gensetsteve

I dont think anyone slated him just asked for more info on how it was measured. If someone payed £50 + vat then transport and could not claim the vat back. They could be paying £80 to get 1.6 cu metres of firewood after you have taken cost of processing and delivery it does not leave much if you charge the average of about £80 a loose metre.

while that Stephen Blair is away I am going to catch up on his posts only about another 19,000 tonight and I will beat him.

I can understand your grief problem is what to do about it. The general idea seems to be hang in there and tread water. Things do have a habit of turning full circle. The h&s thing is so out of control I can see it collapsing in the next year or so. The rest of europe is laughing at our army of chubby old fellas walking round with clip boards.

Large businesses have been making life difficult for the small man for years. Just look at supermarkets and corner shops. Unfortunately after thatchers idea of starting lots of small businesses successive governments have not been so supportive. Its alot easier to keep tabs on people if they are paye. One weapon large companies have locked onto is the whole health and safety rubbish complimented with accredition. If you have a whole office full of managers and chiefs you can print of pages of bull and buy the right certificates. A small business needs to pay the mortgage and buy the road tax. I often find large companies onsite with lots of paper work loads of chiefs but no indians so the performance on site is poor. The other tool they make use of is get small contractor to do the work go bust and start next day buy all the kit back for next to nothing. This has been going on for ten years and is getting beyond the joke.

I think there is alot of variables in the thrown idea ie large sticks in a small box. 10" logs in a metre bag settle and lock down well hard to see them swelling 2.5 times but you could be right.

One tonne of wet beech measures 1cu metre of solid wood so if it was cut up how many 1cu metre bulk bags would you get. Weight is irelevant for this but useful when buying cord.

I see another thread on this subject earlier.

Think the unbraked trailer is so you can carry your maintenance records and tachographs with out being overweight. If I had the operators licence would need the trailer just so I felt like I was getting my monies worth.

I got the green paper one too with all my points hand written over the last 15 years. If you move house you will get a bit of plastic with your picture on

If I am wrong I would be glad to hear it. But I dont get 42 cubic metres out of 17 tonnes. Does anyone get 65 tonne bags out of an arctic ? . I notice the document almost condones burning peat or coal to help wet logs which I thought produced sulphur.

When you say licence are we talking driving licence. I am sure I have 8.5 tonnes still on mine and I only passed in a car. Or am I showing my age

What has crossed my mind is there must be figures out there for the amount of accidents caused by overloaded 3.5 tonne trucks . i would guess its low compared to chavs under the influence of drink and drugs on a friday night ragging there 15 year old corsas around suberbia.

The following I think is wrong from my experience '1 SOLID m3 = 1.54 STACKED m3 = 2.5 THROWN m3 1 STACKED m3 = 0.65 SOLID m3 = 1.63 THROWN m3 1 THROWN m3 = 0.62 STACKED m3 = 0.4 SOLID m3 If you start calculating your profits on this it will be a shock. From experience this is more like it 1 solid cubic metre of beech weighs 1 tonne when green 1 solid cubic metre turns into 1.6 cubic metres when thrown 1 solid cubic metre turns into 1.2 cubic metres when cut and stacked. If I could get 2.5 cubic metres out of a tonne of beech I would be a rich happy man:biggrin:

Change proffession I spent the last 20 years driving about the country in air conditioned 4x4 doing about 1/2 hrs work a day no aches or pains

I dont think reduceing the regulations on 5 tonners to that of light vans would be a good idea. Maybe a half way house say 4 month checks and an easier and cheaper operators licence. Any pee brain can currently run a van but running a 7 tonner requires a bit more balls and proffessionalism. Its bad enough with overloaded 3.5 tonne transits I dont fancy being hit by an overloaded 5 tonne truck on a dark night.

We fitted a 2 stage pump and bell housing from harrier to an 11hp honda petrol engine. uses about 5-10 litres a day but you will need some electric motor to get 11hp. I would go for the 13hp next time for a little extra power.

So when they burn that wood this year they will realise how good it was really and that they need to buy next years supply now. Next lesson will be no its not half price because its green. The cost of firewood is higher than ever but the margins are smaller than ever. We sell 2cu metres for £160 which I make £30 for 3 hrs work. I only do this when I have a quiet period I have been busy so not much firewood this year. I deliver to mansions and large multimillion pound properties in sleet and snow and get moaned at about the cost I doubt these people have invested £30,000 to earn £10 an hour which is why it is difficult to get quality firewood.

Im off to find some underware and a camera

Of course it would be easier if we just called ourselves wood processors and supplied green logs. Alot cheaper for everyone and no double handling. The customer would need to buy a year in advance like the do in most of europe.

Tried it a few times over 20 years total waste of time. Once you get on their mug list they wont leave you alone.

Or will the lorry be loaded to fill 52 cu metres which when wet with 50% airspace would have been 26 tonnes. in which case you will pay £1300 but at least it will be ready for next winter.

I had to do it last week.

Once you contact the authorities they will be looking for the planning fees, the breaking wind fees, the shout to load permit, The burn the brash licence etc. Sometimes pays to stay low key if you tell the neighbours you plan to process firewood they may imagine a ten acre site starting at 7 in the morning.

I think your right its not the first time either. Just a shame it cost me fuel and time could have been said on phone.

Keep doing a search on a well known internet auction it may turn up.