arboriculturist

The List Price for the Xylog 420 was £ 24,300 + vat when I last saw it advertised. I would expect that price will be discounted?

Still waiting to hear from Nathan at Home Forestry on the Xylog 550 - i'll post if I ever here from him. As the agent for Rabaud I am surprised his responses are very slow!

Has anyone on the Forum have a Xylog 550 or a smaller model? If so it would be good to know how they perform in comparison to a Tajfun or a Posch.

I am inclined to agree with you - and any fall in roundwood prices would be most welcome. We were all surprised when oil based fuel prices plummeted, roundwood prices will also fluctuate. The roadside stock levels are rising as you say.

Has anyone heard if Nathan at Home Forestry is now using the Rabaud F80 insted of his processor?

Apply for a 2 m crown reduction. In the meantime get those evergreen hedges reduced to 6ft or 2 metres. Don't forget the nesting birds. Good luck.

Softwood every time! - However customer's won't wear more than 50% soft. I promote 50/50 - just need the right hardwood to speed up production - maybe next week!

I tried to phone without success - just trying to determine if their initial claims panned out and they had indeed sold their processor to replace with the F80. Maybe Nathan will reply on the Forum soon. Lots of labour all that crosscutting, loading and a slow machine cycle time does little for productivity with the F80. Also I am not sure the argument that oversize can be bought at less cost than usual - round these parts they are not keen to grade, just want to load that lorry as quick as possible. Graded roundwood 150 - 350mm straight is the ultimate - achieving that seems in reality impossible. We are all ending up with half the loads a mixture of bent, undersize or 20" one end 9" the other. A processor to handle the oversize is prohibited by the cost - so what is the most cost effective solution? I am thinking - accept paying a hefty premium to be supplied with quality graded timber. Anyone care to comment?

It's been a while since you posted this. Can you say how many of these F80's are now working in the uk? Did you sell your processor in the end and now just use the F80? Mortimer said a while ago if I recall - buy graded sub 350mm roundwood for your processor, but in reality getting this delivered with no oversize seems a struggle.

Sad day for the bloke's family, as this is not what it appears. Life got the better of him on this day without saying more, which can happen to the best of us. I hope he gets the help he needs.

SPOT ON BT! I would have pruned out all of that re-growth from the previous reduction and reduced the crown branch length by 1/3 more thanyou have done in your 'AFTER' photo. Providing you follow the BS and are critically leaving the strong growing points, the tree will tolerate heavier than the maximun normal pruning specification given the species. The crown will of course look fairly sparce of foliage initially, however the customer will appreciate this management approach in the long term. That is a decent reduction all the same; shows skill.

Felled an Ash 3ft diameter 3 years ago with Honey Fungus - now has 10ft high thicket arising from the stump. I don't think you should have any concerns.

Take a look at the Farma W700. I can't comment on the price perhaps someone else can? More efficient on a machine with a blade to push lengths of roundwood against. The video below is speeded up towards the end. [ame] [/ame]

Thanks for posting 'A highly valuable black walnut tree' - Hilarious !!!

Very sorry to hear that John - I know that sickening feeling well. The landowners theft is sure to be linked.

It appears that this year has taken its toll on several with kilns due to slow sales. The kiln still has to be paid for in the good and bad times. Also as more kiln dried appears there is sure to be a price war for 'kiln dried' but this time all the kilners will be on a level playing field as they are selling the exactly the same dry product, unlike some air dried retails some of whom sell green/damp wood. The established kiln dryers with assets can afford to drop their prices for a couple of years and that will destroy several of their competitors. This could follow a similar model to the supermarkets and small retailers - not a great situation for the independants.

To those with solar PV panels on the roof - YES

I think you are the only person in the UK using solar. I researched this intensively and after costing the Tubes, Insulation and installation costs it was negligible if it was worth it. Air drying seemed a lot easier. I have not ruled it out but found it hard to source credible data on the drying time required using an insulated structure and solar to dry green Hardwood down to 20-25%. Seasonal I know with Solar. Can you comment? Thanks

Yes, that seems the case. It appears that some retailers who signed up for the higher tariff of 8.8p/kWh before 1st July 2014 can make kiln drying work, even though there will inevitably be those who complain that it burns too quickly.

If that is the case, perhaps those who have invested in Kiln Drying systems are finding sales are falling? We only ever hear of wet wood issues.

Incredible - people have moaned for decades about being delivered wet wood - finally they are given a quality consistent dry product and they continue to moan !

Your can always stop drying at 22%.

6.8p / kWh now and likely to be down to 6.2p by April 2015.

I am inclined to agree. Air drying the bulk of sales and use your own small kiln with no RHI just to react to seasonal demand. Most firewood retailers would have enough dry waste about to fuel the kiln for a limited time.

I think fortunately you got in early on the RHI with the higher payments - now that the tariff has dropped and will decrease further over time, the capital investment required to recieve the tariff may make it far less attractive.