Big J

Must be some size! That DF log was getting towards the limit for the tractor. We're 250m ASL and it seems fairly dense for DF. Had 4 loads of 3.7s go out today, and it barely dented the stack.

The largest tree felled on site so far. 36. 8m of usable product off this one. The first length (4.9m) was a pig to lift with the tractor as it was nearly 60cm at the top end.

Another from today. 125t went out on wagons today and it barely dented the 3.7m stack!

I'm finding the little forwarder is working really well in conjunction with the tractor. It's less efficient on a long drag due to it's limited capacity, but it's incredibly quick within a stand, weaving between trees. Little forwarder and big tractor makes for a good combination, and 80 tonnes a day is quite doable (like in the stand in the photo above).

Absolutely stunning site. Great trees, nice ground, the slope to the right isn't too bad and the timber is easy to sell. We're doing it for a very competitive rate and both the landowner and myself should do very well out of it.

Snot a digger, its a Log Bullet cheeky And you're off! Doesn't look like a desperately easy site to get started with! This was my view today:

That is definitely a concern, as brambles are an issue in the locality. We are hoping that the ground is sufficiently acidic to perhaps suppress the invasive, non-tree species on the slope. Additionally, there are a few hardwoods scattered through the stand (some cherry and birch) and we're going to leave them standing despite the likelihood that they will blow. Even a year or two standing would mean a huge drop of seeds, saving us quite a lot of planting.

Another replanting question. We've got a western red cedar clearfell to do in the summer, with around 4.5 acres to come down. About the same area again is also to be thinned. The object of the clearfell is to return the woodland to native hardwoods, and the reason for clearfelling this compartment and only thinning the others is that it is of generally poorer quality. The block is on a fairly steep slope, faces east and is free draining acid loam over rock. We would like to replant, or at least encourage regeneration. The slope is just about gentle enough for an excavator (with skilled operator) to be able to move around freely. I was wondering if there was a way to cultivate the land with a mulcher or such like in order to encourage birch and cherry regeneration, possibly including some form of seed planting? We (myself and the landowner) aren't desperately keen to replant with trees, stakes and tubes because of the cost, the disposal issues at the end, and the visual impact of the tubes on the hillside. I'm aware that cultivated ground will probably spring up with birch anyway, but I'm just looking at a way of speeding up the process.

Well if you get yourself set up with a skyline, get yourself down here and I'll have work for you.

There is certainly an environmental angle to skylining as no ground impact. I don't much like winching anyway, and skylining just seems like a lot of hassle!

It's a joy to work in. Nice big trees and my two main cutters are doing upwards of 25t each a day. The trees are anywhere from 1/2 cube up to about 4 cube, 100-120ft tall.

I just don't want to get into skylining if I can.

The way that one of my cutters put it was "the tractor is doing all the hauling, but the forwarder is taking all of the strain off the cutters as it's moving all the brash, the chipwood and making life easier for the tractor too"

Having a lot of fun on a Douglas Fir clearfell/thinning near Honiton. Finally out of the horribly muddy valley near Tiverton, and on dry, rocky ground. Also, no brutally steep slopes or winching. Spent much of the week on the tractor myself, but yesterday had a young lad on his second day on the tractor and me on the forwarder. The distance to the extraction point isn't that far (400-800m) but the combination of me on the forwarder putting the logs ride side, and the tractor hauling them to the landing bay was superb. It quadrupled Ed's extraction rate and was even 50% more than I was able to do with the tractor. The forwarder is so much quicker nipping between the trees on the thinning, and you can just chuck it around on the slopes with wild abandon, whereas the tractor with the roof mount won't tolerate any kind of side slope. Anyway, we'll have felled and extracted 300t this week. If anyone has a need for oversized DF (minimum 30cm top diameter, but could work to minimum 40cm top), I could do a load or two next week, maximum length 5.5m.

I'm only 150 odd hours into my forestry tractor ownership, but I don't find the valves too bad. You can feel that you've done a shift, and even jumping between the electrohydraulics on the forwarder and tractor isn't too much a lurch. I'd go for electric joysticks on the next one though, as I can't justify the cost for conversion.

Boring and largely worthless. Creamy white, minimal figure and tough to sell. It will shift eventually, but it take ages and you'll not make much on it. Best to pass and save your efforts for something more marketable.

You are right. I sold my Bullerjan to a friend near Aviemore and his mum can't stand it! ?

A lucas mill would be a good option for it. Build the mill over the log and mill in situ.

Might be worth you speaking to Bill Watson at Angus Biofuels in Forfar. He has my old Logmaster LM2 sawmill, which is a Texan machine, built like a brick shithouse and with strong, simple hydraulics, including a log loader. Can't be too far from you and it'll give you plenty of ideas on how to pimp your sawmill.

Very good. Long firebox meant that on the 11kw version we had, 45-48cm logs were the standard. The door latch has a wonderfully elegant closure mechanism and the convected air from pipes works pretty similarly to a bank of stove fans.

More expensive than they used to be. About £2k. About 6 years ago, I bought one from German eBay from Eastern Germany and sent it over on a pallet. It was used and about £550.

They look incredibly striking in the right room. Much more interesting than the tedious square boxes that seem to dominate the market here. This is my daughter sat next to my uncle's Bullerjan in his lounge a couple of years ago:

The ripple isn't likely to manifest itself in the timber, sadly. Beech doesn't often show rippled figure, even if the bark suggests it would. I may be wrong though. Alternatively, find a lady giant and market it as the sex toy she's always needed. Ribbed for her pleasure, and all that. ?

I imported one of them for anithrt arbtalker and I think he's been happy with it too.