muldonach

Not had much use with cranes, but could a crane pick that up from 45m away, or even half of that weight?

It could weigh 7t and it will take a serious mobile crane to lift that at 45m - or even half of it

regards

mac

P.S. not got a chainsaw mill yet?

Thought you'd like an update

 

After sending a quote in pointing out the very possible outcomes and providing him with the phone number of a structural enginneer he calls me today to give me the go ahead.

 

He hasn't called the number I supplied, I advised him strongly to do so. And so we'll be rocking up with a disclaimer of sorts and fell the tree. Anyone got any such disclaimers they keep on file that they could ping over to me???

 

It would be appreciated.

 

TA

The only disclaimer that is worth more than the scrap value of the paper is one that you get from your insurers - who you should seek advice from before proceeding.

The last thing you need is his insurers coming after you for re-imbursement and your insurers denying liability because you knew it would happen and went ahead anyway. If you have advised him in writing that he needs a structural engineers report before the tree is felled and then you go ahead and fell the tree without seeing such a report then imo at least you have just given your self both barrels right in the foot in the event of any damage arising

You owe the householder a duty of care and you cannot absolve yourself of it irrespective of what he signs. Your insurance company requires that you act as a "prudent uninsured" person would.

cheers

mac

£50 per cube hardwood delivered up to 20 miles - I can only wonder at the prices stated so far with one or two exceptions.

If I asked £100 per cube the customers would die laughing!

You can only charge what your customer base will stand

cheers

mac

can do them no bother - but you would have to collect and it is a fair old way I'm afraid

cheers

mac

A shackle is a shackle irrespective of whether it has an arb worker hanging from it or it is being used to lift timber for joinery purposes.

The same can be said for all loose lifting equipment

I would expect that the extent and limitations of your qualification would be clearly defined by the issuing body and that the particular operation for which the lifting equipment is used is irrelevant.

But you need to be 100% sure on this - if you step outside the limits of your qualification you will almost certainly be uninsured.

Regards

mac

well i thought it looked ok,although i have no clue about dry stone walls! whats wrong with it??

A general rule in laying stones is "two cover one and one covers two!" Vertical running joints as so frequently used here are inherent weaknesses.

It is also normal to build up the end cheeks and use a line between them to level out the courses. Although it is good practice to stagger the stone size so as to avoid horizontal running joints it is not normal to take it to this extent

It would be interesting to see an end view to see if any batter at all has been used

Regards

mac

One more basic question for those in the know. Is it best to season logs and then process cut to the size required for a specific customer order or process into 2 sizes, say 12 and 6 inch, and store the split wood? I can forsee great advantage in cutting to order as the processor can run straight off into the trailer ready for delivery and be cut to the size requested. The only possible downside is that seasoning logs will presumably take longer that seasoning of split wood. Does anyone have a relative time ratio guide for this?

Timber in the round will season much more slowly than timber which is split (just compare the ratios of surface area to volume). I would process the majority of your timber into 10" split logs - I think you will find 6" tedious to produce and liable to present badly to the splitter on the Japa. I would keep a smalll percentage back and let it dry as best it can for any customers who want non standard logs.

In order to get hard information on your seasoning get yourself a moisture meter

Also not a bad idea to stockpile logs when you feel like cutting them rather than running the processor into the trailer in penny packets - get yourself a front end loader with grain bucket for the tractor

cheers and good luck

mac

Does any body know where i can the rivets for joining the various bits of the spencer logging tape together?

stanton hope I think - got a supply years ago and seem to recall that was where we got them from

cheers

mac

If you do decide to weld it drill a small hole, approx 3mm, at the end of the crack before you start welding it...

 

Otherwise as you weld it you could end up chasing the crack right through it

Seconded - also grind into the crack and weld from both sides

cheers

mac

Don't take a 339 as a present - we bought one a few years ago and have found it to be pretty hopeless - starter is fragile and easily ripped out.

regards

mac

Some fag packet calcs put that at about 10m3 of solid wood per day. That I estimate would make about 15m3 of loose tipped logs.

 

So the costs stack up ok at that as long as you are selling the logs at a good price.

