firewood

see here...Complete Wood Pellet Manufacturing Factory on eBay (end time 14-Apr-11 22:49:10 BST) seems pricey to me

welcome barry. are you anywhere near figges marsh?

getting back to tommers original post.... who thinks there will be another full on protest over fuel prices? remember the last protest erupted when the price of petrol hit 80p / litre. Today i went past a petrol station selling at 140p / litre. how high does it have to go before people start full on protesting with go slows on the motorway etc etc.

smokers already "pay" for their treatment via the extortionate amounts of tax placed on fags. if you want them to pay for their own treatment remove the tax from every packet of 20. I agree smoking is a luxury in this day and age and it is preferable to tax fags rather than fuel which is an essential.

they should last a year or two unless like me you like to ram oversize pieces in til the fire is full from grate to baffle plate with ends and edges of the logs scraping the sides all under pressure from the stove door which wont quite close:001_smile:

done!

came across this site and this page inparticular: Solar Wood Drying might help reduce a few electricity bills:thumbup1:

i thought that sycamore was meant to be slightly antiseptic / anti bacterial and therefore ideal for this sort of use. I may be wrong though.

may be of interested to some one: forestry tractor with timber crane on eBay (end time 05-Mar-11 18:07:14 GMT)

"It doesn't seem that much work to be honest............buy softwood and hardwood in at £35 - £55 a ton. A ton of wood should do at least 2 cubic metres........sells at £120 per cube.........thats £240"" you have just answered your own question. You may have the driest firewood in town but at £120 per cube many customers will carry on buying cheaper wet wood. be careful about whether you can sell softwoods in your area. from reading this forum i would suggest that softwood is only popular in parts of Wales and Scotland (others may shed more light on this). Softwood prices to the customer will be around half that of hardwood. Also, 1 ton of green hardwood will just about make 1.5m3 of split logs not 2m3. i.e. 25% less than you are estimating. making and selling firewood is very hard work. do not underestimate the effort and hassle involved. you have to be a cutter, labourer, mechanic, driver, salesman and entrepreneur all rolled into one. IMO unless you are shifting 500 tons plus p.a. you will not be able to employ anyone and still make a profit so you will be doing all the work at least to start with. Your biggest asset is your marketing database. If i were you, I would put out a call here on arbtalk and find two or three members from your area who can supply to you or your customers direct and take a commission off each sale. profit guaranteed! my 2p worth.

lastr year i set up an honesty box at the end of my track for bags of logs and kindling. Iwas taking about £90 a day and collecting the cash twice a day and restocking the bags. one saturday was out all day. got back late, all logs gone all cash stolen. this happened the following day as well. I no longer operate the honesty box all due to one scumbag. with regards to thefts from the forest...I think these will only increase as the costs of coal and oil increase. One possible solution is to set up a nice pile of easy to handle birch and rig up a sensor that rings your mobile when tripped (a la Dean Lofthouse). Then hightail it up to the stack to catch them redhanded. If they are taking artic loads at a time they are professional thieves and will be responsible for many other thefts. also tell everyone you know about how you have "cameras and sensors everywhere". It may deter some thieves even if you have nothing installed. Finally, if you do catch thieves and they are convicted name and shame them so we all know who they are.

new filter installed. problem solved. thanks everyone for all the help.

finally got the new filter delivered. the old filter was seized on solid so had to remove complete filter housing and work it off with the bench vice and a big set of stilsons. the old filter was choc full of muck, fragments of grit, baling twine and bits of old clutch plate. filter looked very distorted and partially ripped. also found a large loose metal fragment (from old clutch plate?) next to the non return valve. arms had been creeping down recently so hopefully that has cured the problem all cleaned up and ready to reinstall tomorrow with new pipes as well.

how old is the stove? overtime the rope will loose its shape and become flattened and fail to make a seal. if the stove or door is not warped then simply install a new fire rope. don't forget the special glue to hold it in place.

I've had cold starting problems when temp is -10 or below. I find a bucket of hot water tipped slowly over the injector pipes works wonders

nice link. unfortunately doesn't show my model but handy for other kit nonetheless.

ihave an original bobcat manual and it specs universal oil (10w30).this is what i have used. does anyone know what the effect of using ordinary hydraulic oil would be? would it damage the pump? so is mine. still waiting for the filter to turn up the old oil was quite milky

slight derail but has anyone found anything unusual in the wood while milling e.g gold sovereigns, bullets, musket balls?

Time and time again:lol: Are you located down on the marsh? I used to live in Newchurch. Used to drink occaisionally in the Red Lion at Snargate, the Blue Anchor in Ruckinge and the County Members at Port Lympne....happy days.

gravity fed is fine but you will need hydraulic operated paddle to control the roll of logs off the deck and onto the infeed conveyor. you need one small ram to operate that presumably you could feed it of the tractor hydraulics. Let me know if you want some pics of the paddle design and ram arrangement. For bigger and twisty timber two hydraulic rollers would also be nearly essential.

80% of what i sell is softwood (Grampian area). If you quote customers prices for both the price difference will generate lots of sales of softwood.

THe only way to go IMHO is to sell by the loose loaded m3. I'm currently cracking out 10 to 15m3 per day on my jack. I therefore do not have the time or inclination to stack the logs in the back of the truck. Nor do i have time to count them in. as regards to weighing them.....this requires a trip to the weighbridge (at a cost) or installation of on board scales.... more expense and more overhead. most customers would not know what a ton or a m3 of logs look like anyway. They can visualise a transit tipper load. The body on the transit happily doubles up as the measuring device, holding 2.5m3. I invite the customer to measure the body to satisfy themselves as to quantity if they so wish. none ever take up the offer and I've yet to receive a complaint about short loading. with regards to VJ's point about regulation, he is correct as all governments attempt to control and thereby trash any industry that is doing well for itself but has no political clout with which to defend itself. if you are selling wood by m3 (loose or stacked) weights and measures can insist that your delivery vehicle body is officially calibrated with full and intermediate volumes (a measuring stick stuck and sealed to inside of the body.) If you sell it by the load there is naff all they can say about it. therefore, currently, I sell by the load but give the customer an "approximate" m3 figure. my 2p worth.

UPDATE changed the oil today and ckecked inlet pipe. pipe sound. fired her up and still juddering for around 5 minutes, pump screeching. then screeching stopped and no movement with any service. thought pump was kaput. decided to unscrew flow from 3rd service to ram and dabbed pedal. oil sent shooting out after some bubbles escaped. reconnected pipe. still juddery bet getting better the more i used it. I am now convinced the problem is ice crystals in the filter (was very cold this morning , -19 C) will attempt to remove and replace filter when new one turns up tomorrow. I suspect it is still the original 1981 filter that came with the machine when new so its only done around 10,000 hours:lol:

It has been cold up here in aberdeenshhire. early saturday morning temp gauge in car was showing -27 c. not sure how accurate gauge is mind. it did feel that cold.