Vandalism and theft

[oldclaypaws]

I inadvertently started a small brushfire in our wood during the very dry spell last year. My chopped bramble burning spread from the firepit to the leaf layer, and the standing brambles started to flare too. Fortunately it was slow, and petered out, but I had a moment of panic. It seems large deep continuous drifts of understorey plants such as bracken or bramble can afford a way for flame to spread in unusually dry periods. The answer would seem to be to break up these areas with strimming / brushcutting to create paths and firebreaks. If you have tinder dry conifers, its going to be a worry, but wide rides will both lessen the risk and introduce more light for flora and wildlife.

BTW I no longer burn brambles, I find using a mulching blade on my brushcutter reduces them to small fragments which rot down to fine compost in a short time, it cuts out both the necessity to handle them and having to dispose of a mountain of prickly debris.

[Zathras]

Well, yes there is...but... We had Fire and Storm insurance with Willis of Dundee until this year, when the premium doubled in cost in the space of a year!
...
They wouldn't let me just buy the PL, so I cancelled the whole thing and went with a broker suggested by Mike Pepler.
...
It was a difficult decision to take commercially. A fire resulting in total destruction would be pretty devastating. The woodland was originally planted under a Woodland Grant scheme, and I've no doubt the FC would expect us to restore it after a fire. But, £1200 a year is a big ask.

I'm currently with thebeechtree for the PL side of things too.

That doubling does take the cost of cover very high, but does/did that coverage include the loss of value in the standing wood?
In my case there is a TPO so no loss of value in the wood itself (also it's mostly Hawthorn), I would simply be looking to cover the cost of replanting.

Also, I am only looking to insure against a significant fire in a 7 acre woodland and not worried about storm damage as it is a sheltered location where we'd not expect extensive damage from weather.

[SitkaSpruce]

I'm also a bit panicky about fire as I have a conifer wood. I suspect it would have to be very dry and warm for this to happen. In the usual British cold and wet I think the risk of it catching fire would be low but I don't intend to have a test firing. Did see a conifer wood go up in Wales- presumably was in the hot summer of 1976- very spectacular but also pretty frightening and kept the fire brigade very busy.

Is it Rackham who describes broadleaf woods as like burning wet asbestos?

[Meadowcopse]

Rackham details fire from page 52 of his book 'Woodlands' and mentions it in his other works. Page 56 deals with Britain and Ireland. It indeed contains the quote:

English native woods burn like wet asbestos. Even in the great summers of 1975 and 1976, when extreme drought coincided with a fashion for burning stubble fields, I never heard of a grown-up native wood catching fire - nor in the summers of 1995 and 2003.

[smojo]

The only way I can see to keep tools secure in the woods is to bury them out of sight.

Been thinking the same way. But some sort of watertight box. Had a look around t'internet and the best I found so far was this http://www.solentplastics.co.uk/marine-storage-products-boxes/water-resistant-boxes-and-trunks/product/008441/scuba-box-large-black-water-resistant-mobile-stacking-storage-trunk

Then at a car boot sale on Sunday I bagged a similar box made of aluminium for a tenner. Well made, with a rubber seal and lockable clasps. So I'm planning to bury it with lid at ground level and run a chain through the handle, round a tree base and onto the clasp with a padlock, then cover it with some sort of camo material - maybe just a piece of old green carpet and cover with dead brushwood. Now here's the question - how long do you think aluminium will last untreated before succumbing to oxidation and perforating. Should I coat it with something on the outside first? I used to have something called Waxoyl, might still have some. Is it worth doing?

[boxerman]

Depend on the quality of the alloy but my guess wouldn't be more than a couple of years in those conditions.

I think my biggest fear with something like that is that if the seal leaks it could fill the box with water and the next time you open it there's just big chunks of rust in the bottom...

[oldclaypaws]

It'll slightly depend on the soil, but wack on a couple of coats of bitumen and it should last ages. You could also try and check the cost of someone local who could powder coat it.

[smojo]

cheers guys - it looks pretty industrial so I guess the quality is good. The lid lips over the sides so shedding any water from above and the seal looks good too. Nah a box full of rusty water wouldn't be good.

[Zathras]

Then at a car boot sale on Sunday I bagged a similar box made of aluminium for a tenner. Well made, with a rubber seal and lockable clasps. So I'm planning to bury it with lid at ground level and run a chain through the handle, round a tree base and onto the clasp with a padlock, then cover it with some sort of camo material - maybe just a piece of old green carpet and cover with dead brushwood.

I'm with you up to the burying part, but not sure about the chain round the tree bit.
That would bring attention to where it is, whilst not providing very much extra security as an aluminium box surely can't be that strong, wouldn't an average bushcraft knife go through the side of it?

[oldclaypaws]

What are you proposing to leave in your box? You can drive up to your wood and its not a huge inconvenience to carry or wheel stuff a couple of hundred feet on each visit as I do. The contents of the box might get mouldy; just a bit of condensation or damp off the used items will make things deteriorate; they need to be aired. You could leave a wheelbarrow chained to a tree to assist wheeling stuff from the car. I tend to keep power tools under lock and key at home; the chainsaw looks very fetching on the mantelpiece. For lower value regularly used bits and bobs like sharpening kit, birdseed, dog leads, gloves, string, knife, small saw, water bottle, kettle and cups, lighter, I usually carry them permanently in the back of the estate car in a box, with a carpet thrown over to conceal them and stop the box sliding around.