Big J

They didn't even tell me what went wrong. Just issued a credit note for a new one. Which I promptly got rid of!

I've got odds and sods you can have for free if you can collect them. Just lumps of elm mainly - chunks cut off sawing butts prior to milling, hollow ends etc. I'm about 5 miles west of Edinburgh airport.

It's a very British/American issue. Only difference is that we have a welfare state to subsidise people's abuse of their own bodies. I was in Sweden in summer and there are only a tiny fraction of people with severe weight issues compared to here. Similar in Germany also.

Would it be fair to say that the consensus is that the newer MS880s are not as well built as the 088s? My MS880 lasted little over a year of light use, whereas the 088 (already 10 years old when it came to me) was hammered for 2-3 years without any issues whatsoever.

I cut an odd oak about 4-5 years ago that from your pictures looks exactly like Holm Oak: It dried appallingly, splitting and cracking as well as moving like nothing else. I'd go out of my way to avoid it now. It was also brick hard and very heavy.

Turns out the weigh link on the haulier's crane that lifted the Rothes log isn't working that well on heavier logs. Was weighed onto a lorry at 2880kg today, no 2400kg, so your Unimog and crane did better than we thought! (and my guess on weight was only 140kg out, not 620kg!).

MS880 on one end, an 088 on the other. 84" bar, oregon chain. The 2m elm was so large than we had to build a gantry to walk along. Awful work and not to be recommended! The best thing to do with very large logs like that is to sell them on or send them to a very large bandmill. The main issue I found was bar deflection, which causes a whole raft of issues.

Would you be able to post a couple of photos to the forum for folk to see? It would really help with getting it shifted.

Very very quiet too. You don't even really need ear defenders.

Sorted - sorry about that. It was set only for friends to view. Public now.

The cold weather is coming........!!!! Look at the forecasts

I appreciate that. But (for instance) domestic elm is nearly always of better quality than the rural stuff you find, so if often worth paying for. I just bought a standing stem for £450 and it is now in my yard and was very much worth paying for. I had to use a bloody big HIAB to get it out too, so cost me about £800 to get it back to the yard. Anyway, regarding the original post, I am sure that a home will be found for the walnut, but please can you post some photos

They must have changed things a bit on the new ones as mine is comically torquey. It will happily take 6th down to 22mph and will pull away fine at that. Realistically, it means you never have to change out of 6th unless you are heavily loaded or towing. The reverse gear is also very low - much better than the Navara. I don't know about the cig lighter, but the windows still don't go all the way down. With air con, I don't worry about it. Regarding new ones, our Citroen dealer has ex demo short wheelbase relays (couple thousand miles on the clock) for £10500 plus Vat for standard and £11500 plus VAT for the Enterprise spec. 64 plates.

Video of the mill in action, on a slightly smaller log:

Do you think we could have one thread about Walnut without that bloody video being posted? It was funny the first time, but not the tenth. Tree surgeons think felling a tree always costs money. Forestry contractors look at trees completely differently and often/usually pay for standing timber. Many domestic trees are commercially viable if done as freebies, some are even worth paying for. Most aren't but some are. So if as the OP didn't say that he/she thought it was worth a fortune, please could we refrain from assuming that that is the case? It's just an honest enquiry, and need not be greeted with sarcasm and in jokes.

It's slower than digging a tunnel with a tea spoon! They have their place, but chainsaw mills are awful on large logs mainly because of bar deflection. You're better off spending the money on a heavy HIAB and taking the log to band mill that can handle it. For back garden trees and the completely inaccessible, they are still very useful, but I think you're better off on a short bar and using a winch to roll it to reduce the cut width. I say this as someone who has done hundreds and hundreds of hours of chainsaw milling and who has cut some quite large logs: I have a picture somewhere of a 2m diameter elm that we milled last year that was the last log I chainsaw milled. We had to turn that to get it through the 67" throat.

With hard frosts due next week, I'll be able to extract, so the elm will be available. The main lot available at the moment is 60t from one estate near Aberlour. All big stuff (3-4ft diameter, one at 5ft) and generally good quality. Basal rot has been cut off. Can be supplied in the round or sawn. Sawn prices are £5/hoppus more than roadside prices in Morayshire.

Without really planning to, I've ordered a new Citroen Relay L3H2. I've had a 14 plate ex demonstrator for 10 months, put 18250 miles on it and absolutely love it. It sips fuel, is incredibly comfortable and tows much, much better than anything else I've driven. It's also been without fault. However, I wish that I'd looked at the options list when buying as I'd have ordered new. The lack of power (130ps) on mine and the lack of traction control for gentle off road work (fields really) have been an issue. So I ordered this: L3H2 Enterprise Spec (air con, sat nav, bluetooth, touch screen infotainment) 150ps 3500kg Uprated battery and alternator - to allow for powerful reversing lights and because it was £100. All road pack - all weather tyres, underbody guarding and 'intelligent' traction control - £230 Fog lights, LEDS - I do a lot of awful weather driving. More lights are better than fewer. Passenger airbag 125ltr fuel tank Offside sliding door - doors both sides just make good sense Reinforced rear suspension Reversing camera - for hitching trailers Tyre pressure monitoring system Met paint 270 degree doors - the doors on mine are crap and I hope they are better with the other hinges. It's really the only issue I've had. Heat reflecting windscreen/auto wipers Folding/heated mirrors Tow bar, single electrics Ply lining List price came to just over £30k. The dealer knocked £12,000 off and final price came to just £18183.50 plus VAT. I don't know how they make any money!! With the trade in on the old one, the new one is costing an extra £60 a month. Anyway, no point to this thread really, only that you do get some pretty epic discounts with van dealers if you ask and I love me Relay - highly recommended. I tow and load it up a lot and my average fuel consumption over 18000 miles is 32.2. I would never buy a pickup again.

