Alycidon

When a friends double decker bus hit a bridge and the main London Leicester rail line had to be closed for inspection the rate from memory was 30K an hour going back to the 1990s. More recently a local farmer had cattle stray onto the line, 2am they get hit by a freight train, line closed for the carcases etc to be removed, his insurer the NFU settled a claim at around £1 million for that plus the cost of the dead cattle. That line is going to be closed for months, hope he is well insured. A

In those sort of conditions a 4wd will get stuck just as easy as a 2wd as at least one other has said and of course you are panning the ground down. Many years ago we bought a new 595 4WD, one of the tractors on the shortlist was the SAME, while it pulled almost as well it was far noiser and uncomfortable to drive, but that was maybe 40 years ago, That 595 is still being used locally, I doubt the SAME would have lasted half as long, If you can have a look at JD, nice comfy tractors, pull well, no engine liner cavitation issues but a decent 2850 is probably 9k so maybe over budget, of your choices given they are both in the same condition with similar hours then it would be 595 for me, A

Pics of the Elm planks please, !!, appreciate it might now be to late alas. Thanks A

Dried cat food in an old small wide Tuna tin soaked in water works well.

Its lengthen the tube not shorten it, sorry.

Its still standing, coming down mid week, so will split and process in the following 7 days weather permitting. Thanks for the input, A

Used those when we had hay being taken from the farm yard overnight, work well. If you cut the tube back on the end of it you get a bigger bang !!. The Police response issue is due to Police numbers cuts, chief constables prefer palatial buildings. If you knew just how many are on duty at any one time you would be horrified. Recently I got blue lighted for parking under a working streetlight on the top of a hill in a small local twon without leaving sidelights on, had I left the sidelights on I would have had a flat battery in about 30 minutes. I know that the constable who had a chat with me was the only one within 15 miles. He has to cover a fair size town and about 35 villages, helped by a couple of PCSOs. So they are unlikely to be wanting to put themselves into any dangerous situation as there is just no trained back up. If you shot the perpetrators on the other hand you would have armed response police with you in a matter of minutes. A

Thats a pretty big county, might be better to give some sort of approx preferred location, you dont want to be driving 35 miles to your yard. A

Got a 20 ton Posch vertical, with the optional roller splitter head for stringy stuff like this. A

Is this best split green fresh felled or after a year or two, looking at 5 foot or so diameter stuff. Thanks A

So you lads that were looking at Brian James trailers in 2015, what did you buy and how have they turned out ?. Thanks A

If a limited company then Company Check is free for the basic service and tell you what you need to know. For recommended credit limits etc then you need to sign up which costs. Insuring your sales ledger is another way but insurers wont allow you to pick and choose, its either all or none. If you get 2p in the pound you will have done well. Companies Phoenix all the time, gone one day and back a few days later under a similar name doing the same thing. Dealing with these companies you know that sooner or later you wil get shafted so another way is to not get mad but maintain the contacts, and do work for the new company that you overprice by perhaps £100 a pop. Developers do a development, then go over taking all the subbies with them and leaving the home owners with little by way of warranty. Then set up a new company for the next development. I had a guy with 10 failed companies behind him ask me to supply stoves and flues at 4k a pop for 7 or 8 houses, I said I would do one then wanted paying. We did two and got paid OK. The rest were sold without stoves. A

As a stove retailer many are to fat. Think that for optimum flame patterns in a 5kw stove ( so a 12" square firebox approx) you need to be able to load 2 or 3 at a time. None the less for a large volume of oversize stuff its a pretty decent bit of kit, just put of the oversize logs log into the processor split chamber. I would be looking at some sort on handling gear for the processed stuff, ideally with a filter to take out the tiny shavings etc. A

Fuelwood are close to you, they might be able to help you in some way. A

Talk to Fuelwood, they are very helpfull. A

I use a Posch 20 ton vertical splitter for such stuff. Cut it into 800/900mm lengths, split with Posch, stack outside on bearers to dry for the winter. Next spring cut into logs using your processor for sale the following winter. It handles most stuff with a 4 way head attached but its only a couple of seconds to convert back to a 2 way. Its NEVER failed to go through anything I have put under it. A

CW will of course be quite happy to sell anything direct to your customers. Personally I dont believe in supporting anyone who competes with me. A

Most of the people in Lithuania such as Woodbioma, Suarida etc will do them but you usually have to tie them in with a container of logs. I use the Saurida ones, last winter I sold out and had to buy some unbranded brown box ones from the UK, while they worked ok they were very loose bound and I had approx 3 or 4 lighters worth of loose material in the bottom of the box. Saurida are nice and tight and beautifully packaged. Dont know if they would do own brand but for the volumes you are talking about you wont get that anyway. I will be ordering in June, pm me nearer the time of you want prices. The lighters are in the boxes in the foreground stacked up, 50 in a box. A

I have seen etching and the customers have stated they only burnt wood, maybe there was a bit of solid fuel in there somewhere. Thanks for the advice. A

Ethching is usually caused by cleaning the glass with ash, dont. For smoke use either smoke remover or worktop cleaner from supermarkets. For heavy tar deposits message me. A

You wont sell much then in a normal winter, rarely have I known people sell out, those with kilns dry it all year round and can go from standing timber to logs ready to sell in a couple of weeks. A

Oh yes that happens all the time, and never sweeping the flue, both of course stove faults !!. I have seen a flue liner blocked in a few weeks burning fresh felled cord. A

Unless you are getting your cord very cheap there has not been a lot of money in logs when you take your time and delivery costs into consideration. Most of my customers now take stacked crates that I buy in from Europe, however some want smaller quantities so I break some crates into smaller bags. I have very few customers who only want barrow bags, but with little in the way of handling gear its probably worth thinking about, but, you dont get maybe half your bags back, and after a year or two they give up the ghost due to UV sunlight. I had one fail last night and dumped its contents on teh customers garage floor, that could have bene far worse. Check your local competition for prices, then you will have a better idea. Be aware that the tax man is onto people advertising logs. A

Kilworth sign on the machine so that looks probable. Interesting that the MF 65 powers it but she was smoking a bit under load. A

Select the right tractor and it will appreciate in value, even my MF135 has gone up 25% since I bought it a few years ago, 90s for me it would be a J Deere 50 series with the 3650 probably being favourite, bags of lift capacity, 6 cyl engines that handle 10,000 plus hours fairly easily. Late 90s then a Deere 6610, my brothers run 2 of them, good reliable tools. A