 

Per Day

Processor hire £200

Wood @40/tonne £400 (bought in inc del to our remote site)

1 day your own labour £100

Total £600

 

As long as you are selling at over £40/m3 you are making some money.

 

£50 - £150

£60 - £300

£70 - £450

£80 - £600

£90 - £750

£100 - £900

 

 

Hows your calendar fixed for availability, will need to order the wood first.

(anyone got some locally?)

 

Get it done soon & it will be good for next winter.

You might want to take into account that 1m3 of wood does not normally equal 1 tonne. The 10 tonnes you have allowed for will take 2 days to process and you need to allow for travel in both directions and digs if necessary.

Regards

mac

IMO £200 will roughly be your break even when you factor in ALL the costs tractor, ins, days off, saws, rain, breakages etc. £300 is more like it, you would probably still be better off on the Dole. CM Hort has it about right at £350-400 you will be earning a pretty a good wage for what is, at best inconsistent work (as he admitted).

 

Jonathan......never lifting an axe again

At £350-400 a day for a man with a chainsaw and a tractor to drive a logsplitter I don't think there would be anything inconsistent about it - there would be zero work!

you would need to produce a pretty big pile of firewood in day to make it worth the customer handing you £400

regards

mac

Hello again,

been doing some research on all the suggestions and unfortunately its been mainly negative. I am not completely giving up on it yet. My hope was to clearfell about 6 acres over the course of a few months and do it all on a small scale basis. As I assume in most cases doing the work isn't the problem its the logistics. The site is ok and I could work on it but the main problem I've found is access. The only access possible to the site is via a 7.5t limit road. Now I don't know much about forestry but I think its fairly obvious this is a major problem. Would this rule out any kind of economic forestry? I am not looking to make money necessarily but don't want to make a loss. What I am wondering is:

 

If you turned up at a chip board processor/similar with 4T of average quality lodgepole pine on a timber trailer what would a fair price be? In honesty I have no idea. My hope is £15-£20/ton. Less than that and it would be curtains for this plan.

 

Any more advice much appreciated. Please feel free to tell me to give it up if what I am asking is madness. Its just a good way for me to get involved with an industry I would like to move towards. Again not looking to financially profit from it but can't take a huge hit on it either. Thanks.

Well having an idle moment I made some sweeping assumptions and punched it out on a calculator.

If your average tree size is 0.35m3 (10m high x 30cm dia at base) and you put in a reasonable 8 hr day you should end up with 60 trees felled, snedded and cut to length, those 60 trees will weigh 8.5t when they hit the ground.

You are now faced with 2 runs on your tractor to your end user, you don't say how far away it is but running a tractor on the road takes time, as does loading and unloading so it is unlikely you will get much more done that day?

So on a semi- educated guess the economics of your projected operation are that you will have a gross income of about £65/day if you can get a good price for your timber and from now on in it is all cost - travel, fuel, repairs and lost time (hung up trees, nipped saws, bogged tractors and trailer punctures).

We did something similar to this about 20 years ago now and the stacked timber sat for three months through the summer before the buyer lifted it

If it is a recreational project then fine - but it is very unlikely to be an economic one.

Not wanting to rain on your enthusiasm but I think the above is a reasonably realistic assessment.

Regards

mac

.............That log trailer does hold a shed load of wood but due to the wheels being able to articulate on a central point it is brilliant in the rough stuff.

 

 

Nothing gay about those trailers mate

there is a service you can register with which prevents cold calls (but only those originating in the UK) we did it years ago and it helps quite a bit but have no earthly recollection of how or where we did it

bit of googling might throw up an answer but a bit distracted at this end just now

regards

mac

I really can't understand why this thread has got to the level it has, I must be missing something? This guy asked a pretty normal question and got jumped on, why was that?

he broke the first law of argument - show no weakness

A bit of newbie when it comes to forestry stuff but its something I really want to learn more about so please be patient with me.

 

If you had 6 acres of mature lodgepole pine (commercially planted) ready to be to clearfelled what would you do next? Can they be chipped for pulp/stacked and dryed for timber/biomass options/taken as logs to someone for processing/whatever. What kind of value do the options bring in? Is it actually possible to make any money out work on that scale? Could you undertake this work without the use of the big forestry machinery, as in only using chainsaws, small timber trailer (4T ish with crane) and tractor?

