Splitter for Chestnut Palings

[digga]

yer very little cost billhooks which had sinse i started cleaving irons (froe) made from a busted leaf spring on my truck and the one for paling an old blacksmiths rasp and an old cut down grass swap to make a shave out of.

 

really enjoy making my own fencing materials and putting it up in a fence being able to take it from standing tree to finished product .

 

by the way quickthorn very nice job of that hedge in your avatar what style do you do was you at the hedge laying nationals?

[Chris Sheppard]

If you did want to go down the powered route, we got the factory to do a one off for a guy for doing cleft posts - only had a 1m ram but a 2.4m gap and was 14 tonne pressure - as it's all going to be straightish grain it didn't a long ram and it also kept the cost down and the overall length. Can do a four way or six way if need be

 

If you were interested, Pm me and I'll let you know the guys number and you can have a chat with him to see how he gets on with it.

[Quickthorn]

 

by the way quickthorn very nice job of that hedge in your avatar what style do you do was you at the hedge laying nationals?

 

Cheers..it's Midland style..I'd not put the binders on at that stage.

 

It's very hard to find decent coppice round here. What there is is mainly hazel, and the "good" stuff is not as good as down south. I don't know of any sweet chestnut coppice round here at all..I wish there was some, because it seems like you can make a decent living out of it.

 

Sorry to derail the thread, catweazle..I don't know if you've seen this, or whether it helps..Tate fencing, Fencing supplies and installation.

They've got a few sections dealing with chestnut products, which give an idea of what prices they retail at.

[Catweazle]

I don't know if you've seen this, or whether it helps..Tate fencing, Fencing supplies and installation.

 

I hadn't seen that before, thanks. They seem to sell at a bit more than I was expecting, worth doing by hand at those prices - assuming I can actually sell at near those prices.

 

The idea of the forklift type jig is good - with a chain and sprockets I can double the effective length of the ram, or even quadruple it with a 4 sprocket setup. I don't think splitting force will be an issue, sweet chestnut splits very easily when green. If I end up with scrap wood through the splitter it's not a problem - I'll just stick it into the charcoal kiln.

[Quickthorn]

I hadn't seen that before, thanks. They seem to sell at a bit more than I was expecting, worth doing by hand at those prices - assuming I can actually sell at near those prices.

 

 

I suppose you could sell small quantities locally, just undercut them slightly. It would be interesting to know what they buy them in for..does 50% of retail price sound about right ?

[toby]

It's all done by hand, which doesnt take very long and is quite a nice way to earn money.

We pay our palers £1 per foot per bundle of 25 which is over the going rate if you ask me, but there you go....

Then we wire it with a 1960's walkalong do about 3 rolls an hour, a lot of people do it a lot faster.

[Luke Quenby]

I hadn't seen that before, thanks. They seem to sell at a bit more than I was expecting, worth doing by hand at those prices - assuming I can actually sell at near those prices.

 

The idea of the forklift type jig is good - with a chain and sprockets I can double the effective length of the ram, or even quadruple it with a 4 sprocket setup. I don't think splitting force will be an issue, sweet chestnut splits very easily when green. If I end up with scrap wood through the splitter it's not a problem - I'll just stick it into the charcoal kiln.

 

Catweazle, McArthur Fencing, in Broad Oak, Sussex are pretty big merchants for buying and selling palings, either in bundles or as fences, I would imagine not to far from you. Tate fencing are ok, but pricey. Mcarthurs number is 01424-882888. They're pretty sound to deal with.

[Catweazle]

Thanks Luke, I'll give them a call and have a chat.