Tom D
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Everything posted by Tom D
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Contract processing - tractors on the road
Tom D replied to Tomatin Firewood's topic in Firewood forum
It's fine to transport machinery from job to job. Cranes, jcb's etc can all be run on red between sites. It's if you're hauling goods that's the problem. So the processor is fine on the back of the tractor, unless that is you're the dealer selling processors in which case the processor is the goods. -
Usually just found on big felling saws. Might be handy for carving though.
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True Mark. I'm on holiday now, I'm still available for the lads to contact if the have a problem but I'm not answering calls. I'm forwarding the odd email but that's about it. If I ignored work altogether the worry of things going wrong would spoil the holiday. It's a balancing act.
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Interesting idea Rob, why not machine a slot instead then you have infinite adjustment, could be ideal for oak frame work and the like, possibly have some rollers instead of the bare bolt..
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Local engineering co built it, but it wasn't cheap, almost as much as nene...
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Well after a lot of fannying around its ready! I put HD springs and an antiroll bar on, other than that she's just as she was. Chip bin volume is about 3.5 cube so no need to re-plate it...
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Both my previous yard and the current one are on a hill by the sea, there's hardly a day when its not windy, it makes a massive difference. I have been back to jobs where we have left timber and the client has split it an stacked it in the garden, two years on its still mouldy and wet. Whereas 6 months in an exposed windy spot works wonders. The old yard....
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You're spot on there, and also I think that kiln logs are often still pretty green in the middle, so the moisture meter shows the edge is dry but not the centre, an air dried log has time for the moisture level to equalise.
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Quite true, I find that in the cities most folk barely have space for 1 or 2 cube. Thats why we got out of doing bags, people always wanting just one bag, I only deliver big loads now.
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Whats the unladen weight?
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In principle burning fuel just to dry other fuel is pretty daft and from en ecological point of view pretty pointless, however thats a black and white view, there will be exceptions and valid reasons for kiln drying. The advantage of kilning is you don't need as much storage, and storage is expensive, so if you are being paid to kiln through the RHI then it makes sense. From an ecological point of view it makes no sense.
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Thats the same material as enviromesh, the stuff they grow turnips under, its very uv stable.
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FWIW, a large area low height delivery vessel will look like it holds a lot more than a small area high sided one, even though the opposite is the case. As in the transit tipper example I gave earlier. Andy who works for me sells logs in his own time, he used to have a little trailer that was maybe 1.2 x 1 x 1,(1.2 cube) that one broke so he got another which was about 1.8 x 1.4 x 0.4, (1.08 cube). All his customers were delighted with the new "load" as it was much bigger, it really did look bigger too! I don't know if he has any pictures of the two, but the difference was striking.
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I'm not really talking about any extra regulation, just a little clarity regarding advertising. We wouldn't get any additional regulation anyway as there is no one to regulate. HM Gov certainly aren't in the mood for spending any money on anything, especially red tape..
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Its certainly interesting seeing how other people make the numbers stack up. I seriously considered buying in timber and having a proper go at the firewood thing, but to be honest I couldn't make the numbers stack up compared with cutting trees. We do ok selling the 150 ton or so that we seem to bring back to the yard each year. Any jobs we get with a lot of firewood I will try and sell it wholesale in arctic loads. We have sold maybe 300 ton over that last few years that way.
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I admire you for selling at a good price, nothing wrong with that. But I still can't see why you can't advertise a different per cube price for each packaging method. People understand that buying in bulk will be cheaper so whats the problem? BTW how do you manage selling in nets? it must be way less profitable than the bulk bags no?
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Ha! you said in the other thread that they were cube bags... were they? or were they 0.73? This is my point, some other guy could go to your customer and offer them a bag for less, but that bag might only be 05 cube.. so he's not actually cheaper than you. If everybody gives a per cube price the customer knows where he stands. Looking at your prices 1 cube bag = £120 per cube .73cube bag =£129per cube 80l net = £109per cube (bargain IMO) especially as they are stacked, Can't say for the mini bag as I don't know the volume, but i wouldn't be much effort to add these figures to your site, and perhaps you could put up the price of your nets, they seem hellish cheap compared to the bulk bags which must be so much easier to fill.
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You mentioned earlier that you sold wood in Edinburgh for 120 a cube, so you must have worked it out, or was it 120 a bag, in which case its £164 per cube.. Its no effort to add this minor detail on to your advertising. Sell in what ever bag sizes you like, just put the per cube equivalent price on there as well.
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Thats true Dave, but most load tend to be mixed anyway. Thing is, I'm not talking about babysitting the log buyer through the process, there has to be a level of individual responsibility, if you buy a load of rotten willow, then tough luck, you won't buy from that guy next time. All I am suggesting is that the consumer should know how much per cube he is paying, thats it. Maybe it would be nice to have a maximum moisture content, but that could be problematic. But at the very least you need to know how much you are getting, we simply wouldn't stand for this with any other commodity.
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I agree on the space thing, I have gone big in the past only to watch as groundies struggle to manage with some huge lump, sometimes locking it off, then cutting the tips off, lowering it, locking it off again..... painfully slow, especially if its a cold day, the climber ends up freezing waiting for the guys to clear their feet. These days we often take up multiple slings and lower the same amount at once but pre cut by the climber. So instead of one unwieldy lump you get four manageable bits. Its a lot quicker and sometimes more work for the climber is no bad thing in a scottish winter. Some nice rigging there all the same.
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Stunning shots Mario, one day I'm going to come over and get you to show me round.
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Are you all ready for the bad winter thats coming??
Tom D replied to Joy Yeomans's topic in Firewood forum
Now that would be good for log sales! Thing is I'd like to be be retired by then, although I bet I'm not. -
Cheers Steve, its only because I've spent the last 5 weeks convalescing that I have been sat in front of the computer all day. I'll try and do a few more, although we're going to Italy for 2 weeks on tuesday so hopefully trees and logs will be at the back of my mind..
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You're right goaty. I notice a huge difference in weight between a trailer load of loose rings and cord and one full of logs
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Thats a bit different Bob, a stacked load will always be neater and denser, however although a loose load of small logs will have smaller air gaps they are more numerous. Trust me, I weighed bulk bags years ago and big logs weigh more. By your logic a cube of loose kindling will weigh more than a cube of loose logs....
