wanted cordwood.

[openspaceman]

T

30 years ago I was cutting 'pulp' for the manufacture of newsprint but that has probably declined dramatically along with the decline in newspaper sales. I haven't heard that term for a while.

 

That will be for the plant at sheppey. Newsprint was softwood 10" to 3.25" in 1m billetts and we loaded it all by hand. The wood was pushed off the trailers and ran into a concrete channel.

 

Hardwood went to sudbrook and because you were cutting 1m lenghts oak tops could meet the grade, then somewhen around 1986 they would only accept 2m lengths which could fit down a 16" tube, which changed the working methods somewhat. It also meant oak tops either got left or were used for firewod unless you got a bit creative with cutting the branches and loading the lorry.

[Timber Man]

That will be for the plant at sheppey. Newsprint was softwood 10" to 3.25" in 1m billetts and we loaded it all by hand. The wood was pushed off the trailers and ran into a concrete channel.

 

Hardwood went to sudbrook and because you were cutting 1m lenghts oak tops could meet the grade, then somewhen around 1986 they would only accept 2m lengths which could fit down a 16" tube, which changed the working methods somewhat. It also meant oak tops either got left or were used for firewod unless you got a bit creative with cutting the branches and loading the lorry.

 

Kemsley at Sittingbourne perhaps ? they took hardwood too

[openspaceman]

Kemsley at Sittingbourne perhaps ? they took hardwood too

 

That's it, name went out of my head, yes they took hardwood and larch, douglas but at a lower rate than pine. It all had to go through an agent. I sent mine in via a number of agents, Peter was a bit younger than me and ran a big gang so had a quota, he was killed felling a few years back. We then used another Peter who was a Pole that came over during the war. Tree felling was a reserved occupation. He'd leave the artic on a ride and we'd extract to it by hand, driving the lorry forward as we went.

 

Then St Regis in Sudbrook started competing for hardwood and I could sell direct. Later St regis acquired the Bowaters plant too so less competition. I gave up harvesting when St Regis closed the Sudbrook plant some years after the Kemsley one.

[Timber Man]

That's it, name went out of my head, yes they took hardwood and larch, douglas but at a lower rate than pine. It all had to go through an agent. I sent mine in via a number of agents, Peter was a bit younger than me and ran a big gang so had a quota, he was killed felling a few years back. We then used another Peter who was a Pole that came over during the war. Tree felling was a reserved occupation. He'd leave the artic on a ride and we'd extract to it by hand, driving the lorry forward as we went.

 

Then St Regis in Sudbrook started competing for hardwood and I could sell direct. Later St regis acquired the Bowaters plant too so less competition. I gave up harvesting when St Regis closed the Sudbrook plant some years after the Kemsley one.

 

I knew Peter that got killed , very sad .

Bob Walters was the one we used for quota,..nice old boy.

[Timber Man]

That's it, name went out of my head, yes they took hardwood and larch, douglas but at a lower rate than pine. It all had to go through an agent. I sent mine in via a number of agents, Peter was a bit younger than me and ran a big gang so had a quota, he was killed felling a few years back. We then used another Peter who was a Pole that came over during the war. Tree felling was a reserved occupation. He'd leave the artic on a ride and we'd extract to it by hand, driving the lorry forward as we went.

 

Then St Regis in Sudbrook started competing for hardwood and I could sell direct. Later St regis acquired the Bowaters plant too so less competition. I gave up harvesting when St Regis closed the Sudbrook plant some years after the Kemsley one.

 

Kemsley kept a lot of guys in work,its easy to se how coppice became neglected once it closed It was zoned for haulage purposes wasn't it ? We sent about 2.5k tons down from a site in S Yorks ,..long way to haul rubbish.

A lot of the loads weren't even strapped, although they ran into trouble with cross loading eventually. I remember a girl getting killed near Tunbridge Wells around the time of the 87 blow. Load slipped off sideways and crushed her car,all loads had to be netted after that.

St Regis also kept an awful lot of people going , there seemed to be a lot of squads dedicated to harvesting for them all year.

Bowater also had a big softwood pulp mill in the north where I originate from. A lot of guys made a living cutting thinnings, handballing onto frame tractors , roadside stacking then handball again onto lorries.

[openspaceman]

I knew Peter that got killed , very sad .

Bob Walters was the one we used for quota,..nice old boy.

 

Always wore sli8ppers, I sold a bit through him

[Ilnumero]

I started cutting in 1986 and all pulp had to be 2m length if it was up to 12" diameter.

 

Between 12 and 16" dia, it was cut at 8' for pit props.

 

Anything over that diameter, it was laid out and sold individually as sawlogs. All the pulp and props were hand-balled onto piles and collected up with an AEC Millitant 6x6 truck, all very physically intensive.

 

I worked for a contractor, self-employed, for £35 a day but never took the money. Instead, I took a log, selected by me. It went on my trailer straight to a local sawmill who milled it once I had a decent pile. I did have some fine timber.

 

I worked through the bonanza times after the great Storm in 1987 and we all thought we had a lifetime's worth of timber but it didn't last long at all.

 

I've got my own mill now and still get a real buzz opening up a log and tuning it into good timber.

[Timber Man]

I started cutting in 1986 and all pulp had to be 2m length if it was up to 12" diameter.

 

Between 12 and 16" dia, it was cut at 8' for pit props.

 

Anything over that diameter, it was laid out and sold individually as sawlogs. All the pulp and props were hand-balled onto piles and collected up with an AEC Millitant 6x6 truck, all very physically intensive.

 

I worked for a contractor, self-employed, for £35 a day but never took the money. Instead, I took a log, selected by me. It went on my trailer straight to a local sawmill who milled it once I had a decent pile. I did have some fine timber.

 

I worked through the bonanza times after the great Storm in 1987 and we all thought we had a lifetime's worth of timber but it didn't last long at all.

 

I've got my own mill now and still get a real buzz opening up a log and tuning it into good timber.

The Peter we mentioned that got killed ran militants. Could it be him you cut for ?

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

I started cutting in 1986 and all pulp had to be 2m length if it was up to 12" diameter.

 

Between 12 and 16" dia, it was cut at 8' for pit props.

 

Anything over that diameter, it was laid out and sold individually as sawlogs. All the pulp and props were hand-balled onto piles and collected up with an AEC Millitant 6x6 truck, all very physically intensive.

 

I worked for a contractor, self-employed, for £35 a day but never took the money. Instead, I took a log, selected by me. It went on my trailer straight to a local sawmill who milled it once I had a decent pile. I did have some fine timber.

 

I worked through the bonanza times after the great Storm in 1987 and we all thought we had a lifetime's worth of timber but it didn't last long at all.

 

I've got my own mill now and still get a real buzz opening up a log and tuning it into good timber.

 

2m pulp, brings back memories. Was still cutting that in 1995. Good times. Working for "dangerous dave" on Haldon.

[Ilnumero]

No, this was a chap called Richard, came down from Yorkshire to do some clearing after the storm. Big guy, one finger missing, drove a G-Wagon.

 

The Militant was a beast, no power steering. Had a 20 ton Boughton winch on the front that was used to pull it laden back up the steep banks we were clearing. Also had an enormous hiab and timber grab. Worked on a NT site for over a year and still didn't seem to make much of an impression. 650 acres, 95% down. Good times.