muldonach

That sounds about right, a bulker 2x2x20m would be 40cube.

A bulker 2x2x20 would be 80 cube according to my arithmetic - either way that is the volume of the wagon and even split logs will not stow better than 50% in my experience.

I don't know the dimensions of a bulker wagon since we have never used them but don't believe they go up to 20m.

cheers

mac

Thats exactly what I said to the "police switchboard operator"

 

Flytipping is illegal therefore a criminal offence, I'm not wanting it cleaned up, I'm wanting a conviction, isn't it the police that convict not the council??

 

"You need to phone this number sir"

Hmm - two letters and a phone call-

write to your mp and local councillor regarding the lack of interest from "officialdom"

then phone your local paper and relate the story to them - one thing officialdom really hates is being mentioned in print when they took no action!

regards

mac

As for the brogio dont bother better off with a tri cut blade, will fit a husqvarna but only just, body of brogio to thick you could end up damaging the splines. the brogios I tried did not last more than an hour chains broke too much power I guess, what do you expect its Italian!!!

Sorry but find it difficult to agree with that one - we changed to broglio head on 245RX for bracken and brambles because we were forever smacking the three corner off stones.

Find the broglio excellent and has certainly lasted a lot longer than an hour! No good on grass / rushes though.

Cheers

mac

Hi all

 

Just wondered how long you needed to season sweetnut for?

 

I've got about 15 tonne that has been down 8 months and was just wondering if I could mix it in with the ash, oak etc this year.

 

Cheers

take it you refer to sweet chesnut? If so mix it with anything you have but make sure that the ash, oak or whatever will burn - cos the chesnut won't unless it is split small and dried out well

Regards

mac

how much do think i could charge for me and my mobile palax combi and my labourer to pass the timber daily?I think you are right about what you said about hiring a new one out they would not respect it i suppose all of us are not the same.when i hire any tools i respect them as my own.

First question:- is anyone near you offering this service? If so what are they charging because that is the rate you have to compete with.

Secondly I would say you are approaching from the wrong direction when you ask "what could I charge?" what do you need to charge to make it worth your while all around?

Decide on a figure that you are happy to walk away from a days work with the palax with and then add on to that all the costs you can identify and quantify. Get that down to a dayrate and market it at that - don't initially put your rate in any adverts you cannot easily change.

Do a couple of jobs and get a feel for how much of a market there is and whether your rate is giving you a good return and adjust it in the light of experience. Try to see the job before going firm on a rate - we fronted up at one job with a palax and less than 50% of the timber would go through it - however we had pointed this out and arranged to have an extra sawman on site before starting.

If you cannot get work at the rate you derive then either you are being unrealistic or someone is doing it at an uneconomic rate - only you can judge.

HTH

mac

HI THERE EVERYONE IM THINKING OF BUYING A HAWK PETROL :glare:MOBILE FIREWOOD PROCESSOR TO HIRE OUT IT WILL CUT UP TO 12INCH DIAMMATER.I WAS GOING TO HIRE IT OUT WEEKLY FOR £500AND MY FUEL COST TO DELIVER AND COLLECT OR IF HAVE FOR A MONTH £1500AND FUEL COSTS.THE CUSTOMER WOULD BE RESPONSABLE FOR SHARPENING THE CHAIN AND DRESSING TH GUIDE BAR.DO YOU GUYS THINK THERE IS A MARKET FOR THIS?

At 500 a week plus delivery and fuel I would be looking for a full time operator as well - dream on would be my response to that quote I'm afraid.

I would be very wary of hiring a processor out to the public anyway - looks like a lot of risk to insure for untrained operators from joe public and if you expect them to sharpen chain without training I would lay in a good stock of both chain and bars.

The other question I would have is where is your market - the domestic market does not need a processor for a week - two people can run an artic load of timber through one in two good days even with a fair amount of chainsawing oversize stuff. Anyone who wants one for a month will want his own machine or a pretty substantial discount on those figures.

I woud suspect that your potential market is a lot more likely to be a day here and a day there but will be interested to see what others think.

