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Big J

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Everything posted by Big J

  1. Big J
    I have the semi automatic Trak met and it's good.
  2. Big J
    I'd completely forgotten about Timberking! Saw a few of their mills years ago up at Frank Gamwell's yard near Perth. I think it was a 2200 he had ready to go out, and then a few of the smaller mills too. I imagine the bad exchange rate won't help the pricing though
  3. Big J
    Typing on a phone is a pain in the ass. I will delay writing anything more than a few sentences until I'm sat down with the laptop. It's funny as I can now type about twice as quickly as I can write. My handwriting at school was awful and it's only deteriorated since then!
  4. Big J
    Haha! You and me both, though we are at opposite ends of the country. Perhaps when I'm in Devon as of the end of next month, I might be able to help source some.
  5. Big J
    Out of curiousity, do folk here use their vehicle speedo or sat nav speedo for the basis of their driving? I've had sat nav in my trucks for the last few years, and with my excessive height, actually struggle to see the analogue dial on my old van. As such, I always use the digital speedo, and it seems to keep me at the same speed as the lorries through speed limits. Why are vehicle speedos always so far out?
  6. Big J
    I've just about finished upgrading my Mercedes Sprinter 4x4 in preparation for forestry work in Devon. It's had: * mild remap, mostly torque for towing * bonnet and grill respray as there was corrosion. Thought that I might as well go for black * nudge bar and very powerful headlights mounted * reversing camera * snorkel (can't justify this at all but my 3 year old daughter wanted it) * ridiculously bright rear work lights * underbody wax oiling and all brake pipes done * all rust everywhere repaired, and door hinges replaced as they'd sagged * 5000kg tow bar fitted (and towing capacity is imminently due to be upgraded to 2800kg) * AT tyres all round All that remains is to get a skid plate and I'm done. Lovely to drive, and powerful too now with the remap. Yet to test it off road, but tows very well.
  7. Big J
    50/60/70 for the van (single/dual/motorway) but 50/60/60 if you are towing.
  8. Big J
    I agree. Our climate in Central Scotland is obviously damper, but I've a stack of 40mm sawn Elm that I use as a bellweather for equilibrium moisture content and it's presently sat just under 16%. It's been milled 2 years, it's in a barn with good airflow and it's barely rained in Scotland since the start of April. Below 15% just isn't possible in our climate at all, at any time of year unless you wood is stored in a suntrap where you are able to elevate the temperatures, or expose it to a lot of wind.
  9. Big J
    My understanding of it is that the limit for which you need a tachograph if you stray beyond is 100km. I had a run in with Vosa nearly 4 years ago, and during the process of it being referred to the PF, they announced that the radius was being expanded from 50km to 100km. I was not within 50km, but I was within 100km. As such, the prosecution was dropped. I have little to no inclination to deliver logs to anyone with my trailer. 99% of the time it would just be me towing my trailer and forwarder.
  10. Big J
    I appreciate the imput, but I don't think that I do (pulled from the .gov web page) as this is stated amongst the exemptions: Happy to be corrected though.
  11. Big J
    A few years ago now. It was 50km, now it's 100km.
  12. Big J
    Only if I'm outside of a 100km of my base. It's a grim day's work if I have to travel 62 miles as the crow flies for a day's graft! We're going to be really well located within Devon with excellent road links, so I doubt I'll have to go too far to fill my week
  13. Big J
    I'm struggling on the laptop too. Can't send messages (it just says that you cannot send more than 1 message a minute) and struggling to post in some threads.
  14. Big J
    If you are able to wait until cooler weather to mill it, I would advise you do. Warm, dry air very quickly ruins freshly sawn oak.
  15. Big J
    For whatever reason, Arbtalk isn't allowing me to send a message at the moment. If you were able to text me, I'll give you a call at some point tomorrow. My number is 0*7*8*3*2*1*0*6*1*5*6
  16. Big J
    313CDI 4x4 Sprinter. Had it about 3 weeks now and love it. Had it remapped to about 160bhp with a lot more torque, though I have yet to tow with it. Since I've had it, I've fitted a tow bar (it's never towed), replaced the brake pipes, undersealed it, fitted all terrain tyres and had it remapped. At the weekend it's going in for the fitting of a nudge bar with twin spotlights, reversing camera and rear work lights, snorkel (only thing I cannot justify at all, but my three year old daughter insisted on it) and it's getting the bonnet resprayed (stone chips with early stage corrosion) and a few other minor rust spots fixed. It's a really clean van, which was owned by a wind turbine engineer from new. 106k on the clock and it's 2012.
  17. Big J
    Yeah, 5 minutes from junction 28 on the M5. Going to try to stick to the larger roads, by and large. I'll be 40ft long with the van and trailer, and just don't fancy those Devon lanes. I'd be happy to come down to Ashburton should you have a use for me. With the band tracks, I ought be able to work on some of that famous peat bog.
  18. Big J
    I should stress though that the traffic in the Central Belt can be awful (West Lothian has three times the population density of Devon). I had a dreadful run into Edinburgh a few weeks ago at rush hour where my average speed for 14 miles was 11mph.
  19. Big J
    It's a fair point. Pick the right route in Scotland and you can average a great speed over a long journey. I've done the run up to Aviemore so many times that I can predict my arrival to within a couple of minutes depending on what speed I choose to do. I know it won't be like that in Devon, and I hope not to have to travel too far. I will however be offering a niche service, so expect to have to travel a bit, at least in the first instance until I build up my reputation.
  20. Big J
    No tilt bed. Just wanted a solid chassis. It weighs 1085kg with the sides on! Day to day, I'll leave the sides at home and use it as a flat bed. The treadplate deck will add a bit of weight too, but it's so robust.
  21. Big J
    I know. It's daft that I've gone full circle, but the lead time was only 4 weeks and it was a bit cheaper than an Ifor too. Needed something very heavily built.
  22. Big J
    It's quite funny that they are considering these measures to penalise small scale firewood users, whilst at the same time paying hundreds of millions out in RHI payments for larger organisations to burn timber products that are almost never under 20% MC. Seems ludicrous to me.
  23. Big J
    This is what I have ended up with, and I should be collecting it at the weekend. It's a 16ft x 6ft 6" Meredith and Eyre 3500kg tri axle. Treadplate deck, LED lights, internal lashing points, kick stands and ramps. It's going to weigh a tonne, but it looks like it's built like a brick outhouse.
  24. Big J
    Hehe! I understand your mentality, but I'm quite used to driving a long way. It's fine as well so long as I can stick to roads that are more than one lane wide! I realise that they are in short supply as you get further into Cornwall!
  25. Big J
    Well obviously all of the cool cats are moving to the West Country...... We're there (East Devon) from the end of July onwards, so if you ever need a mini forwarder on any of your jobs, please keep me in mind.

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