Jerry Ward

Victorian, Edwardian & Tudor Monastery Farm are all available as part of Amazon Prime in the US

To be clear I estimate I don't even pull out 25% of the dead wood, and usually, it is only close to the house and on the paths I have cleared.  So there is plenty to feed the fungi and other critters.

I don't know the age of the trees other than mixed.  I do have about 10 large black walnut trees.  But otherwise, there are a few big, old trees and lots of other size trees.  I know, not a very precise answer but it is the best of my knowledge.  This is not a mature forest.  I belive sometime in the past (maybe 40+ years ago) that the area might have been grazed.  Thus the few big old trees and lots of brushy stuff otherwise.  I do know nothing has been done in the past 20 years except the areas near my house where I harvest dead or bent trees for the little bit of firewood I use.

I have about 5 acres of mixed woodland with underbrush that I want to take a more active role in managing.  To date, I haven't done much beyond cutting dead trees for firewood and clearing paths to be able to walk around.  Any tips on the first steps toward better managing this would be appreciated.   My goals are a modist amount of firewood and some green wood for green woodworking projects.

There was a time when the minimum for PayPal was $.30.  That is a significant amount for a $1.00 purchase.  But apparently, I haven't kept up on it.

I have a 25-year-old air compressor that finally gave up.  I think the air tank will be useful in this project.

Strike appears to be the solution I was looking for.  It uses the Bitcoin Lightning network on the back end and even a merchant account has very low fees, something in the 1%-2% range with no minimum like PayPal.

Check it out at Strike

Should I be considering a batch box over a J tube?  I haven't read much on batch boxes over they years that I've been lurking on Permies.

Is dry-stacking considered the best option for firebrick?  Leave a little room for movement.

8" tube sounds good.

Has anyone tried building the burn tunnel out of clay chimney flue?  You would need some specialized tools to cut it to form the turns for the wood feed and the start of the riser, but I have access to those.  From what I've read the heat riser gets really hot (goal is 2,000-degree range) but I don't know how far down into the burn tunnel that heat gets.