arboriculturist

That's efficient. There is a Firewood retailer who stores outside up to 4 years on some stacks given some of the diameters. Our issue is the sizes we have to take now, anything up to 450mm and it will be well over 5 years to get that spec down to circa 25%. It's a serious investment in stock also.

With the ongoing shortages of Roundwood available to buy in, we are looking to stockpile a lot more Hardwood / Softwood when available. I know a few on here do this and some cover the top of stacks with plastic sheet weighted down and others don't. GDH has done this for years now. In my experience stacked on bearers, correctly orientated on a reasonably exposed site, after 1 Year it is possible to reduce the MC down by the following: Softwood 15%, Hardwood 10%. After 2 years Softwood another 5% = 20%, Hardwood another 5% = 15%. How do these finding compare with your experience /situation ?

Michelin Agilis Alpin - Mud and snow. These made a massive difference on our vehicle. 25k out of them so far. Quality french tyre.

Our bought in prices have gone up a bit - we now pay £56 delivered for nice hardwoods. It is clear that some that sell a few loads just decide on a price and then advertise at that rate and perhaps sell a few loads to those that do not buy regularly throughout the year. Most prices are over inflated but good luck to them if they sell a few loads.

That's sound advice thanks - get the headtorch / phone charged up and be prepared to crawl about under anything on offer before looking at the rest of a vehicle.

Several of the 2000 - 2004 Rangers I checked out said as Advisories: Front body mounts are in poor condition Rear chassis corroded on rear fuel tank mounting bracket Underside of vehicle showing signs of corrosion Is this what is to be expected on Rangers and should these vehicles be avoided or are these issues superficial?

Your now making your money harvesting timber and you have still to reach 'critical mass' in your new business as you are missing some key components if you are to attain that 'status'. In addition the present plant you have is seriously restricting the size of product you can harvest / process. A suitably sized 360 fitted with Engcon Tiltrotator - winch would be a robust step in that direction and a sensible investment. Think of Devon and the geological characteristics and terrain of the woodlands / forestry you are now operating in, which is why the above is 100% logical in my mind.

Totally agree - it's a soul destroying job and we tend to take turn ! That's why I suggested find someone with a rotary screening bucket - that will be difficult.

We have done a few hundred tonnes and it's harsh even on a 360. The videos online show dry soil like sand but in the real world rocks are caked in mud, and the soil/mud is generally damp. It is a violent process as the material has to be moved quickly in the bucket to agitate the mixture enough to screen out the fines. That is why they make Rotary screening buckets as they agitate very effectively by tumbling. Look online at Lloyd screening buckets, which is what I plan to buy and you will see the result. (They have now updated their videos)

Bone dry - that's hit the nail on a head. You can forget a riddle bucket of any sort on your loader - it wont work ! We have a riddle bucket we fabricated specifically. It's 2ft wide and 4ft deep with high sides and bucket teeth. The material gets moved a long way from front to back of bucket, so has effective operation. The 4"removable screen made of 25mm rebar, 2"" / 1" screens 20mm rebar. Its bombproof but its a thankless task and V. slow. 1hour to fill a 6 tonne dumper when screening 2" / 1" when dry depending on material. 4" is probably 1/2 hour. Also very noisy and does the EX. no good. Remember this is a 7.5 tonne EX with a purpose built screening bucket. Material is never bone dry of course. This is why I plan to buy the 0.3m3 rotary screening bucket. It takes 30 seconds per cycle - Little noise, no vibration, no wear on machine and very productive, also being more effective on damper material as it moves it about so much tumbling. Vibrating angle screens as mentioned can be ok - but do you want to spend time running around to source all the parts then days fabricating something. Prep the material and hire someone in with the right equipment for the day. Good luck finding that person though. ?

Well that's uncanny - I did the same yesterday on a 91 Ranger and chassis corrosion has been picked up as an advisory on the last 5 years MOT's. Still passed last August though - I'm wondering how. Good idea to research though. Thanks.

