Forestry wear and tear per day cost's

[Gareth_elms]

I started on small willow down the side of rivers and ditches, moved onto rhody after that i found them both good learning curves so like to do the same with all the new cutters i get. problem knower days no ones willing to work from the bottom to get to the top, they all think well im in the sector i should be at the top already. Im a university graduate and I understand where people come from when they say uni students think they should be at top of there game when they leave, most seem to fail to realise the work starts after.

[Logrover]

it is expensive, just had a bar go .luckily im working for a company paying my land rover fuel and i stay away a lot so that is paid for as well. Means i pay for my own kit, petrol etc but still overheads are hilariously high. Got 1 working saw and 2 in bits at the moment!

They really struggled to find anyone willing to cut, you can see why, very hard work, constant breakdowns and spending much time in petrol stations!

The wage will not go up anytime soon i imagine. I think you need not to think too much about the costs or youl go mad, its more of a way of life

[Crazy Cutter]

iMeans i pay for my own kit, petrol etc but still overheads are hilariously high. Got 1 working saw and 2 in bits at the moment!

They really struggled to find anyone willing to cut, you can see why, very hard work, constant breakdowns and spending much time in petrol stations!

 

I think we are all talking the same language on this one. I am a faller firstly because I love the job, now 20 years into it I am looking to earn money from it! I am not interested in harvesters and fancy kit just doing a damn good job. Always striving still to improve my felling cuts, I just see that as professional. I remember the heli logger series for showing what professional safe work should be. It is improving here, mainly because people simply don't want to be doing it. How often are you told 'I used to be in the tree game? Well it's not a game to me must more than that, what I do today affects those in the future.

[luftwaffe]

A lot of the problem is that where most of the big softwood forests are in the UK are in remote regions, where there is little else work going on, farm workers pay is about £10 hour so if a cutter is on say £ 15 -18 hour that is deemed to be on big money, so the cutter excepts the the rates given above as what alternative has he got. Thus ensures a vicious circle.

[Crazy Cutter]

Is there not a big difference between a self employed faller with own kit compared to a farm hand or am l missing something?

[Spruce Pirate]

Is there not a big difference between a self employed faller with own kit compared to a farm hand or am l missing something?

 

Just beat me to it on the reply.

 

In reality you have to sometimes consider working for what you can get, rather than what you'd like to get - it can come down to a simple choice of working or not sometimes.

 

I think the ball-park costs mentioned are about right.

 

Also agree on the starting at the bottom of the ladder thing, the trouble now is a lot of the middle rungs on the ladder are missing. All very well starting on scrub cutting or rhoddies and getting a feel for the saw, but there's a world of a difference between that and felling over-size, awkward and steep slope trees. Very little chance for someone to progress from scrub to small trees to the bigger stuff. Also far too many people seem to think a cross-cut/maintenance and felling small trees ticket makes them a "fully qualified" wood-cutter. Plenty more threads on this.

[Crazy Cutter]

A lot of forestry work is now mechanised, leaving not much scope. I've worked for nothing when things have gone wrong we all have. It's trying to not be loaded with debt and overheads. I juggle the contracting,surgery and the firewood. All kit I try to fund through saving from one of them! But the most important thing I've found to keep the work and to stand out from the crowd is the presentation of the site at the end of the job.

[Gareth_elms]

Spruce pirate: I agree with you felling oversized or even just felling medium and large trees are very different from small stuff. Its my response to those who think they can get cross cut and small tree and think they are fully qualified to tell them yes you are qualified now to cut this small rhody stuff. if you wanna do the big stuff go away and get your next ticket and ill give you a shot at the larger stuff. experience with a saw comes by using a saw. ive done fine felling large stuff by starting on small stuff and progressing up. those who want to cut large get the experience, those who dont cut scrub.

[Snedasawrus]

Im now working full time as a forestry cutter after 3-4 years of arb and estate and garden ground work. After my first month of cutting my expenses have probably doubled. The first two weeks of work put more wear on my chainsaw trousers than the last year or so of arb work. The brambles, mud and steep banks cause a lot of wear and tear on your boots, trousers, gloves and clothes. My saws are getting worked a lot harder now- more wear on chains, bars, files and time spent on maintenance. Also the wear on my van, I'm not exactly driving up mrs smiths nice tar mac drive anymore. I'm keeping £20 a day for expenses which is probably covering my saws, 2stroke, oil and time spent on maintenance but not enough to cover all my PPE and van. Having said that I don't really care at the moment I'm earning enough to live better than most and I get to spend my days working in the woods doing what I enjoy.

[Jackalope]

Not meaning to divert the thread any further, but reading a few comments there about the lack of hand cutting work between Rhody clearance and over-sized soft wood.

Currently there are three different firms advertising online for hand cutters in chestnut production.

 

I'd say the 4-18" trees in that sector are about the ideal graduation/ step up between two extremes.

 

The works out there- you've just gotta go find it, step up to the hard graft and not expect to become a millionaire.