spuddog0507

Hi going back a few years now, we felled to waste 1000s of larch on several sites around the northwest and one block we did was a mix of larch and spruce, we suggested ring barking the larch and leaving them,but FC said no fell them, the whole job was a nightmare, a tree every 2mtrs and not a lot of room to get them down in one so it was hang up after hang up, and its not as if they where small trees either, trees ranged from approx 450-750mm dbh so not small and topping out at 80-90ft or some would be even more, on this job i lernt a awful lot about spear cutting in a very short space of time and several things i can share with you are, all ways be on the safer side when you make your final cut, looking up before you make your cut and try and weigh up where that tree is going to go ? a 4 ft felling bar is much better for this type of work and in our case when we had cut several lengths of the bottom of the tree it was either still hung up in its original tree or it had fallen backwards in to another and then start again, one thing i do remember from this block was sitting there chatting at dinner time and saying if we had a day with out any hang ups it would be the 8th wounder of the world, we never had that day but we did have fewer hang ups as the job went on, so just be very careful when you are cutting bigger trees with this method, small trees and limbs will hurt big trees and limbs will kill, stat safe and as i have said many times, 5 minuets looking and thinking about about how and what to do is much better than 5 week off work, be careful,

top quality Oak saw logs have gone up a lot and as for spiecalised oak logs they have gone through the roof, Beech will be around the £70-80 Ash i would say has come down as there is a lot about £60 ish ,Elm every one wants it and there is very little about so priced accordingly,

been involved with 1 or 2 log stacks over the years, and when we are working where there is public access (which is not your problem or worry) we all ways state on a RA sheet signage as per forestry handbook page 65 and as i understand this, 1 sign at site entrance stating forestry opperations in progress, the same sign approx 100 mtrs from work site, and if there are timber stacks on site, a sign like the one above saying do not climb on timber stacks, place signs out and take photos and this should cover you,

Dont know where to start with this really, but here goes, for myself and the older members on here, i cant remember flooding in the UK like we have had in the last 2 decades and for the last decades it seems to be coming more frequent, every time this flooding happens 1000s of people are left homeless and moved in to temporary acomadation and more heartbreaking than that is the loss of personal items that simply can not be replaced, every time these flooding events happen and we seem to be getting more every year now, there are millions of pounds worth of insurance claims going in which we are all paying for when we renew our insurance, This week the government have given the go ahead for HS2 that is costing billions ! now hs2 i just see as a big white elephant that 1) will either not get completed or 2) it will just be a massive flop both financially and practabilaty, so to give the go ahead for hs2 just after the weekend of weather we have just had seems a bit pointless to me, as we have loads of cleaning up to do after storm Ciara and it needs to be paid for, so my argument is do we need hs2 ? and would the money setaside for hs2 not be better spent on some sensible flood prevention/defences, after all it is our money being the public but we dont get a say in what it is to be spent on its some smartarse prick with in parliment that makes the call for us whether we agree or NOT, i am sure if we had a say on hs2 it would not be going ahead and the people who the money belongs to as the tax payers i would say they would rather see the money spent on something that would benifit more of the population of the country like flood prevention, it would be interesting to hear other peoples thoughts on this and now we have storm Dennis confirmed to hit us over the weekend with heavy rain and gale force winds so another wk end on the sofa, and then out in the Atlantic another storm that is building and it could be worse one than what we have had so far,

More reason to fill the channel tunnel with water then !

quite a shortage of larch at the moment, white saw logs where at about £90 tonne roadside back in june/july last year then took a dive since then and back down to high 60s low 70s redwood logs we havent done any for a while but get asked for them regularly so i would say there is a shortage which will hold the price up, we are about to drop some oak,s that are 30-36" dbh going from us in 36ft lenghs all defect free and gun barrel straight i dernt say what price they are but all sold to the the same guy,

where abouts in the country are you ?

Digging a hole the size of Shropshire for burying the government would not be enviromently friendly ? i would put them in the middle of the channel tunnel and drill a hole in the roof, then lets see how fast they could really move !!!!

I live approx 1/2 a mile from the westcoast main line London to Edinburgh and we have a station here that was closed in the late 60s, and now the town is growing faster than ever it would really benifit the use of the rail station to be reopened but even with the petition that has been raised i very much dought the station would reopen, shame really,

It was only 3 month old but ordered some parts and did a 60 min makeover on it one night, t cutted it and back out again earning its keep,

If your worried about a bit of spruce sap/resin on your saw how will you cope when this happens to your saw ????

