Big J

Glad you aren't coming with the lynch mob! Poplar goes out at £55. £70 is the figure I intend to do Oak/Beech/Ash/Sycamore at.

Bear with me on this one, I want to float my opinion on this. I think that like many things in this country, firewood is largely over priced. I'm not saying that people are overcharging according to the market rate, only that the price of firewood has been going up and up beyond what is affordable for anyone who wants to use it as a primary fuel source. I think in some respects, the government and their subsidising of biomass must carry some of the blame as it's pushed the price of the raw material up. However, the unit profit on a cubic metre of firewood seems to be too high, from my point of view. I haven't really ever made a concerted effort to sell firewood until now. January and February were quiet, so amongst other things, I split 70 odd cubic metres of firewood (poplar mainly). The main thing that took time was building the crates, but I could have bought IBC crates. My raw material costs for a cubic metre are £10 (£25 a tonne delivered in), fuel costs about £2 and maybe a pound for chain costs and machine wear and tear (I have a screw splitter that has minimal maintenance needs). So total cost of £13 a cubic metre, crates are popped in a corner of the yard, takes about 30-45 minutes a cubic metre depending on how knotty it is, I sell it for £55. Gross profit £42, time taken per cubic metre including delivery, about 1.5 hours. How are people coming up with figures like £100 a cubic metre? Being larger producers, you'll have quicker splitters than me (I can reliably do 12 cubic metres a day by myself with my screw splitter), better space for drying (mine will be covered by tarps and outside mainly, though I can store up to about 40 cube in a barn) and better delivery options (crates will be placed on trailer and unloaded by hand when delivered). Even at £60 a tonne delivered in, that's only £30 a cube split, fuel and machine wear costs £5, 30 minutes to split - where does £100 come from? I've found this to be the case with sawn timber as well, but timber is too expensive in this country to ever compete with imported products. It shouldn't be, which is why I've reduced my prices a bit on sawn timber. I think it's much better to turn over more stock than sit of a pile of timber. If you look to the continent (appreciating that they have more forest and better timber management), firewood prices are half what they are here for an often superior product. The same applies with sawn timber. I heat my house with firewood, supplemented by a smidge of oil. Even if I bought all my firewood, it would be just as economical to use as oil. How many people here are selling firewood to people that use it as their primary heat source? Surely it's better to sell 25 cube at £70 a cubic metre to someone with a Rayburn, than 5 cube at £100 to someone with a daft little Morso? I reckon that there needs to be a shift from the opinion that woodfuel is a luxury heating option to the situation they have in many parts of Europe where it's the obvious and first choice. This can only happen if we don't charge so much for it.

Palletline are less forgiving that Palletways. I take the biscuit a bit on what I put on a 'pallet' and they haven't complained yet. I can see it coming though - I have some 5ft wide chestnut boards to send this week....

I just use Parcel2go. They seem pretty good, though they did spectacularly lose 5 elm burrs once. Looking at the tracking history, they got split up, each did about 5000 miles, only 3 made it to the destination originally (2 on one delivery, one on another) until a few months later when a very embarrassed chap from Parcel2go called up to say he had two parcels and did I want them back. They did eventually make it to the customer! So apart from that, good. Your boards might be a touch over long, but I tend to round down on measurements quite a bit when sending stuff. So long as it's not too heavy, you should be OK. Jonathan

The issue is that it's only a tiny minority of industry experts that paint a rosy picture of an Independent Scottish financial future.

That article is a spectacular collection of nationalist rubbish, to put it bluntly! How do they keep claiming these things (like Scotland contributing more tax than it receives) over and over again when just about everyone else disagrees with them? The misinformation and bare faced lying from the SNP in the run up to this referendum makes my blood boil!

They look pretty reasonable I think. Worth going to have a look at personally as it's not that far. The Germans don't mess around with sawmills and the Polish make Woodmizer which are three times the price. Certainly worth a look.

