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Tractor put up on eBay once the processor had gone and sold within 6 hours to a local trader who said he was going to keep it in his own collection rather than sell on and the V5 has been put into his name so it looks like that is what he intends to do. So both all now gone in good time and to good buyers who turned up, paid and took it away.

I'm keeping my PTO screw splitter to process the remnants of 15T of cord that is too gnarly for a processor and then will probably keep that anyway to just deal with any felled wood on my property. 

Processor collected today by the buyer. I listed the tractor this afternoon and that's getting lots of interest already and an offer received. Shame they didn't go together but happy with the interest levels at the price I had in mind of £3k for the processor and £4k for the tractor.

Processor sold - pending payment and collection. You never know with eBay buyers what could, would, may or will happen.

I've put it up on eBay - quite a bit of interest and offers in not too far away from the asking price. For anyone interested in the processor  I'd take £2,850 from a forum member for the processor alone which takes into account avoiding eBay fees.

As someone who hires lots of people via my agency I'd recommend you don't sack him. Its not really a sackable offence to be lippy. Having said that, any employer can within 2 years of employment commencing fire off anyone for any reason, you don't even need to disclose a reason though an employee asking why and being told I'm not telling you would probably wonder what kind of employer you are.

just have a one to one side conversation with the guy preferably with someone present who isn't related to you and the individual would see more as an impartial colleague than you, the boss. When I had staff issues I'd always sit down with one of their peers and it'd be their peer giving them the hard time if they were out of order, not me. That approach to constructive criticism is always better received by the individual whose attitude you are hoping to improve. 

Staff handling is easy, manipulative mind games if you like. Any employee wants to feel loved, appreciated, valued. Any employers just wants to screw their workers to work as hard for maximum reward for themselves. Otherwise whats the point in employing people. A good boss will engage with their staff and build a strong team spirit where criticism can be heard but in the end the boss is there to lead and keep order.

We had the house insulated on the green deal about 4 years ago now, just before the grant scheme ended. Seeing we live in a 450 year old farmhouse it was the  exterior foam and render cladding. Its made a massive difference to the old farmhouse inside temperature. In the winter we would get through a m3 bag of wood in 4 days running pretty much 24hr a day. Probably burn through around 30m3 a year. Now, a bag even in peak winter lasts a month.  It's a pity that scheme ended as it provided 80% funding from memory and its probably saving us £2k a year in fuel bills.

The equipment is located in south Shropshire about 10 miles South of Shrewsbury. I do have a telehandler so things can get loaded onto trailers if needed. The tractor is a start any weather go anywhere kind of beast. Its 40 years old so the interior isn't like new any longer with torn plastic seat cover and the fuel gauge doesn't work but I have a dipstick instead. Its just had a new premium battery so that'll be good for 10 years, which is good as they are very expensive. Also, seeing the processing was all done indoors there is a 25 foot exhaust (marine) snorkel that I use to direct the exhaust outside of the barn when its running. 

The processor has run faultless since new and only had one belt, the conveyor drive belt, replaced. Its been greased every year, or every 20 - 30T processed. Including the one difficult to get to grease point (JAPA owners will know which that is). The hydraulic oil has also been changed twice during my ownership, including new filter. I think I still have a spare filter somewhere. 

Ideally, anyone ending their wood days would love for their equipment to go to someone starting out and to help a newbie out I'd doubtless throw in some other goodies to get them on their way. It's a no VAT sale as the wood was for private use though I did supply a couple of associates from the local pub over the years, but that was on the beer barter system. It's a great mobile setup as the tractor is number plate registered so can be insured for local area road use.

I bought a JAPA 700 12" circular saw PTO drive processor in 2010 essentially to make my own firewood for the two stoves I have in the home but find that since having the Farmhouse fully insulated we are hardly having to use the fires any longer or consequently need to make much firewood either. So the dedicated Ford 4600 late 70's vintage tractor with a rare Ford cab and the JAPA sit idle for very long periods of time. In total, the processor has only got through no more than 300 tons of cord wood. 

The wood processing has all been done indoors, in our large barn so the process is in excellent condition with absolutely no rust and because it stays attached to the tractor by the three point links its ding free too. I have lots of local interest in the vintage tractor but i'd prefer to sell the tractor and processor as a unit for £7k incl VAT. If anyone is interested drop me a PM, preferably someone local to come and view and if a buyer to drive the tractor away.

Not looking to haggle or negotiate, the price is the price.

I bought a load of firewood machinery around 6 years ago primarily to ensure I had a good and dependable source of wood for my own domestic fires. I did justify the cost by selling some to mates from the pub but I've now decided I'm retiring from processing my own wood and am wondring how much I should list things for on eBay or preloved so anyone up on what things are worth please do chip in.

The processor is a Japa 700. Only ever been used and stored inside so in excellent condition. Processed under 300 tons of cord and had a blade sharpen after the first 200T. Has had the hydraulic oil and filter changed twice since new. PTO driven with 3 point links.

Fuelwood log rack in excellent condition.

Big, 4ft I think two hand band saw. Only every used once on one trunk that was way too large for the chainsaw blade to do anything with into six rings.

The tractor I use to run the processor is a vintage Ford 4600 with a rare factory cab. Always start and runs well though It does smoke a little. Its almost as old as me and is a tractor that vintage collectors do apparently go for.

Any buyer would need to pick up the gear which may impact upon its pricing? There are telehandlers here so loading onto a flatbed or trailer should be relatively easy. Any input welcome.

I'm after two artic loads of cord, hardwood or mixed, delivered to my farm in Shropshire SY5 8 sometime from mid May this year. If anyone has anything around that they can get to me please PM with pricing and timing or call me on 07989 998881. No hurry so can wait for a specific job lot.

