Big J

We've got about 100 cube at the yard, all tinder dry now with the heat we've had. Nothing over about 16% MC I've got a shipping container ready to load on the artic going to Devon with 22 cube of chunky firewood for our new house.

An incredibly long day with 600 miles of driving, but the machine is home: My daughter doing a sterling job of modeling it. It's larger than I remember. That's a 16ft triaxle for scale. I've take off the tipping back and it's back on the trailer ready for forestry forwarding tomorrow. Will report back.

The most vulnerable bit is not the bit under the ground, but the point a few inches either side of the surface. Below the ground, the environment is anoxic, and bacterial and fungal attack will be slowed as a result. Above the ground, the lack of moisture will slow degradation, but the bit in between will be the issue. Treat that bit most heavily. Douglas is regarded as moderately durable, so you should be OK for a while. Cedar or larch would be preferable.

Thanks Roys! And the processor arrives on Wednesday, though I won't have the chance to use it until mid August I think.

If there is enough of it, extract it and get it to a mill. The wastage with a chainsaw mill on high value timber isn't ideal

Ripple sycamore is certainly worth milling. It's been years since I've had any, and demand seemed to be for thinner boards for things like cabinet fronts. Hard to do with a chainsaw mill though. Mixture of 40mm and 54mm boards would be my start point. Air dry vertically for at least a month to avoid sap staining, then sticker as normal

Nice burr and colour on the oak, but a shame about the shake. Cover the oak and stick it somewhere damp though as it's an awful time of year for it to come into contact with hot dry air.

No plans for being an agent, no. I just prefer working machines rather than trying to sell them. The forwarder arrives on Sunday morning in Hull, and it's out to work on Monday!

You'd think so wouldn't you. Basically, if it's not spruce, larch or douglas fir, no one really seems to care what it is., It just gets marked as "Mixed conifer" and sold as such.

As my van is post 2006, I'm restricted to digital tachos.

If it makes you all feel any better, I cut a lot of western red cedar and here have been the major instances of it not being western red cedar. 1) Had two loads of 'WRC' from Yorkshire. It was marked by the Commission as WRC but when it turned up in the yard, it was all western hemlock. 50 tonnes of the stuff. 2) A 200 tonne batch of 'WRC' from Argyll. First lot came into the yard and whilst some of it (about a quarter) was obviously Lawson's cypress, the rest looked almost like WRC but wasn't quite right. Checked with supplier and they weren't able to help. Had to drive 3 hours west to check the site and fairly quickly established that it was Japanese Red Cedar, which is actually superior. So, took the lot, lawsons included. Another instance of it being on the Commission map as WRC, felled as WRC, supplied as WRC and it not being WRC.

Touchwood, I think we're ok just now. Will get the first phase out of the way and see if we need any more cutters. I'll update the thread. 😀

Bloody hell! That's some size! As I said, I just don't see them that size. Have milled over 1000 tonnes of the stuff in the last 3 years, but nothing like that. Beautiful tree.

Very nice! I don't ever see western red cedar that size, but it almost looks like sequoia to me. The thickness of the bark and the size of the knots are the indicators, but very hard to tell from a photo.

How does it work if you are doing personal trips in a vehicle with a tachograph? Still presumably recorded as normal? I've ordered the tacho. £1250 plus VAT for supply, installation and calibration. Ouch.