Nice work Stoner, I’m assuming that is either Willow or Poplar. how long does it take to reach that size?

Do you transport it home in those lengths?

I got some big bits of Poplar from the country park. It’s a lot lighter than the stuff I usually burn and it’s dead easy to split. I’m keen to see how it goes in the stove.

We use two Stilh MS-170 too, for cutting down everything up to a foot wide, you can still buy them new, I picked up one locally recently for £150 they have re-designed the filter so they don’t clog up so much.

Nice light chainsaw for firewood.

yep, that’s white poplar.

My coppice is 3.4 acres of abandoned polar plantation. The plantation was clear-felled about 6 or 7 years ago having stood for probably 25-30 years. They were some big poplars. The coppice grows from the old root systems so grows fast given the hefty infrastructure left in place. I reckon there’s over 200tons of standing material there, but because it hasnt been managed a lot of it is in 2″ to 4″ diameter which is taking my time clearing. Im doing the coppice in 6x 1/2 acre coupes. 1/2 an acre a year, but Ive only managed half of one half an acre so far and that’s already yielded over 10 tons 😯 😯 😯

I cut it to 12′ lengths as that’s the limit that I can manhandle (in a 7″ diameter cord). I havent quite worked out how to get 20+ tons of the stuff home yet 😳 Im going to go on arbtalk and see if I can find a haulier for a day…
I will probably sell quite a bit to a firewood selling friend. WIll pay for the chainsaw 🙂

I like poplar (I love willow) because once properly dry it burns very fast and hard which is ideal in the furnace. Also having it at 3″ to 7″ diameter, I only have to do single splits on the stuff >4″ so less manual work to do.

Im trying to arrange for a local woodchip cooperative to come and take all that brash as there’s tons of it and it’s bone dry from winter cutting. Id rather that than burn it in situ but I may have to.

Stoner, do you realise you are a lottery winner in the eyes of us other wood covetting geezers? 😉

Lucky, lucky you!

*goes off full of envy to spilt logs from rapidly diminishing log pile*

its actually a bit of torture for me at the moment as well as I wont be burning any of this for at least 18 months and at home Im pretty much out of dry wood and having to buy in enough to get me to the point in the year when the boiler is off and Im on solar thermal only. The wood for next season is sitting in the field at home and is already a year old and ready to be logged for next winter.

When the chain wears out, do this:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUU3ZrD3lYM[/video]

Stoner that is an epic project. I’d be looking at buying a trailer rather than employing a haulier to move that. Even if the lengths were halved handling would be more manageable without making a lot more work for yourself at the other end.

200 tons is a hell of a lot of wood. I brought back my fifth two and a bit ton load from the country park this afternoon. Even though we’ve split and stacked a couple of tipping trailer loads out of it, the stable yard is shrinking. I’ve got a couple more loads to collect and that should see me through another season. twenty times that is unthinkable 😯

Loving the dude on the chainsaw bike.

My problem is that I an only tow about 500Kg load and the coppice is 15miles from home, so by my reckoning thats going to be 20t/500Kgx15x2 = 1,200 miles at 30mpg.

= 180litres = £250 of diesel + 30hrs 🙁

Id also have to adapt the trailer a bit to be able to take 500Kg of 6′ cord.

my trailer – only rated for about 500Kg, but my freelander can only take 750Kg anyway.

500kg, is that the limit of your trailer or the 4×4?

EDIT it’s a tricky equation to balance. I’d be curious what a haulier would charge even for that short distance. He’s still got to get to the site and home again too.

My trailer is really on it’s last legs. I paid about £600 for it, fitted new wheels and tyres at around £400, but it has done masses of work. The Discovery can tow about 3 tons. My wood sources are. ~ ten miles from home. The trailer works for me. But I’d worry about having to process an arctic load on my doorstep.

I couldnt use an artic load anyway. I will see what kind of timber hauling/handling my mate can do. I dont thiink he has a grab, but he does have tractors and trailers, so what I might be able to do is a deal whereby he and I bring back the year’s cutting – he gets 2/3rds for something like £20 a ton and I get the last 1/3rd delivered to my door for free. That would do me for two years I reckon. And All the while I’ll be cutting the same amount every year for the next 5 years

I have access to a bigger, twin axle/braked trailer (no good on the freelander obviously) but I wouldnt want to use dad’s disco for towing either – the auto box is on it’s last legs 🙂

Stoner – Last time we paid for haulage, rather than trading timber or selling timber to the haulier, it starts at £300 to get them on site before you start talking about distance, £450 for a 30 mile haul IIRC. Cost is the same whether they take 5 ton or 25 ton, load is a load. So, for the cost of haulage, you’d be better off with a second-hand ifor williams and something that can pull it for the duration. If the distance is short enough and you have a local contractor with tractor and forwarding crane, 25 ton, 5 miles for example, would take me all day.

For the OP – No experience of budget saws but obviously, something with spares availability and local dealer back-up if you are likely to need it. Smallest bar you can get away with, otherwise it will feel gutless. A bar can cut a dia. twice it’s length easily and more with skill

Bit of slow typing, distracted by the rugby, you seem to have found the answer Stoner.

I was worried it would be something like that, was going to page you to find out.

It’s just not worth it for 20tons of low grade fire wood. But for a mate in a tractor it might just work. I wonder if you can hire big trailers and pickups from somewhere?

If your mates tractor has a front loader with forks or grab, it wouldn’t be too much bother.

If you’re going to hire something, may be easier to get a transit or 7.5 ton tipper if you have access roads (or do it now whilst it is frozen hard), at least your stuff is small enough to man handle and friends could probably be plied with beers to help for a day. Used to shift stuff this way when working for a river contractor, we had some pins made up for stacking higher.

I still think the trailer is a workable route.

Fill it while you are working there, one less handling process. No special trips.

I know I ought to mcm.

I have been coming with stakes for my hedge laying mate (120 out of 150 so far). He pays me 30p per stake which helps pay for chain oil etc and only takes me an extra 20-30mins to sort out from the brash piles.

The ground conditions have been too nasty for the trailer until just this last week. Now it’s a bit better, maybe I’ll start sorting it out. At least it’s easy to split the 12′ pile into 6′ lengths for the trailer 🙂

Just need to make some uprights I guess.