doobin

That's a fair point, the increase in land value should make up for the drop in value from harvesting the trees if you get it right. An acre ready for clearfell will make much more than an acre of five year old trees.

Log suppliers are not generally known for getting on with the competition. Wood is expensive to move, so it stands to reason that people would have to be localish. Conflicts of interest etc. Some will be better at selling than others. Timber costs what it costs- there is a market value to it. I don't see that you would be saving money by owning the wood- making money, yes, when you sell the timber or log it and sell.

I reckon it might. I've used a mobile no worries inside a container before, container roofs are actually very thin.

Having used a basic GSM alarm system for three years with success, I've just purchased a system from these guys: Home Security Systems | Bullnet Systems® Total cost under £250 including 4 door sensors, 4 PIRS, a beam sensor and smoke alarm, plus a couple of vibration sensors. Indoor and outdoor wireless sirens also. I'm impressed. The instructions are Chinglish, and the sensor quality isn't the best but they all work and are very cheap. I shall be buying more, It's easy to set up once you've got your head around how it works- no wires, just pair the sensors with the unit and position them where you want them. I had it set up in under three hours- most of that time was spent working out the instructions! I even fixed one PIR covering the front gate and set it to 'doorbell'- now I get a 'bing bong!' whenever someone drives in. The sensor range was much better than I expected, it reaches fifty yards through a sleeper wall and then four feet of brick walls! It texts me to tell me which sensor has been triggered, and I will also connect it up to the landline when I get it installed. If you get a GSM-only one you can even use it as a yard phone. I am in a very poor signal area, it says no signal much of the time but manages to connect. I keep saying this- don't spend £250 on CCTV to capture grainy images of scum nicking your chipper, spend the money on something that will alert you to their presence. If anyone here is a registered alarm fitter, they are offering buy 5, get 5 free! ArbTalk collective perhaps?

Too right! He stitched my 15 year old self up with a McCulloch Double Eagle50- 'new old stock'. Yeah, twenty years old! **** saws, but I didn't know any better and it was cheap. Pete's a top chap, put me in touch with the bloke I bought my tractor from and gave me lots of genuine history on it. Shame I no longer live so near.

It handles 8" surprisingly well. Only straight processor timber mind!

That chipper is pretty rubbish but will do your job OK. It struggles to feed brashy stuff (only one top feed roller scrabbling against a mirror smoth floor...) but will be fine for straight stuff like hazel. Produces a nice sample on straight logs 2-6" but that's a waste of good wood. Quality rubbish but very simple and an orang-outang with a stick welder could fix it up (how do you think it was made?? ) But... I don't reckon you'll see your money back on your investment and the extra time/diesel taken to chip and transport vs. burning. If you need chip for your paths then someone one here will be able to drop you a load at the time you need it, rather than messing around with a mule and ton bags and storing it (how will you lift them??) If you want to use the smaller wood and see a return on it, then get one of those processors that shear it into small logs. Someone will remind me what they're called, I can't remember. If you must buy that Chinese chipper, then I'd wait until one comes up secondhand at half the price.

Then lend the OP the money to do so, interest free...

You get more bang for your buck with older trucks than you do with older arb gear, due to the higher prevalence and less specialized nature of older vehicles. Simples. If you had to run either a 2k LDV and a brand new chipper, or a brand new Transit and a 2k chipper, what do you think would give the least hassle/most profit? Image aside.

Disagree. The truck only gets you from A to B. Gear that earns you money should be the priority to purchase new/on finance if possible.

Make sure your lad has his CS38! Sorry....

I'm a Stihl slut, but they got the 4 mix wrong. The kombi attachments are bombproof. Change the engine to an FS-70 2 mix (yes, I know you shouldn't have to!) and you can't go wrong. Either that or wait until they bring out a 2 mix combi unit. It will be the mutts, profitable and with much, much higher residual value than anything else on the market, for good reason.

You'll need to swap the shafts as the FS-70 is not a combi system, and has a flexible driveshaft which can snap if you jam the cutters.

Conversion won't be worth the money. You should be able to get an LDV tipper for your budget.

Is it a general warning light, or a dedicated FUEL filter light? Coming on under load up hills is much more likely to be the air filter, so I'd check that also as it might share a warning light.

LDV all the way.

It's a 50/50 opinion split mate. Half of us know they're crap, the other half are living in denial! Seriously, both my FS70s are running sweet and have plenty of power even for a telescopic shaft and polesaw. Are the KM-130 engines currently running? If so then just peel the FS-70 sticker off the new shaft, pop the old 130 engine on and sell it on ebay as an FS-130 with a brand new shaft (say the nipper ran it over or something). You will get £120 easily (an FS55 makes about that all day long), so maybe even £170 as an FS130 with a new shaft on it. A new FS-70 is only £260, result!

Here you go, problem solved. http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/general-chat/62516-heads-up-good-replacement-engine-stihl-polesaws-pole-hedgcutters-combi-units.html HTH

Agree fully with the cash being better tied up in cordwood than in the bank. However, he's not 'making money off the backs of firewood merchants- quite the opposite. This will help some people, and at no cost to themselves. He's making money off the ridiculous RHI. Which you and I are paying for anyway via excessive taxes. Blame the government, not the entrepreneur.

We'll go 50/50, hows that? Mobile phone blocker and a sparky who knows what he's doing, kerching! You can bet your bottom dollar someone somewhere is running an awesome hustle off these subsidies. It's ridiculous for them (I presume 'them' is the EU? ) to pay so much just for someone to waste wood doing what time will do naturally. As if wood wasn't already enough of an inefficient source of fuel for most users! Crack on and milk it!

How do you prove to the RHI people how much wood has been run through the system? It looks wide open for exploitation to me.

Because the string will quickly burn, allowing the paper to unfold and smother the rest of the fuel.

As an idea it's brilliant. Paper contains a lot of calories, and rolled up like that is probably the best way to extract them without smothering all the other fuel in ash. I shall be copying it- with an old coat hanger! Chris, your royalty cheque is in the post! People will buy it. I don't reckon any of you would be hating on a guy from here who managed to sell logs to some LOMBARD for double the going rate. Good luck to him!

There's something seriously wrong if it's disengaging the drive with any sort of throttle applied. You should be able to feather the throttle a tiny bit to engage the drive and the engine will labour if the chain can't get moving.

MS362 is approx £600.