Don't think about using the rotator - dust and grit will end up on the pinion and ring, sticking to all the grease present. What you need is a rotary screening bucket (rsb). They come at a premium and you need a service to run it. For a small amount a riddle bucket is what most use but slow and you need a 360. Best bet is to find someone with a 7.5tonne 360 with a rsb. Prep the material and get them in for a day in a dry spell and they will do the lot and some of the other main jobs while on site. Haulage may kill it though. There is no cheap option I know of. We're planning to buy a 0.3m3 rsb later this year for the 7.5 as a few 100t to do now and ongoing work. 6k + 1.5k to pipe ex. (FYI - 13T machine matches with a 0.7m3 rsb) Hopefully worth the investment.

I'm not looking for speed, towing, heavy loads or economy, so some of the posts are extremely usefull - thanks ?

That would have done me ? Looking on Ebay those old Hilux 4x4's attract a high price!

There's some sound advice there thanks. I'm surprised so many recommend the Hilux, presumably due to other makes having serious underbody rust issues. Towing isn't required as we have other vehicles when needed.

I know nothing about 4x4s except landrovers, having always run dropside trucks. We need an old 15 - 20 year old basic pickup as it will only do around 10 local miles a week. There are lots of older Ford Rangers, Hiluxes, Izuzus etc about for £1500 - 2000 but I have no idea which to avoid when buying a fairly old 4x4 model. I have heard some makes of that age will always be rust buckets. Any advice would be much appreciated.

I wont say what I think of the team who drafted the 'Ready to burn' idea based on Firewood being less than 20% MC, however £378 per year that gives you massive regional marketing support / advertising may be worthwhile although difficult to quantify. Producing a product with 25% MC is achievable and if accreditation gets you a chunk of new customers who find you through the scheme maybe it is not all doom and gloom. I think a carefull look at what promotion is offered would be the starting point.

Good for you for raising your prices - everyone needs to do this annually now, if we are to keep pace with the rise in bought in timber prices. ? The certification stickers may look nice on the vehicles, but all those certifications are unnecessary for those selling a quality product as others have said.

100% this - buy the fastest cycle time conventional splitter you can find - or buy a larger processor as a decent roundwood splitter is a large investment and as others say - sell oversize as sawlogs. Over 10K to split a few oversize isn't viable - think about it.

I liked that post a lot - straight from the heart telling it as it is. I think a lot of us feel like that who have been toiling for a fair few years but don't like to admit it!

I know exactly what you mean, we get mountains of the stuff. If I recall you have gasification boilers that you feed with waste and split log lengths, Ergo or something like. I think there are several retailers about that like the idea of drying but due to the initial investment combined nosey neighbours and the planning issues as this is an industrial process, they are finished at the starting line. LPA's like to kill off any show of enterprise.

By my calculations the actual cost of the raw material i.e. split 20" softwood logs to dry your logs is £ 15 approx. per m3 - that is factoring everything: processing the 20", drying the 20", handling labour for the drying process of all fuel and finished product, installation cost and maintainance over a 10 year period drying 1000m3 +/annum. This is more applicable to those who have nothing at present. You probably have another 17 years or so to run on your current RHI of course.

Yes, I can appreciate the weaker exchange rate and rising timber prices have affected your margins but as you have you have increased your turnover during these times this has mainly negated the increased overheads. Did you manage to get the RHI on the tiny one or are you just running it as a stand alone. Do you know if new RHI applications are now over for people wishing to start drying firewood?

That's mega volume Ash! How much stock do you hold to sustain those figures if you don't mind me asking? I think you said you we using a 40ft container with 36 in each batch. You must be around 1500m3/year by now. The joys of being able to dry I suppose.

That's a familiar tale to many on here for sure. Like a lot of us working from base camp at least you can spend some quality time on Arbtalk, which can make you feel less isolated. I find its always good to have things to look forward to, if your a shooting person you will know exactly what I mean. Children coming home even etc etc. You have to be pro active and even take up something new. I once read a major tidy up can do wonders to lift the spirit ( can't say I've tried that yet looking around here!) Maybe think back to things you really enjoyed in the past, which could give you new ideas. Lots worse off than all of us put together remember. Chin up, Christmas is coming!