Cheers

mac

Blimey, that's going to be cheap per ton then . The fella that visited reckoned on 100 tons per acre useable, inwood are advertising that they'll pay £50 a ton roadside and this guy said he'll pay the same.

 

I'm seriously considering buying a 4x4 tractor and pulling out 3 acres myself, it'll pay for the tractor this year.

We do this with firewood in neglected hardwood plantations, it is certainly do-able but don't underestimate the challenge.

If you have not already done some training then I would recommend getting some and also getting an experienced cutter in to give you a good start and show you how to work in the wood. If it isunthinned then mark out the extraction roads before you start felling and cut to a logical system.

You don't say what kind of groound you have but we find ourselves very limited in the use of tractors by wet and soft ground. Once you have started to cut the ground up it rapidly becomes a quagmire. A quad and a small forwarding trailer make a lot less mess if the timber is small enough to handle.

Mind you at 50/tonne roadside it makes reasonable sense.

Cheers

mac

Rather than one of those does anyone know if there is a company making a firewood processing head that will fit on to a 13t excavator?

had a hunt around on the web but not come up with anything so far

Cheers

mac

We generate quite a lot of this sort of stuff and since as you say it is excellent for wildlife we simply pile it out of the way and leave it alone - it is quite surprising how the piles shrink in a year or so.

Since there is no value in any product and it is in a woodland setting why waste money processing it?

Cheers

mac

One question arising from this thread for me is how does this compute with the steady stream of 17 year olds driving 150hp tractors and loaded 14tonne trailers which go through our little place in ath esummer months??

regards

mac

got another letter today, seems to me he fancys himself as a have ago lawer, dont think hes going to be easy to get rid of

Your solicitor has dealt with his original letter - I would be wary of getting into any more correspondence on this. My line of thinking would be to respond along the lines that you consider the matter to be closed.

It basically looks like a try-on, he may well threaten to bring the matter to court but it is a bit of a give away that it is not his solicitor that is writing to you.

Best of luck anyway

mac

Anyone that burns wood on a regular basis should have their chimney lined. No matter how long wood is seasoned for it still leaves resin in the chimney. The resin soaks into the brickwork and if a fire occurs it cant be put out, resulting in structural damage to the house. My chimney is lined with stainless steel and I still clean every two months or so depending on the type of wood I,m burning. Sometimes the first section of my six inch flue is chogged right up leaving a three inch hole. I know when it,s time to clean just by judging the fires performance. Also I season all my wood for two years whether it,s for me or customers.

All good stuff but in our experience well over the top - we have been running a full central heating system (3 bed detached with 7 full radiators) for the last 20 years on nothing but firewood. The chimney is unlined rough stone and is swept on an annual basis. We have had a couple of fres over the years when the wife forgets to get it swept and have no bother putting them out by shutting the chimney damper in.

We typically fell a load of wood in the winter - or block windblow - and in the spring split it and stack it under a tin roof - it is then burned from september onwards. We take little account of species but tend to burn softwoods in summer and hardwoods in winter.

Cheers

mac

hi were abouts are you from muldonarch?im from shawhead out side dumfries

Down in the Machars south of Newton Stewart mate

anyone own a woodland?

 

how do you work it?

what did you pay for it? (if you don,t mind telling)

what do you get out of it?

what can you do with it?

do you enjoy it?

 

reason i ask is i would love to own one but have always wondered if it is worth it

 

would it be for profit from production or for re-sale or would it just be for sheer pleasure and self satifaction

In order:-

1. yes - several

2. We bring in contractors or standing sale on large conifer parcels, thin hardwoods and do firewood ourselves. We have our own tractors, forwarding trailer(s), winch, logspitter and access to a firewood processor. I spend most of my time there when not gainfully employed

3.between £160 and £750 per acre (it was a while ago)

4. A lot of physical exercise and hopefully a bit of a pension fund as well as my own deerstalking, bird watching and pheasant shooting / duck flighting etc. I also get to argue with a couple of neighbours:cussing: and share the costs of replacing fences with others:ohmy:

5. Well so far we have been busy clearing windblow, opening up the canopy in the hardood sections to encourage a bit of regen and clearing the old roads throught the conifer sections which are totally choked with birch, willow and windblow.

