Tom D

a transit load of poplar brash for £350 cash….. They wanted it of stage decoration on a fashion show… saved us chipping it.

The maths on this issue are the problem. Last week we were paid 5.5k to clear a load of trees from a motorway embankment. we produced around 90 cube of chip and 20 odd tons of cord. It was all hardwood and was perfect processor size, small diameter straight and clean. We gave the wood away to a nearby estate on the condition that they took the chip. For us to have transported the chip away was more effort and time and therefore money than giving away £800 of wood. If I had had the option of burning the lot I would have just to get rid of it.. The fact is that we make far more money cutting the trees than we do on the firewood. Also it is usually far better to sell the firewood to a log seller than to split it yourself, I can get £45 a ton roadside for hardwood, and at that price i'd far rather sell it that way than attempt to make a profit splitting and selling it. We get plenty of wood from the small jobs where its not economical to sell wholesale. The problem is on road side and site work, I don't get paid until the site is clear, so when I do a deal with a firewood guy to get rid of the timber and then he drags his feet in getting the stuff lifted it causes no end of hassle. I have had my fingers seriously burned this way on several occasions. Hence I will get rid of the timber in what ever way is easiest. The future of UK firewood is staring you in the face, SOFTWOOD…. you guys will pay crazy money for a lorry load of oversized knotty twisty hardwood that is very labour intensive to process. Yet a lory load of pulpwood will be half the price and will process in 1/4 of the time. Work out your labour costs and you will see that you will make far more £££ selling softwood even though it sells at half the price... Whats that you say? " no one will buy softwood!" then its time you educated them….

Get a proper pto machine with feed rollers, or even one of the old gravity chuck and duck jobbies. The greenmech is a good machine if you are in a wee back garden with a small amount of brash. But if you have a tractor for the same money as the GM you ought to find a second hand pto machine that will be miles better.

Its pointless chipping into a mog body, even a really big one will be no bigger than 12 cube, and a 24" machine chipping whole trees will fill that in minutes, you will spend forever waiting for it to return from the tip site. get a proper biomass chipper like this one Watch how quickly it fills that 3 ton bucket, and think of your wee mog.

Yes and yes, its dead obvious when you see it.

The attachment point would be the weakest point. You could put a tearaway between the grab and your harness if you wanted. Occasionally if cutting something really big with the big saw I have unclipped the saw so that if it gets grabbed I can just let go of it. I'll take a pic sometime, but its basically a bit of climbing line, with an eye on one end and a stopper knot on the other, rope grab in-between, attach the eye of the grab to your harness and you're good to go.

Since we started using a bit of climbing line and a micrograb I wouldn't go back. Pull the tail and the saw is at your hip, squeeze the grab and its ready to use…...

for bog read big. LOL

You'll be working in Ayr, they have just won a bog NHS contract at the hospital.

I just saw the tree we did on page 1 of the storm pics thread...

Point is all the SNP forecasts on future spending are based on the current situation, they haven't factored in the extra cost of building a whole state. It will bankrupt the country. I almost want independence just so that I can say "I told you" in 10 years time, but that would be selfish as it would ruin millions of lives just for my own satisfaction.

I love the way Alec says we'll have the pound even though he's been told that he can't have it. "Aye we will" he says!!! Totally in denial. if westminster says we can't have the pound the we can't have it! get over it!

Well, it seems some people have been taken in by King Alec, I haven't met anyone who has up till now. All I can say is that all the SNP sums do not add up, they really don't. Consider this, in an age of globalisation things get moved around to make things cheaper, departments amalgamated, regional offices moved to central locations, or even abroad. This may be a bad thing…. but its definitely cheaper….. thats why they do it. So an indépendant scotland will have to go the opposite way. The a scottish DVLA will have to be formed, offices built, staff trained, etc. This goes for so many things. inland revenue, vosa, customs and excise, etc etc. think of all the things that are currently done by the UK as a whole that will have to be replaced. This will cost billions. Anyone who can't see that salmond is lying is a moron.

I liked their early stuff better, when they were on gay rabbit, it has a more natural feel to it…. He heee, Its a good video, they obviously know what they are doing. Slick editing too..

This was todays..

Was that mine Spud? Still going great, its my go to saw, used it a lot. it really is awesome

I love that fact that everyone thinks that climbers are automatically worth more that groundies. TBH If I get extra guys in i'm not bothered wether they climb or not, its wether they are any use that matters. The best guys automatically do stuff before you think of it, no need to tell them anything.

It will be a little worse for you cutters in england, here's why: After a couple of years the scottish government will start to run out of cash, spending will fall, or taxes on the rich will rise. Either way the bread and butter of scottish tree surgeons will take a big hit, i.e. less rich clients as they will have moved away from scotland due to higher taxes, and less government work. The upshot of this will be, companies close to the border like mine and the bigger companies will start chasing english work, I am already looking to expand into NE england. and cutters laid off due to the lack of work in scotland will move south looking for work. This will increase competition for you english guys and drive down prices and wages.

I hope you dropped it on that camera.

you got his number?

I have to say that the new vertex, the one with the side adjusters rather than the rear, is a really comfy hat. I would hate one of the ones full of polystyrene like a cycle hat, way too hot.

My business went through a golden period when I was making enough money to be able to afford it but still had the time to spend on it. I did the AA Tech and the LANTRA PTI. These days I barely have time to do anything that isn't directly related to making money. It shouldn't be like that but somehow it is. The last thing I did was cs34 and 35, oh and first aid + F. these are through necessity rather than desire. At the moment there just never seems to be time for anything, much as I would like there to be.

I find the landy picture a lot more sad than the porche one.

Looks like you guys down south have had it pretty bad.. not been too bad up here...

Didn't try or didn't work?