Big J

I suppose I would just look at it differently if I were the customer. Something along the lines of: "It's a damned shame we have to take down these spectacular cedar, but seeing as we have to, how can we make best use of the timber without it costing us too much?" I just hate seeing good timber cut short - it happens all the time, but it's still annoying! Those big butts would be ideal for someone with a Lucas mill to produce cladding/boarding with.

Fair enough, but a shame given a tree's age and stature that it's use after it's demise is severely limited due to an inadequate crane being used. The few hundred extra pounds for a larger crane might well have been realised in the timber sale had it been longer lengths.

I do! A couple of second length very well burred lengths, about 7-8ft long, 18-24" diameter. Very high quality (patch, not complete) burr. J

Why was it cut so short? Really reduces the value.

Very nice indeed Si!

All the main parties point fingers at each other, blaming a whole raft of different reasons for failing economies, failing services and everything else. The fact of the matter is that compared to any other time in history we are/have: * A better standard of living * We're better educated * We have access to better public services * We are better looked after by the state * We have more technology available to us And we still aren't productive. The issue is quite simply that we've become lazy as a nation. A man day at work isn't worth what it used to be - we're just not getting as much done. Consequently, we have all the same burdens on society without the taxation income to support it. So we put ourselves in debt, and then further into debt. Much of the immigration issue stems from this. Figures show that whilst the native British public are a drain on the British public purse (taking approximately 10% more in benefits/services than paying in tax), immigrants are a net gain (EU migrants especially, who contribute much more than they take). It's no wonder so many people want a stop to EU migration when better motivated, harder working people come here, willing to work for less money. I say this as a reformed lazy employee. When I was employed (social care before tree work/sawmilling), I hated my job and didn't work hard if I didn't have to. I've never worked harder than when I've worked for myself and many of the guys who work for me really graft too. I just think that the British economy really needs some serious streamlining - like with the NHS and their many managers, there are too many useless people doing 'non-jobs'. We need to get back to manufacturing base, focus on actually making things and leading the world in high technology rather than a pointless and largely forgettable service industry touting products like Wonga.com and No Win, No Fee lawyers. Rant over!

Hybrid poplar by the looks of it. The only thing you'll struggle with is getting a fine finish once sanded - it's quite a coarse grain.

I usually get about 5 sharpens out of my bands before they start snapping.

Possibly, but this one gives me the maximum load capacity for the year I'll have it, costs me less than I'm selling the old one for and I'll be able to sell it for what I paid for it in a year. I go to Germany pretty frequently, so collection is no bother and I'll get a new trailer in a years time and with the experience of having tried a different brand for comparing and contrasting. I like the left field choice - I did my research with my sawmill, took a risk and it's paid off hugely. I have a mill that cost £15k less than the competition, cuts just as quickly, much more accurately and far less goes wrong. I'm hoping that not just going for an Ifor and trying something else will pay off too.

Collection, but Ifor charge you £75 just to deliver it to one of their dealers. The dealership in question in Germany is about 20 minutes drive from my uncle.

It had occurred to me fairly recently that some of you firewood merchants must have ties to stove shops and stove installers - what's to say that they wouldn't be interested in taking mantle pieces at knock down prices? For instance, a 5ft x 8 inch x 6 inch mantle piece at £14/cf is £23.33 plus VAT. A stove shop I spoke to in Keith said they would charge £300 for the finished item if installing a stove. They'd have to dry the mantle themselves and plane it, but for a bit of storage and a couple of hours work, they might well be interested for £275 profit.

I had noted that about the VAT. Means I'm getting a 14ft x 6ft 6 inch trailer (2600kg MGW - same as the Navara can tow) for £1760.

Just checked - definitely no import tax.

Thanks for the recommendation - it would be good if their national pricing structure was a little more uniform! Still pretty set on trying a German trailer for a bit, but I'm not saying that in a years time when I need a heavier trailer that I won't consider Ifor again. Regarding oxidisation, mine has been much the same. It's 21 months old, always barn stored but looks ancient now due to all the panels and chassis having surface oxidisation. It's annoying when you look after it. No import tax that I am aware of with bringing something back from the EU. I will check though.

If it were closer I'd buy it, separate out the logs for milling (the one in the picture has a roadside value as part of a full load of at least £135/t) and cut the rest as mantle pieces. A week's cutting and here are the figures: £1200 to buy it in. £400 to deliver in. £350 labour £300 fuel and band resharpens Assuming a pretty poor recovery rate, I'd reckon to get about 500 cubic foot of saleable oak, which at £14/cubic foot is £7000. That would leave about 10 tonnes of firewood offcuts, which would produce another 20 cube of firewood (a further two days work for two men, chainsaw and splitter) for £1600 revenue and £200 cost. £8600 revenue for £2450 costs and 7 days work seems pretty reasonable? You firewood merchants need to get sawmills for those oversized, hard to process logs!

I specced internal lashing points, aluminium bed and ramps. Just checked the Ifor price list and it's come up at £3735 plus VAT for the 16ft 3500kg trailer. I think I was possibly a touch over quoted.

