TFABW

On 20/06/2020 at 14:53, topchippyles said:

70cc saw so she will handle a 24" bar and you have an alaskan mill yes ??

I understand it's 65cc, but yes have the mini mill.

2 hours ago, topchippyles said:

Not sure what saws you have but maybe worth milling it up where it is. Decent money in beach when its dry

Husqvarna 365 special, I think that log is beyond it milling wise unless I perhaps split it first. Undercover storage is also in relatively short supply.

6 minutes ago, topchippyles said:

That is why i have spend a few k setting up my mobile milling. 

Fantastic to do, and maybe I will one day. Just done a few little bits with an alaskan mini mill thus far. Some mantlepieces that went down very well and a couple of little bits for turners.

14 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

I estimate from what you said that this log has an average diameter of 3ft.  In which case it is 140 cubic feet which is around 4 tons.  So you need another 5 or 6 logs about the same.  

 

This assumes of course you can get a full size timber lorry there.

 

I do agree it is a shame when logs like this get turned into firewood.  Sadly there are very few people who are willing or able to collect individual stems for a modest price.  Sometimes a local farmer will help with a tractor and trailer, but if they are going to do it as a one off job and charge say £200, as the log is worth maybe £280 it is barely viable.

Unfortunately a lot of good wood gets wasted, even cedar, elm and oak.

I am close with a local farmer who is very reasonable for moving stuff like this with what is obviously expensive machinery, but as you say even at £45 an hour unless the location is very close and unloading is pretty straight forward the cost quickly mounts. If some one in a surrounding village (east Kent) took it it would be viable and he would happily move it, but sawmills aren't that common these days.

10 minutes ago, topchippyles said:

I use the local builders merchants trucks when need a favour.They tend to have 7.5 ton with hiabs and will lift a good weight. 

That's a good idea worth remembering. What sort of monery do they charge? I'm guessing an independent merchants rather than one of the big chains.

9 minutes ago, topchippyles said:

Beach tends to warp more when air drying.Put 6/8 mm spacers every 3.4 feet apart between each slab and band them together real tight. Make sure they are in the dry though.

 

Safeguard Heavy Duty Pallet Strapping Banding Kit 1

Thanks for the advice, I hadn't considered banding them. Are there woodworm problems with airdrying?

Thanks for the advice, transport is obviously a huge issue with sawlogs. Just hate to see something like this go for firewood. 

23 hours ago, spuddog0507 said:

Access is an issue with things like this, like can you get a 6 wheel wagon or a decent tractor and timber trailer in to it to load ?, or it there a alternative means of loading ? if there is a bit of a mess made who is cleaning that up ? is the ground fit for a large wagon to get along side it ? as it is its a decent lump of timber but finding and getting some one to come with some thing big enough to load and takeaway and then pay you for it could be a big ask, if it was felled like yesterday it will have split on the end with tension so devalueing the timber, its wrong time of year to fell and sell beech as a saw logs, if some one says they will move it for nowt take it otherwise your cutting it up and hand balling it and then cleaning all the saw dust up as well and there will be a bit of that, and is it in someones garden ? if so metal content has to be considered as well, as what has been said above if it was in a parcel and a 25 tonne load could be made up and was felled december january it would be worth £70 a tonne, but not as is or some one might mill it in situe,

The land belongs to a nearby house but it isn't in a garden and access is actually pretty reasonable, there is a track alongside it from the road and I can get a telehandler in to load it.

It actually fell over end of February I think in the storms.

On 19/06/2020 at 07:43, Squaredy said:

If it were part of a parcel that would make at least one lorry load I would agree with £70 per ton.

 

 If it is on it’s own the transport cost is so high it is almost worthless.

 

 If you can deliver it of course that is different.

Out of interest for future reference how much more qould be required to make up a lorry load?

It could be delivered locally, it's just finding a buyer!

On 19/06/2020 at 08:03, skyhuck said:

Its a shame the best bit was left on the stump.

Unfortunately it had been cut by the neighbouring farmer before I even saw it.

23 hours ago, topchippyles said:

What timber is it ??

Beech and Cherry thanks.

Hi what are peoples methods and recomendations for storing and air drying milled boards?