Needs to be processor friendly, 6 to 12 inch ideal. Can handle up to 2 foot with band saws so the occasional larger cord is a bit of a speed of handling issue but not impossible to tackle.

The land owner, if they are gaining rental income must carry their own public liability insurance in case you fall down a disused 20th century well or mineshaft or fall over a broken style or get a gate swing into you because it was incorrectly hung or slip on some wet cement when it was supposed to be grass instead of grass covered cement.

Hopefully you get the drift.

If you have a spare shed, a spare tractor, some spare time and can use the wood in your own home fires you'd have little to lose.

Dependent on what area you are in you may be eligible for a diversification grant of up to 50% of a processor cost. So it could be a quids in at the start venture.

I'd consider buying in three loads of firewood that'd mean an outlay of around £12,000 including the processor cost. From this you could process around 130m3 of wood that'd recoup your outlay and cover fuel. It'd then be a case of seeing how long it'd take to move it at £90/m3 and then you could decide if it is a worthwhile venture.

I found some data online for wood versus heating oil.

Wood 15.8 MJ/kg

Gas-oil 38.3 MJ/litre

This actually ties in well with our real world experience. Since installing a wood stove our heating oil consumption has dropped by 3000l. Our wood consumption is 10 tons (17m3 bagged).

The cost saving on oil is equivalent to the cost of wood when you consider that the house is heated for longer on wood than it used to be on oil.

The natural gas calorific value is 38.0 MJ/cubic metre

Probably not seeing it is a two year old ask.

I use a digger and grapple to saw oversized logs that I can't fit through the processor. These logs are around a foot to two feet wider than the one you have shown clamped.

Good thing about using a digger is it grabs them, runs them over to where you want to be and then holds them at a comfortable height while you saw them. Its a lazy bastards best friend, just need to teach it to do the sawing as well and then I'm all sorted.

The only thing I find a bore is filing the rakers/ leaders as I tend to do manually with a depth gauge and the multicut chains tend to destroy the square files. This is the time consuming bit for me often taking 15-20 depending on how much the leader needs to be filed.

I found this easy to do on the grinder. Just get a second disc and fashion a flatter profile with the stone. Then feeler or depth gauge one link. Set the grinder to a 90deg angle and position on the correct depth link and run through the rest.

Shouldn't take more than 5mins, 10 max.

I'm absolutely crap at chain sharpening with files. Just couldn't do it so I hired an Romanian who could do it for me. However, planning ahead, what if my Romanian leaves I did buy an electric chain sharpener. Fantastic, brilliant - does a great job.

Even my resident Romanian is impressed. Do I need him anymore, of course I do, just not to sharpen chains.

ROCKWOOD PROFESSIONAL CHAIN SAW GRINDER-SHARPENER 240V BENCH MOUNTED FREE POST | eBay

Since this is a recurring 2011 thread isn't it about time someone killed it?

Why import? Prices in this country are reasonable in comparison, you build a relationship with your suppliers, you help with employment of British workers, and generally help with our economy. Just a thought.

The best price on firm delivery I've had for loads of mixed wood (25% Larch - mmmmmm) was £81/T.

All I hear these days is the biofuels people are paying £1,800 a load with their £300 a load government channelled subsidy so why should I sell to you for less.

I haven't purchased any cord this year as at that price it is cheaper to import kiln dried from Europe. My policy is if your local supplier screws you then screw them.

The NFU do.

I have firewood as a seperate item detailed on the farm insurance for theft and fire damage/loss.

The firewood equipment is also insured by the NFU but all under individual policies for fire and theft and fully comp for those with engine driven wheels.

Just shy of 3m3 from 2m3 neatly stacked is the same figure I researched. Sounds about right.

I upped my costing estimate to 3m3 equivalent because every 6th bag of logs is used as a top up bag to top off the bags being shipped out to customers. You'd assume a neatly stacked crate wouldn't experience the settling effect that occurs when lifting loose bagged logs.

I seem to produce at least 2m3 of sawdust from 25T load! Earlier in the year I got 2 loads of relatively fresh pine. I got around 40m3 loose per 25T.

I process using a circular saw. Maybe you chain cut which would account for twice the thickness of a cut resulting in twice the waste?

Im3 sawdust is like loosing over 2m3 of bagged logs so the less waste, the more you have to sell.

It depends what you do with it.

If you split and neatly stack one artic load (anywhere from 22 - 26T dependent on water content) then you'll end up with around 30m3 and usually 1m3 of sawdust.

If you split and loose bag one artic load then you'll be bagging lots more air and end up with around 45m3 and around the 1m3 of sawdust.

Volumes will vary dependent upon the density of the wood. Pine would yield 10% more volume per ton weight at the same moisture content than oak. There is plenty of information online relating to the density of various wood species.

Yes, we are talking hardwood cord. But even hardwood cord these days is being offered as a mixed load with a few larch or poplar thrown in.

An option would be to move to softwoods. Easier to process and lower cost. Only problem is the domestic demand is firmly for harwood logs.

Thats why I would never pre-pay. COD is fine is someone needs the money there and then. Thing is, I know I'm 100% trustworthy but I also know everyone else isn't.

I have talked with a few Baltic based companies and Premium Wood were the most helpful. I was going to place a trial order but it does require a pump truck to offload from a sea container that I don't possess, so in the end I couldn't follow through with the order.

Be keen to hear from anyone that has used Premium Wood because if people keep asking silly prices for cord I'm going to either pack it in or get myself a pump truck and start buying in already processed firewood.