Quickthorn
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Everything posted by Quickthorn
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This is the key. Some people on this forum can't produce it fast enough, yet there are other parts of the country where they still expect it to be almost free. If you've got a market, it sounds like you're in an ideal position. If you're starting from scratch with nothing, paying finance on all your gear, then renting a yard and paying business rates on that, I'd say it's tough to make a living at it. With a free yard, and power available already, you're in a good position. It varies around the country, but standing hardwood near here has recently been up for £5-10/ton, at ride side it could be £25-30/ton, most people seem to be selling logs for equivalent of £100-150/ton.
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This might be of interest to a few of you..a new woodfuel initiative for eastern counties..might be some grants in it for machinery or to help woodland management: "Woodfuel project to boost rural economy Launched last month, the £10.7 million Woodfuel East project aims to create jobs and businesses in the rural economy, improve biodiversity and cut carbon emissions by providing locally produced and sustainably sourced fuel in the East of England. The project will encourage landowners to manage the 50,000 hectares of neglected woodlands (almost a third of the total woodland in the region) in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. It will also encourage a co-ordinated supply chain, from land owners through to the marketplace for woodchips. For example, felled trees and cut branches, which might otherwise go to waste, can be chipped for use in specialised boilers to provide heat and hot water for medium-sized buildings such as schools, village halls and offices, particularly in rural areas with no gas supply. The Woodfuel East initiative is a partnership governed by representatives of 25 organisations from across the region, co-ordinated by the Forestry Commission. By 2013, the project hopes to be saving at least 75,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year and supplying the equivalent of 12,500 homes with energy. Learn more at www.woodfueleast.org.uk and www.eeda.org.uk/rdpe."
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I've been looking at those..something a Landrover could pull at road speeds, but also over rougher ground without wrecking it. The last price list I got from Riko says: trailer £3100, cranes start at £3550, power pack £5-700. What sort of prices would be reasonable for this sort of trailer?
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Great, thanks for replies. It is metal..some sort of light alloy...probably magnesium, like you say. The saw in question is my 346xp, my favourite saw . I'll try the araldite/liquid metal route..might reinforce it somehow as well
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I've managed to put a hole in the oil tank of one of my saws. I took the handle off years ago, but didn't notice that the bolts that hold it underneath are a bit shorter than the ones that hold it at the side, so they got put back the wrong way round. Over time, the ends of the bolts underneath, being a little bit too long, have worn a hole in the bottom of the oil tank. Has anyone had to make this sort of repair? I was thinking of using araldite or something like that, and gluing something like a c/sink screw head into the hole, or even tapping a thread in the hole and gluing a bit of threaded bar or bolt end in place. Would it stand up to the vibration though?
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I tried. It fell over.
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I had a 026, still have a MS260, but my 346xp is much better, in my opinion. But it is personal opinion. Other factors could tip the balance..for instance, what's your local dealer like, and what do they sell? I used to use Stihl , and the only reason I ever bought the 346 was because all of the local Stihl dealers were totally useless, because none of them had anyone who knew the product. The best saw shops in the area sold Husqy, so I swapped...
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This is why there's so much demand..tightwads think wood is free People are putting in woodburners thinking that there's fuel for it just lying around waiting for them to gather it. I've seen a few articles in sunday papers suggesting this sort of thing.
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I've only been working with trees for about 13 yrs or so..before that, it was office or factory work, which was dreadful. Sounds like you're in the right area to make money out of firewood-i'd be doing it myself, but there's very little money in Lincs..people don't really want to pay for firewood around here, it seems. How are you getting on with the alaskan? I want something like that, as I sometimes find there's stuff I could use but cannot move, so why not plank it? Only trouble these days is it seems that there's a lot more interest now, so stuff that would have been left to rot now has a price on it.
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It's a shame, and shortsighted. I think a lot of it's when they get land agents or consultant foresters in. Contractors may be cheaper on paper, but they'll be in and out as quickly as they possibly can. Yet some estates manage to keep their woodsmen. There's one place near Sleaford where they have them planking up a lot of their felled oak, and stickering it ready to season, after which it's all used to maintain the estate cottages. They also manage to make a firewood business pay. It just takes a bit of imagination.
Good luck on the planting..it's the sort of work I quite like, if there's not too much pressure on. great weather for it now, although a bit miserable if you're the one doing it!
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I'd imagine the electric saws would be better..no 3 phase here, unfortunately. I'm surprised Husqys are more expensive in sweden than stihls..aren't husqys made there?
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Hi david,
No, I'm a self employed contractor, doing hedgelaying and anything that's feasible without big machinery.
I do live on an estate, though, as I rent a cottage next to their woodyard. The only trouble is, they've just sacked all their woodsmen and gone over to contractors, which is a great shame, really.
Rgards, Nick
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Does anyone have experience of Logosol products?..I'm thinking of the Timberjig for slabbing in the woods, and the M7 mill. What about power..Logosol seem to recommend the MS660..how does this compare to the Husqy 395xp for milling?
