"Do you want some oak?"

[Pedro]

Trees have feelings too.

 

[Stalker62]

Trees have feelings too.

Oh dear God.

I can't un-see that...

 

[Freeforester]

OK, well that's it all split.

Brutal morning....

View attachment 390419

It can be helpful to have a bag or two handy when splitting, it may save double-handling. And brutal afternoon bending!

Two touches of this lot - first time when feeding the log into the processor, and last time when feeding the biomass boiler:


Still some to do though, but will ready for winter - of ‘25. 34 bags at a bag a week or so should see us through till second half of May and the daffs; need to burn some of last season’s in there to make room for next year’s!




Not that it matters much, but it’s an odd year to have both berries and blossoms on the same tree at tail end of October…

 

[paul o']

The air had been ringing with the sound of chainsaws this week.

The professionals have been at it in the forest, over the way from my wee house.

They have been dropping and stacking a massive bifurcated tree which had apparently been assessed as a 'fall' risk.

Any hopes I had of "up-cycling" that wood were dashed when I saw the size of the stump and the logs - they had to get a machine in to stack them. Those logs will stay there until they rot - literally.


View attachment 390152



View attachment 390153



Oxymoron alert.

Hearing the sound of silence...

View attachment 390154


My wife went over to ask if it was OK, to walk the dogs over the bridge, and into the forest.

"OK course - we are finished. By the way, I don't suppose you want some oak do you".

My guess is that he could smell the fire that Mrs.S62 had roaring away in the living room.

A quick phone call home, and I pull on a pair of boots and rush out to open the drawbridge.

My new best friend reverses his truck in, and he and his mate off-load the contents.

"I was going to give this to my Dad, but I need the truck empty for tomorrow morning, you have done me a favour'.




"No. You have done me a favour. Please pass on my apologies to your Father."

I slipped him a 'drink'.

"We are back later this month. Now I know where you are..."




My wife is prodigious when it comes to the fire - she thinks that logs grow on tree, so it is always nice to have a supply.


Happy days.

View attachment 390155

cost me £600 for two oak beams air dried 12" D x3" W at 7 foot long for new bilge keels on the boat and that was cheapest i found nr me

 

[NoIDeer]

cost me £600 for two oak beams air dried 12" D x3" W at 7 foot long for new bilge keels on the boat and that was cheapest i found nr me

You must have said boat when you asked the price.

A photo of the boat would be nice to drool over and rejoice in the fact it's not mine?

 

[paul o']

It's only an IP23 nothing fancy mty my little Grp fishing boat waiting for a dry few days to get a new paint job

 

[Bavarianbrit]

It's only an IP23 nothing fancy mty my little Grp fishing boat waiting for a dry few days to get a new paint jobView attachment 408196

Do you take out fishing guests? Asking for a friend.

 

[paul o']

Probably will be once I retire help pay for the juice . It has a head on it and cooker oven so long outings aren't a problem. No drink allowed just hot or cold on demand lol.
With the taller keels it shouldn't be like a bottle bobing around when beam on anymore.
Had to replace them as last owner cut them to 4" ?
River Thames is its grounds

 

[Bavarianbrit]

I lived in Deal & Walmer for 23 years without once going out fishing. I was too busy earning to pay for the 1815 built money pit that I had bought.

 

[paul o']

Well do it ! you be dead longer than your be paying bills mty
and this is why I got me another after saying I should get one again for 40yrs.
B=bung
O= ON
A= ANOTHER
T= Thousand

 

[MarinePMI]

The air had been ringing with the sound of chainsaws this week.

The professionals have been at it in the forest, over the way from my wee house.

They have been dropping and stacking a massive bifurcated tree which had apparently been assessed as a 'fall' risk.

Any hopes I had of "up-cycling" that wood were dashed when I saw the size of the stump and the logs - they had to get a machine in to stack them. Those logs will stay there until they rot - literally.


