Chris Sheppard

I reckon if you can do it and make it work then you'd have a very desirable machine that, if priced right, would sell very very well in the UK. I'd almost think it might be worth looking buying a knife to fit one of the mainstream processors and building the rest of the machine around it - gettign the 16 way knife set up and workign well from scratch, when splitting as many ways as you want it to will take many many times longer than you'd think.

Probably because we (as in the UK) make us such a tiny percentage of their overall sales that we don't really count - driving round Sweden, Norway and Finland this summer made me realise just how far behind we really are. Over there people have firewood processors/forwardign trailers etc (even saw a few retired old forwarders and harvesters doing simialr) sat in their gardens just for doing their own logs. Sorry for the derail

A lot more than it did when I bought mine I don't know what they are now but I have a feelign they are still around a grand and a half (ish). Me and Dad use to use it with one sawing and one splitting but there was a big sticker on it saying for use by one person only. The thign we used to find though was that if the guy splitting and the guy sawign were both cutting/splitting at the same time in tough wood then it would start to slip belts, no matter how they were adjusted (but to be fair it was never designed to saw and split simultaneously), but most of the time it worked well liek that. M Large are the importer, though they do still have some dealers listed so you coudl try them too. There were also odd new Hakki Pilke's come up on ebay from time to time. I'd heard somethign along those lines too but, coincidentally was talkign to someone tonight who reckoned not. It would be a shame if they stopped making it as I looked at the Japa and the Hakki Pilke and just liked the Hakki Pilke a bit more

Yes, think long and hard about the sort of timber you'll be typically handling and may also be handling in the future and work to that rather than budget specifically. Also, if you're still in the process of taking the big step, don't get too fixated on processors - yes, they are great on the right stuff but I know some people who do hundreds of cube a year with only minimal kit (big splitter and sawbench) and do very well out of it. Also, a processor needs something to load it with, whether it be by hand (in which case you'll be dealing with short lengths or thin poles) or with a deck of some sort which will need loading by mechanised means.

Not used the palax one but I do know you can get the Eagle (like TC's) with a petrol engine. Did really liek mine when I had it. Re the demos - unfortunatley in the UK we're still a long way behind other countries in that we tend to be using relatively low grade timber for firewood whereas in other countries the timber going for firewood is what we'd consider "good" so what's show n in demo vids of machinery produced in central europe and scandinavia is just showing what they would use typically, nto anything special just to make the vid look better. Maybe if we built more machinery in the UK for specifically handling UK timber then things would be different - the reality is though that it would cost loads more than what's out there at the mo

I've had a couple of goes, once in the oven and once just air dried on the side in the kitchen. the air dried was the nicer, less tough, but the key thing is to cut across the "grain" of the meat as it breaks up easier and less chewy.

accident waiting to happen if you ask me

AKA Farmi WP 36 processor - Riko sell them, but as far as I know there's none in the UK as yet that have the optional splitter levers fitted as per vid but theres always a first

The Duun ones look to be quite nice machines and are very popular in the rest of Europe, just quite new to the UK. Had a good look at them/saw some decent demos at a show in Germany last year and was really quite impressed. Both the models seem to be easy to use and well thought out - don't know how they compare price wise to the posch but I'd say definitely worth a look.

The Toyota is really quite nice; very very shiny and goes really well and even averages 30mpg - but won't tow very much for the size of it. I had to tow one of the "projects" back from the unit with the 90 as it was too heavy for the hilux Is the tango van the white one? If so, it's still there too

Sounds like I left Stan's just in time yesterday then

Cold but Sunny here so far

Go on - you know you want it - think of all that birch

I actually think it's quite novel - the guy is doing quite well out of it without having to pay a land agent and for anyone not wanting a lot of wood and is local then it doesn't sound too bad. What would happen in the event of an accident might be another matter entirely though

I've heard simialr for aggressive 4x4 tyres but using plastic BB's - sounds like a variation on the sand idea. Am sure any local tyre place should be able to do somethign simialr.

Thanks guys

Back felling again in one way or another - figured if I didn't get back to it again now I never would. Not the greatest timing with the weather but seem to have fell straight back into it Did you manage to get hold of the office? What was my direct line doesn't exist anymore.

Never used a capstan winch but the idea of a portable, but powered winch is something I'd considered in the past, especially for those jobs where it wasn't worth taking the tractor onto site but there was too much timber to warrant handballing out. The things that I can remember that in the past put me off a capstan (but I never had anyone to ask to see whether it would be a problem) were things liek how well the rope woudl grip once it got full of mud and water and how long would a rope last typically (bearing in mind the amount of slipping when settign going and stopping/slowing down a load). Have you considered a chainsaw powered winch? Don't know how they compare cost wise but in my eyes they were more of a conventional type of winch and have even seen one recovering a car out of a ravine. The line speeds seem pretty good and generally they look to be a bit more compact. That said the only ones I've seen are the Lewis ones and the Viig ones.

Yep, see where you're coming from, but to be honest, for what a couple of weeks worth of hire are, I'd have said it wouldn't be that much different to the depreciation on a new machine over the course of a year - as you've already said - second hand machines are very rare (or complete dogs usually) and even 10 year old machines are making nearly hafl of what a basic new one would cost. I'd say there's definitely a market out there for hire but it's finding someone prepared to do it that's the problem unfortunately. I used to go out with mine (when I had one) and as there was always someone feeding wood to me it was working a lot harder than it would be if I'd been using it on my own wood.

To get the best out of a processor if you're not familiar with a particular machine can often take a few tonnes of timber, and also an inexperienced operator runs more of a risk of damaging it. IME, due to the potential of it coming back damaged, most people tend to be reluctant to send them out without an operator, but the people lookign to hire it in tend to not want to pay the hire inc an operator as per day it looks a fairly high figure - catch 22.

at 26 you'll only be able to pull a fairly small trailer anyway unless you go and do a B+E test (which in itseld is fairly easy) but would cost a fair bit usually. All insurance policies seem to have rocketed at the mo - I'm 28 but made the mistake of being a named driver for a lot of years (but had the joy of owning cars not typical for young drivers) rather than taking out my own policy so Mine's still fairly expensive - but this year, even with an extra years no claims it barely dropped at all. I did get some quite good quotes of Confused.com when I was looking at little vans a month or so ago and one company said that while the first year was fairly expensive, the second year they'd match any no claims I had on other vehicles so it would drop loads - in reality a lot can change in a year but it sounded quite good and they were the cheapest initially - can't remember there name but it had an A at the front and it wasn't Admiral. They always come up first on confused.com in the van section.

Used to use clearing saws a lot when I worked for a company cutting birch for racecourses - we used to run the big jonsered ones and they were good for work we needed them for - had to replace a coupel of clutches but we were using big blades and they were getting very heavy work.

As I don't climb, all I can do is post a photo I've taken - this was taken a couple of weeks ago, Buzzsurgeon was climbing - big dead Cedar with about a foot of snow on the flat top. Was big enough it needed the 660 for some of the side limbs. Rather him than me

Nope, but we have 2 quilts and a throw over the top - our house never seems to warm up!

A pound is a unit of weight whereas a cubic metre is a unit of volume