monkeybusiness

Dirty thieving pikey rat wants those fingers chopping off.

A lot of the older Fords only do 30k though - painfully slow on the road. I’d love a TW though!

I’d be very wary of buying any second hand tractor fitted with a loader personally. Much rather have a tidy non-loader machine to start and fit one myself if needed. I’ve got an Agrotron and am very pleased with it (it’s powerful but relatively small so good amongst trees) but certainly not without its issues, but I think that would be the same with any brand. Anything second hand is a potential grenade, but I wouldn’t personally want to buy a new machine and stick a mulcher on the back/drive it into the woods etc. Our job wrecks nice kit, no matter how careful you are.

Definitely a squirrel.

It started out as a bit of an unofficial ‘I’m better at dragging trees than you’ local affair, but has grown into quite a big competition. They have to drag a load of tree trunks around a trials-style course with really tight gates and very steep slippery terrain. I couldn’t really follow the scoring but hitting the gates was obviously a no-no - the operators were amazingly skilful and had the timber double choked (one near the skidder, and the second nearer the back of the timber) and used the double drum winches and machine’s pivot to steer the logs around corners etc. Some of the skidders were also fitted with cranes which obviously made the job easier - I’m not sure if these competed against other similar machines or not though. The cranes were ridiculously strong and were used for dragging as much as lifting. It has apparently turned into the biggest event of its type in France, and draws in quite a few trade stands. I think it’s as much a showcase/working demo for the skidder manufactures as anything else tbh. Or it may have just been a bunch of pissed Frenchys having a big dick competition - either way it was ace to watch!!!

They are an extremely disorganised bunch - I’ve bought blades and some bars/chains on the cheap from them in the past and pretty much every transaction has been cocked up in one way or another. We even had a wagon (that couldn’t get down the lane to us) turn up with a big wooden crate on a pallet addressed to us from them - I was out and received a call from my dad who asked where I wanted it dropping off. Not expecting anything I tried to contact Saturn to ask what it even was - they assured me it must be correct but couldn’t actually confirm what they had sent. Long and short of it was that this great big crate with unknown contents (but unlikely to be cheap!) was abandoned at the neighbouring farm. I had a panicked call a couple of hours later from Saturn asking me where whatever it was was - I still don’t know what was in that box though! This has just reminded me of another order from them - only half of the order arrived. It took a couple of days before the other box turned up at a neighbours who share our postcode - both boxes were dispatched at the same time as part of the same consignment, but had been addressed differently. Muppetry through and through!!!

I think they are possibly the same company?

Sorry to hear this. It’s all to common - anyone buying second hand kit of unknown origin is feeding this unfortunately, whether they admit it or pretend it isn’t the case.

It used to be a £30 fine for the driver, no points etc. Not sure if that’s still the same but has been whenever we’ve had an issue.

Hopefully they die a violent painful death.

It’s a real bargain - tbh it’s the last thing I need at the moment though as I’ve already got a few and have other things to buy as a priority. But never say never!

For added French craziness, the following day there happened to be a motorbike hill climb (that really doesn’t do any justice to how extreme it was - the hill is enormous, uneven, loose and too steep to climb!) half an hour away in ski resort called Bernex. Basically it it was like real life Mad Max - I couldn’t tell if there were any rules as to machinery beyond having two wheels and a massive engine. Nitrous oxide and bonkers home-made spiked tyres were the order of the day, along with rivers of beer and enormous testicles. Failed attempts (99%) had the bike recovered by a full on forestry skyline! They weren’t playing at it - this was a very professional event with amazing live video footage and instant replays on a monster screen.

Couple of vids

Some interesting kit on show Ultimate root ripper! One for PeteB and Jase Hutch

I have a cousin who lives in Morzine in the French Alps (not a tree guy, he runs a cycle tour company). A couple of years ago he told me about a redneck show (his words) he’d been to in the neighbouring town - Les Gets. I instructed him to let me know when it was next on as it sounded right up my street - it just was and it didn’t disappoint!... It is called Les Cognées and it’s a skidder race (surely the greatest idea anyone has ever had?!) held over 2 days every other year. A couple of colleagues and I blasted out on a motorbike road trip and had a right laugh. Unfortunately my phone died at the event so I didn’t manage to get loads of pics but there are a few below that should give a bit of an idea of what it’s all about - they have trade stands too, and a whole world of beer to ensure everything is nicely lubricated.

Did he buy that bargain 1928 with the black bonnet?

Mint show - my phone died so didn’t get many pics but the French run some proper kit and this event is based around a skidder race. It makes the APF demos look like a women’s institute lunch! Today we went to a motorbike hill-climb called ‘Impossible Mountain’ - Mad Max machines with nitrous oxide and tyres with massive spikes trying to get to the top of a hill you genuinely wouldn’t walk up. They had a forestry skyline rigged to get the bikes that failed (99% of them) back down. Proper redneck stuff - best trip ever!

I’m in Morzine at a mega forestry show (les Cognees) and my cousin (who lives here) is in the process of having a wind blown spruce cleared up (with perfect access, you can get any vehicle you want to the tree) and it is costing 3000 euros. Is all French tree work crazy money?! I could genuinely do the job and save him money commuting from the Uk!!!

I’ve got one I’d consider selling - am in France but will be back next Tuesday if you are still looking. Give me a bell on 07970188050 next week. Cheers, Dan

Don’t be put off by the round blades - if you are the one paying for the blades they are better in every single way!!! Once they start to lose their edge they can produce slightly untidier looking chip, and the earliest machines using these blades weren’t hugely refined which has possibly tainted people’s views towards them. However, a round blades machine will still fill a tipper/blast to waste etc in no time, customers still want the chip for their borders, biomass firms still buy it, the chip still disappears into woodland floors/hedge bottoms. The blades last for ages (especially when compared to square blades), still work when dull (we’ve actually continued on and finished jobs after accidentally chipping rebar on more than one occasion, which is exceptionally cruel on the machinery but round blade flywheels will keep on chipping...), they can be turned a number of times (which takes no time at all) thus prolonging their life, and only two out of the four tend to take the majority of wear which further reduces the costs. There is no need to set up the blade/anvil gap - bolt them in and earn some money! I’ve got a 1928 safetrak that has done well over 3000 hours and is still a front line machine - this one for sale above looks an absolute bargain to me (so much so that I might buy it myself tbh!).

Bargain!

Have a look at the Arb Association one - free to members and does what you need.