Hi I was wondering if there is any interest in a large beech sawlog, and or where people would recomend selling such. It is 40" by 40" at the bottom and 19'8" or 6m to the red line. Also what the going rate would be for such a stem.

Suprised there is so little thought and oversite on an SSSI. Littering is never acceptable.

I do not think overthinning is to much of an issue here trees are already pretty exposed.

Shame to hear your local woods are being overthinned, has it stopped now as they see the results? Why do you think it was done in the first place?

Standards do not seem to suffer when coppicing, is that due to periodic exposure? Or that Oaks, Cherry and large Ash cope better?

Thanks all for your input. Hama have you seen much success removing co-dominant stems on saplings?

I have suggested pollarding with regular repollarding, unfortunatly father in law was not keen having removed some himself years ago. Will have to see how the TO views it now.

Are CODIT walls not weakest in the downward direction? What makes the union appear strong? Does not thickening increase the weight and pressure on the union particularly on the compression side, also the line of the joint is migrating to one side, the side over the building, I understood this was not good. The branch one can see removed more recently was not done as a lift but as it was dead, it had been tipped in the past sprouted then died. So the tree has suffered in the past from the saw though before my time and we cannot remedy that now. It would have been good if one of the codominant stems had been removed instead of the flush cut and tipping.

What do you think of the idea that trees without high value and intrinsic defects are better removed and replaced? How do you think it would affect the tree to have the stem with the line of union migrating towards its base removed?

The included section is the real problem for the moment rather than the cavity, though I have seen before the end result of such a rot column in Ash and felled or pushed them over. The rot means it dosn't have a long future stretching ahead of it rather than being an immediate threat. However when felled then allowed to coppice the stool could continue to live for many years. I have felled a tree further along the row and it was about forty years old, this tree cannot be much if at all older. The building however is if I remember correctly in the region of 600 years old, so is rarer with more historic value. Also liabilities have to be borne in mind.

If you feel inside the cavity the woundwood has rolled in against itself which I understood to mean that it could no longer close, and in worse circumstances could cause cracks. Although Rams horns is a term I have heard here I have also seen it in Shigo, is it a term subject to regional variation in names over there perhaps? The cavity extends in all directions further than I can get my fingers in so there is a rot column developing. Though the woundwood section around the cavity is obviously very strong.

The limbs above the included section have few branches for some way up and the height they would have to be reduced to for safety would mean that doing so would be topping them. The price for cabling and the continued inspections and maintenance implications plus its proximity above and beside a listed and Kent historic building, as well as the fact it is one of a row of likely self sown ash means we will go with my initial instinct and peoples reaction and remove it.

Inlaws have an Ash with a large section of included bark between the forks making up the top half of the tree, neighbors house is under one side, drive under the other. However they are keen to keep the tree if possible, wondered if anyone who had more experience of included bark could suggest just how bad it is, is it an imminent risk or does it just need keeping an eye on? It also has a large old wound and cavity from what looks like it was a flush cut, which has developed rams horns.

Thanks gives me a basis to work on, I had rough ideas on how long it should take but wasn't sure as when doing it before also spent time dealing with sheep and other farm stuff while we were doing it.

Burning up by hand or leaving it for the forwarder? I haven't cut any wood for a price per acre in maybe ten years but maybe I could give you a rough idea

We will have to burn all the brash by hand as part of the job, no forwarder involved at all. The extraction of post and fire wood will be by hand and tractor trailer, though posts likely aided by telehandler.

Thanks mate that would be really helpfull.

I have cut for the customer before so know his specs for the cutting but I did it as his employee previously whereas this would be me contracting to fell the wood for him. Just am not really sure about the rates for felling by the acre.

Hi I was wondering if anyone had an idea as to how much is the going rate to fell, cut to post length and stack ready for extraction an acre of 20-25 year Sweet Chesnut Coppice in the South East (Kent). Thanks.

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/climbers-talk/17852-straight-v-twisted-spikes-2.html

 

That may help , I've climbed on both and found the only difference comfort , the twisted shanks hurt like hell personally but i'm sure plenty of peeps climb on both.

Thanks that thread explained the issue, I'll go with the straight spikes I think.