in carboard boxes. Shift wood in large trug to boxes in hall maybe once/week. Move from there to front room as required. 2 boxes in front room - one for logs one for kindling/starting. Various other pile round garden drying next year's stuff (mostly hidden under/in large hedge). And big ugly pile of not-chopped-yet stuff by back door.

Chopping is a bit of a pain as chainsawing agravates my RSI, so get wife to do it now, but she gets sore too. Thus considering a wood-chopper that is better for us. Anyone tried these: http://tinyurl.com/6sasjj (Berlan BWS400 log cutter)? An alternative is a table-saw or chop saw which could also be used for proper woodwork, but that severely limits the depth of cut. Anyone have opinions on these methods?

A couple of points that deserve mentioning: 1) burning wet wood really does waste a remarkable amount of energy just driving the water off. Half the energy in a piece of wood can be wasted in generating steam and preventing the wood gasses being burned. 2) rain water is different from entrained water. Once logs have internally dried out then whilst rain will make them wet again this water will quickly dry off again (days rather than months). Whilst storing logs under a waterproof 'lid' of some sort is a good idea it is not necessary for them to become seasoned (or at least this is my understanding, and fits with my experience).

Posted By: luditesorry, this is a slight deviation. But we have a large (dead, felled) elm tree - should I burn it or try and sell it?

How large? Is it rotten or substantially sound? If it's got a good volume of solid timber in it, then don't chop it up yet! If the branches were removed, what size and shape of trunk would be left?

having just bought some lovely elm lintels........ sell it, you'll do well!

Hurray. Looks as if I can post longer than 1 line now - but still can't start a new discussion - so appologies for the hijacked thread. I'll continue with investigations. . . .

How long is the three-foot thick trunk section? It sounds as though it might be worth a bit to someone. Some tree surgeon or woodworker near you will probably pay you to come and cut it into boards then take them away. English elm is rare indeed, these days. Maybe there's someone near you who makes chairs? Chairmakers like elm, I gather.

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More deviation - I have an oak log left here 20 odd years ago by previous occupants, about 6m long and average 2m girth which looks as though the tree rotated or was twisted as it grew, about 1.5 revolutions over the 6m. It would make a very fine barber's pole if rather large, but I imagine this twisted grain would make it difficult to use in many situations and maybe that's why it was left. Should I try and do something with it?

Posted By: mike7More deviation - I have an oak log left here 20 odd years ago by previous occupants, about 6m long and average 2m girth which looks as though the tree rotated or was twisted as it grew, about 1.5 revolutions over the 6m. It would make a very fine barber's pole if rather large, but I imagine this twisted grain would make it difficult to use in many situations and maybe that's why it was left. Should I try and do something with it?

That's a lot of oak! I'd say the same thing that I said to Ludite - ring a few people who might be end users and see if any of them want to pay to cut it into boards on the spot and take them away. The log you've got must be about 18 or 19 cubic metres of wood - not all good, of course, but there must be someone who pay a bit for it. If it was cut into boards in the right way the grain might give a really beautiful appearance.

Posted By: mike7Thanks joe.e - Volume is more like 2 cu mtrs. Maybe you mistook my girth figure for the diameter. That really would be some wood!
I'll need some new floor boards in a while, and thought I might cut it up myself. I've heard there are machines available that can be set up on site - have you ever came across one? I wouldn't fancy it with a hand-held chain saw!

Ah. Not quite so dramatic as I thought, then... But still worthwhile. Yes, there are chain saw mills that you set up on site - http://www.logosol.co.uk/ for some good ones.

I've got a few - they grow to five metres or so and then the beetle gets 'em.

I'm going to check out the logosol website as soon as I can stop grandPA from talking to me - he's arrived for tea etc now grandma is out of the way. . . . . . . So, any other places I can get a site specific wood processing machine???

There is a lot of wastage with chain saw mills due to the width of the saw, but might be a the only option for one offs. We have a few people in our area who have proper mobile saw mills (cant for the life of me remember the make) who are happy to do single logs as they can quite often string a few jobs together in the same area - but then we are in a forest and might not be the same demand in most areas. Ask around at sawmills or local timber suppliers if they know of anybody.

We have a few small elms alive and well, but a lot more dead ones. a few of them got to about 6 or 7 m high and about a foot across the stem

Posted By: TheDoctor"6 or 7 m high and about a foot across the stem"


gotta love the UK's mix of Imperial and metric!

my joiner's lad always had me in stitches shouting measurements like "3 ft long, and 120mm wide" but best of all was the "cut it at 2ft 10mm long"

Great Britain - a very special kind of bonkers

Actually, we're in the United Kingdom. Or maybe in England, or Wales, or Scotland? Or the British Isles? Anyway, we proudly order our 2x2's by the metre here, and our 8x4's are 1220x2440mm. Or do we get our 50x50's by the foot? I do get confused sometimes...

Chainsaw mills are indeed more wasteful than Woodmizers etc., but a lot easier to move and set up. Simplest of all is probably the Alaskan mill. Of course you need a pretty beefy saw and a ripping chain if you don't want to spend all day developing vibration white finger.

Re mixing up your metric and imperial - a friend in France ordered what he thought was a shed. Fortunately the local Maire is 'on-side' and he quickly got planning permission to erect something more akin to a ski chalet. We tease him about starting up a holiday camp.