Big J

Sorry for the monster picture size!

Couple of googled photos of the area. It's almost completely forested in places:

I am just the other side of the bridge and could bring the Woodmizer over to you. It wouldn't take a full day to mill that, so I wouldn't charge you a full day's rate (which is £350 plus VAT and mileage), but we could discuss something. If you are interested, could you please send me a PM with a photo of the tree. I would be then able to best advise on what to do with it. Jonathan (Robinson Sawmilling and Tree Works)

My Navara has been fairly terrible. My friend and I each got a new leased pickup at the same time nearly two years ago. Mines been to the garage almost 20 times, his (a Hilux) has only been in twice - once for a service, the other time because a Fed Ex van drove into the front of him. If you can live with the lower tow capacity, get a Hilux. Personally, I'm done with pickups - when I get shot of the Navara I'm getting a VW Touareg 5 litre V10 TDI. 313bhp and a 3.5t tow capacity for 24mpg. Yes please!

Nice logs, particularly for their lack of star shake and fluting. Good luck with the sale.

Been thinking about this considerably more and we're more or set on moving to the Hunsruck region east of Trier. My uncle is in the area and used to run a tree surgery company, so there are contacts that I could use. Here is a link to the Hunsruck tourist board: Hunsrück-Touristik - Vacation, Hiking, Cycling and Culture in the Hunsrück region It's a pretty basic website, but gives you an idea of what the area is like. It's not the Alps in terms of scenery, but in terms of a place to live, I think it's pretty lovely. Also, in terms of cost of living it is amazing. This house is the one I like the most: Ehemaliges Bauernhaus mit Backhaus und gemütlichem Garten Haus Schauren (2KB9C3W) A third of an acre, a barn, a disused bakery and a terrace as nice as that for £40,000. There don't seem to be too many sawmills in the area, and certainly none that do any specialist timber (as far as I can find). Other things that I quite like are that everyone has a right of access to all forests, which essentially means that a third of the country is available for hiking/cycling etc. Weather wise, the best climate data that I can find is for towns in the valleys and it's around 3 celcius warmer in summer and 5 degrees colder in winter (compared to Edinburgh). Less rainfall too if you are on the eastern side of the range of hills. Anyone want to buy £50,000 of sawn timber!?!

A little harsh really. The felling cut seems OK to me (try neatly felling an 8ft diameter tree) and it's not that high. Besides, I suspect it's worth more than £600, though it is hard to tell as it's a very small photo. If you could post a larger photo, you might get more interest. Jonathan

My best present was something from my wife. I'd been keeping a swimming diary on the computer of all my wild swims this year and unbeknown to me, Kathryn has sneakily had attached the correct photos to it and had it published in a little book for me. Very nice indeed.

There is yes. In addition to that, you can mill with an hydraulic mill day in day out without knackering yourself. Manual mills are hard work!

I've not got that far as I wasn't able to shoehorn my firewood crates in (made from pallets without the forethought of them going into the kiln) but you won't be able to go much beyond 40 celcius before your electrical kit becomes unreliable. Jonathan

I've seen the Timberking 1220 but not in action. Seems to be a well built mill. I'd consider a second hand hydraulic mill though if your budget will stretch. Keep an eye on Ebay - there isn't anything at present but there was a super hydraulic LT40 Woodmizer for £9k buy it now not long ago.

It was the fumes from the 346 that got to me in the end. The 550 seems to be much cleaner.

Can't find much information on it so not able to help - sorry!

Not a chance I would be allowed to Sweden without her - lovely country. Besides, she does rather indulge my tree geekery

That is very impressive. Need to arrange a tree geekery trip to Sweden by the looks of things. Now, how to sell it to the wife.....

Define monster! Biggest I've seen here is probably just shy of 2ft dbh and around 85-90ft tall. Clear stem to about 45ft and single stem reaching right up to the top of the canopy. A real corker!

That is fair enough. Would make sense - I remember when we first started on the estate before they had the Alstor extraction sorted, everything was skidded out and 90 trees was my PB for a day in that size of stand. That was going like a nutcase on a 9 1/2 hr day though. The innocence of youth!

70 trees does seem a bit ambitious. In an average stand of 12 inch trees here, I'd expect to drop about 40, averaging 3 maybe 3.5 trees to the tonne, resulting in about 12-13 tonnes a day. That is felled, snedded, cut to 3.5m and stacked as far as possible, brash cleared away from product.

Either do it all on tonnage at a higher rate or work tonnage on the reasonable terrain and day rate on the slopes. About £15 a tonne would be reasonable I think. You should be cutting about 10 tonnes a day in a stand of that size, including the difficulties the slope will present.

Should we perhaps put paper bags on our heads or hide under tables?

I've not found that to be the case with mine. It doesn't get used all that much (mainstay is the 550xp now) but it is sometimes still required to spend all day ringing up and do so ferociously. TCD - fair enough! It perhaps feels lighter simply as it's quite compact for an 80cc saw. Either way, in terms of ringing 30 inch diameter logs, it's barely any slower than my 088 with a 25 inch bar.

No apology required! I have a good friend who does a lot of importing so know the associated headaches! Good to hear Dolmar coming back to the UK. I love the Makita DCS7901 and would (and do) recommend it to anyone.

Welcome to the forum Andrew! How is the walnut doing? You must post pictures of those bookmatched curved shelves - they are one of the standout ideas I've seen in furniture making.

I was going to get the little Dolmar, but it proved to be too expensive after all the complications. Got the 550xp instead and really like it. 200grams lighter than the 346xp when fully fueled and oiled on a 15 inch bar and certainly a bit more powerful. The acceleration is remarkable. The 346 was no slouch and a rocket compared to the MS260 I had previously, but the 550 is in another league.

You could price those straight sticks at about £100 a tonne roadside and I'm sure they would be taken. As is always the case, you would get more for the tonne if you had a full wagon load. A few sticks incur higher haulage costs. Jonathan