I'd go for the Timberking 1220. Supposedly the best mill in the manual class. I'd avoid a Lumbermate (personally) - I didn't get on with it at all (very flimsy construction). Jonathan

My only concern with a portable chainsaw driven band sawmill is one that I'm sure that Alec can answer. With static mills, any slight deviation on the alignment results in a wobbly cut. Given that a portable unit like this doesn't have a proper set of rails to run on, do the inevitable minor variations from flat mean a wobbly cut?

That is most outstanding of you Stephen. I shall message you

What is you budget Neil?

I've got the mill, but not the longer rails (mine is at capacity at 50"). Do you have an Alaskan mill to fit the 60" bar Graham?

Not good news for the Scottish banking sector this morning. Not only has Standard life (asset management of £240 billion, 5000 employees, 189 years headquartered in Scotland) said it would most likely quit Scotland in the event of Independence, RBS has just posted an operating loss of £8.2 billion. Can an Independent Scotland afford this?

For the sake of the Scottish economy, let's hope so! Either way, irrespective of where the skills are, an Independent Scotland could find itself in a situation where it doesn't see defense contracts come it's way. There is nothing to stop the rest of the UK resuming naval works in Portsmouth. Mull29 - I've never been accused of flapping before! It's more just total frustration about the entire situation. Being of English origin, having lived up here for 9 years now, I have the perspective of seeing things from both sides. I wouldn't like in England again (too many people, no wilderness, frankly the central belt of Scotland is too busy) but we are all genuinely better off together. As a child growing up, being half German has made me acutely conscious and sensitive to racism, nationalism and history. Nothing good is ever achieved by holding onto the past, yet historic grievances between the Scots and English seem to be the cornerstone of the Yes Scotland campaign. I'm cautiously optimistic about the outcome of the 18th of September, but I just find the whole build up to it simultaneously depressing and stressful!

Hi Shillo, Many thanks for the offer - the Alaskan mill I have, it's just I need a slightly bigger throat for a job than my 50" bar offers. I reckon the Logosol will not give me much more than the 42" I already get. Thank you anyway. Jon - I've PMed you. Jonathan

Everything about them is truly lovely. Comparing a Woodmizer to a Wimmer is like comparing a Ford Fiesta to a Ferrari. Both will get you there, but given the choice.....

About £70,000 when fully mobile.

Dear all, Can anyone lend me a 56" or 60" 088 milling set up for one job? I've got a 50" set up (which suits me well for most things) but an over sized sweet chestnut is calling for a larger set up. I've got about 180 cubic foot to mill, obviously any damage will be paid for and a hire fee could be paid. I've done more chainsaw milling than my wrists would like, so I know what I'm doing! I'd prefer 56" as it's all I need throat wise, and it will be more rigid than 60". Thanks in advance! Jonathan

Holzhauer, Wimmer and Serra are out of your price range, by some considerable degree. That said, if money were no object, I'd have a Wimmer BN110. There is no finer mobile mill.

It's worth pointing out that an Independent Scotland would not get the defense contracts for building naval vessels. Significant proportions of the ship building involved in the Type 45 destroyer construction and the aircraft carrier construction have taken place in Scotland. 4 miles from me on the other side of the Firth sits the Queen Elizabeth at Rosyth. These two projects have a total value of over £12 billion and Scotland takes billions of that. Defense projects are exempt from EU tendering and procurement rules and a British Government can choose to build it's warships wherever it likes. It most certainly won't be Scotland and I'm sure it will be the death knell to Scottish shipbuilding. Jonathan

I'm saying that the public sector could stand to lose a few more unnecessary jobs. Public sector work can breed a certain work shyness in some people. It's no bad thing to shake things up a bit.

BBC News - UK unemployment falls by 125,000 to 2.34 million

21kg/cubic foot

It appears to be working. Unemployment is falling.

I'd like to see that as the Better Together strap line. He is a very clever man who has a single minded determination to achieve a goal. He will do so at any expense and he know exactly what to say to which people to maximise his chances of success. Note the total lack of any credible response to the Monetary Union issue and the EU membership issue. He figures saying nothing is better than admitting you are wrong.