Chris Sheppard

Just been to double check and the first batch are available for £650 plus vat including delivery - North of Glasgow it'll be a touch more but not hugely

More and more regularly we've been getting asked for a basic little splitter for dealing with a bit of all sorts and sitting somewhere at the cheaper end of the market - so, we sat down with the factory and the result is in the following videos (the production model will have a few small changes such as a larger foot plate and maybe a different set of controls) It's a 9 tonne model running off the tractors hydraulics (though, like all lug in's it will vary from tractor to tractor slightly - this is on a 58hp alpine so not a huge pump and still sub 5 second cylce time!), 2 speed and auto return (we can fit a stroke length stop to it for shorter logs if need be) It has many of the features of the larger machines and will handle some reasonable sized rings - I'm not suggesting something this small will ever make up for a big machine but may be a stepping stone to something bigger. I'll have the launch price for it later today (when the Server is working again ) - though it will be in the region of £650 plus vat delivered (highlands and Islands will be a bit more) Before anyone says owt - yes it is two handed - you just can't see my hand because of the camera angle! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neG83-eEeSU]YouTube - Log splitter, Riko 9 ton fast log splitter[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJjZhAV2Sg0]YouTube - log splitter Riko 9 ton makes kindling firewood![/ame]

Got ours today and one for Mum and Dad - 6ft Norway for £16 and a 5ft Nordman for £20 - was expecting them to be more but pleasantly surprised

Seriously fast splitters on the right stuff - we used to crane feed the one on the Estate on huge rings to save handling - just had to be careful when carane loading as the tips are quite delicate Have to have wits about you on a cold day when splitting smaller stuff - it don't half smart when it snatches the log and spins it! Great pics as always

Cheers Tommer, We have some just like TCD's in stock at the mo (with Briggs and stratton Vanguard engine) if it's that sort of thing your after or can order you in something bigger/smaller - have a look on our website http://www.alpinetractors.com to see a few other styles - most can be petrol engine and most can be towable if need be. Prices vary across different manufacturers and it is possible to buy one with an engine for sub £1000 plus vat - however, buy the best you can afford and buy once! If you've any questions just drop me an email to [email protected] and mark it for my attention

pm sent - can't type very fast lol!

Personally I'd leave it and buy something else - looks like an accident waiting to happen

What about a tow behind processor stevie? - saves a lot of chopping up of elevators

Your time would be better spent on the money making sides of the business than scratting around cutting odd shaped offcuts into kindling - it would take forever, even on a proper bandsaw (ie three phase or PTO) - if their free then bag them up and sell them that way - a fraction of the time and money in the bank

It would be an awful lot of work for not a lot of return - plus the cost of a decent bandsaw. If anything try selling the points as cheap stovewood

Hawk was good on smaller diameter stuff so probably just what you're after - you'll get less machine for your money than a tractor powerd one but you'll be a lot more mobile. If you short stroke the hawk it'll be loads faster as you're not waiting for it to go a full 18" each time with the ram.

Ram,pipes beak and main bit of bracket - all you'd need to do is either drill a couple of holes in you're back plate of the forks or weld a pice of plate on with two holes for the bolts - price wise I'll have to check next week as it's been a while since we got asked for one.

If you didn't fancy making one, let me know - can supply one ready to go direct from the factory - 2 M20 bolts and a weld on bracket and away you go

Try Mark Bell, he's based somewhere near Selby -haven't got his number but am sure it'll be online somewhere. He does the carving demos at the great yorkshire show

Aye, we use it at work - I don't try to understand it but I know we use it lol

That vertical split looks brillaint - never seen one do that so neatly or so far up before

He's probably lazy like me and never bothered setting the date I'd ahve said Tree of Heaven too - only ever seen one and didn't know what it was either, hence remembering

I didn't get to keep the wood off this as they have a fire on the farm But, I've managed to get my shed fairly well stocked for this winter and hopefully getting some more when I help out Buzzsurgeon again Fortunately they don't keep the car in the Garage so it would have been the lawnmower that took the impact - the end of the limb reached all the way to the end of the garage so would have made a mess!

Had a ride up to the farm (where my Landrover lives in bits in the shed) during the week and found One of the old sycamores in the garden had lost pretty much half of itself and narrowly missed the metal garage (though it did fold the edge of the roof over) Went up today to tidy it up -pics don't really look much but it was about 2ft diameter where it snapped off. Rest of tree doesn't look to healthy but will drop into the field if any more snaps off. Felt good to pick a saw up again

I reckon beat up in a wired off plantation's the most soul destroying - we did 3 months solid of nothing but that - a long, distant memory now thankfully the rate was terrible and we were banging in around a thousand a day - still it was better than the bacon factory which was where evereyone else ended up

There's some sort of baler working on the M25 at the mo - theyve got loads to go at considering it's jsut a few motorway banks - did dseem odd wathcing a forwarder going along the side of the motorway faster than the cars were moving on that side

Wish my parents bought practical pressies like that

Mate of mine built this from a tracked barrow - it's for another mate who is wheelchair bound after a stroke (at 18 ) he goes all over in it - it's nuts! Pics are a bit small but you get the idea