Gardening

[Tennessee Whiskey]

I’ve just popped in on this one again. Chestnut wood: it brings an absorbent price on this side of the pond. Back before whatever blight , in whatever year, killed all the chestnuts over here, it was a popular choice for woodwork and trim for the wealthy. Now that a lot of those homes are being restored and the “new wealthy” want to recreate; the price of chestnut is off the chart. Jo, over here, the smaller splitters that would be any good for you would be in the $1500-1800US range. I also use an electric chainsaw for all the wood in our BBQ business. We use the Stihl commercial series, and find that with the lower RPM, less heat is generated, meaning longer chain life, and we cut a lotta wood. Sunny and 82F here today and Lou has invited me for a drink and a swim after dinner 

Cletus

[steam guy willy]

Don't forget peeps  this is on next week ,so lets hope it is warm !!!

[bent]

Hm.  Might be something that would get me interested in gardening.  Wonder if the missus would be game...

Jo, is that a Fiskar axe leaning on the shed?  How d'ya like it?

[Jo]

Jo, is that a Fiskar axe leaning on the shed?  How d'ya like it?

So that isn't a Fiskar  It is a Bacho, I have been very pleased with it, especially the fast splitting head. I have some of the cheaper single angle splitting head axes before and I am now convinced that really they are nothing better than wedges on a handle for someone to hold it in place when it is hit with the sledge hammer.


Thanks Big E, I would like to try out one of those cheap electric splitter to see if they are better than I suspect but most claim they cut up to 12" and that size is a total non event with the hand splitter. It is things like those massive base rings that are the challenge and there is no way I could even lift those up to get them on an electric splitter 


Once the easy ones are over I will be able to get at the grenade and then comes the long haul with the chainsaw of splitting the horrible bits. At least the chainsaw is not finding any problems with this stuff... Ever tried doing anything with 2 month old Eucalyptus 


Jo

[Jo]

Chainsaw and grenade from now onwards 


And then hope for good weather for a HUGE bonfire of the frith at the weekend 

Jo

[Tennessee Whiskey]

Being in the BBQ business, we use predominantly hickory and oak. The “foo foo, new generation “ uses apple, cherry , and such. I’m kinda curious as to how a chestnut wood smoked meat would taste 

Cletus

[Jo]

Sorry no idea all of that will be going in my log burner. It is a very soft wood almost as bad as Leylandi

Just found this: https://hotsmoked.co.uk/smoking-woods/chestnut-wood-chips.html  And I was going to put all the saw dust on the flowerbeds as mulch 

Jo

[Tennessee Whiskey]

Looks like you need to be chipping and bagging. At those prices; you could increase the casting holding with jus “chips from your property “  : no moths would be harmed 

Big E

[Steamer5]

Hi Jo,
 Round this part of the globe you can hire log splitters.......elf & safety haven’t got them banded yet! They aren’t the sort of item you use a lot, might be worth a look.
Looking like spring has arrived big time in your garden.

Cheers Kerrin

[Jo]

Maybe when I get older I will think about hiring one, thanks Kerrin  I'll try to remember to post a couple of pics of the flowerbeds once I have mowed the lawn 


So on with the clearing I started with the bits that needed to be chain sawed rather than split then started thinking about the huge rings that I can't move


At this point I could hear a certain someone humming his happy casting fondling tune  Then I realised  it is Thursday and Surus isn't sitting on the Dinning room table, he has skadoodled off to the library and as it is Thursday is helping himself to my castings     Time to call it an early night and make sure I know what he is up to 

Jo

[Jo]

Still not convinced that shredding all of this is a good idea... 30 mins and one wheelbarrow load to show for it 


Just found my ear defenders - I bet my neighbours are going to love this 

Jo

[Bluechip]

Ye Gods !!!! Half an hour for that bit 

Mine would take about 5 mins. and it's quiet. Doubt if MY neighbours would hear it.

Do you have to push the stuff into the blade?

Mine has one of the 'slab-mill' chopper-uppers, like this:

www.lawnmowersdirect.co.uk/product/bosch-axt-25-d-quiet-garden-shredder

Lower left piccy. 

Mine is a predecessor of that model but the principle is the same. Once it grabs the material it pulls it in.  It's done for.

Those bitty things you have would be no problem.

Flog some castings and buy a proper one .....     

Dave

White Bells look nice ..

[Jo]

Yes you have to hand push the stuff in    The blade is a disc with two side blades that does the damage, plastic box is designed to improve the sound output  Two hours three barrow loads 

That looks a better design... Are you sure you don't need a replacement Dave 


I promise some pics of the blue, pink and white bells later 

Jo

[Twizseven]

The slab blade ones work very well.  I bought an Aldi special (£99 IIRC) about 4 years ago and it is quiet, adjustable, feeds back out if required to clear a ja.  Works a dream.

Colin

[Bluechip]

That looks a better design... Are you sure you don't need a replacement Dave 

Jo

Nope, I don't need a replacement. As I no longer have any use for the one I have I was going to offer it to you the last time I came down but Tojo-2 was stuffed full so it stayed here.      It is in the way

Yours if you want it   

It's a AXT 2200HP  .... which I presume is 2.2kW  or 2.2 HP ... I doubt very much if it's 2200 Horsepower ... 

PS Get a pair of croccy clips and attach it to the 400kV grid. You might get 2200HP     Try it and report back. We're all agog .... 

Piccy Att.   

Dave