How to Get Through The Tough Times The Old Style Way.

Penelope_Penguin

brandeberryj wrote: »

Can you move closer?
Long journeys are now quite pratical on a power assited bicycle using a Lithuim battery, although I would take the runnig distances they claim with a pinch of salt they can still get you a good 25 miles with a top brand. Recharging at work? Some also have power only option IE no need to pedal (but must have pedals to be legal).

That sounds ideal for me :j Can you give me a link please - how much would a top-range bike, that will go 25 miles, cost?

TIA

maryb

Lots! £900 - £1500 seems to be the range. Cheaper than a car, admittedly but not as weatherproof

I was looking at these and wondering if I could use one if I have to stop driving if my glaucoma gets worse. I fancy one of the tricycles!!

SD-253

lostinrates wrote: »

I'm planning on buying several tonnes of wood for next winter in lat spring/early summer.

This may not be a good idea as wood is very expensive and not good value for money in most of the country, although not all. One reason is people put in wood burners for aesthetic reasons and other people are using there old open fires for the same reason resulting in doubling and more of the prices.

lostinrates wrote: »

resinous leylandeii so need to season for AGES.

Nor sure I agree with you. First it will dry very quickly because it is a softwood secondly why would the resin disappear simply because it has dried surely that would increase it proportionally? Never had a problem burning it myself but have not had that much. ![/QUOTE]

lostinrates wrote: »

buy several tones of wood!

Buying wood by weight is the way you should buy it but are you sure that is the way it will be sold to you? Why it is best to buy by weight is based on the following. Assuming that the wood you are measuring all have the same moisture content, if you take 2 pieces of wood (say 12" square) one softwood and the other a hard wood which will be heaviest? Obviously the hard wood therefore the heavier the wood the denser the wood the denser the woods the more total heat you will get out of it. note total not how hot it burns as there is not a great deal of difference between a softwood and hardwood in the heat it throws out it is in the total heat where the difference is or put another way you have to refill fire far more often with softwood. Bye the way based on weight being a measure of total heat output then Hawthorn would be by far the best.

lostinrates

brandeberryj wrote: »

This may not be a good idea as wood is very expensive and not good value for money in most of the country, although not all. One reason is people put in wood burners for aesthetic reasons and other people are using there old open fires for the same reason resulting in doubling and more of the prices.

Nor sure I agree with you. First it will dry very quickly because it is a softwood secondly why would the resin disappear simply because it has dried surely that would increase it proportionally? Never had a problem burning it myself but have not had that much. !

Buying wood by weight is the way you should buy it but are you sure that is the way it will be sold to you? Why it is best to buy by weight is based on the following. Assuming that the wood you are measuring all have the same moisture content, if you take 2 pieces of wood (say 12" square) one softwood and the other a hard wood which will be heaviest? Obviously the hard wood therefore the heavier the wood the denser the wood the denser the woods the more total heat you will get out of it. note total not how hot it burns as there is not a great deal of difference between a softwood and hardwood in the heat it throws out it is in the total heat where the difference is or put another way you have to refill fire far more soft far more often with softwood. Bye the way based on weight being a measure of total heat output then Hawthorn would be by far the best. [/QUOTE]


The only heating we have ATM is a wood burner. I'm plnning on buying early summer or late spring because its when demand is lowest. while its possible to buy in cubic metres, when it comes to moving or stacking its tonnes as far as my back is concerned;) Will be buying unseasoned, so will expect ''small tonnes'' and to be priced accordingly. Its possible to buy round here by cubic meter or by tonne, depending who from and what you are buying.


Never burnt leylandeii before but we've been told by a forester to season for at least four years. we have the space to, so seems sensible not to take the risk of not doing so. we've also been told to burn it alternately with something better like ash.

Next season we plan to plant hazel and ash for coppicing, and hopfully by the time we've chomped through the leylandeii in a few years we'll be getting to the stage of wood self sufficiency!

