arboriculturist

Time how long it takes to process 10m3 from when you leave your house until when you go back in. Factor in your time to load and deliver this quantity on average plus transport overheads and any other costs directly attributable to Firewood production. Few institutions offer finance without a business plan and costings for good reason - you need to do the same to assess if it is actually viable to retail Firewood. You may find you are actually working for < £ 5/hr It is very difficult to make a worthwhile return producing Firewood from Arb. arisings. Very often it is far better to give all the on site arisings to a producer who will take the timber away for free saving you a stack of time, humping and dumping fuel / wear and tear etc. Do the costings, as you may find you are actually 'flogging a dead horse'. I did the analysis and found that it was only worth doing Arb. timber if you could pay some £5 / hr and those days are gone. I'd invest more in the Tree Surgery business to improve its efficiency and focus 100% on that. Several on the forum will agree, and others will not. Good luck

It's not 3 acres of brambles and solid similar undergrowth, which is why we would walk the site where accessable 1st and spray mark the re-gen worthy of retention, then go with a self propelled walk behind flail, but not a micky mouse machine.

Planting even cell grown trees as late as this is a dangerous game, dehydration is always lurking, dry spell, exposed site could be a disaster. Species like Hawthorn are extremely intolerant of water deficiencies at this stage. I wouldn't take the risk personally.

That's got me thinking - a subbie I know has one with little use on it, bog standard. May be persuaded to part with it and we could do with just that saw if spudded. What do you personally think as an owner?

Grazon Pro works better than Glyphosate and SBK :blushing:but I dare not mention that on here. NRA are only mildly comfortable with using Glyphosate near watercourses, hence why it would be my 1st choice in this setting.

Ideal saw - straight off to Spud to get the crank seals changed, all the fuel etc pipes replaced, carb kit and finally ported. This approach may seem OTT - however you won't need to touch a saw like that again for years:thumbup1:

The grim reality is Ground Elder is there to stay unless you like herbicides, as are nettles. Brambles can be significantly reduced by cyclic cutting. Letting the tree canopy close up will of course reduce the invasive weeds vigour but they won't accept that option. I would use a walk behind flail and get most of it down to ground level. Treat the re-growth with Glyphosate in September with an added adjuvant. Treat any secondary re-growth the following April. Not the most eco approach but efficient and effective. Talk them through the benefits of standing and fallen deadwood and habitat piles - don't leave the place sanitised. Patches of brambles and nettles can be accepted but some form of management is usually required. Once they have used the woodland for a time they will understand what access is actually required. Good luck

If you're serious it may be an option to join the CLA - as you will recieve free consultancy advice from a qualified expert one a member in the correct catagory. Here's a link https://www.cla.org.uk/why-join-cla/benefits/farmer-and-landowner

Absolutely, something that seems to have been left behind along with reading the handbook.

Stihl battery climbing saw weighs almost 1 Kg more than a Stihl 150 and everyone is loving them! ( I'd rather buy the Echo 2510 than either of those though and get it delivered straight to Spud before we put it into commission)

Good to hear your views are consistent with mine, thanks for posting. The only thing I will say when buying Chip in, is always get out to site and see what you're getting. Some will send you excessive small diameter i.e. 70mm and we all know how long anything less than 150mm takes to process whatever machine you have!

Ah thanks - I was hoping you would be along soon to give your take on the maths. If local - We would pay Haulage about £175 for 17.5 Tonnes green timber and £ 175 for 17.5 Tonnes of part-seasoned Chip which equates to approx 24m3. So we are actually getting approx. 30% more m3 when buying Chip delivered in for the same transport cost.

Sorry there was a typo on 1st post - should read 24m3 part-seasoned on an 8 wheeler. Whenever Softwood has been sitting roadside for any length of time - whoever it is always wants to sell it to us by the m3. We never get a say on the matter. I am just looking for some number crunching from others on if it works out much more expensive to buy part-seasoned roundwood by the m3 rather than green per tonne.

Sorry typo on 1st post. Buy Green - On 8 wheeler we get 17.5 tonne Buy part-seasoned Chip wood - On 8 wheeler we get 24m3 ( = 17.5 tonne) Both options are the same price. Transport is charged to us at £10 -12 on per Tonne basis whatever we have.

An 8 wheeler carries 24T approx - of part seasoned chip wood. Any of the big Firewood boys on Arbtalk tonight, as they will have all the data in their head ready to reel off ?

An 8 wheeler carries 17.5 T average - of green wood.

I'm just looking for others views on buying loads of Softwood Roundwood by the m3 rather than by the Tonne. We have been offered Roundwood roadside 1/ Green and 2/ Chip (down for 18 months on bearers) for the same price. Transport is charged to us at £10 -12 on per Tonne basis whatever we have. On 8 wheeler we get 17.5 tonne green or 24 tonne approx part-seasoned chip. I would welcome your view on which is the best buy, bearing in mind we don't need to buy Roundwood that is part-seasoned. Hoping my maths is in a similar ball park as everyone elses.

Cancel the order as quick as you can and order an ECHO CS-2510TES with a 1/4" pitch sprocket and fit the 10" Stihl bar and chain, which will require an extra drive link. Look at the extensive thread on here ( Tiny Echo ! ) and you will see why! Good luck.

"Sugihara say they can't make the nose sprocket that is able to take the chain cleanly round the nose of their bars." They can of course replicate Stihl bar specs. - however due to reasons unknown to us, manufacturing / tooling costs etc. they have chosen not to do so. This has to be an unwise call, as those in the Industry are already sold on the Stihl 1/4" chain and have those chains. Users will want to be able to use the same chain / bars on both saws, where everything is interchangable. The new Sugi chain may match the unrivalled Stihl chain and this remains to be seen. If not it is fairly certain that we will all be getting our Stihl bars modded to avoid getting custom length chains made up (unless you make you own loops up of course).

Originally Posted by Joe Newton View Post It's hardly a level playing field with the standard bar. I wouldn't even consider running one without the 0.043 chain. The bar will fit without modification, the chain requires an extra drive link. Speaking to Rob, apparently there'll be a Sugi bar in 0.043 available soon. ---So according to Joe a standard 150 bar fits the 2510 without mod but Stihl chain needs an extra drive link.

Old school rigging, big ropes, timber hitches, minimum kit, well planned, controlled rigging - worked at treat.

Thanks Joe, missed that it was the older model - good news as we have spare 150 bars about.

Stihl bar needs drilling - read previous posts.

That is a great lathe - with 1 main failing being the support legs are far too lightweight. Inserting some 3x3 in the angle and securing with through bolts makes a massive difference when it comes to turning larger pieces. Good luck.