Big J

But what I really want is: ZETTLEMEYER ZL1801 LOADING SHOVEL/PIPE GRAB/FORESTRY HANDLER | eBay

Forcat 36D Skidder/forwarder/Forestry/Machines/equipment | eBay Pretty good value too (I think)!

Seems daft really. The weather at this time of year can be very difficult. I'd be wanting to get my firewood into my store in summer so that I know it's dry when I need it. Getting one cube at a time in mid winter is madness.

Annecdote to illustrate the difficulty with firewood customers in this country: I used to have a firewood customer until last year - closest house to the yard (only a few hundred metres away). Big open fire, liked 18" logs and chunky. Happy for a while, then got picky on species, insisting on non spitty hardwoods. I tried to promote the purchase of a stove (they use a lot of wood), but to no avail. A year elapses, I've got a good stock of oak cord in the yard at the moment, and I offered them the chance to prebuy for next winter at a substantially reduced rate. So basically, they buy it now, it sits in crates until they need it, I deliver it and they have a guaranteed source of Oak (which is what they want). Nope, not interested, can't think that far ahead (their words). The money isn't an issue (they have a chiropractic practice), they just don't want to take responsibility for their own supply. As I only usually produce firewood as a byproduct of milling (it's not as pretty as normal firewood), I've no real need to sell it. It's sold cheap, take it or leave it. Most firewood customers are idiots, hard to change that.

I got a quote at the start of the week of 46.5 pence a litre plus 5% VAT (48.83p including). I'm waiting a little longer though as the oil prices are still falling.

Nothing too severe at the yard. Two gates with minor damage, a complete fence panel blown off and 25ft across the field (this is a panel weighing about 100kg) and a minor collapse on one of my barn roofs. Would have been quite serious had I not had a handy stack of firewood crates which actually caught the roof truss (meaning it dropped 12 inches as opposed to 15ft, which would have take the roof down).

As Steve says, the workshop has a different equilibrium moisture content to your house. Oak takes a very long time to dry - has it had enough time? LM20 - can't offer any tips on finishing really as I don't make anything (just cut timber).

That's about spot on price wise, possibly a touch cheap. Sounds like a nice board. Bring it into the house and allow it to acclimatise for a month or so before working on it.

Get a private vehicle and your business vehicle can be 100% claimed for. Even if it's an old banger and you don't use it, you just have to demonstrate that you have access to a private vehicle.

I would argue that anyone who burns wood and only purchases a cubic metre at a time is at the posh end of the market!

It does. That's my store at home. Get through it 1.5 times in a winter!

The problem with building woodstores is that it costs almost the same for a small one as a large one. I do a 20 cube store like this in douglas fir for about £1300 (minus the gate), but one half the size is a lot more than half the price. I also cut my own timber, which does keep the price down. I don't think you'll have any problem shifting them at £320 - it's a beautifully built store, which will appeal to the same people that spend £3k on a stove installation and think nothing of spending £100 on a cube of firewood. Different markets.

Very nice indeed. My woodstores look much rougher!

That's stunning Dan - happy to see all the timber going to good use

I've recently discovered this. I got the second one to run the shovel (mud build up is the bain of my life) and tackle the upper yard (which is soft, ie a no go for the counterbalance). First week of using it, we've been using both simultaneously quite often. I've always said that a forklift is more useful than a sawmill at a sawmill!

Sadly I can't claim it's mine - the photo was just a stock Google photo. Haven't actually got any pictures of mine yet.

Yes. About £3.20 plus VAT a post, but there would need to be quite a lot of them for it to be worth while. I can put together a jig on the table saw for accurate pointing, and they would be £2.88 without the point. Would be 1.63m in length (1/3 of a 4.9m log).

Sorry, should have said it's the 4wd machine. Also has auxiliary hydraulics on the front (for the bucket). It will also run log splitters etc. It looks like this:

I'm never going to produce large commercial quantities of larch, but I usually have European larch in stock. It's just a cow to cut as it moves constantly as you break down the log.

I just got an old Coventry Climax from the local farm supplier. It's a bit old and a bit rough, but it was worked on before it came out to me (new hoses, couple of new bearings, serviced, battery, few other bits and bobs) and didn't cost much. Says it will lift 2.5t, but it's already lifted 3.5t.

Anyway......! Back to the original topic, I've still got a bit of OK elm kicking about. Most of the best logs have been cut for air drying, so it's mainly sub 24" diameter stuff I have. This is available until the end of January at £10 a cube, plus VAT. It's all fine enough stuff, ideal for benches, bread boards, slightly rougher furniture. Come February, I'm likely to start to get busy again as the shoots finish and the woodlands open up again. Jonathan

The price of larch sawlogs isn't that high now with phytothora ramorum. The local estate to me also has quite a bit of reasonable larch.

I find oak to be the most disappointing of all timbers. It's rare to find a truly excellent log, and quite often a seemingly innocent butt will hide untold horrors! About £4 a cubic foot is all I make on softwood through sawing, but when you can easily bang out 120-180 cube on a day, it's OK money. A bit tedious sometimes, but worth always having a stock of logs in.

Out of curiousity Robin, where do European larch posts fit in in terms of durability compared to the best treated posts?

Lovely indeed, but I like to think I'd be able to ride it without the training wheels.