Alycidon

£7 for a steak sarni and a soft drink. A

Personally I process the lot. Having said that I would have said below 3 inch is not cost effective to do, takes as long to cut and split as a 250mm log that will split 4 ways or more. A

I was in at about 9.45am, no queues at all. A

You wont do much more than 1 cube an hour with it by yourself, and its hard work to boot. Question is you will need to charge £25 an hour plus, makes the job expensive for the customer. Big machine will work by the cube but needs big cord to get the best production rates. A 200mm log through my little machine is just as fast as the same log through a big machine. Test the water before spending the hard earned. A

Just wondered what everyone thought to the APF show. I had not been to one before, I was looking at medium size hyd processors and racks. Nice demos from Posch and Fuelwood, Palax seemed not to be that interested, no one about much on the stand and the machines cordoned off, I suppose thats H&S as some were connected up. That did not seem to bother the others. Had a chat with the MD of JAPA, he is a decent guy who listens to end customers. Dalens 2054 looked a decent machine, guys are keen to help as well, but maybe a bit pricey compared to others. 2052 may be a better bet for me. Interestingly none of the demos were using timber much above 300mm, even the Bindenburger 500, interestingly there was a guy behind that slicing lumps off the ends of logs before they were loaded on the rack, said the dirt on the end of the logs gets into the chain and blunts it. We know but none of the others were doing that. the machine did put out a really nice sample, far better that its smaller brother, seems the 500 has some sort of integral cleaner. BGU have a hydraulic loading rack that is basically a trailer with jacks to adjust height, so easy to put away when finished. Nice. Arbtalk stand was busy when I came by so I kept going, 2 mile walk over granite cobbles did not do my gout any good !!. I was surprised by the lack of people selling non arb stuff such as wooden bits and bobs. For you pro arb guys there seemed a lot of people there such as Jones, and some of the forestry machine demos were pretty impressive. Trailers, well IFW and one other were there with small trailers, I was interested in a tilt body, guy on the IFW stand was not that conversant, the other trailer seller was much more helpful. So was it worth the time and money, yes I thought so. One of the highlights for me were two refurbed Countys, a 974 and an 1124, you could eat you dinner off the cab floors, lovely. A

Friend of mine found 100 yards plus of plastic pipe running accross his wheat stubble, one end was at a layby on the A14, the other attached to a pump over 100 yards away in a ditch. Also in the ditch were several 25L drums of white diesel. So they are siphoning from 100 yards away !!. A

There is an increasing demand for logs yes but most want ready to burn product. Those that are processing for themselves are tending to use a chainsaw and splitter. There are some sellers that do use contractors, I saw a decent Binderberger 500 at the show this week that is ideal for contractors. At 50k though you will want some work to make it pay. Then you have to add a tractor or loader, men, fuel etc. I would place an add in the local cattle market magazine and see what response you get from local farmers. Contractors of all sorts have big professional kit and they work it hard, you would need to be able to offer something the chainsaw/splitter man cannot tackle himself. A

I find the same, it may be worth considering a first drop to a new customer to be carriage free so that he can try your product. Once a customer knows that you are delivering a higher quality ( drier and of consistent size and length) can you say to them that having looked at the fuel price then you need to charge a bit more. Cord wood is also not cheap at £55-£60 a ton for hard delivered, this can be confirmed by your customer via the FC web site. I had a job this week for 4 cube, delivered to 4 houses within a stones throw of each other, 10 miles away, all new customers. Wish I had bought that IFW Tilt bed now as I had to do it in 2 trips, mind one was through a gate and a tight 90 deg bend, would not have got a 17 ft trailer where she wanted it, an 8 footer was tight. A

In Southern Germany in the countryside house do have several winters supply stacked in rows in the snow. What you are doing works, but it is VERY labour intensive. I season in bags for 12-18 months, under a barn covered on three sides. I am just putting some in a barn covered on one side with heavy foliage on another. As others have said get it in their using bagged wood on pallets if you can, wont be able to hodl as much though but an outside stack, open sides, covered top as also suggested will work well. A

I am going Thursday all being well. A

If no one comes forward ( unlikely) then you should be able to get some from the Forestry Commission. Not cheap though. Are you planning to process straight away and sell this winter?, if so it will be to wet really for optimum results. A

he also once told me that these so called "corgi" registered as it was and "hetas" as it is now arent worth the paper their written on - as they learn in the classroom and pay for their qualifications rather than learning from fitting and correct practice. just my opinion - joy Dont dispute that, when I came into the industry 4 years ago I went onto a 3 day Hetas installers course on chimney and flue installation. I passed with Distinction depite never having touched a chimney in my life. However to become fully qualified you need to have 6-10 installations that you have done and been passed as safe by a building inspector submitted to Hetas. Subject to Hetas approval you may then sign off yoru work as safe to use. Hetas then conduct annual quality checks on an installation as it is being done. If there are any complaints against a Hetas installer that are upheld the installer may loose his right to sign off work. So Hetas qualification is fairly ease to gain at lower levels but there are ongoing quality checks and it prooves that training is undertaken. Usually lads are taken on under the tutoridge of an experianced guy, doing it my way is exceptional. A

Give the agents a ring, cant remember if its Caledonian or JAS Wilson, the latter I think. A

BAG Supplies Ltd :: Packaging Suppliers covering the UK and Europe Price wil depend on how many you buy, plus carriage on a pallet £35- £40. From memory about £5 each in 50s for the green ones. A

Might still be on the statute book, I seem to remember that it is still legal to shoot a Welshman with a bow and arrow on a Sunday in Hereford or somewhere close by to there.

Some of us here use Bag Supplies, not the cheapest but good quality bags that are usually in stock. A

That would be more than my life is worth, I get pain for answering business calls and e mails on a Sunday. A

I see, I thought it sounded a bit low. A

A friend of mine has carpel tunnel, it can be operated on but its not a permanent fix, ie it returns, or at least his has. A

Scots, larch, spruce in the main. Judging by the way cubes of hard and soft roll off the back of the delivery trailer I would have said that dry the soft is maybe two thirds the weight of hard. A

I have been selling soft wood logs for a while and want to pay the owner of the logs a fair price for his timber that I have used and sold. I process into cubic meter bags, season in the bags. I am aware of the 1.3 - 1.5 cube of hardwood to the tonne, what is a fair figure for softwood?, 1.5 or a bit higher?.. Thanks A

Ah I see, that makes sense, so you take you chains off and put them straight through the sharpener as they are. Thanks for your help, suddenly chain saw processors may be viable as I am useless at sharpening by hand. Thanks A

Not quite with you here?, are you saying coat the grinding wheel, if so with what exactly?. I assume its a different disc from my 4 inch hand held angle grinder. Sorry to be a pain but could you be a bit more detailed please, thanks. A

[ I tend to remove chain after 4 days and use the bench grinder. Do you degrease the chain first?, I did look at a bench grinder a few weeks ago, it needs a grease free chain otherwise the sharpening disc clags up. A

14 rads would want 3 of the 650s !!. A