doobin

Think they're minimum is five vehicles.

Right attitude 100%

Excellent, we've got the the bottom of it! Would you mind providing a costing for mechanical harvesting, just out of interest? I can't see there'd be much profit in it, I guess you'd need more acreage. Not worried how many days it takes. I enjoy it, it'll make money as firewood. I still make money from my lads working on other jobs when we're cutting, whilst my two mates are quiet on the work front so this year it's the right thing to do. Next year however we may look back at our costings for harvesting and decide to buy it in. We shall see! Either way firewood is better than money in the bank at the moment.

Wasn't meaning to be sarky mate. if you refer to the original post, the crux of the matter is whether such an operation could be achieved in six days- by my calculations this is the bare bones of profitability (please check, its all in the original post) If you can't do it in six days, back to the original question: how does anyone make money? Burshcutter- digger is mine. Like I said in the original post, I'm not worried about doing it in six days as my sums stack up for firewood production rather than roadside cordwood. It was a sort of hypothetical question; I don't think that was perhaps clear enough! Change of tack- can we all talk figures for a bit? How about everyone posts their take on a breakdown of costs?

All you who think a digger is a bit pointless in a coppice site are missing the point. I can't justify a tractor and timber crane, and neither can most of you. The digger is always busy- fencing, laying driveways, cutting hedges with a mancrate. I'd call that a smart investment- there's few jobs I do that it can't help on. So you think it's pointless in a coppice site? Can you lift a ten foot butt that's ten inches in diameter and place it on top of a stack? Can you grab five trees worth of brash and stick it straight onto the top of a roaring fire? The guy on the digger is always flat out, and if we hit a thin patch he gets off and helps handball it. We fell and section five trees whilst the digger is clearing the last fell. Digger then sits in the middle and can reach and stack all the timbers (15 to twenty ten foot sections) with minimal tracking. Brash from five trees is taken care of in a couple of minutes. Combined Tree Services- Ok, could you do it in six days with a timber crane then?

Well, we've tried straight veg oil the last three days and the saws (MS180, MS 250 and 036) seem to run fine. Bars and chains are cleaner than normal, all looks excellent. Cutting green chestnut though so may be a different story on a bit of dry beech.

What bit of the above don't you understand Frankie? Highland Forestry- I thought as much! Combined Tree Services- please answer me this: Could three of you and a digger fell, section, stack timber and burn brash on .9 hectares of 26 year old chestnut coppice in six days?

Chaps, as stated in the original post the extraction is taken care of by a 3rd party with a forwarder at £5/ton. All we have to do is fell, section and stack, plus burn the brash. We're not interested in fannying about making gates, posts etc. It's purely for firewood. We could sell at the rails we could produce for £4 a pop. A big butt that would yield 4 rails (allowing for split aways) would be worth £16 once split and ended, or about £12 as firewood in a year with minimal hassle. No brainer, especially as we've only got weekends on it. The only products we sell are big strainers for my fencing contracts. So does the time scale seem about right to fell, section, burn brash and stack logs in piles for the forwarder? And if so, then back to the original question- how is it possible to make money by selling for £20/ton at roadside?

Most about 10" at the base. Some bigger, some smaller. It's 26 year old chestnut coppice. Could you do it in six days with three blokes and a digger? That's how quick you'd need to go to make £450/day, which would be the bare minimum of profitability.

Two friends and I have a bit of a weekend project going- we're felling chestnut coppice for firewood. Setup is KISS- two cutters going like the clappers and me on the digger just about keeping up stacking the timber and throwing the brash onto piles. I hear chestnut can be bought roadside for £20/ton. Now, assuming I have 180 tons in 0.9 hectares (best case scenario I think?), that is worth £3600. Loose £900 for forwarding at £5/ton (fair price?) and you have 2700. Allow fifteen days to clear it (reasonable estimate? Or are we too slow?) and you're making £180/day. For three blokes and a digger! How the hell do you make money extracting cordwood for a living? I'll make money on it as firewood, but I was just wondering? Oh, almost forgot. Loose another £500 for the timber also!

Never mind that, where do you get a pint for £2.50 these days?!

Wrong. Plenty of third part apps free or cheap to handle just about any file. I keep my books up to date (I use spreadsheets) in the field on my iPod. If you want it to do things like this with it, then why not have a cheap £10 phone that doesn't matter if it falls out of a tree and breaks, and have an iPod as a PDA kept safe in the van? Works for me, I wouldn't be without it. Do all the lads timesheets, create bills for customers in the field, use it to hold contract spec sheets etc.

Wheres the cheapest place to buy chainsaw files? In bulk if necessary. Cheers

Diamond files- anyone use them? Are they any good/are they worth the money? I'm fed up of normal files- they only last a couple of sharpens before you have to start putting stupid pressure on them to make them cut!

Very doubtful. Cut open some yesterday that was left behind by biomass contractors last year (not enough for a whole lorry).It was as wet as if it had just been cut.

Hi chaps, Am in the process of changing my business insurance cover. As part of the assessment, the underwriters would like to know, and I quote "What safety precautions are taken when i) Climbing trees, ii) Felling trees, iii) Burning off-cuts" Firstly, we don't do any climbing, so no worries there. Does anyone know of any generic risk assessment type things for the second two (felling and burning), just so as I can make sure I've covered all bases? Thanks:thumbup1:

We use a grapple- it lets you give the thing a good shake to get rid of most of the soil. Rhodys usually grow on sandy acid soil so this shakes easily off the shallow roots.

Lads, I'm trying to calculate potential profit from standing timber. You've all just rewritten this thread: http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/firewood-forum/23122-why-not-sell-cube-wood-novel-idea.html

Agree 100% mate. You could have taken the words right out of my mouth. There's a reason why I'm 22 and run my own business with some nice kit. It's because I get up at five every morning and work my socks off! Re the idea- I'm not that bothered about it; it would only take off if done by one of the big companies. And a patent to keep them from finding a way around it would be big bucks. Just thought a few on here might be interested.

Last year, I had a cracking idea. Went as far as looking at the ins and outs of getting a patent, then realised that I was somewhat lacking in money. Story of my life. Anyway, back in March of the year, a fellow in the US filed a patent for my idea. So I though I'd tell you all, so that when you buy a chainsaw equipped with this, you can tell everyone you know of the bloke who invented it! The idea is simple- fit the saw with an electric chainbrake, something akin to that used in the Stihl electric saws. This chainbrake is activated by a radio sensor in the bar. And this radio sensor is activated by current passing through wires woven in clothing, ropes etc. Bar gets within a pre-detirmined distance, chainbrake snaps on. No more cutting through ropes. All over safety gear no thicker than a T-shirt. Imagine the possibilities. Not difficult- the technologies already exist. Genius huh?

I notice I am no longer a junior member, but a fully fledged Member. Result! Thanks for having me lads

Been doing some research: Roni McDonald reckons: "why don't you all read a "code of practice for fuel wood merchants" published by the Forestry Commission and Timber Growers UK. 1m3 solid wood = approx 1 ton, split and loosely stacked, ie thrown, =1.8m3, ie 55% wood and 45% air. " On the other hand, JayVee says: "1 SOLID m3 = 1.54 STACKED m3 = 2.5 LOOSE m3" So who's closest to the money? Theres quite a difference between 1.8m3 and 2.5m3

Hi chaps As above really. Any thoughts? Thanks.

.....

Different chains, different jobs, different settings. Low as you can on the main full chisel cross-cut saw, though I'm guessing you don't want to go much more than standard up a tree though (not a tree monkey myself)