woodmad

Woodmizer make an attatchment for feather edge boards that does shingles aswell. A guy called David Darnell makes a better version for less money. I had one and the feather edge bit was ok, but doing shingles was a ball ache. Youve got to cut beams then make blocks then mill them, getting the tapper right and the thickness right was a pain. It was a lot of money for what it did.. so unless you can earn some money from making them i wouldnt bother IMHO

Got mine from Caledonian...

How do all I had one of these 55s and it was a mistake selling it. The saw runs the same time as the splitter. The saw is excellent, but as its only a small petrol engine you have to be carfull not to stall it. The splitter is ok for small stuff, i used it for slab wood to split meter lengths in two the cut up on the saw. The big advantage of this ist hat you can whell it to a pile of wood, no tractor etc, or take it on a trailer to a garden etc. I think its a really good tool, i paid £1800 +vat in 2007 not sure what they are now but i bet they are dear.. At leasti can borrow mine back now..

You can buy mine if you want... Marketplace - Trucks Or this one... Marketplace - 4x4 Vehicles - BARGAIN:Fully equipped, Expedition Unimog 404 - £7500 A picture of mine before converting it..

Yep, a break indeed!! Well its about supply and demand, which is down to marketing.. With my set up there was the following break down of income; 1) On site milling, charged by the hour depending onwhta was supplied. Less outlay than tree surgery for more income, but your not doin this every day 2) Milling in my yard for other people- people like treedave bring timberto be milled and charged by the hour 3) Milling my own timber and selling it on, form green oak beams to seasoned elm. Its like a savings account, the more thats in the more it earns, but its a trickle. 4) Hiring of other equipmnet to tree surgeons such as mog and crane 5)Making outdoor furniture, sheds, play areas and whatever, nieche but lots of potential. All in all the above made a nice little business, but as pointed out, its a lot of kit for one man, but better than having staff( been there done that..)All for sale if you want to get going?! You could even buy the name and website... I enjoyed the variety, couldnt just mill all day every day.. I made a comfortable living. Just on site milling with a pick up and mizer would be very nice, good money, low stress, but there is a lot of competiton now so you may need to travel a bit and get the rates right.

Hi You can get a heat proof rubber flashing for twin wall, and for none insulated, i have used this on my truck and in a caravan. If the flue is inside the shed its best to put tin on the shed wall with an air gap.f its on the outside it will be ok. you can get the flue out of the back with none insulated flu and then have an adaptor to link it to the insulated flue, so you can get a cheaper 90 bend. Using insultaed flue will allow it to draw better as it doesnt cool down, so long as its a couple of ft above the roof it will be fine. If you dont want to buy a flashing you could use tin with heat proof sealer, from screwfix.. For flashings try here; Windy Smithy Although builders merchants sometimes have them, also for cheap stoves try machine mart. I have a windy smithy stove and it is VERY good. Hope this helps..

start low , you can always up it staright away if they are any good, but its hard to go down once a rate is set, and its frustrating if they aent upto it. If they are not prepared to start low and work up then is it the job for them? Dangle carrots even on day rates and see where they take it themselves. IMO:001_smile: I agree that peice rates for newbies will create sloppy/dangerous work, show them how its done right then let them make their money..

shall we meet up in sweden stevie:thumbup:

I couldnt agree more. There are loads of apartments here in germany with trees like this, if there were no trees there would be no birds or greenery, They are masters of the urban pollards here. I have just put some photos up on the pollard thread. We dont know the spec, but if it was felled rahter than 'maintaned ' then the apartments would be bleak, even if a smaller one was there. People i think have a different view over here about trees. In the uk trees seem to be a nuisence, dropping leaves etc etc, here trees are seen as assets.. sweeping generalisation:biggrin:

Some urban pollarding in Frankfurt , Germany taken before christmas

This is the track i prefer.. no trees for hundreds of miles!!

No win no fee..

what are you powering and feeding it with ?

Exactly and all the other costs, like downtime, breakages, holidays where do i stop. As a freelancer you finish at the end of the day and the money is in your pocket. It is however a kind of natural step from frelance to own firm, i bet a few on here never 'intended' to be where they are, but you kind of get swept along.. Dont get me wrong as there are bennefits to having our own train set, but if you are the fat controller then there is a lot more to do than people imagine..