Interesting to know about hawthorn, as we have some hawthorn whih needs ''maintenance'' soon and I didn't know how that wood burn. Looking through local history willow was a popular burning wood...which I always thought was NOT a good burninig wood. Still, we've got a lot of that has to come out too- in the wrong place for drain runs so I daresay we'll get first hand experience of that soon too.

Frankly, I'm hoping its sooner rather than later we have other heating too....I LOVE fires and wouldn't want to be without out, but relying on one as sole heat and using one as additional heat are very different things.

anguk

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

That sounds ideal for me :j Can you give me a link please - how much would a top-range bike, that will go 25 miles, cost?

TIA

Have a look at http://www.poweredbicycles.co.uk/ there's quite a few on there and you can search by price.

SD-253

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

That sounds ideal for me :j Can you give me a link please - how much would a top-range bike, that will go 25 miles, cost?

TIA

http://www.50cycles.com/ A major internet seller with an actual shop and the only suppliers of Kalkoff the number 1 electric bike (german) Upto £3000.

http://www.electricbikes.org.uk/index1.html This is something to do with getting back tax if use it for work???

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/men/article3638107.ece

This is some article from the times

http://www.atob.org.uk/back_numbers.html
Haven't used this site for ages and is completely differnt now but was alway a little out of date now it seems more up to date.

Now the following is what do.
Never ever buy a bike where they do not have spare batteries easily available they are cheap tacky and will not last long.

Lithium battery are the best for power to weight ratio or power to volume the next nearest is Nikcel metal hydried. Do not consider Cadiums or sealed lead acid. Nickel Metal hydried are very very robust but will only hold 40% of a Lithuim.

Next the motor in the:-
Front wheel is stupid it means its is pulling the bike very inefficient and if there is a suspension on the front the wheel will have less contact with the road.
Rear obviously better (again no suspension).
Best next to or part of the pedals. Invarailbly A Pansonic motor (highly rated)

Next gears.....You will not nead as many. But before we go into that something you need to know about derailer gears:-
A 27 geared bike has 27 combinations (2 of them unusable) of 13 gears. IT HAS NOT GOT 27 GEARS. How to count the gears 9 gears on the back 1 gear front = 9 gears, each cog at the front is equal to 2 gears at the back But you have to be in one at all times so that is 4 plus (3 cogs at the front) 9 back =13 gears. A 24 gear bike same rule = only 12 different gears and so on.
Now clearly maintance is important, time consuming and costly so hub gears & disc brakes are great.
Kalkoff do one with Shimano Nexus gears that is a 8 gear rear hub all working parts are enclosed in the hub. There is only 2 cogs visible the front and rear both the cogs and chain last longer because there is no twisting of the chain and the cogs can be made thicker for the same reason.
Next brakes clearly disc brakes are far better, not alot of differance in breaking distance but take much longer to wear down. Modern wheels are made of aluminium and wear out if using normal rim brakes and if you do not keep an eye on the pads will total destroy the rims.
When I buy it will be Kalkoff but you could give consideration 2 companies powerbyke and powercycle, 2 british companies no doubt the bikes are made in China but parts should be easily available including the batteries not sure on quality but good on price.

PS do not know if I have mentioned this but the electric power will always cut out if/when you exceed 15 miles an hour

SD-253

maryb wrote: »

Lots! £900 - £1500 seems to be the range. Cheaper than a car, admittedly but not as weatherproof

I was looking at these and wondering if I could use one if I have to stop driving if my glaucoma gets worse. I fancy one of the tricycles!!

Honest not weatherproof??
Tricycles tend to have very poor batteries, quite often the worse IE lead acid of course this is only important if you are doing a range greater than the battery will supply. Going to the shops IE a couple of miles more than adequate. See a lot (although not many electric) in towns on the Wolds as all towns seem to be built here on flat parts.

starsandmoon

Have had a very OS weekend. Got a dayrider bus ticket and went to Chester on the bus as needed to get my DD birthday pressies. I then used the ticket later on to go into Liverpool where me and BF had a meal using Tesco vouchers (only spent £10 on drinks). I was in work on Sunday so walked there.

