Big J

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.

Very true. Still one of my favourite firewoods though. I've 22 cubic metres loaded into a container ready to take to Devon for next winter. No poplar sadly, but the larch that is in there is the driest I've ever had in Scotland. 10-13%, which is Scotland truly exceptionally dry. So take advantage of this summer folks. It's like a kiln for your timber!

I really like poplar. Perfect compromise between softwood and hardwood. Lights off a single match with no need for kindling, bright flame, strong heat and leaves a bed of embers. So it doesn't last as long as oak, but if you split it now, it would be sub 20% by September (it dries extremely quickly).

My mini forwarder arrives in a couple of weeks. It should be able to deal with much wetter ground than normal, full size machines. If anyone is having difficulty getting timber out, get in touch

The sticks you have between the planks are much too think. They are allowing too much air flow, which will cause movement. Restack with sticks of 12-18mm thick. As it's summer and it's Oak, I'd be inclined to go 12mm.

Also, from the point of view of the cutting, please keep in mind that there would be absolutely no hand stacking, product dragging or brash dragging at all. The saw operation isn't half as knackering as stacking the products, in my experience.

Hand cutting, definitely. When you are self select thinning hardwoods, all by hand (no machines to get your hung trees down), it takes substantial mental planning not to get yourself into a bind. It is of course incredibly hard physical work.

True on the fuel front. We're not right in the sticks and some fuel runs would be required. I guess on 6 hours of cutting, you'd get through about 6 litres of fuel per day on a 50-60cc saw. There's no need for anything bigger as the trees are so small. I did have a think about the rates before advertising them, and I felt that whilst it would be a long day, £200 is decent money for what's being asked, especially as I'd be paying for a learning curve on a machine that is the first of it's kind in the UK.

It's not being sned out though. Only brashed to 5ft and then dropped. Processor does the rest. Would be interested to see what the official figures would be for trees like that.

The size of tree in question (about 25cm at stump, on average) takes less than two minutes per tree to brash (to 5ft) and fell. It's a good hourly rate, and keep in mind they'd only be on the saw for half the day.

On the look out for a very good cutter for late August for a couple of weeks work in south west Scotland. The work isn't confirmed yet but should be in the next week or two. My two usual cutters aren't available on account of one being on holiday and the other operating a combine harvester for August and September. We'll be principally working in young larch clearfell. Staying on site, 12 hour days. Half of the day will be on the saw brashing and felling trees and the other 6 hours would be operating a (brand new) compact stroke processor (I'd suggest switching every hour or two). I've got a van with 240v power, fridge, microwave, solar shower etc, so you wouldn't be roughing it. I'll pay £200 a day with you supplying fuel and oil for the 6 hours you are on the saw. I expect a high standard of work and a good workrate, but I'm not a slave driver. If you're not confident of brashing and dropping 30 trees an hour (DBH 20cm) then please don't apply. Really nice, peaceful location, not too far from the M74 chance of repeat work for the right cutter. I'll be working on site at the same time extracting. Obviously, all certificates appropriate to small and medium trees please, as well as windblow and multiple windblow as one stand has some blown trees. Many thanks.

Nice big stick there Kav. Stack it somewhere cool and cover it in hessian sheeting. Periodically spray the sheeting with a hose. That should mitigate most of the checking issues.