Big J
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Everything posted by Big J
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Low impact forestry services in Devon and the South West
Big J replied to Big J's topic in General chat
Finally got the spruce clearfell finished. With a tyre tearing and it being a bit of a struggle to find a replacement, getting finished on site dragged on a bit. Here are a few photos and a video from site. And an aerial video, with many thanks for Olly Swiggs (Mr Mulcher): -
Feels like there's a backstory there! ?
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That's very lovely, but expensive I'd imagine.
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I agree. I don't generally, and the various tow vehicles I'm looking at (like the V10 Touareg) are quite fuel inefficient on paper. That being said, an underpowered engine has to work so hard when towing on hills that I'm sure something more powerful would be better, even if it was worse on paper. I'm lucky to get 18mpg with the Sprinter when towing the forwarder on the lanes. I can't see that being any worse with a 310bhp V10, and at least I won't end up doing 16mph with my foot stapled to the floor in second, which was the case on Wednesday.
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Rubbish. If you've got two like for like trucks and one does 10mpg more, obviously that's going to be a consideration.
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I owed it a test drive. I haven't heard anything bad about them in the press or otherwise, which is a marked improvement on the D40. I would be using a pickup mainly for towing. If it's distinctly average in terms of acceleration when unloaded, not towing and on the flat, it'll be a PITA towing up hills. It wasn't much brisker than my 160bhp Sprinter. For the record, the Ssang Yong was worse and the Ranger was no better. I just wish they'd stick proper engines in pickups instead of asthmathic little 4 cylinder power plants. I know that the Ranger has 6, but it's a lazy lump of a powerplant. The lowest power output motor offered with a new Ford F150 is 290bhp, which is over 30bhp more than the highest power output you can get on any pickup here.
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We are the second largest importer of timber in the world, after China.
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But daily greasing would push dirt out of the bushes surely?
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I test drove the Ssang Yong Musso a couple of months ago and wasn't hugely impressed. But then I test drove the Navara today and that wasn't great either. Considering they both have 180-190bhp, they are sluggish. Same for the 3.2l Ranger I test drove last year. All have cramped uncomfortable interiors too. Interestingly though, the Navara (Tekna) and the Ssang Yong were almost the same price (£26900 and £26000 respectively) and the Navara was definitely the superior vehicle. Higher list price on the Navara but most discount applied. Still unsure about what to do vehicle wise, but it's looking like a second van (crew cab) as the second work vehicle and a V10 Touareg for the occasional towing I do. Who knows though!
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Not just Baltic imports. I was chatting to chap yesterday who was talking about eucalyptus chip from New Zealand ending up there too.
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I would guess so. Everything that I grease on a day to day basis is bushes. Loads and loads of them. Same for you I'd imagine Matt.
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Well OK, but on a forwarder, it's pretty hard to overgrease things, and on a centralised system, pumping in 1/2 a tube by hand every day isn't my idea of fun.
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I was in a bind needing an impact wrench the other day and picked up the only one that was in stock in Tiverton, which was a Ryobi 18v tool from Halfords. The 2ah battery was a waste of time, and I exchanged that for a 5ah one and it's pretty bloody powerful to be honest. It's only used occasionally for track tensioning on the forwarder so it's perfectly adequate. I think it was £148 all in. I have a Milwaukee grease gun and if you're still using manual grease guns, you need to cough up for the battery powered ones. Night and day. You use so much more grease, which cannot be a bad thing.
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With that kind of bondage, it's like Fifty shade of Grey (poplar?) ?
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Just look what you've done! Any more snake related puns and I swear I'll get hiss-terical!
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I've seen a total of three in Scotland. One fairly large on in the Lammermuir Hills south east of Edinburgh and two black adders on Mull. Errr, and one on Epsom Downs when I was 10.... That I picked up.... That bit me.... Resulting in projectile vomiting at Epsom Hospital, blacking out and an overnight stay..... And 6 weeks of a mostly unusable right hand due to blood blistering and swelling. The moral of the story is don't pick up snakes. And if you have to, be absolutely certain it's not venomous! ?
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Completely understand and respect the experience and knowledge embodied in it, but I am in the fortunate position of living very close to a eucalyptus expert here in Devon
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Ooh, that's expensive! But thanks for the link. I've been chatting to Bryan Elliot of Devon Forestry Consultants about E. Nitens. He lives and breathes Eucalyptus, by all account.
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We're buying a house in spring and it has a 3.2 acre paddock with it, so it'll be a long term project for us. Separately, I've got a clearfell do to in May on a site close by, but with wetter, richer soil. I'm recommending E. Nitens for that as well, as the poplar that's on it has grown huge and it'll be interesting to contrast the two sites, which are geographically close but have different conditions. That site is 6.5 acres.
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This is a great thread. Really sad to see the amount of ash that has been grown, as no doubt it's now dead. We're going to be planting 2.2 acres with eucalyptus nitens in spring, which I intend to intesively manage to maximise yield. The field is at 110m ASL, south facing, flat and gently sloping, sandy ground, well drained. I'm extremely interested to see what kind of growth rate we'll get. 10-12m at 4 years old seems doable. We'll fertilise before planting too.
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To mulch or not to mulch, that is the question!
Big J replied to Big J's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
No, nothing. Interesting prospect, but would be hard to do with softwood planted without tubes. We decided to go with an excavator based mulcher on the present site. It's looking very good. -
Max wieght for a forwarder to lift?
Big J replied to drinksloe's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
That is odd. Mine was chucking around WRC logs at 1500-1600kg (weighed onto a wagon) without an difficulty. -
Max wieght for a forwarder to lift?
Big J replied to drinksloe's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
Odd. It's certainly powerful enough for everything I've chucked at it so far. The 3.75m spruce mentioned was 100cm on the butt and 82cm at the top end. No problem for it at all. And I loaded it onto an artic too. -
Max wieght for a forwarder to lift?
Big J replied to drinksloe's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
My Komatsu 840TX has a fairly strong Cranab crane on it and the heaviest stick I've measured and worked out the weight of was 2.3t (a very girthy 3.75m spruce stick). That was a fairly easy lift over the pins. The issue with forwarders is that the pins are largely fixed and with girthy lumps, you have to lift them pretty high to clear the pins. I'd guess my forwarders comfortable limit is about 2.5t -
I can never remember the different terms, but these days I just go for simple financing in the form of VAT as the deposit (which I get back, as VAT registered), and the balance plus interest divided up over the 36-60 month term so that it's all paid off at the end. The vehicle is then mine to do with as I please.
