Large, dead ash clearance job. Advice appreciated

[ESS]

41 minutes ago, Tom D said:

Totally agree, I’ve chipped a helluva lot of brash with the heizo and small diameter stuff and brash just doesn’t produce much chip. I can fill a  grain trailer, maybe 14 -16 cube in 20 mins with 10-14" diameter softwood logs. But it will take me an hour with brash.

I agree. I have done a couple of large scale brash lifts in recent months, the chipper was looking for 14-16 walking floors a day , compared to 100t/hour + on Roundwood.

[Big J]

10 hours ago, LGP Eddie said:

Use the logbullet for what it was intended for and put an Excavator with Shear and Collector in front to Shear/Stack and sort a path for the following Logbullet.

 

Greg and myself used to do loads of this type of thing with myself on the Kubota 8 tonner and him on the Tracked Dumper Forwarder.

Used to get laughed at, until a couple of days in with the stacks piling up and no ruts or damage anywhere.

 

Couple of ideal Shears about now with Collector that size, you don’t want anything dangle mount really or you’ll have everything crashing about and anything with a Saw brings its own issues.

 

 

 

 

Eddie.

 

Good videos and food for thought. Just wanted to avoid buying another machine if possible.

 

10 hours ago, Tom D said:

Totally agree, I’ve chipped a helluva lot of brash with the heizo and small diameter stuff and brash just doesn’t produce much chip. I can fill a  grain trailer, maybe 14 -16 cube in 20 mins with 10-14" diameter softwood logs. But it will take me an hour with brash.

 

9 hours ago, ESS said:

I agree. I have done a couple of large scale brash lifts in recent months, the chipper was looking for 14-16 walking floors a day , compared to 100t/hour + on Roundwood.

 

True as that is, the trees are what they are. Small and brashy, but something has to be done with them

[LGP Eddie]

At a couple people of hundred pounds a week for a machine, hire one and buy the Shear which will always sell on without losing a huge amount.

 

 

Eddie.

[Big J]

9 minutes ago, LGP Eddie said:

At a couple people of hundred pounds a week for a machine, hire one and buy the Shear which will always sell on without losing a huge amount.

 

 

Eddie.

It's a fair point. I have been looking for a long time for an excuse to buy an excavator, but I think whilst the forwarder will be a touch slower felling, the fact it won't be double handling the material means it might work out similarly productive. It's pretty quick over the ground too, with a top speed of 14km/h.

 

I'll have a think. Need to run the proposal past the landowner. Might stagger the chipping somewhat as I have a customer interested in taking 100 cube a month or the equivilent thereof. He only has storage capacity for 600 cube though, so it might be a case of finding 3 customers like him, chipping half of it, waiting a few months and chipping the rest. Should be able to make the job pay though.

[Elmsdown Forestry]

Would it not make more sense to put a grapple saw on the TX, more flow and bigger bunk. 

[Big J]

7 hours ago, Elmsdown Forestry said:

Would it not make more sense to put a grapple saw on the TX, more flow and bigger bunk. 

No. It's mixed, young woodland. 2x2 planting with lots of trees to retain. Anything bigger than a 3t excavator or the Logbullet would be a disaster there.

[aspenarb]

On 26/09/2019 at 20:52, Big J said:

Some pictures of the lifeless ash above.

J ,back a mulcher over it and get planting through the mat, if that stand is as brittle as some that I have worked in you will have snapped out tops beating up your kit.

 

Bob

[Big J]

23 minutes ago, aspenarb said:

J ,back a mulcher over it and get planting through the mat, if that stand is as brittle as some that I have worked in you will have snapped out tops beating up your kit.

 

Bob

Too many living trees of other species to do that really. No means of acheiving a financial return either, whereas I can probably sell the chip, which will be economically viable if I can make the harvesting and chipping process efficient.

[aspenarb]

6 hours ago, Big J said:

Too many living trees of other species to do that really. No means of acheiving a financial return either, whereas I can probably sell the chip, which will be economically viable if I can make the harvesting and chipping process efficient.

You may earn a crust out of it J but I doubt if the client will see any return by the time everyone's had a slice of the cake. May pay to get a buncher in there to lay it all down and follow up with the tonka toy to extract .

 

Bob

 

[Big J]

2 hours ago, aspenarb said:

You may earn a crust out of it J but I doubt if the client will see any return by the time everyone's had a slice of the cake. May pay to get a buncher in there to lay it all down and follow up with the tonka toy to extract .

 

Bob

 

That's a beautiful bit of kit there, but huge for this level of woodland. It's only averaging about 17 years old, grown on poor soil in a fairly wet bit of Devon a bit too high up and exposed to some wind. Not much going for it, but as I said, the issue is that 50% of the trees have to be retained and no rides can be cut. The sub 2m width is non-negotiable.

 

So long as it doesn't cost (or cost much for) the landowner, then I think we can make it work. Even if we just took it to ride side and Euroforest cleared it away, that's still a £40k bill for the landowner (remember, 50k trees). 

 

I'm sure it can be done, and I'll keep exploring options. In principle, I've already sold about a quarter of the chip.