60 inch bar on a single powerhead is my idea of hell! Personally I found 42" was perfect for a single MS880. I wouldn't go past 60" on a double powerhead - too much bar flex and resulting stress on components. 84" was awful on a double MS880/088 set up - destroyed a powerhead and several chains and drive sprockets.

Yeah yeah. The right tree is certainly removable for free or worth paying for. Walnut can be quite valuable. It can also be crap. Sanjan - can you post a few photos? Not for me, but for the benefit of others.

Here are a few photos of the largest elm log we've put through as of yet. About 50 inches diameter. Just required a little bit of trimming to fit, but pretty minimal. Boards cut through and through. Videos will follow - need to get that USB stick! https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/12510299_10154465441688136_2124134095899033774_n.jpg?oh=4f59c7a40d0ec93ae1852e669a921c7e&oe=56FBE4F9

Well I'm struggling a bit at the moment. With the wettest month on record for 105 years in Scotland, all my offcuts are soaked and I can't get the temperature past about 38c. I'm going to get a heat exchange to aid with the moisture removal. Bloody weather!

I love the idea of a 3.5t turntable tipper. Very versatile. Also (and not from Unsinn, but Agados) I think this is a wonderful trailer: Zweiseitenkipper Agados Schweizer 3500kg an-&abkippbar Tridem top I'd probably lose the cage sides though as it's large enough without them. Either way, it serves the purpose as flatbed, tipper and machine transporter.

My friend and I are nipping over to the Unsinn trailer factory later this month - I'm helping him get set up on importing them. I've been very happy with my 14ft 2.6t trailer - I've done well over 10k with it since May, dragging it about 3k last month (through the wettest month Scotland has had for 105 years) and the only thing that has gone wrong is a failed LED outrigger than filled with water. I suspect a micro crack from a gravel impact was to blame for that. Anyway, check out Unsinn's range of trailers. My 14ft flatbed was £1100 cheaper than the equivalent Ifor. Regarding tippers, 3 sided tippers are pretty standard in Germany.

I didn't see a double sided mill there. Right, time for an update. Apologies for the lack of videos or photos - they will be forthcoming next week. One of the chaps who works for me took literally hundreds this week, and will give me a USB with them next week. So, update: very good indeed, could be better with some tweaking, but I have a very broad range of requirements for it. The wide carriage/throat is a really cheap extra (£700 or thereabouts) which means you can slab some monster logs with ease, but it doesn't uprate the hydraulics, which could probably do with some uprating. I'll be feeding this back to Trak-met, so that their wide slabbing mills are better suited for 4ft diameter lumpy elm butts! Either way, it's nothing insurmountable and easily addressed with a forklift. The mill is fast, but only since I sorted the blades. The bands that came with it were badly under set resulting in poor cuts. They were generally only registering a 0.4mm set and an increase to 0.7mm has improved the cutting immeasurably. It could still be better, as you will still get the odd little wave through complicated grain, but this is also down to lack of experience sharpening and learning to use the mill. Finally, I think that the overall quality of the blades is poor (softer, thinner metal than I'd like) but then they were extremely cheap. Production is hugely quicker compared to the Logmaster. Like for like on largish elm (appreciating and pointing out as well that the Trak-met will munch through 40 inch butts through and through without batting an eye lid, something the Logmaster could never have done - would have required the log to be halved) the Trak-met is nearly twice as quick. We had three shortish days cutting 50mm elm this week (6hr cutting days, so 17hrs total cutting time as we finished an hour earlier today) and cut 915 hoppus foot. Best day was 380 hoppus, which could easily be beaten. That's 34 tonnes in what could have easily been 2 long days. The key to it's speed (and why it's head and shoulders above all UK competition in it's price range) is the wide head. It will handle a small log just as well as a Woodmizer, but the fact that you don't have to wiggle and prat about with the log on anything larger than 30" (which was the point where the limited throat became an issue on the Woodmizer and the Logmaster) means you spend a lot more time cutting, and a lot less time pissing about with the hydraulics and standing on top of the log cutting a path for the guide roller. It's spectacularly economical to run as well. Those 17 hours of operation used about 45 litres of red diesel. That's £20. It's also extremely quiet, being electric, as well as smooth as well. The uprights can be a bit groany on up and down movements if they aren't well greased, but it's a minor point. The hydraulic functions are excellent. As previously mentioned, they could be a bit more powerful, but it's not really an issue. The electric movements of the head (up and down, forward and back) could also be a bit quicker, but that's more of an issue with softwood than hardwoods. It's again something I'm going to feed back to them. Anyway, if you are looking for a wide cutting, all singing, all dancing mill for a smidge over £20k, speak to Trak-met. Or me. Videos and photos will follow.