The issues with these single garden trees are many. The main two are getting it out and loaded onto something and metal. It would most likely require some pretty robust trolleys and a couple of enthusiastic chaps to move, or it will need to be chainsaw milled in situ. Both are fairly unpleasant undertakings. Secondly, garden trees are rarely free of metal, which causes upset and cost when milling and can stain and devalue the timber. For someone with a chainsaw mill who can get it converted in a morning, it might be worth £40. If you had a customer lined up to take it (bare in mind, there isn't much more than 10 cubic foot in it) it might be £60. That being said, I'd personally not offer anything by way of cash and perhaps offer to leave them a plank.

I got a quote for a basic 16ft Ifor flatbed with steel bed and ramps and didn't have any change from £4000 plus VAT. For that kind of money I could get a turntable type trailer from Germany and I'd much rather do that. The plan is to just keep the trailer for a year whilst the lease on the Navara expires. The Navara will then be replaced with something that can tow 3500kg, at which point the trailer will be replaced with a 3.5t trailer. I can't see myself losing any money at all on the Unsinn trailer and it will give me a good idea as to whether I like the German trailers. I know that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with Ifor trailers and I agree that they are ruggedly built (look pretty agricultural, if we're being picky) but I do think that they are very expensive.

Bands are about £32 plus VAT and delivery from Woodmizer. Good bands and only a little over half the price of Dakin Flathers Ripper 37. My only gripe is that I wish they wouldn't so tightly coil them for delivery (folded 5 times) as the only way to safely unravel them is to chuck the band onto a timber stack and run! Most sawmills on my level change their band every 2hrs or sooner. I get on average 3 times as much cutting from every band because of the pressure washing. I also get more accurate cuts (the band was simply blunted, with little loss in cutting accuracy, just cutting speed. Also, it starts to tear the wood fibres a little when very blunt) and more resharpens, as the band is no suffering heavy stone strikes. The pressure washing probably saves me around 150 band sharpens a year (about £1800 in sharpening costs). Takes a bit of time to pressure wash, but that is more than made up for in increased production and reduced waste.

Yep, definitely that one. I measured that one at 120ft - big tree: Getting it prepped for going on the mill. It was just a bit big. The mill is designed to take up to 90cm, but that's a nice cylindrical 90cm. These WRC logs are tapered and often quite square with the buttresses. Coupled with the fact that this one was a metre makes for a bit of a headache.

Not sure which is which - all in a big heap by the time they got to my yard! Nice work on the milling John - all looks like lovely stuff! Another good day today, though a touch slower as we threaded most of the biggest butts through the mill - 9.14 cubic metres today (can't remember how many logs). Here are a few pictures - this was the largest log, at about a metre in diameter at the mid point, 2.5m long and 1.5 cubic metres hoppus volume. I do recall that this one was felled by your rabble Jim:

I've stayed out of this thread thus far as I'm sadly far to bloody busy to have the energy to keep up with it. As it stands, this is the way I see it (in a very simplified way): Conservative: Better for business, harsher for those reliant on some form of benefit, a bit questionable on Europe (no ideal from my point of view). Labour: Miliband has no credibility and I do not think anyone takes the idea of him as PM seriously. It's no wonder the Tories are focusing on discrediting him. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. Lim Dems: No credibility at all after Con-Dem coalition (which I don't think has been a bad thing at all really - there has been a better balance to the Conservatives being in this time). Will lose huge numbers of seats. UKIP: Like their position on defence, but I fundamentally disagree on exiting the EU, so hard to agree with them. Plus the misogynistic buffoons they put forward as candidates do them no favour. SNP: Can't bear them. Not content with nearly dragging Scotland into the dark ages (they are very quiet about oil, now it's worth less than half what it was at referendum time), they seem to have convinced more than half the population that they're a good idea. I'm staggered at the support they enjoy. I don't see any redeeming characteristics, and Scotland is in danger of becoming a single party, flag waving bunch of misguided patriots. We need balance up here - an SNP majority up here would be like a UKIP majority in England. The Greens: Anti business joke party. Promise colossal spending and funded how? By taxing the hell out of the people creating the wealth. I'm surprised at the support for the Greens on Arbtalk. I can't comment on the Northern Irish or Welsh parties as I honestly don't know much about them, but that's my 2 cents. Will probably vote conservative, which is a rather depressing (for me) conclusion. 20 year old me would kick 30 year old me in the nuts for that - I remember going around Manchester 10 years ago graffitiing Tory election posters. That being said, someone said to me the other day that if you vote Tory before you are 25, there is something wrong with you. If you don't vote Tory after you are 25, there is something wrong with you....

It literally triples production, having the extra guys there. Every time I have to leave the head of the mill, I'm losing money. I can't cut to length, shuttle down logs, pressure wash, load logs to forks ready for loading to the mill and unload the mill all at the same time. Perhaps I just need a less labour intensive cutting process! I bang on about it, but a pressure washer is the best investment you can make for bandsaw milling. A few minutes per log is all it takes, and it strips all grit and muck off and prolongs band lift. I only used two bands all day today, and I reckon I can get another 3-4 cubic metres out of the one on the mill. Strap the pressure washer to an IBC tank and you've a completely portable washing system. Much better than a debarker.

It's all to a customer's spec. The one straight edge allows them to more easily resaw it. Should be 27-29 cubic metres once done (953-1024 cubic foot).

The elm went down to our good friend and fellow Arbtalker Cornish Chough (spelling?). So it's done a fair bit of traveling! It was surprisingly pippy actually - very nice