Tom D

Its a bit of a shock to some people how much firewood costs, I think many think a "load" ought to cost £50 even if its 3 cube. 30-40 years ago people would have known what good wood was and what it was worth, I think in 10 years time we will see the same thing, its just going to take time for the new woodbuners to learn how to buy and store their wood and for the industry to meet their demands. Another prediction: an increase in the number of chimney fires as people burn wet wood in flues that haven't been used for years.

That is really low. There's a lot of it about at the moment, I just lost a £2.5k job that we were supposed to start next week. I had always shied away from asking people to sign orders, however I am going to put a canncellation clause in my t's and c's and make all jobs over £1500 sign something.

There's a knack to it. On the ms200 tilt the saw after filling to allow the air bubble to come up, (do not re fill) then pres the cap down fairly firmly as you turn it.

My first job was £12 a day...i thought I was loaded LOL [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo]YouTube - Monty Python - Four Yorkshiremen[/ame]

I wouldn't want to drive it bsck through empty, those cabs dont look to watertight either.

Nice picture, the snow's melting at last here so the rivers are big...

Sounds too good to be true, however, after being told by a joiner that he got much better economy on his navara after fitting a PSI Powerbox, and after some careful research, I decided to try one.... They have significant advantages over Chips and ECU remaps, the main one being you can remove the unit and no one would know it had been there, also it only takes a few minutes to fit/remove. They are made in belgium and they meet the german TUV regs so in germany you can fit one to your car without affecting the warranty. I read some reviews on the net and slowly convinced myself to try it. Many manufacturers have to adjust the fueling on diesels across the rev range in order to meet emmisions regs, this can lead to "flat spots" on acceleration, also some cars have wal lower power than others in the range yet have the same engine, this device sorts this out by intercepting the signal to the injectors and modifying it for optimum performance. So has it worked? on power and torque most definately yes. The puma engine on my landy was not gutless by any means but is now awesome, 313Lbft of torque and 155Hp. we'll have to wait and see on the economy front, but I have high hopes, watch this space. If I had any car that was lower down the power range compared to others with the same engine I'd definately get one, why pay an extra £2k in the showroom when £350 on a little box will give the same result? http://www.psi-motorsport.com/turbodiesel/index.php

That must be the only chipper with a moped in it, its like something off thunderbirds LOL

I can help you out with stuff like that mate, I am assuming you're the same Deni that did a day for me last year, just saw your other thread. I will bear you in mind if I need an extra pair of hands mate, things a bit quiet just now though. If you want to meet up while we're working in town sometime let me know, I'll be able to help with knots and hitches and stuff.

No tracked chipper, I usually tow my chipper in with the tractor if I can. They're easy enough to hire, Angus Bostock has a 12" TW on tracks.

I have a little tractor with Igland winch if ever you want to hire it + man, fits in some quite small places. We recently did a similar job at a private school in Dunbar, we were able to track round the side of the playing fields down a footpath.

Looks suspiciously like Kretzshmaria deusta at the base, which would mean that it should come down if its anywhere near buildings or public areas, the die back in the crown could be associated with this.

Where was it BTW, looks like a school but I cant recognise it.

Geddit climbed man:001_tt2: Thats not rotten, This is rotten:lol:[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VUx_GLpwS8]YouTube - Middleton beech dismantle[/ame] Only teasing, nice work.

Lovely stuff.

I think the answer is, can you get away with it. There's no way I'd do it in a built up area, but I have had some massive fires in more rural locations. A couple of years ago we burnt a good acre of dense sea buckthorn, loading the fire with the tractor. BTW farmers can apply for a liscense to burn plastic net wraps. If I have plastics or tyres to burn back at the yard, I just wait for a foggy day.

I like to wrap a section in insulating tape, and cut through that with a sharp knife, then heat it. Also worth remembering that some of the more modern heat resistant fibres don't melt, they just charr and so you will need to tape things like OP and Bailout.

Did you not fancy doing superman at full stick? Girl.

I love my bashlin alloys, I tried some with the velcro pads (bashlin I think) and didn't like them, the stiffness of the calf pad seemed to want to move the spikes allong your boot. Each to their own though.

Thats interesting, I can get 4 or five wraps of 16mm on the hobbs. Like you say you tend to move pulleys down as the job progresses. Although given a multi-stemmed tree I'll always (within reason) leave the thinnest stem till last and lower the second last off it, as that way you're butt hitching the smallest stuff and tip roping the heavy stuff, sometimes the last stem is even a cut and chuck.

I could find out for you, I think some of the golf course machines that my dad sells use it, in case of spills on the greens. In fact why not try your local turfcare equipment dealler.

Sounds good, however I'm always mindfull when using the hobbs that the weakest part of the rigging system is, in most cases, the tree, further increasing this load could be a litle dodgy. Having said that for pulley setups such as the one that Reg does on his lowering device things it could be ideal. I reckon the hobs and grcs have too much power to try doubling it. BTW have you ever found something the GRCS wouldn't lift? I haven't with the hobbs.

Why don't they put a crane on the chomper? the winch looks a right ball ache. In this country you'd most likely be dealing with 6' or 12' lengths so that would be a lot of winching, a little crane on the other hand...

Where's your yard mate?

Quite true, once you factor in all the "benefits" of being your own boss and all the stuff that the business pays for that otherwise you would have to you're far better off. In 1998 I was working in london in the city and getting £36k I feel far better off now and I only pay myself £12-15K. As far as running costs go, if you have second hand everything and no finance then overheads will be lower, however you will loose working time due to breakdowns and less efficient kit. Or you can have brand new everything and work flat out all the time to pay the extra overheads. In todays market the first option is probably the better one, when things are really busy the second is better. In reality most of us are probably somewhere in between.