Its something that i will never use, and i can just see HS2 as being on of the biggest flops in British history and lets face it they cant manage the rail network we have now, so god help those people who are all for HS2 what it will be like is anyones bet, i just see it as a bid drain on public funding which could be spent on far better projects to benifit more of the population nation wide, and it will be like the railways where a couple of years ago and unorganised chaose comes to mind,,,

Whitehouse have been fantastic for the time i have been using them and thats about 10 years give or take, they have all so been very helpful with pumps and hydraulic motors as well but the only problem for me with whitrhouse is that there is a bit of a communication break down between us as they are north of the boarder and i am south of it,

reusable fittings from whitehouse products they are on the Clyde at Port Glasgow a very helpful company and if you order before 3pm you will have it by 10am morning after and if you ask for a catalouge it is full of every thing hydraulic related and there not expensive either, and batterys yes was on standard ones and before Christmas got some Li-ion ones and as i would change the battery about 3 times in a day using the standard ones i dont change it at all now with the Li-ion ones and its still showing 50% charge, Tech has left me behind a while ago i am afraid, for me its old Tractors pick ups and trucks as when it goes wrong i can sort it out but some newer stuff i am totaly F - - - - D and have to pay someone to sort it out but i am learning slowly,

Been using the reusable hydraulic fittings for about 10 years now and i find them very good and not expensive, not difficult to work with and from trashing a pipe on the crane we can be back up and running with in the hour, as you said above both pipe and fittings are cheap and i allways have some pipe and fittings stuffed down back of drivers seat in pick up,

i did see some addvertised at cannock which was a mix of Ash Beech sycamore and a sprinkling of Oak in the stack, it had been down over 2 years and he was asking £1950 + haulage costs for a full load not 2/3s of a load as it would be if fresh felled, i do know some one who got 2 loads of this and it worked out well as it was cut n split then sold straight away, weigh ticket for wagon and drag was 21400 kg and it was full to top of pins,

A average DBH number would be good as we could get a better idea of the crop size and then addvise on which way to go, and has it got a plant health order on it or is it clean ? as the answer to the later reflects on the price as where it goes,,

I remember reading about Dakron many many years ago and it wasnt cheap, bost of my fishing back in the 70s was on my Dads boat out off the Fylde coast or up off the cumbrian coast, the fishing was much much better than what it is today thou, now a days we head across to staithes in north Yorkshire, or during the winter on the Mersey, i allso have my own boat that we get out on during the warmer months fishing for Tope Bass and smooth hounds off the Fylde coast, but have to own up the slow retrieve pollack fishing with shads is a big hit with me and we have had some good days at that and the Tope fishing that we do can be very busy days as well,

Only ever had 2 rods with rollers on and the one that i used regularly the line (mono at the time as braid had not been invented then) got snagged down the side of the roller as you said above and it cost me a good fish and at the time when this happened like 40 yr ago i had just boated my biggest at 11lb then ten minuets later i am conected to a much better fish and then ting, line stuck down side of roller, totally gutted, the rods you and others have mentioned are all well up to the job, i prefare the 20/30lb rods but some of the lads i fish with are on 12/20lb rods and manage fine with them, plenty of good sport to be had out at sea just get yourself sorted out and get out there,

Been using Berkley whiplash braid for about 25 years now and all ways found it very reliable, but i would not really want to use braid on a rod with a roller tip, i think that would be a problem, go and treat yourself to at least a new rod, there is some very good rods about at the moment that are both light and yet still have plenty of backbone to them,

F - - - me so what is the cost of a exchange box then ? sounds as if it could be a chunk and that Holder that just sold on ebay was only about 30 from me,very nearly rang him and would of gone with pick up and trailer and a pocket full of cash, but how many machines do i need !

Hi can you or would you not be better taking the box to a transmission specialist and get it totally reconned , reason why, a mate of mine took a grearbox to a specialist about 4 years ago which was out of a boat and cira around 1930 came back looking and performing as new, just a thought, as when you are seeking something that is rare it all most seems a never ending task of looking and asking, been there a time or two,

I am just looking for a grab and rotator, but depending on how much you would want for your skidding grapple ? i could be interested pm me with grab dimentions and price,

Hi all, i am looking for a timber grab for a project that i am working on at the moment, been looking around at several grabs from different suppliers/manufactures, the grab needs to be of a decent size as we have some big but ends of timber to move, grab needs to open up to about 1.5 mtrs and be in the 3 tonne bracket, been looking at the Riko ones and was woundering if any one has any comments about then , weather it be good or bad, a nightmare with sales crew, poor after sales service, being palmed off with bullshit or any thing else as all info would be welcomed, the grabs are not over expensive and to me they look as if they would do the job but buying from photos and the odd video along with a sales man spiel like telling you how good and robust they are when he has never used one,you know what i mean, i have seen the smaller grabs in action on the smaller county cranes and they look fine and seem to work well as a mate has one on a small crane that he has used for the last 3 years with no probs, and there was some one who posted a while back on here about a problem with a grab from Riko and if i remember right Riko where not very helpful !, Many thanks in advance for your help,

wheather your missing something or not ? it is very confusing and the paper work will only get worse, i have same waste carriers licence as your self and to be very honest about this i am not going to read anything on this subject as i will only end up with my head up my arse, the only time i will worry about it is when and thats when i get pulled up about it, had waste carriers licence now about 4 years and nothing so far,,,