andy cobb

With the price of timber rising and rumours of farm subsidies being more biased towards environmental stewardship post brexit, could a small tractor powered skyline set up become viable again as landowners look to cash in on poor access hardwood without the impact of heavy machinery?

Richard. Love the vertical log storage! Such a simple idea that works, and with the right logs also looks good.

I think small 2wd will always have a place in small scale forestry. Most of my work is felling for game keepers to create gun tracks, shoot pegs etc. Although we have a big 8210 the double drum lives on the back of the major, it's so easy to wiggle into the tightest of places and, worst case scenario if it decides to lay on its side for a little rest you just rarve it back on its paws, with no broken glass , fancy dashboard in tatters just the usual walk of shame to go get help.

As someone mentioned earlier the poacher alarm mines that fire a blank 12 cartridge are brilliant tools, until you forget where you've set them, go storming into the yard stressed and in a rush to grab something, set one off, drop to the floor like a Vietnam vet, crush your phone screen and pooh your pants a little. a friend told me.

It's something I've been wanting to learn for a while, for wire winch ropes more than anything. Do you happen to know of any good books showing simple splices?

I have thought about poly rope, how are you finding durability? Does the small diameter rope cause problems going through the pullies We fitted some pieces of wood around the fair lead rollers so the rope can't run down the side of them. We were using a simple 8mm snatch block at the far end but found that after we'd knotted the poly rope when it broke it obviously wouldn't run, so we swapped for a 3/4 snatch block and seems to work ok. Seems to last ok but we haven't been winching over stony ground. think we've done about 100 ton on same length of rope (with a few knots in) so it's probably earn't it's worth

How we work it for haul back is to run winch cable on 1 drum and 6 mm poly rope on the other , so we can load the second drum with 150/200m of poly rope

Shot Beatle maybe?

With the bilke do you have to process it while it's still green or does it not matter too much? also what size diameter is the real world maximum?

There is a hell of a lotta sense in that but it doesn't account for human nature, after a few weeks felling I long for a week processing. After a week processing I'm longing for the woods again. Once you've got sap in your veins your screwed.

I'm running an old Palax and managed to do 10 cube in a day with no log deck and cutting timber to length myself, taking copious smoking breaks etc. Mixture of 3" to 12" was f*%#ed next day

Often thought about an 8 tonner with a shear on, but dismissed it as being to niche for my area. going to look at a shear head for the forwarding trailer for next season but would like to see one working on real world trees first.

Yeah I can see why you wouldn't be able to compete with a harvesting crew on that scale. i only fell about 200 ton a year and it's nearly all sites that aren't suitable for a harvester. ive seen what the other guys near me are buying in and it's nearly all 2-3 foot diameter beach and Knarly ash usually with rot down the middle circa £50 ton delivered.

I agree we all have to start somewhere, but round my area maybe 2 new guys will set up every year ( especially after a cold winter ) charge rock bottom prices, then realise it's not making money and move on to something else, but by then 2 more are starting up and the whole cycle restarts . All the while prices seem to be stagnant, and it's bloody annoying when customers compare an established, long term reliable operation with the local pikey selling fresh cut logs.

Out of interest how many of you buy your timber standing and how many buy in by the wagon load. i don't think I could make it work financially if I had to buy in good quality stock, it would mean I had to increase turn over to make the same amount and be at the mercy of a mild winter.