Low impact forestry services in Devon and the South West

[MattyF]

You got your pike fishing gear with you J apparently it’s the best in the world ?? 

[Big J]

6 hours ago, MattyF said:

You got your pike fishing gear with you J apparently it’s the best in the world ?? 

 

I have, yes, though apart from a few jacks, I haven't had anything. It's mainly due to lack of time. 

 

Also, it's the sheer choice. Where do I start? There are 59 lakes within 5 miles of the house....

[Spruce Pirate]

On 18/08/2022 at 15:34, Big J said:

Yeah, like Andy says, blueberries here too (blåbär).

 

Couple more photos from this morning. Getting to grips with the new machine now.

 

 

 

Nevermind all this swimming and fishing and quality of life nonsense, what's the timber going for?  Small diameter?  Random lengths?  Pulp?  Is it all birch or are you getting Norway and pine too?  Ground can't be that hard if you've got the tracks on?  

[Big J]

7 hours ago, Spruce Pirate said:

 

Nevermind all this swimming and fishing and quality of life nonsense, what's the timber going for?  Small diameter?  Random lengths?  Pulp?  Is it all birch or are you getting Norway and pine too?  Ground can't be that hard if you've got the tracks on?  

 

Haha! You and your one track mind Wallis!

 

Not sure about the prices as I'm just contracting in on the machine on an hourly basis. I think from memory that the lowest price is for the massaved (wood for paper pulp) which is something like £28/cubic metre roadside. That would I guess translate to about £32/t. I'm not certain what sawlog is going for, but it won't be much more than £50/t. 

 

The productivity you can achieve here can be quite good. I pulled 16 loads on a 10hr shift yesterday on a soft peat bog. That's around about 80 cubic metres. The machine is still fairly new to me and that's as much as I ever did in one day on the Vimek in over 1000hrs of operation. All the long lengths certainly help. No fannying around with 2.5m chip. 

 

This site is about 50% pine, 35% norway and 15% birch.

Edited August 27, 2022 by Big J

[Big J]

A couple of photos from my peat bog forwarding. Almost nothing but blueberries, lingonberries and moss growing on the ground. It's really pretty.

[Big J]

The locals think I'm mad for still swimming, but I'm in the lake every day. 

 

It was almost freezing this morning, but the lake is still fairly mild. Stunning mist clearing from the lake as I was in the water. 

[doobin]

🤷‍♂️Mad dogs and Englishmen…

[Big J]

First day out with our forwarder today. 

 

It's been a long and difficult process to get started here. A combination of Swedish bureaucracy, Brexit nonsense and people owing me money and not wanting to pay. 

 

Anyway, I'm in partnership with a friend here now. He's German, lots of construction machine and lorry experience as well as being an excellent mechanic. He's new to the forest. Together, we can do a lot more than individually, and it's nice not to go it completely alone in a new country. 

 

We've started on a fairly complicated and difficult little site for a relative of a neighbour. Just testing the machine out really and it's doing well. Traction is very good, drive system nice, crane a bit sensitive and cabin lovely. It's a Novotny LVS 511.

 

We move onto a normal commercial site next week. 

 

We have a 1992 Scania 143M to shift the machine around, which also has a sleeper cab for nights out. 

 

This site has one of the best locations of any house I've visited here. Just stunning, on the edge of a 9km long lake.

 

[Mick Dempsey]

Good luck!

[Stubby]

On 22/09/2022 at 08:18, Big J said:

The locals think I'm mad for still swimming, but I'm in the lake every day. 

 

It was almost freezing this morning, but the lake is still fairly mild. Stunning mist clearing from the lake as I was in the water. 

Is it a bird ? Is it a plane ? No , its mad Big J !