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Dean, Don't know if this helps, but from owners manuals.. MS260/026 7yrs old or so Max rpm with bar/chain: 14,000; 020T 8-9 yrs old or so Max rpm with bar and chain 14,000; Idle speed for both 2,800 rpm
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I was asked to do a few days hedgelaying training by a local authority. They were booking people on and I was just turning up on the days to teach. At pretty much the last minute, they told me they expected me to be providing insurance cover, and my insurers told me it would be another £300, which was pretty much their minimum premium. This would have covered a year, with up to 10 days training, I think. It would have been a lot more if under 18s were to be involved.
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How far does the wiring diagram go, Mike? Does it cover the whole machine, including the relays, or is it just a guide to fitting the new switches?
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Cheers for that, John
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Technically, they should not be competing, they should both be setting the right standards. Financially, why would NPTC compete on price? They're a charity, and must end up with a profit of £0 at the end of each financial year.
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Any ideas, roughly, how much ? It'd be good to have a rough idea of how much they charge, say, 20 tonne load, picked from roadside, hauled, stacked in yard, either per mile or per hour. This would be Notts/Lincs to neighbouring counties or slightly beyond..100-200 mile round trip.
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PS How about thinking in terms of trees to be removed? If they're spaced at 3x3m now, that's about 1200 / ha. If you went for a 30 % thin, you'll need to take 720 trees out on your 2 ha site. With 4 men working 10 days, that's 18 trees per man per day. Do you think that's feasible?
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It would be good to know what species are in there. How is it stocked at the moment..do you have any idea of spacings? Do they ever want access, or will they ever want to extract stuff? If there are plans to extract anything, they'd want to cut racks at some point. What's to happen with the brash? Sorting this out may take more time than the actual felling...I'd have thought 30% removal in one go would be your absolute maximum, favouring trees with best form/few faults. Ash need space early on, oak can cope with a bit more competition. Thinning is always hard to estimate..for comparison, 2 of us coppiced about 1 ha in about 20 days, not including extraction. It was mainly 15 year old regrowth, there was a lot of brash processing to their spec, and we had to work around standards left at about 60 / ha, then go in again when they reviewed what was left and decided more needed to come out. Whether that can be compared with your job, it's very hard to say.
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Also, as far as I know, the 5 cube is whole tree volume, not just timber volume. I've never had to apply, that's always been done by whoever was organising the work. Turnaround time varies, but contacting your local FC office is a good idea, as they are normally quite helpful.
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As far as I know, Customs & Excise have always had the power to simply enter your home. They were the only branch of government that could do that..even the police need a warrant before bursting in (although recent terror legislation may have changed that). According to some areas of the press: before they were merged with the Inland Revenue, C&E could be very heavy handed when investigating VAT, and were happy to carry out extra-judicial punishment of businesses they thought might be defrauding the system. One example which hit the press was that of a dry cleaning business, who they suspected of under reporting income to avoid some of their VAT. They worked out what they thought the business owed them (a huge figure) and sent them the bill. Knowing that the business would not be able to pay, they then applied for a winding up order on the basis that the business was bankrupt..caused by the bill they had received from C&E! Basically, they shut this place down without the owners ever having the chance to defend themselves in court, because no criminal charges were ever brought. Because of tricks like this, and heavy handed enforcement at ports on holidaymakers returning with duty free, it was thought that C&E had got a little bit out of control, and hence the merger with the Revenue, to calm them down a bit. Unfortunately, it looks like the C&E approach might have spread to the Revenue, rather than the other way around.
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looks like they've updated the guidance..it was GV262. Now it's the link marked drivers hours etc The forestry exemption is 100 km of base, if you think you do forestry. The other one is: "Vehicles or combinations of vehicles with a maximum permissible mass not exceeding 7.5 tonnes that are used: • by universal service providers ...; or • for carrying materials, equipment or machinery for the driver’s use in the course of his work. These vehicles shall be used only within a 50 km radius of the base of the undertaking and on the condition that driving the vehicle does not constitute the driver’s main activity. The only universal service provider in the UK at the time of publication (September 2007) is the Royal Mail. Universal service provider vehicles must have a tachograph fitted. This would apply to tradesmen such as electricians or builders carrying tools or materials for their own use." I went through this a few years ago. I rang the local office, and someone told me - a little too quickly, I thought - that, yes, I would need a tacho. A local fitter wanted £700 for fitting one to my Landrover, all for the sake of a dozen journeys per year. Luckily, the forestry exemption went up from 50 km to 100 km.
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I didn't tell the boss, but yea, I refused to hold and cut, and have never done since. Made it difficult there, because it slowed things down compared to everyone else, who were happy to cut and hold..I'd be cutting hinges or step cuts, or using a hand saw, and the boss would be below me bellowing at me to start the saw and get on with it, so I ended up being put on the chipper for most jobs. I'd get a climb only once every few months, and that was only if there was nobody else to do it.
