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Michael C

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Posts posted by Michael C

  1. Are logs worth doing anymore ?

    in Firewood forum

    Posted

    John, or Steve?

    I reached this conclusion over this past few years.

    Despite having 40 acres of Sitka/Lodgepole forestry at my disposal for "free"

    (i) If I work it alone I can not justify the equipment required, nor any semblance of a ret on investment.

    (ii) If I employ staff to run on a business footing, I will soon run out of timber, plus we do not have the population density to make a firewood "round" cost effective.

    So I will lose money even faster.

    It is exactly the same as I told a farming Uncle.

    Both in farming and firewood the market has polarised

    Either (i)

    on a hobby basis for satisfaction and beer money. (no income tax no VAT!)

    Or

    (ii)On on a suitably large industrail scale to be efficient, and milk the grants.

    Cheers

    Marcus

     

    I couldnt agree more, and I have a similiar acreage of Sitka/Ash/Sycamore.

    We cut extraction racks and thinned out the ash and sycamore last year and I paid the guy with me a fair chunk of wages to cut it and get it stacked along the racks. Alas, due to the wet 'summer' this year, most of it is still lying in the forest. :001_rolleyes: It would be lovely to have a 3 ton mini with a nice grab or other nice machinery to extract it, but it simply wouldnt pay.

     

    As regards buying cordwood, I think it would need to be a LOT cheaper (or firewood be a lot dearer) for a firewood merchant to make a decent profit, unless as said, it is at a massive scale.

    There is just too much machinery needed imo for it to be viable on a small/medium scale.

    Just my experience after dipping my toes in the water!

  2. Tipping trailer for log delivering

    in Firewood forum

    Posted

    The Loadhandler's rated to pull a tonne - but in reality will pull more.

     

    This video from the US is a bit of a slow burner but will give you an idea of its unloading capacity. Works well with logs if you were stacking high, just infill behind the arches or you'd have to unload the logs that remain there afterwards. There's plenty of log vids too for the Loadhandler on youtube.

     

     

    Willingly send one sale or return if you wanted to try it.

     

    Regards

    Curtis

     

    p.s. they're £110 + vat and carriage

     

    I already bought one! Didnt take it out of the box yet but was thinking of putting greedy boards on the pick up.

    Weight is one thing, but would the load still be inclined to 'travel' if it was in a plywood box maybe 3ft high?

  10. Japa 375 Expert

    in Firewood forum

    Posted

    I'd agree about the circular saw being better, but the 375 or 1x37 has some big advantages- it will take bigger timber, it was powered infeed conveyor (huge advantage imo) and pulling the chainsaw bar down on the log looks that bit easier than pusing the whole log into the circular saw, the expert may even have hydraulic chainsaw operation.

  13. my first log splitter ?

    in Firewood forum

    Posted

    been looking around at some of these home made jobbys and some look really good ! thinking of getting one of those 13hp hondas and a ram ! , i could weld the rest my self,

     

    Just be realistic about what its actually going to cost you. Its very easy to wear rose tinted glasses when pricing a 'home build' but it all adds up.

    It wont be CE marked either if an accident was ever to occur.

  14. Registering a loader

    in Large equipment

    Posted

    but it wouldn't be road registered by doing that, or am I missing something??:confused1:

     

    No, but I'm not sure that would bother them with a smaller machine like this. I suppose a quick phonecall would sort it out. :001_unsure: I know they insure mini diggers etc using just the serial no, and these are often working on the road.

  17. 1 tonne log nets-Any Feedback on using them?

    in Firewood forum

    Posted

    I bought the frame and the nets from bag supplies and tbh, I kinda regret it. I should have just bought their vented bags.

    The nets and frame take too long to set up and you have to keep 'sorting' the logs as the net fills because if you leave gaps (particularly at the sides) the net of logs will collapse to one side when you take the frame off.

    You also need a pallet for every net.

  22. SEASONED Hardwood wanted will pay CASH

    in Firewood forum

    Posted

    I cant see as there is such a thing as seasoned cord wood. If you need to buy dry cord in July to pull a fast one thats different but its too late. You may aswell wait a few weeks and process green for next year it will be much easier to process. If you are trying to process straight out now it will be green even if its been in cord for years. If people have run out they will be trying to burn the stuff the same night.

     

    I agree with this. I have 90 ton of softwood cord here that was cut down last may/june. There is no way I could/would sell that as seasoned.

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