I have joined Groupon and got the Body Shop deal. Got loads of stuff. Love their body butters but so expensive and they were on offer. Also got a cheque for £35 off Scottish Power (was a deal where if you stayed with them for 6 months you got £35).

Have been able to get washing dry outside too:T

SD-253

lostinrates wrote: »

Buying wood by weight is the way you should buy it but are you sure that is the way it will be sold to you? Why it is best to buy by weight is based on the following. Assuming that the wood you are measuring all have the same moisture content, if you take 2 pieces of wood (say 12" square) one softwood and the other a hard wood which will be heaviest? Obviously the hard wood therefore the heavier the wood the denser the wood the denser the woods the more total heat you will get out of it. note total not how hot it burns as there is not a great deal of difference between a softwood and hardwood in the heat it throws out it is in the total heat where the difference is or put another way you have to refill fire far more soft far more often with softwood. Bye the way based on weight being a measure of total heat output then Hawthorn would be by far the best.

The only heating we have ATM is a wood burner. I'm plnning on buying early summer or late spring because its when demand is lowest. while its possible to buy in cubic metres, when it comes to moving or stacking its tonnes as far as my back is concerned;) Will be buying unseasoned, so will expect ''small tonnes'' and to be priced accordingly. Its possible to buy round here by cubic meter or by tonne, depending who from and what you are buying.


Never burnt leylandeii before but we've been told by a forester to season for at least four years. we have the space to, so seems sensible not to take the risk of not doing so. we've also been told to burn it alternately with something better like ash.

Next season we plan to plant hazel and ash for coppicing, and hopfully by the time we've chomped through the leylandeii in a few years we'll be getting to the stage of wood self sufficiency!

Interesting to know about hawthorn, as we have some hawthorn whih needs ''maintenance'' soon and I didn't know how that wood burn. Looking through local history willow was a popular burning wood...which I always thought was NOT a good burninig wood. Still, we've got a lot of that has to come out too- in the wrong place for drain runs so I daresay we'll get first hand experience of that soon too.

Frankly, I'm hoping its sooner rather than later we have other heating too....I LOVE fires and wouldn't want to be without out, but relying on one as sole heat and using one as additional heat are very different things.[/QUOTE]

From experience I am most happy with coppiced ash. The trunk starts of smoth is grey but normally covered in green algae. This is my favourite wood. You should be very carefull about peoples view on which is the best wood as it tends to be based on sparks which clearly is nearly irrelevent when useing in an enclosed burner. I do not except the view of your forester 4 years is ludcruis long also I doubt is he as ever grown a Leylandii. Note for everyone using firewood all wood is suitable for burning and there are a multitude of pines growing in the UK. Scots Pine should be near the top of everyones list of firewood. Also note that no one would refuse a pallet for burning wood and they are made from wood not disimalar to Leylandii?
Hawthorn and Alder seem to take a bit longer to season.
Alder takes back on board water quickly keep it covered. Alder grows in wet ground and loves to be near streams. It is holding up Venice or put another all the piles are made of Alder in Venice. It does not work by being water resistant and therefore rot resistant but actual soaks up the water and is still rot resistant. Therefore takes on water quickly. It is hard to split if seasoned for a year split just after cutting down. It was also used in the past in gunpowder note not to make gunpowder but in it. When coppiced it was turned it charcoal and added to gunpowder. Note how quickly the cut side will catch if seasoned when put on the fire?
PS Alder, top wood for chopping wood on.

WHAT TO DO WITH CHAINSAW DUST (ACTUALLY CHAINSAW CHIPPING IF YOU'RE CHAINSAW IS PRODUCING DUST IT NEADS SHARPENING). 2 uses
1/ you could use it in those useless paper log makers. Mate says add watered down non wood glue (cannot remember the name upvc keeps poping up but isn't right) as this is much cheaper. Not tried it as I do tend to add to fire as is, a little at a time.
2/Also is far far better for composting than garden shreeder wood as much smaller IE rots quicker.

Penelope_Penguin

brandeberryj wrote: »

Mate says add water down non wood glue (cannot remember the name upvc keeps poping up but isn't right)

That'll be PVA glue