renewablejohn

Would anybody be interested in Ash transplants. Looking to start in November through to March with sizes from 1ft upto 15ft. Site is east coast near Grimsby but I will be transplanting 2000 to my own farm Nr Bolton so can also supply in North West. Thought about 50p per foot. Anybody think there is a market. Also have specimen hawthorns but will probably just rip them out.

When I bought my Palax I looked at a log deck but could not justify the price for the arb waste I process. Instead I used 6ft by 3ft stackable steel stillages and my fork lift as a portable log deck rolling the logs direct off the stlllage at the right height. The stillage loaded up direct from the forwarder. If I had nice straight timber then I would have gone for the log deck.

I always thought they were daft down south Currently FOC to tip woodchips or mixed loads at our farm and I could see the day quite soon when we pay to receive loads.

I have offered this FOC service within a 25 mile radius of Bolton for the last 9 months and to be honest have not had many takers. Two options MB Trac and 9 tonne logging trailer for assistance in large takedowns. The other is my forward control MB Trac with skip and Heizohack chipper for large brash clearance. What I have found is the occasional large takedown but brash clearance is a no go because people have there own chippers.

I really do like this for recycling it just needs a pair of 45 degree plates on either side and rotate the ram through 45 degrees and you would have a quick reasonably "safe" machine. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh5a0a6b9JM]wood splitter log splitter John Deere 14T hay baler splitting fast - YouTube[/ame]

If your a firewood producer and not concerned about this I think you should be. Just go into the Certainly wood website and type in your post code for local stockist to your area. You may be surprised I certainly was. You may notice that a lot of their suppliers are Hetas registered installers and guess which company is the first to have Hetas approved logs for sale. I am in the fortunate position to sell wood pellets to an industrial oven manufacturer. Why is this relevant you may ask, because the warranty on his equipment is only valid with the certified wood pellets which he supplies. So buy third party wood pellets and you invalidate your warranty. Now apply the same logic to your new Hetas installed stove. If the manufacturers of the stoves stipulate only Hetas approved fuel then CW already have the advantage being the supplier to the Hetas installer and if your fuel is not Hetas approved then your fighting for a diminishing market competing with old Harry down the road Its alright at the moment as CW prices are still high but once they have the distribution network set up prices could tumble. Similar to supermarket versus corner shop.

What do you consider a good rate

No scheme closed Oct 2008

Due to the size of the aid it could have been in the same scheme as ours which required no match funding.

No the company is in a similar position receiving £150k for setting up a biomass fuel supply for a power generator.

I have to agree with you its not a level playing field with that sort of investment but after receiving that investment you will always maintain that advantage and eventually squeeze out the smaller competition. This is why I applaud CW because they could just drop their prices and undercut the market but instead have decided to keep prices high. This might be a condition of the grant agreement but after 5 years they will be free to determine there own prices.

At the end of the day it all comes down to cost per unit. The CW setup is probably geared up for 100,000 tonnes per year my operation is only set up for 10,000 tonnes per year a large tree surgeon 1,000 tonnes per year and a one man band 100 tonnes per year. It may be wrong but as fuel prices go up economies of scale start to kick in and the small guys will start to get squeezed.

This is the secret to their success. Their kiln drying operation uses hot thermal oil heated by biomass waste. The same technology can also be used for power generation which will be the logical expansion route for CW. If you think CW are dominate now in the area just wait until they can subsidize there production with power generation. I admit I am not on the same scale but at least I have now similar technology to compete at this level.

Where abouts in the country are you as transport is normally biggest cost due to the length of the hoops. With the increase in fuel costs our 7.5 tonne truck is now working out at £1 per mile. Hoops at £10 each means a 25mtr x7mtr tunnel works out at £200 to which you would need to add the price of the cover £450. If you dont want the hassle of erection then you should be able to get an all inclusive price for approx £1500.

I know times are hard but that is pretty desperate. Lifting 10 tonnes of timber a day he will certainly be enjoying hospital food by the end of the week.

If you need to ask the question then walk away. From what you have already said I would leave it to an experienced forester. Windblown?? Shooting Rights ?? Felling licence?? Reason for selling???

Be very good base for a woodgas conversion

I wonder whether the timber is being used to produce logs. Just asking because our local Hetas stove supplier is selling Jotul logs in cardboard boxes approx 12 logs in a box for £6.00. I thought I was in for a deal selling local logs until he told me the cost of the boxes including Vat was £2.50.

Getting IBC cages is not a problem. Getting them at a reasonable price is the difficult task. What sort of prices are people paying as I could do with another 200 and my FOC supply is slowing down maybe due to the price of scrap going up.

Be very careful if you have a mix of old and new 3 phase wiring as colours have changed especially blue. I now always go back to basics and test with a meter. Strictly speaking I need a sparks just to wire up a 3 phase plug.

Gensetsteve I agree joinery waste is difficult to generate a profit but combining kindling and wood pellets does give a better return. I wonder whether a mobile wood pelleting service would be useful to yourself and hullsmillfarm to cater for all the mishapen offcuts.

Unfortunately trading standards and the environment agency do not need markings on the timber to verify whether it is treated or not. They will just test a sample and if found to be contaminated they have the power to down grade your stock to WID appliances only and will expect disposal records from WID approved sites to prove you have safely disposed of the contaminated waste wood.

Might just be worth having a quiet word with trading standards. A local large wood pellet manufacturer had wood pellets tested by trading standards and was found to be using treated pallets so all his stock was classified as only being fit for Waste Incineration Directive approved boilers and was not allowed to sell to domestic users. Only place he could get rid of them was power generators at only quarter of his normal price. They have stopped using pallets and now only use virgin timber. Not saying this is the case here but it is far easier to chop up a pallet rather than mend it.

From the response I take it we dont have any good agric engineers in the North West.

Get yourself a bale counter and attach it to your splitter. Then get depressed how few logs per day your actually splitting.