View attachment 390152



View attachment 390153



Oxymoron alert.

Hearing the sound of silence...

View attachment 390154


My wife went over to ask if it was OK, to walk the dogs over the bridge, and into the forest.

"OK course - we are finished. By the way, I don't suppose you want some oak do you".

My guess is that he could smell the fire that Mrs.S62 had roaring away in the living room.

A quick phone call home, and I pull on a pair of boots and rush out to open the drawbridge.

My new best friend reverses his truck in, and he and his mate off-load the contents.

"I was going to give this to my Dad, but I need the truck empty for tomorrow morning, you have done me a favour'.




"No. You have done me a favour. Please pass on my apologies to your Father."

I slipped him a 'drink'.

"We are back later this month. Now I know where you are..."




My wife is prodigious when it comes to the fire - she thinks that logs grow on tree, so it is always nice to have a supply.


Happy days.

View attachment 390155

Wow! What a waste. That tree could have made several impressive wood beams....but then again, timber framed houses probably aren't that common there...

 

[wytonpjs]

Wow! What a waste. That tree could have made several impressive wood beams....but then again, timber framed houses probably aren't that common there...

I beg to differ, our thankfully now sold Grade II listed “cottage” (money pit) was oak-framed with whatever could be sourced locally at the time in 1661 (think Oliver Cromwell and you are definitely in the right era). To make matter worse, it was “Georgianfied” in the 1700s removing the external jettyed construction and several important tie beams in the process. That, and wattle and daub (aka cow ****, mud and straw) did leave me constantly to wonder WHY and what we had let ourselves in for having fallen in love with our first house.

We were custodians for over 30 years - you never really own a place like that, you merely see it through a brief passage of time, invariably at great cost and with much grief from the council Conservation Officers who will always have a different view. I have this week dug out invoices for the new owners to chronicle the new oaks beams we had fitted in 1994 after dry rot was found.

I do look back with some fondness but wonder why we hadn’t bought a nice stone-built money pit instead.

 

[MarinePMI]

I beg to differ, our thankfully now sold Grade II listed “cottage” (money pit) was oak-framed with whatever could be sourced locally at the time in 1661 (think Oliver Cromwell and you are definitely in the right era). To make matter worse, it was “Georgianfied” in the 1700s removing the external jettyed construction and several important tie beams in the process. That, and wattle and daub (aka cow ****, mud and straw) did leave me constantly to wonder WHY and what we had let ourselves in for having fallen in love with our first house.

We were custodians for over 30 years - you never really own a place like that, you merely see it through a brief passage of time, invariably at great cost and with much grief from the council Conservation Officers who will always have a different view. I have this week dug out invoices for the new owners to chronicle the new oaks beams we had fitted in 1994 after dry rot was found.

I do look back with some fondness but wonder why we hadn’t bought a nice stone-built money pit instead.

Wow! Now that's interesting. I know there are (obviously) old buildings in the UK, but never saw many timber framed homes (like what you would see in the Western US) when I lived there. Maybe it's just a different definition of "timber framed"? When I use that term, I mean something like this....



Regardless, your cottage sounds like one that had a lot of character (and probably the matching cost that goes with those types of homes).

Currently working on our own stone-built money pit at the moment...

 

[wytonpjs]

Wow! Now that's interesting. I know there are (obviously) old buildings in the UK, but never saw many timber framed homes (like what you would see in the Western US) when I lived there. Maybe it's just a different definition of "timber framed"? When I use that term, I mean something like this....

View attachment 408346

Regardless, your cottage sounds like one that had a lot of character (and probably the matching cost that goes with those types of homes).

Currently working on our own stone-built money pit at the moment...

Nice - our timber framing was usually internal with a plastered outside of some form, applied typically over laths, rather that what we would probably call a log cabin with our I’ll-informed cultural stereotypes. On this iPad I haven’t got many pictures but this will give you a flavour of our former hovel.