Hand feeding !? I think ours was a 5 400 and we crane fed it, but the bigger opening will be easier for sure. Have you seen the extra ram AC Price do for pushing the top roller down? Makes a massive difference when crane feeding.. Grant sounds good Down to prices as well, since the exchange rate has gone tits they are creeping up. Where is the one you have seen ?

he's wiping your arses to save his own. How can he trust anyone to not sue him when its so easy for them to try? It creates an added stress to running a company that involves a dangerous activity. When you get the phone call that someone that you are responsible for has hurt themselves, its pretty bloody scary. Even if you have nothin to do with it, as hucks example shows. People should take responsibilty for their own actions as you say you would. But unfortunatly many dont..

He was probably sat at home watchin daytime tv bomberded with adverts about no win no fee and thought he could make a quick buck. Didn this happen to you huck ? Wrote this as the above was written ..doh

Stick with the Heizo IMO, the others maybe slightly better made but at a much higher price. I think the heizo is the best value, and you know it already as you have used it. How long have you had it ? Why do you need a bigger one?

Freelancing is in the description on the 'engagement'.. I employed freelance climbers on a 'labour only' basis, and i gave them a 'contract of engagement', which like an employee sets out the terms of their work. I stated that i would insure them as i was providing the work, and like huck said if they were giving a price and manageing the job then that was under different terms.. a bit like us as a company working for a bigger company. Its how you are 'contracted' As a freelancer you must establish this 'contract' before working, and set out payment terms etc. People only get 'burnt' due to vagueness IMO. Write it all down, get signatures etc etc, its annal but it will protect your annus one day .. believe me:biggrin:

This IS a good thread, been thinking about it for 2 days now and am sure many others have.. and you HAVE had sensible discussion, and animated and heated, and some views expressed agree with you and some dont, i thought that was what it was all about. I am new to this online stuff and its bloody funny !! Happy Chrimbo !

I agree with the crafts route and modern twist on pollard products, thats what i have been doing.. look at my website. BUT it costs, and as stevie says only rich people can be green / organic in this country. Until there is a change from the 'lets get it delivered to the door by tescos' rather than use the local shop then we are doomed, well not doomed but it is a very neiche market, and one that takes a lot of effort to work. And its about education - people we work for need to know that to 'tree- cycle ' their tree into a peice of furniture is an option. Most dont know it can be done, cos the tree man wants the wood for his log delivery. The amount of people that enjoy the fact that the tree can been re used is up to us.. but it will only be the wealthy ones that can take it on board IMO. Councils etc should and could, we have done work that helped their crediability no end, but more could be done.. What if councils or contract managers had to be more aware of what happens to the 'waste', if they could get some new benchs for a park, or play stuff for a school, THAT is the future, then you can start doing URBAN pollarding and the likes, as people will see that the produce has been used and then they will get the picture.. IMO !!

I have been working for the last few yeasr with a sawmill and 're marketing' the idea that the timber we are surrounded by can be re used- a tree taken down in a garden can be made into furniture, or a shed in the very place it came down. Because thats exactly what we used to do, coppice and pollard products were used locally, those products kept people employed locally and thus the cycle continued, until cheap oil. Thats the problem we face. Its far easier and cheaper to buy a picnic bench from b&q than have one made from local oak. But if oil gets expensive and 'timber miles' get expensive then we will need to use local timber for local product. But it about education and money. Your man with his tree next to the house mibght like the idea that if it were pollarded it would keep him in firewood for life, but hes got a gas fire.. So just fell it and be done.. The world has changed, for some its for the better. Life in the woods to get your products is hard, trying to sell shingles and compete with tin is hard, splitting firewood is hard. People want an easy life. You come home and switch the lights on. They wrok without anythought as to where the power is coming from. Its all well and good looking at how pollarding fits with nature-bugs , fungi etc, but how does it fit with your man in the street? Starting to waffle again..

Looks like sanny just been for a s*@te is there a toilet role on the landy seat?

This is in some ways part of the problem with 'pollarding'- Aesthetics.. Arboriculture in my mind is trees in relation to people; The tree affects soemone therefore we work on it, be it for light, H&S or whatever, and linked to this is the outcome of how the tree reacts to what we do and how it looks afterwards. Pollarding was done for a purpose that had no bearing on aestheitics, but we have grown acccustomed to what a pollard 'should' look like.. You look at some of the big pollards in france or germany, especially in centres of towns where they all link up in the summer to create shade in a town square. They look amazing, but they are just topped trees.(Or a pollard ?!) So our perception of what a tree should look like is based what? The situation it is in? Or what we have been taught it should look like? So are 'pollards' an arboricultural practice or a woodland/rural management practice. Are aesthetics consdered in woodland/ rural management? It seems they are as we want things to look as they once did when the practice was done for a practical reason.. Am starting to waffle now..