 

Any information welcomed?

6 acres does not really mean much on its own - first of all survey the site to get an estimate of standing volume and average height and diameter.

Then I would contact the major companies - Scottish Woodlands UPM etc and ask for a roadside price and spec. Also worth talking to local sawmills or users to see if they will take it direct but arranging haulage etc can be a pain. The closer you are to your market the more likely it is to add up.

As far as I know nobody will use pine for pulp but it can be chipped for OSB etc. Be very careful since the pine will rot very quickly once you fell it and will get a blue stain through it in short order which I think renders it unfit for any use other than firewood - don't fell anything you don't have a market for.

Then you will need a felling licence, one condition of which is likely to be that the site is restocked - you or the owner is going to have to figure that into your economics.

As far as making any money with small scale machines - it really depends on the ground you are working over. If it is level and firm, and your machinery reliable then I guess you can make a profit but lodgepole in our area at least (SW Scotland) is typically planted on deep peat and there is no way a small tractor trailer combination can travel the ground. The lodgepole does not make enough brash to run on and you need all wheel drive and low ground pressure as a minimum - once you go through the skin you are in to the axles. If your ground is soft then my advice would be to run away!

I would talk to as many end users as you can identify but I would be a bit careful of taking on a job you are not familiar with - not too many people make a living doing this kind of thing and I assure you it is very hard work.

HTH

Mac

Take a good realistic look at the tyres on the tractor and the ground you have to work with and buy a trailer that your tractor can cope with - a big heavy duty trailer looks real smart in the yard but pretty sorry for itself when it is in to the axles.

Cheers

mac

AVG plus Zonealarm has done fine for me for the last 5 years

Cheers

mac

Before you start lining chimneys etc just have a check that the flue is actually clear - it is not unknown for a piece of clinker to fall off post sweeping and partially obstruct the airway.

Did you sweep it yourself or get someone else to do it - we have had problems in the past with sweeps failing to remove all the residue and leaving a partially blocked flue.

Also if you have a damper in the flue which is removed for cleaning make sure it is reattached and opening properly.

Regards

mac

He has spent the entire period of labour goverment selling the idea that prudent financial management means spending more than you earn and borrowing more than you can afford to pay back.

Possibly the biggest long term disaster that has ever been chancellor let alone Prime Miinister

Regards

Mac

Palax combi is a great machine. You traded it in?

I have a 14 tonne zero tailswing hitachi with timber grab, superb machine.

Got a JCB 130 and could do with a timber grab - any chance you could point me at a supplier?

Cheers

mac

cover the cable in waste oil, it will slip over itself easier on the drum, its messy to handle but you should be wearing gloves anyway:001_smile:

Not for a pension mate - it gets everywhere!

Regards

Mac

hi guys

 

 

sometimes when i am pulling the cable out to meet the trees it doesnt let me pull it all the way out, like as if it is jammed. when i finally get it out there are what i would call small kinks in the wire, although these are not permanently engrained in the cable. i am not quite sure what is happening but obviously the cable isnt gathering on the spool correctly (maybe due to lack of tension when winching in?) its like as if its wound the wrong way round or something, if that makes sense.

 

i havent gone back to the guy i bought it from as i didnt want to make a fuss if it was something that i was doing wrong during operation.

 

thanks for your comments

Learn to live with it - as you suspect it is simply a lack of tension when winchin in - or possibly a drum freewheeling too freely when dragging the wire out and the wire "ripping down" when you winch in again.

Avoid having too much spare wire on the winch - if it is bad then secure the wire to a sring point and pull with the tractor - gently does it and it will come out.

Cheers

mac

we have a hunter thought it was good surprised to here its on the no list. found the air wash and riddle sys good in the bottom. I like the look of that esse stove you can see the fire well.

Equally surprised at this end as well - we have a hunter 20 that has been driving our central heating for the last 18 years without a drama and it replaced a hunter 14 roomheater which was excellent for more than 10 years.

Cheers

mac