Big J

It's a bit pricey. It doesn't make much sense to buy anything that has originated in the States at the moment as the Dollar is very strong. That being said, the Pound has taken a tumble against the Euro in recent weeks. Good job I pay for my kit in Zloty

Thank you for the info! It's from up near Dundee.

It would appear that I will be taking about 50 tonnes of western balsam poplar later this month. Big stuff too - up to 1.5m diameter, I am told. Question is, what do I do with it? If anyone wanted any, it would be about £175/cubic metre off saw, cut into 4x4s/sleepers/wide boards etc.

I have got quite a bit, but you need to come during the day time. I am trying to avoid doing weekends and it's dark at 1700.

I will do my best. Beech doesn't have the most visible growth rings, but I will try.

I'd probably pay £30 to £40 a tonne for it if there was a lorry load. If, as is the case here, there isn't a full load, I'd usually offer to uplift for free but not pay. Sequoia is great for cladding, but that is all really as it has no strength.

Only thing I've found with Makita/Dolmar saws that is irritating is that they seem to throw the surclip that holds the sprocket on. Both the DCS7901 and the PS6100.

Right enough! Bang on capacity I think. It's 4ft and a smidge, but slightly eliptical so probably 115cm x 135cm. I shall maybe see about a friend coming and doing a better (than iphone) video....

You lucky sod! Nice here though - inch of snow and zero celcius. Going inland a bit to go sledging with my daughter, wife and friends.

Don't get as many large logs as I'd like. Most are in the 1-3 tonne range, so nothing exceptional there. Might be bringing a load of large oak and a load of large elm back to the yard, so potential there. A couple of the elms are oversized even for my mill. I'll perhaps speak to Trak-met about an hydraulic pump upgrade. It's not a major issue at all though - just something I'd have changed if ordering it again.

I have an old DCS7901 which is outstanding. Fastest saw I have will be sorely missed when it eventually dies. Is the exhaust transferable from the older to the newer models?

John Kerrs are excellent. They are where I'm getting my telehandler from, and they look after you well. Don't be afraid to haggle a bit though!

I'm lucky in that I can find out exactly what the big logs weigh. That being said, I quite often have 3 tonne logs, but not often 4 tonne. The reason for that is that there aren't many hauliers that will lift 4 tonnes up here.

Sounds like they are well respected as a machine - I'm glad! The farm suppliers I'm purchasing it from are very good and the Coventry Climax came from them also (and has been faultless, which for an £1800 machine is saying something). Tom - thanks for the maintenance points. All taken aboard and noted. Unlikely it will ever see anything other than light use with me, but I like preemptive care on machines. Nice grab on your (nice) machine Aspenarb. The grab's a bit longer on mine so that I can get hold of a full grab load (say half a dozen 30cm diameter logs) and only a single grab. Nevertheless has made material handling much more rapid. Billy - I'm cautiously optimistic on a 4t lift. Both my 2.5t plated forklifts lift 3.8t, so I reckon the 2.8t Manitou is good for 4t. The weight centre of a heavy log is very close to the machine so they seem to be able to lift quite a bit more than plated to. I'll get photos once it's in the yard!

Hi all, I've bought a telehandler for the yard which comes next week, and was wondering if anyone has had experience with this model: That's not my machine but a google image. Mine is 2002, just over 10000hrs, excellent condition £11750 plus VAT. It's coming from the local farm machinery supplier so it's being extensively serviced before coming to me as well as quite a few new bushes and the like. I initially thought that it was quite a large machine for my yard, but was surprised at it's nimbleness. It also went to nearly full extension on 3120kg (plated to lift 2800kg) so it should lift 4 tonnes. It will spend it's life dotting around the yard on unprocessed timber handling with a timber grab on the front. The old Coventry Climax will be demoted to permanent shovel loader. Switching between the grab and the shovel this last year has been a pain. Artic steer telehandlers are an acquired taste, I'm told. Anyone else with one?

Lovely stem that. Glad it's close to you guys at Copford.

Hydraulics are extremely quick, but could be stronger. Something I would change if ordering again (which I will - give me a year or two and I'll upgrade again). They will handle logs up to about 2.5t and 40" diameter easily. Beyond that requires some wiggling and practice. Heavier logs are fine if longer (ie lower diameter) and uniform in dimensions. I've not had the chance yet, but I'm sure a 20ft length of 40" softwood would move around fine with the hydraulics.

No - the hydraulics run out of steam at about 40" diameter. They weren't uprated (though I should have asked, with hindsight). They will rotate it once you've slabbed a half dozen boards off the top.

Big sawmills don't need much labour really. A big contracting mill I've used in Northamptonshire called Helmdon can turn out up to three lorry loads of sawn hardwoods a day with a total of just three guys. It's mainly to do with automated material handling. The speed of cut is no where near as important. That said, I'm fairly sure I'll have a day this year where I mill a lorry load in a day!

Huge saving. About £280 a week if I'm on full production (what would have been 5 days on the Logmaster is condensed into 2 and a half). Probably averages out at about £180 a week saved. Any savings I make just goes into new equipment. There is no limit to useful equipment in a sawmill!

I would say that I'm somewhere around 10-15% of revenue, depending on month. I'm a sawmill though, so different breakdown I imagine. I also have a lot of timber to buy and very high overheads on premises/equipment.

Agreed entirely. In addition to which, they need to start looking after their own drying. Customers should order their logs a year in advance and then they can be assured that they are dry when it comes to burning them. I appreciate some people don't have the space, but most do. Give than most people only burn 5-8 cube in a winter, it would only require 2x4m of storage 2m high (divided into bays) to do 2-3 winters. The issue is that customers want dry firewood at the wettest time of year, coupled with tricky conditions for deliveries and lack of daylight.

It was pretty dry - from windblow sites. The appeal is that 70% of the logs produced from that stock is ready to burn (ie sub 25%) and you get a lot of volume for your tonnage. Plus it's £35 a tonne delivered.

From speaking to everyone here, and the rep from Riko, I think that I just had a dodgy machine. It seemed in almost all respects that the power was throttled. Not much power for the cut or the split. The fact that it was jamming so often on spruce was what caused concern for me. Perhaps it's a warped perspective caused by running a sawmill with 40hp that doesn't struggle with anything - the WP36 spent much of the time battling to get through the timber.

I have a new firewood processor coming at the end of the month from Trak-met. 3 phase electric, 12.5t split, semi automatic, log table in, conveyor out. Might be worth you popping in to see it once it's operational.