6. Yes - it is very satisfying to sit with a cup of tea and listen to a woodpecker drumming in the spring in your woodland. somewhat less satisfying when you bog the landrover again just before dark and the tractor won't start which somehow never seems to happen when the sun is shining.

Whether it is worth it or not depends on your own individual aims in life. if you don't like being wet, muddy and greasy all at the same time then think carefully.

The ultimate end also depends on your own circumstances. Profitability is not all that easy to achieve and greatly depends on market proximity, ground conditions, scale and species / quality.

I would suggest you consider carefully before puchase - it all started with a woodburning stove for us!

Cheers

mac:001_smile:

Muldonach

 

Who makes the THT400 I have googled without success.

 

Would any of these trailers be road legal for towing behind an 814 Merc I am thinking of piping up the merc for the trailer crane hydraulics but using the trailer crane instead of mounting a crane on the Merc and reducing load capacity.

sorry mate just found this query! THT400 is made by logic and is in no way road legal - no mudguards, lights or brakes. Caledonian forestry have a similar trailer which is braked but no lights or mudguards.

These trailers are intended for use with a quad and will not be cost effective behind a larger vehicle. You will be struggling to get more than 750kg into them

cheers

mac

anyone else have rats in the wood pile?

 

any ideas on how to get rid of them?

 

cant poison them cos they'll die in the pile and live traps aint working too well

Deadcatch traps (Fenn MkIV) in wooden tunnels depending on where your woodpile is just put them next to a wall. All the usual stuff - use old traps if you can get them, no mineral oil and old untreated wood for the tunnels

Cheers

mac

hi guys

 

does anyone have one of these and are they any good? i dont want to go down the route of a proper hydraulic engined splitter as i dont intend to sell logs its only for the one fire i am getting fed up swinging the axe!

and although they are cheap (£200 ish) i dont want something else lying about my workshop that "seemed like a good idea":001_smile:

 

cheers

Don't use one myself but the neighbour has one and it seems ok - echo comments above re making a stand for it. Cut some firewood up for a customer who had one - it had what looked like a good idea which was a central travelling pad and a splitting knife at both ends of the rail. Thus as the pad pushed the log against the left hand knife you could be ready to load another to push to the right.

Cheers

mac

If its in the original contract then that would be perfectly legal as far as i can see.

You can put in any clause agreeable to both parties as long as it is legal, moral and decent but actually you don't have to:-

check out http://www.payontime.co.uk - in the event of late payment you are entitled to both statutory compensation and punitive interest on the debt. You can pursue the matter through a small claims court in England I am led to believe.

Cheers

mac

Got one on a husky 250 - dogs whatsits on brambles bracken and in amongst stones - as others have said not too hot on grass and does not like rushes at all.

Does send a fair amount of material whizzing backwards so definately need good protection on the eyes and the other essentials - not that any of us wouldn't already have that of course:001_smile:

Cheers

mac

... I will keep my eyes open for local farm auctions though with log splitters. What is the cheapest I'm likely to be able to get one for?

 

I've only seen a couple at auction and they made 2-300 both iin good condition and a good size. There is a guy on e-bay flogging them at that price.

If you have the kit and know how or know someone who does, it is not difficult to get a used ram and spool valve and make one up - probably the cheapest way.

as`others have said although a little daunting in price they do pay for themselves relatively quickly

Cheers

mac

boring -

screwthegym.com

If your timber is suitably sized then the logic THT 400 is an easily towed little trailer, we have one that we tow with a honda 450 and it will bring a good load out over very soft ground without any damage and is very easy to manoeuvre.

Obviously no good if you hae big timber but we are dealing with birch and sycamore thinnings up to 1km in from the road.

Not cheap I'm afraid but we have never regretted it since I bit the bullet and bought one new - Ouch

cheers

mac