Big J

Not sure if the video will work, but Tom took a nice video of me coming out of the stand. The ground is in poor shape, but that's to be expected after 3 weeks of continuous rain. You have to listen to it with the sound on as the engine makes a lovely noise!

The industrial ones are even more impressive

I love the design, always have. The convection tubes are actually really effective, and the layout of the stove, taking long logs, is really practical.

The other new planting on that site has not been mounded, so I'm disinclined to do so. I'm considering using a mulcher on site actually. There isn't much brash (could have done with more to be honest) and what there is is half driven into the ground. A 13t excavator with mulching head will very quickly bash it down to virtually nothing. The mulch will help fertilise the new planting too, as well as improve the soil structure. Might be a touch more expensive for me, but it'll look better, and hopefully produce a better 2nd rotation. The trees were pretty large at base, and even with a larger harvester (this one will take 60cm), we would have still had to debuttress them. When factoring in lower stumps (and the money saved there) and the fact they are taking 1-3 lengths off per tree, it's only costing me a few quid a tonne to drop the tree by hand, and that's only counting the tonnes they produce, not what is going through the head on the harvester. And also, I've got good, hardworking cutters who do lots of shittier work for me. It's good to be able to give them some nice trees to fell for a change. But as I said, they are a fair size. This is a 372XP on a 24" bar:

They are beautiful stoves, truly. Out of interest, why is the flue illegal?

Two separate compartments I think. The topography lends itself to have the sitka growing on the exposed upper slope and the douglas on the northern edge down the hill a bit.

Yes. A 90% replant, with 15m strips around the outside for the already prolific natural regen to grow. The replanting is 50% douglas fir, 50% sitka

Not especially wet, which is remarkable considering the amount of rain we've had in the past three weeks. Soft, but not wet. It's all processed with a Harvadig. That was all that was available to me at the time. They average 48cm at chest height, but considerably larger at base. Hand felling them means very low stumps. I reckon we're gaining 20cm of log length off the stump, which at an average 60cm diameter is just over 50kg. With 1200 trees, that's 60 tonnes extra and over £4k when loaded onto the wagon. It also leaves a tidier site and makes extraction easier. I don't have a harvester yet. Just hiring in. The forwarder is doing fine. No issues at all

It's a rare stand. Good quality timber on good ground. I expect I'll put over 1000t onto the lorries next Tuesday-Friday

Wish I had more jobs like this. We'll have cleared nearly 3000t in 4 weeks. All hand felled (I like low stumps), a log or two taken off and processed by harvester. I think the sweet spot is about 10 lorries a day as it gives me enough time to nip down the hill to grab a load, which goes straight onto the lorry from the forwarder. Two forwarder loads is one lorry load

Neither. I just like Bullerjans

Had a super busy day yesterday loading a ridiculous number of flats. This lorry, number 16, was the last of the day. 450t loaded

Makita definitely. Solidly built and reliable. Almost a match for Husqvarna and Stihl and more reliable too

Continuing the theme of low impact forestry!! ?

I'm not sure to be honest! They are serving a dual purpose of being a source of fuel wood and also a screen. Most of the shoots are about an inch in diameter, so assuming a similar growth rate going forwards, they'll be harvested at 3-4 years old. It'll all get branch logged again. As regards repruning old pollards, as close to the callous as possible is correct I believe.

You're a negative bunch! ?

I did a little willow coppicing (well, copparding really) job for friends at Christmas. 200 odd stools of salix viminalis all cut to about 4ft. We were there yesterday and it's all come back beautifully. Not a single failed stool. An average of 4m of growth and maybe 40 stems on each. Should prove a good source of firewood for them in the long term.

Fully reconditioned in 2005 and less than 400 hours since then. I see a lot of people use Avants and also skidsteer loaders and thought that this might be a reasonable alterative. A 3t radio winch with a grapple for handling material afterwards is an attractive proposition to someone

Buchholz Promax Vorlieferraupe - Forwarders, Price: £13,395, Year of manufacture: 1980 - Mascus UK WWW.MASCUS.CO.UK Buchholz Promax Vorlieferraupe - Amount of previous owners: 1, General grade (1 min - 5 max): 4, Engine: Deutz 2-Zyl Diesel luftgekühlt, Eng... - Mascus UK Could be a really handy little machine for a tree surgery or low impact forestry outfit. Fully radio controlled and light enough to transport on a plant trailer.

I've said it many times here, but heard it first from Tom D. It is possible to make a good living from it, but you have to be bloody organised and operating on a decent scale.

I've a 313 remapped so it's effectively a 316. It's still only a 2.1 litre 4 cylinder though. The 319 is a rare vehicle, but will be very much more powerful, and a remap will push it well over 200bhp. Mine tows 3t pretty comfortably. It's slow, but OK. 3000kg was as far as I could push the towing limit with SV Tech (factory is only 2000kg as standard). I am pretty sure the 319s are 3.5t as standard. If you're felling super flush, buy a decent 2wd 319 and send it to Oberaigner in Germany for a proper 4x4 conversion. All round locking diffs and a real upgrade from the Mercedes 4x4 system. Doesn't come cheap though. The Sprinter driving position is awesome for the lanes as you're 7ft up and can see over a lot of the hedges. I don't think they are quite as narrow on Dartmoor as here either. It's still a big truck though. There is a reasonable 4x4 319 on eBay but it's expensive.

After reading this topic, my Sprinter isn't going to cut the mustard for you Matt as it lacks low range. It would be worth trying to find a 4x4 319 Sprinter with low range through. Powerful and capable. Huge carrying capacity internally compared to a pickup as well as somewhere dry to get changed if needs be.

I might be selling the 4x4 Sprinter if you need a solid, capable work truck. I just don't use it enough to justify it.

It's funny and depressing at the same time. It's like offering someone 10 apples for £1.50 or 2 apples for £0.50 and them opting to take the 2 apple offer. Basic arithmetic is lost on most people.

I'm still low impact, honest guv!!