clueless

got one for my old man last year i think its still in the box. bit like charcoal making really, why go all the bother of turning something burnable into something burnable.

i have a lot of bramble but cant use a flail mower in most places due to lots of stone on the ground. The first thing i did was split the area up into smaller areas, which in my case were then prioritised by when i would like them improved (i.e. no point starting on an acre at the back of the woods that you cant get to yet) WHat i did this year was attack them with a couple of brushcutters then pick the stone and deadwood out by hand (or with 13t digger) then thin the trees and go back in with the flail. I have found though that the most effective way to get rid is by trafficking. when we first got our woods all i would do was track over the overgrown areas with the digger and i think this put the plant into shock (well for fern anyway) but you can see a noteable difference on the areas that we run on with the digger or tractor (i.e. tracks) not looked at spraying off to be honest my priority was to get rid of the stone and open the areas up by thinning the trees so that our tractor and mower could fit in there and doing some maintenance mowing every now and then. hope that helps.

just to correct my post before, because i cant work out how to 'edit' it. I didnt put down the log sizes of the eco angus range correctly. The size I stated was actually a more expensive competitor product. The eco angus being able to take a larger log and for a cheaper price was another thing that drew our attention to it.

i am seriously looking at getting an eco angus for my parents at the moment. we are looking at a 60kw to run a 5bed house plus an external building which is a 24 unit boarding kennel (kind of like 4double garages all joined together to give you an idea of size). including water. they are seemingly a good machine and a lot cheaper than the rest of the ones on the market (some companies charge a fortune for this sort of stuff which makes it unrealistic in my opinion especially the chip and pellet systems) however the eco angu sand similar wont take a huge log they need i think 55cm long by 4" face and 20% moisture maximum. for big stuff we looked at green dragon burners (like farm2000) but thought it a bit much for the old girl to fill it every day with the front end loader as they are designed for bales of straw. Ideal for offcuts and arbwaste but not for a retired couple. (you'd get a retired couple in there mind dont get me wrong) i am probably 6 - 8 months into seriously looking at these systems and still no closer to getting one. the only thing i have learnt is there would be no point us putting a system in if we didnt have free wood to start with. my mate who is a plumber said for instance in the kennel that he could put an oil boiler, tank and all the rads needed for about 5K. (still running the house off the existing oil boiler. ) a log boiler setup for the house and kennel is probably going to cost us 20K. you really do have to have your 'long term benefits' hat on i think.

i'm happy just getting a few beers bought for me and some scran. i do the same. plus the usual bottle of whisky etc but thats just a big game of pass the parcel till the xmas shut down cos nobody really likes the stuff. not heard of donations for xmas do's before. you either invite someone and pay for them or you dont, as far as i am concerned.

youd think theyd tighten up on their english mind because for one thing it paints every non english speaker that may be in a legit trade, with the same brush. i tried to keep that as 'PC' as possible.

thats ok steve if your spelling was questionable AND you were asking for money over western union then it may have been different! get some icecream down you and a whisky....

thats been on their website about 3 years i was going to take a look at it at the time but found something else. wonder why its not sold?

that landini had full air con then

this is a cracking machine i've seen it and would have bought it if the mrs hadnt convinced me we needed a new kitchen.

i get you now! nothing like a bit of marketing hype

i dont get it?

you'll probably find it easier to drive than a mini dont worry

i keep getting asked to do this for windblown stuff. i'm not really into treework i just have a tractor & processor & splitter which I use at home but thought a while back i could make money from going out on hire. (i'm in construction as a profession so making money on hire is what i do.) to be honest its a nightmare money wise your in a lose lose situation. only way to do it is give them a day rate and make sure you price in everything (labour, plant, materials). if they think its too much then let them carry on with their axe. only prob with a day rate is that they will always want to know how long you think it will take and i'm afraid thats something that only you wil know, based on your set up and your abilities. what you want to do is give the day rate for processing first, then quote to take the tree down, and include a rate to dispose of the timber. they wont like it, but at the end of the day its a waste product if they have no use for it and if firewood is not your main line of work. if you do get away with charging to dispose of it, you at least get to process it in your own time, for beer tokens. this opinion may hit a nerve with some people but theres no point doing jobs just to lose money you have to be realistic. if you dont want to turn the work down and want at least some cash out of it then just price dropping the tree as competitively as you can, at least it shows your willing. people just dont understand firewood production. good luck anyway!

i bought a fransguard 3500 in as new condition out of the back of someones workshop gathering dust for £750. I may be wrong but in my opinion a winch is a winch (basicc spec 3pt linkage wise anyway) and as long as it looks half decent it probably is.

nice one mate it is strangely exciting isnt it! novelty soon wears off when you start seiving it and bagging it though...

i've had a similar experience lyn they all seem to be too busy. i have had the most luck speaking to a company from gloucester about a new biomass system actually. i know of a guy in cowbridge that could help but thats probably a bit too far east for you. if you want to try him its rhys lewis on 07966 265 912. good luck!

they had a hawk they used to hire out, which was similar to that thing. i remember them (sharon) telling me when i bought my machine off them a few years ago, and i'm sure there was a rate on their website somewhere

do you put a flail mower on it? if so what size? thinking of downsizing my little 85hp newholland as she cant fit in amongst the trees in my woods when mowing due to the fancy cab. i figured it would be easier to get a tractor that fits with the trees than cut all the trees back to suit the tractor!

what tractor you got dean?

i've used sandhurst in the past they are pretty good and can get most things. where abouts is the job i may be able to point you in the right direction for hiring

just get the gas axe on it to warm it up then hammer the crap out of it. as soon as you get past the point of no return it will become easier. like breezeblock said, you would be better off making a tommy bar up by welding the old pin perpendicularlilarily onto a metal bar and get someone to line it up that way.

I know what you mean about the time of year. I had the back of my truck filled with net bags of logs to take to my house from the yard but couldn't be arsed to empty it that night. Wish I had now cos every time I flip down the sun visor theres a spider there. For reference, I'm the 'stick out my chest if anyone else is around' type when it comes to spiders too. Funny really when you think they're probably thinking the same thing.

reading this has made me feel quite sad as i sold my 90 today. even worse i cant find any pictures of her but she was resprayed in metallic red, kitted out for playing in mud and rivers and was cracking fun to drive. on the bad side she was getting a bit rusty and had all the charisma of a 23 year old work vehicle. on the plus side, i did buy a d3 a couple of months ago for work so its not all bad. apart from this photo, which is quite bad. i'll have to take some better ones and dig out ones of my 90:crying: