Wood Processing on our Homestead Smallholding Herefordshire

Wood processing on our homestead smallholding in the UK.
Welcome to our channel, we give our story about what we do around our smallholding in the heart of Herefordshire in the UK. There is always so much to do and in our videos we try to give a feeling of what it’s like to live in the countryside being close to nature with all the trials and tribulations that go with it.
We keep sheep, grow much of our own food, have planted a vineyard and process all of our own firewood. Our workshop is not just the ‘shed’ at the end of the barn, but the workshop is also the land, the forest and everything that that entails. Hence ‘My Country Workshop’ is as much outdoors as it is inside.
Equipment used
Remet 120 Red Dragon branch logger
Stihl MS170 chainsaw
Homemade log splitter with parts from Flowfit UK
Filmed using:
Go pro Hero 7 Black
DJI Spark Drone

[@19571957able]

The perfect size log for a wood-burner.

[@marchodge7714]

Love your video 💕😻

[@sandraengstrand2784]

Teamwork!!!

[@Woodyjims-shack]

Used Flowfit for components, good people👍

[@andrewbibby7060]

Nice vid, got a similar machine from rock machinery,, saved me a lot of money, in terms of all the smaller branches I used to chip,, so quick to do a ton bag, which I use myself, and sell the bigger stuff👍👍

[@mycountrylife810]

Hi Andrew. It is a very cool machine, so long as you don't get too greedy and try to shove something too big through. Glad you like your machine too.

[@davidsmith663]

What tractor have you got on it? I had one on my MF35 and the shear pin never went, it just stopped the tractor dead. Had a load of grief off Rock. They said there was nothing wrong with it, sent me a video of it working on a waaaay bigger tractor, charged me the earth for transport and gave me half my money back. They are a compoany to stay well clear of.-

[@andrewbibby7060]

@@davidsmith663 hi David,, had a maxxum 5150 on it, just on tick over,, went threw plenty of shear bolts,, but was getting used to size and wood type,,,, but sorry rock machinery weren't up to scratch,,, hope all goes well.

[@davidsmith663]

@@andrewbibby7060 I think their statement of 20hp for the logger is way off. At least you had the power to break the shear pin. How a small tractor would do it I don't know.

[@andrewbibby7060]

Hi dave,,, I got a 15hp yanmar tractor,,, OK on the soft stuff,, but its always the same,,, power is everything,,, weight, torque,, low revs,, I don't dowt thoe,, I probably will twist the machine to bits, with the extra horse power,, thanks for the return reply,, and good luck pal,, 👍😊

[@rondidjurgies1903]

With your pto drive you used a bolt and nut not a split pin 🙂

[@JamesGardenHomestead]

Hello from New forest. Near Southampton

[@mycountrylife810]

Hi there. Love the New Forest. We have family there.

[@hamlynterry8165]

I like you experiences .. I read some comments about 20% moisture limit: Wet wood uses excessive energy boiling out the water to be efficient. Split wood dries fine 2-4years. Trees are perfect evolved for retaining moisture … if you don’t split logs irrespective of size, they won’t dry, they will just rot. Wet wood puts excessive tar in your chimney which wastes energy and is a fire hazard. I am not in favour of intrusive rules and laws .. you should take the 17% moisture rule of thumb as a way of optimising wood resource

[@dugbert9]

Hello - I just subbed and hit the bell. I have a small holding in Wales that is currently not producing anything. 10 acres have been rented out to a local farmer for many years but we are now interested in starting up, at least for some self sufficiency. The first job I think is to reclaim some land by cutting back 25 years of hedge growth which has produced lots of small trees. I'd like to process this into firewood. Currently I only have a chain saw so I will need to buy a compact tractor to lift and haul and then think about the best way to process the wood. May I ask what £ the wood chomper and the splitter might set me back? Should I consider running a splitter off the tractor hydraulics? Or running ann electric splitter just outside the building I'll store logs in? It's a jigsaw I'm trying to piece together. Oh, one last thing, what HP is your tractor? All I know about tractors is that they should be red 😀. Nice chanel, keep it up please.

[@phillowery7622]

Hello there, bit late to the party but is the remet still doing what it should ok? How does the wood burn on your Rayburn? Cheers Phil

[@davidbrock5993]

Hi, there. Smart setup! Where is that building from?

[@mycountrylife810]

Hi David. The building is from a UK supplier called FarmPlus

[@paulparker-goadsby6604]

What horsepower is your Tractor? Actually can I ask what make and model you have? Great videos, Thanks!

[@mycountrylife810]

Hi Paul. Its a 38 horsepower Kubota.

[@dickdungfork8334]

I ran a log selling business from a small holding but with the new 20% moisture rule it has made it impossible to I have closed it down

[@thisorthat7626]

That is crazy as the weather is so wet in the UK that keeping wood dry would almost require an oven to dry the wood.

[@relaxingsounds3952]

Out of curiosity as I'm in Wales if I kept a pile of wood undercover but still outdoors for around 2 years what would be the lowest moisture content I could hope to get?

[@gazgf]

That’s terrible! Where in the uk are you? I’ve got about an acre of old commercial glasshouses that are a bit too tired (would cost a fortune) to bring back to viable growing use for me but I always thought they would be good for drying out wood fast as the heat in them is intense even with the missing glass ….-20% would not be a problem if wood is palletised and stored in them 🤔

[@hamlynterry8165]

Wet wood uses too much energy boiling out the water to be efficient. Split wood dries fine 2-4years. Trees are perfect evolved for retaining moisture … if you don’t split logs irrespective of size, they won’t dry, they will just rot. Wet wood puts excessive tar in your chimney which wastes energy and is a fire hazard. I am not in favour of intrusive rules and laws .. you should take the 17% moisture rule of thumb as a way of optimising wood resource

[@davidsmith663]

You needed to split it far more and tack in open sided shed. I get mine down to 16/17% in a few months, including oak and ash.

[@ChrisTaylor-xv2tc]

You have a saw horse - can't understand why you risk life & limb sawing bigger bits held by the boss - right next to trailer spare wheel & tyre?

[@Tom-hl7wc]

It’s a shear pin 😉

[@mycountrylife810]

Hi Tom. I had split pin stuck in my head. Doh!