muldonach

and on the other hand:- Weatherweb TV

It sounds as if you are rushing in where angels fear to tread lightly, what sort of average tree size are you talking about? I would be very surprised if the owner / manager would agree a dayrate for unknown cutters - I certainly would not. Target your rate at about GBP100/day gross, look at the tree size and figure what you can cut in a day and that will give you a tonnage rate, try to get the tonnage rate up as much as the landowner / manager will stand. Remember you can bring your rate down but once you state a rate it cannot go up. Cheers mac

There is no way on this planet you should need to climb trees in an organised conifer thinning unless there is something like a road or house in the fall zone. At 25 years old you should simply be dropping one rack in 5 and then herringboning as stated above. If you are getting hang-ups when trying to take a rack out then they should generally be easy enough to roll out with the bar unless you are well out of line! Should not be needing a winch much and if you do it should have a tractor attached!

cannot access the pictures, you do not say how long they will be away for - if it is a couple of weeks no charge for mowing the lawn, you never know when you will need a favour in return. collecting leaves and clipping hedges - hourly charge to cover costs and a bit of pocket money - again assuming that we are talking about a fortnights holiday cover and not 4 hours a week for months at a time

Go with shrubby species rather than the larger hardwoods - hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, rowan etc etc, plant them in groups and try to use berry bearing species. . Light = life - you will get little regen unless you knock the fern and bramble back. You can do it mechanically or chemically but you need to do it and you probably need to tube any transplants or selected regen

Nice bit of work there - be happy if I could manage that!

On the grapevine the FC in Galloway are planning to extract something in the order of 5 million tonnes of larch in the next 5 years

Fell a few groups of conifers to allow light down to the woodland floor, all of them if you must, then accept what grows - there will be a natural seedbank in the soil and if you try to get something else to grow you may have a fight on your hands. As others have said if you want to impose another species on the site more info is required.

ok - so you want 2 arctic loads of cordwood, sorted for species, diameter and straightness. Are you willing to pay a premium price?

The only value I would see in that machine is novelty - as difflock says a good one for the shows. As a working machine it is a liability not an asset in my eyes - first of all it is not a crane it is a wheeled loader, and a pretty slow and awkward one at that, lacking in height, outreach stability and speed. As much practical value as an ashtray on motorbike Cheers mac

If you have a trawl through the firewood thread I think you will find that your 26 tonne should convert to 40cu mtr of split logs. You will also find some info on how long that will take you depending upon the kit you have - you say rough so I am going to guess you will need a good sized saw and hopefully a powered splitter GBP 66 x 26 = 1716 now multiply 40 x the going rate for a cube of firewood round your way - lets say 75 = 3000 pounds worth of split logs I am going to say that you will need 1 man 4 days to process = 32hr allow GDP 5 per hour for fuel etc leaves you with 1124 nominal return - i.e. the difference betwen doing it yourself and buying in split logs so if you are asking if it is worth you buying this load to process and burn yourself then those are your figures and if you have the kit I would say it is worth it. If however you plan to sell these logs then you will need to figure out an average cost per cube to deliver them and once you take that away from your 1124 - it will be about GBP 1 per mile in running costs and somewhere around 2 hrs per cube to load, transport, unload and return to base. The shine starts to come off the figures I would say but you need to make your own calculation based on the local market price and the particulars of your area and kit. Cheers mac

Muller Splitter 3kg | Richmonds look familiar?

22% MC is perfectly acceptable firewood. You are getting down to 12% in a mediterranean climate quite how one is supposed to air dry timber to sub10% in the Uk is not immediately obvious. Which is not to say it cannot be done but I for one would be interested to hear how it is done and how long it takes. At sub 10% MC we ar talking about structural timber or furniture making I would have thought Cheers mac

The greater the diameter of the cordwood the higher the ratio of volume to surface area. If I have my maths correct a log of 2" dia has a volume:area of 1:1, a log of 10" dia has a volume:area of 5:1 or 5 times as much timber needing to pass moisture out of a unit surface area. The moisture also has up to 5 times further to travel through the cell structure of the timber. It is certainly my experience that thin sticks dry faster than thick ones, hence the success of cutting billets as discussed elsewhere on this forum or the need to process into split logs if you cannot handle billets. The answer to your question is yes you can produce 20% moisture content in cord but it will likely take a while! Cheers mac

In scotland at least a servitude right of access can prescribe if not used for 21 years - it would be up to your neighbour to prove he had used it. However it ain't as simple as that - if your neighbour used to have a right of way and there really is no alternative then it cannot prescribe through non usage. If however he has an alternative then he may be forced to use it. If he has a valid right to use the ROW he is also entitled to maintain it - i.e. remove any trees on it The trees on the ROW belong to you irrespective of the fact that he may be entitled to remove them Establish on what grounds he considers himself to have a ROW and check its validity. Don't rush to court or to solicitors - it gets expensive real quick Cheers mac

Forestry owner and hobby farmer with a strong interest in firewood and all things timber related. Been known to earn a living in the marine side of the offshore oil industry at times as well. Plenty of good stuff and chat on here for non arborists Cheers mac

You need to:- maintain it stockproof - fence life is variable but about 20 years maintain the ditches and drainage - typically clean every 5 years maintain it safe after that it is up to you - 5 to 10 acres is just a big garden Cheers mac

Johnny - nobody can answer this question except the existing firewood merchants in your area. You will see various figures bandied around but the final answer depends on your local market. Any attempt to charge £95 for a cube bag in Galloway would see you laughed out of the county - or the dogs set on you. Cheers mac

Rather than letting go the maul handle then picking up a another hammer have you tried throwing the maul back into the air (with log attached) and at the top of the swing, invert the maul so that it comes back down on to the splitting block with the unsplit log on the top - they generally explode! Apologies if I am giving lessons on eggsucking but we never have to hit a maul with a separate hammer cheers mac (who is also over 51!!)

Sorry marcus - a short tonne is 2000lb - commonly used in the states and also for some reason which I do not understand also normally used to quote large crane capacities cheers mac

Don't need a degree in mechanical engineering to detect something amiss there! I feel your pain - looks like a lottery win inverted

We use a sawhorse similar to that but made out of 3" fencposts and some 6x2 rails - it holds about a cubic metre of logs and the posts are at 500mm centres to suit our woodburner - beats cutting them one or two at a time for sure!

There is no need for a high safety factor in a pulling operation 4x for lifting 2x for pulling - but this applies to the tension applied to the rope - not the weight of the object being pulled safety factors relate to the applied tension - which is not necessarily the same as the mass of the moved object cheers mac

without wishing to be rude in any way it would seem that you are somewhat out of your depth and that what you actually require is some experienced assistance. yes the block shown in the link is suitable for the application you have indicated and yes you most definately need a soft strop to go around the tree and secure the hook to it cheers mac

Gor some lying in a box at home - can post them to you in a few days once I finish this job if that is any use. Cheers mac