timberbear

Just received tomorrows weather warning, time to loose the phone!

Great for pulling timber downhill too!

Been using one for four years with the skidding cone, great for extracting long poles up banks. Recently used it to remove parts of a mature beech from a lake. The tree attachment is extremely useful, keeps the winch off the ground and level, it's got an oil tilt switch to protect the engine so needs to be used flat

Here's my A12 from Riko, runs off PTO or lecky.

Been cutting by hand now for about twenty years, it is hard but can't think of a more rewarding job. All the woodlands I manage are steep sided hardwood mainly ash, oak, beech and sycamore. There's nothing better than starting a new hundred acre wood which hasn't been touched since the war, first few days getting everything hung up and winched down to create the space to start thinning. It's a great leaning curve for new starters to learn there trade. They'd often take the mick when you get a sixty footy leggy ash hung up with your first fell, but they soon learn the hard way! They soon give you a shout for help and I go and get my lunch and shout what to do whilst I eat and laugh my head off. There's nothing better than seeing a young cock sure lad broken at the end of the day, and they still think I'm too old. Infact one of the lads told me its time to retire so he can have my job, sent him for a sky hook to get a hanger out! My biggest problem is my wrist and back are slowly giving up so I'm actually thinking of doing a forwarder course and moving north! Do you think ten years on a Riko alpine would put me in good sted?

I think if the disease takes hold then where trees can be left to stand then they will increase and enhance the biodiversity value of the wood. Decaying trees provide holes and food for all types of wildlife. Woodlands will recover and species will change, infact we've yet to see what will happen when climate change takes hold! Obviously trees in high risk areas where failure could result in death, injury or damage to property or on road sides would have to be removed. I've been involved on two sites in Cardiff suffering from Phytophthora ramorum, where notice was served not only to fell the rhodies but several large ash, sycamore and beech. It was a real balls ache, everything was burnt, the fire burnt for days and had to be fenced off. All kit had to be disinfected and washed, vehicles leaving site were pressure washed down. On another woodland site we have a container which contains everything we need for a days felling and climbing, it's cheaper to buy and store on site than spend money and time on chemicals for cleaning. The visual impact will be devastating for a while but will soon green over but the bank accounts that will be paying for the work will be empty for a lot longer.

Had a very upset lady from our local village ring me late last night, she was after six inch logs. She had just paid two grand to have a very nice new fire installed. The company which installed it told her there would be no problem getting the size she wanted. Oh how wrong the were. I told her I'm only a ten inch man! After a lot of sobbing on the phone, I decided to go and measure her fire, and yes you can just about get six inches in there. So being the type of feller I am I've just done her a cubic meter of six inches, but what a pain in the butt it was. Lucky for her I had a load of soft wood which was so dry she will want another load next week! So the moral of the story is " before you buy a fire make sure you can get the size of wood you want"

I've been asked to put a system together for a group of grounds maintenance staff to allow them to carry out basic works on slopes. The work would range from litter picking to using hand saws. No power machinery would be used. It has to be simple to set up and no knots to tie. My thoughts are a length of 13mm rope with a spliced eye clipped into a round sling as the anchor point. Running on the line would be a rope grab such as the Art positioner with a free running ascender to help them back up the slope rather than pull on the rope. A full body harness for belay attachment if needed. I'm well aware of the rules and regs and Loler, and the staff would be trained in use and emergency rescue. Just after a simple system that's p!ss easy to use. What ever happens falling is not an option.

This is our new baby, weighing in at 18hp, use it for yard work and moving trailers etc around, sometimes it thinks its a forwarder!

Although the waters been lowered there's still about two foot of stinking silt! Almost caught a terrapin but thing I'll take away from this job is the smell! got another two days on it, hoping to get it sorted tomorrow. Going to use the portawinch to winch most of the timber back onto the island.

A few pictures of a job I started today which invoked lowering a 25 acre lake and using porta mats to bridge the silt to remove a 120 year old beech brought down in this summers storms.

For what's its worth I think there great, I just pressure wash mine off!

Had it made a few weeks ago to stamp my bags, but I carry it when delivering, when people ask for a card I just stamp there arm!

I've already prepped the village, left the paper in the pub with a stamped flyer attached, as shown in my previous thread.

Great, next time I'm in Dumfries ill call in.

Do both but the stamp I had made was to stamp my bags withs. It's a big rubber stamp that I stamp on the returnable bags.

After seeing the headlines in one of the nationals I decided to buy two copies and have a read and pint in each of my locals. I attached a stamped flyer and left the papers there for others to read. It's now 8pm and I've taken five new orders for the coming week.

Just tell them the timbers for pit props!

Four inches of rain last night. First time my fields flooded for ten years! Just got the chipper stuck at Cardiff bay, tide rising fast!!!

Hi Jon, they measure 30x30x45cm so there about .04 of a cubic meter. Thanks Timberbear.

New bags flying out, some one mentioned there was a headline in one of the papers about an arctic winter on it's way, I've just told all my punters Octobers going be bitter!

Mine was the good old reliable Stihl 024WB, the WB meaning wood boss. It's 21 yes old, used it yesterday and started on the third pull. If only they made saws like they used to!

I've been wearing this one for four days now, the only thing it's done is make me late for everything! I keep looking at the dam thing thinking it's my watch! Promised the misses I'd give it a go. Does nothing for me. Misses says she can feel her wrist tingle when she tried it.

I've just processed about ten cubes without checking my measurements! I usually do 10inch logs but these have come out at 12inch. The only other size I offer is 18inch and that's to the pub! What's the norm for everyone else, might just stick to 12 from now on.

Did some big vandal proof benches to go in a bird hide last weekend. A group of local volunteers are going to move and install them! Good luck I say. The wood is cedar.