Wood-related TV worth watching

[AndyT]

BBC4 are repeating 'Tales from the Wild Wood' a five part series in which Rob Penn takes over the management of a small wood in Wales. It's TV so don't expect great depth but I saw most of the series last time and would recommend it. It shows the sort of people and small businesses that are needed if we are to make good use of our natural resources and the sort of hard work needed. It's on Monday to Friday all this week at 19.30 on BBC4.

 

[Kalimna]

Thanks Andy - I shall set my sky+

Adam

 

[Baldhead]

Thanks for that Andy, series linked.

BH

 

[henton49er]

Thanks for that Andy, series linked.

BH

Me too!!

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

+1...I'll maybe catch that before its just the penultimate episode thanks to your post

 

[Graham Orm]

BBC4 are repeating 'Tales from the Wild Wood' a five part series in which Rob Penn takes over the management of a small wood in Wales. It's TV so don't expect great depth but I saw most of the series last time and would recommend it. It shows the sort of people and small businesses that are needed if we are to make good use of our natural resources and the sort of hard work needed. It's on Monday to Friday all this week at 19.30 on BBC4.

Thanks Andy always worth a watch if it's got wood in it :wink:

 

[Graham Orm]

BBC4 are repeating 'Tales from the Wild Wood' a five part series in which Rob Penn takes over the management of a small wood in Wales. It's TV so don't expect great depth but I saw most of the series last time and would recommend it. It shows the sort of people and small businesses that are needed if we are to make good use of our natural resources and the sort of hard work needed. It's on Monday to Friday all this week at 19.30 on BBC4.

EDIT: OOPS looked at ITV4..............my bad

 

[barkwindjammer]

Juice and crisps at the ready :mrgreen:

 

[Graham Orm]

Good show, entertaining. Looking forward to the next one.

 

[barkwindjammer]

Great TV-well worth a watch - ta for the heads up Andy

 

[Vic Perrin]

Really enjoying the programme. Not on for long enough!

 

[woodaxed]

a little confused and pissed off in part one they collect the two pigs and we are told shes in season and the boar knows that when i worked on a pig farm some 40 years ago the boar would have had you on your butt if you got in the way . So we get to part two and at the end the farmer comes to pick them up and says they are off to the abattoir ??? . also in part two weve got the two guys on about drying wood to make it lighter and burn better
and it gets up close to 400c if it was charcoal i would agree its also using energy to dry it as in charcoal making the wood makes its own energy
again when i was a kid we would have 3 years worth of wood cut and covered to dry and as we were burning some on the fire the there would be a pile of wood next to it to dry out even more may not be to the level that they said they had but good enough to burn.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

agreed about the pigs......presumably she didn't get up the duff so it's sausage time!

The wood as fuel debate was as follows: Oil/gas/coal based fossil fuels are becoming more scarce therefore more expensive, thus a market opportunity is opening up for a return to wood as fuel. The problems with wood are two fold....distribution cost due to excessive weight and burn temperature meaning its inefficient. The woody welsh guys were (the way I read it) trying to drive up the efficiency by removing 25% more moisture than traditional fire wood. By doing so reduce the weight by 25% and double the burn temperature (allowing half the fuel volume to create the same heat output).

Thus they solve some of the economic barriers to entry. (Of course they neglected to factor in the cost of baking the wood in the first place and the fact that the majority of homes are ill equipped to combust wood as a fuel source). Maybe their market goal is commercial rather than domestic customers (heating a factory for example).

 

[woodaxed]

still feel sorry for the pigs could be the boar was firing blanks so they both get blamed

i understand what your saying about the dried wood and would guess that charcoal would still be more efficient but what Commercial place would buy it and be equipped to use it and could they keep up the supply

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

agreed...the infrastructure for wood fuel would need to be a hell of a lot more robust than wood burning stoves. I also felt rather sorry for poor old bacon and sandwich...all that hard work....not fair

 

[Graham Orm]

Just watched the second half of the last show. How tall was that woods guy?? Makes me want to live in a forest.....oh hang on....no plug sockets!

 

[AndyT]

I think what is good about this series is the way it starts from an easy sentimental feeling - which is real enough - that some people like being in the woods and feel happier there than they do in more modern complicated lifestyles. But it goes on to show that if you are going to work woodland as a business, you need a whole network of things - products that people will pay money for, an economic way of getting the products out and to the market and the ability to sustain it all over a long period. I think this starts coming out even clearer in the third programme, tonight.
I hope it's not the case that it can all only add up if there is a TV crew on hand to subsidise it and pay for the provision of expert advice and extra equipment!
I also wonder if we could all do more to seek out small enterprises which are trying to make good use of isolated bits of woodland, extract individual trees and convert them, etc. As consumers of timber, we can try to make a difference.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

It's a commendable idea Andy but the death of the High street proves it doesn't work. The reason people won't buy "real" charcoal any more is because they get imported rubbish on "double special extra half price buy 20 for 2" at Tesco while stuffing their boots with ready meals at the same time. It's entirely an economic argument allied to a spot of out of town convenience.

Tesco and the other out of towners long ago realised the concept of the "value monopoly" in retailing. Everything under one roof so we capture as much of the purse per week as we can. Hence, not just groceries but everything from opticians to insurance, all in one weekly shop!

I don't know what the answer is but if it were my business I would be trying each idea in turn to test the market. That's the only way you truly know these days...the consumer is a very fickle target. The problem is the masses don't value the traditional qualities in the way that a lot of woody type people do

There would need to be some radical thinking on the part of the woodsman to overcome that economic and convenience barrier to entry. Delivery of your whole summers worth of charcoal direct to your house might work...like coal used to be delivered?

Do people prefer briquettes to wooden charcoal? The bricks burn for way longer?