Spruce Pirate
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Everything posted by Spruce Pirate
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If we're doing clearance work for engineering firms I always price an hourly rate into the quote to cover downtime caused by their delays/incompetence. This covers manpower and machinery on site. There always seems to be something not done or that all of a sudden needs done, or all of a sudden can't be done or just takes three times as long to do as you'd think that affects what we want to do and our ability to do it. None of these things are normally mentioned when I price the job or discuss it with them. Result is they have to pay for the downtime, never had any issue with it, a lot of projects seem to have bucket loads of money thrown at them, and a wee bit extra to the tree guys doesn't seem to make much difference. I can imagine a domestic client being slightly different though.
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I definitely drove it at some point, about 19 or 20 years ago or so. I think it has aged better than me!
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The FISA guides say stack should be built and maintained in a stable condition. Hand stacking generally not to exceed 1m in height and not generally exceed 2m in height for machine stacked. Stacks to be on level ground, not slopes, etc. The 2m thing is, in my experience, very rarely upheld - most often sites aren't cleaned out quickly enough and there isn't enough room to stack if you don't go over this height. The general rule used is that stacks shouldn't exceed in height the length of the product. i.e., 3m product stack no higher than 3m. FISA 304 Chainsaw cross-cutting.pdf FISA 503 Extraction by forwarder.pdf
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Including side tension. Too easy to overlook sometimes.
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Sadly not. Didn't used to take a camera to work in those days. Pity really.
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I used to work with a log chute on 1st thinnings extraction. It was crap in the dry weather, logs used to stick in it all the time, to the point you'd have to tip a 5 gallon drum of water down it a couple of times a day. In the wet it worked much better and bits would fly down and out. Of course, working the log chute was it's own particular brand of Hell, and wet weather made working conditions worse, but it certainly helped to get the tonnage out.
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Do you know when the others in the sketch came down David? Also do you know how long you expect the remaining tree to last? I love to see the replacement, but can't help wondering if it should have been done ten, twenty, thirty years earlier? Sorry, that sounds really negative, and I don't mean it as a criticism, just wondering.
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Damn right! A MUST READ.
Spruce Pirate replied to TimberCutterDartmoor's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
The whole thing's a bloody disgrace. Through the head payments have to be the way forward. Ridiculous way to treat people. -
OK, but it wasn't me who derailed it in the first place and see my post on page one of the thread in relation to banging the hook in.
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I have to agree with both of you here. I've watched guys who've done courses recently trying to fell trees with barely any gob cut out and a hinge that would hold the Queen Mary. They're bashing away with wedges and bars struggling to get a tree on the deck when all they need to do is cut it right. That said, you can't fell a back leaner the way you want simply by gubbing it and putting the back cut in, gravity will get in they way every time. Felling levers, wedges, winches, ropes, diggers, jacks, whatever felling aid you choose have their place, you just have to learn when you need to use them.
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If you want to roll big logs a proper cant hook is better. Since I got the bigger felling bar, 4' like Skyhuck's, I very rarely use the wee one. I find you need to give the hook a good kick to get it to bite if you're using it as a cant hook, or even a couple of taps with the hammer/axe if it really won't bite. Bigger bar gives more leverage for felling too. Obviously this is ground based, up the tree wee bar is lighter and easier to handle.
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This is probably the best advice so far.
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I like Stihl wedges, varying sizes, a couple of each. Long lasting and durable. Hi-lifts have there place, but most of the time they're too bulky to carry about the place (might be different if you're in arb all the time and never that far from the van). They also taper too quickly if you need to get something heavy/leaning over, you're better off with a thinner taper to get it moving. If you need more lift as the tree goes up just stack a couple together with a bit of sawdust in between.
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Rates for Self Employed Handcutters
Spruce Pirate replied to MattyBuist's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
I'd say minimum £120/day. Assuming you've got FISA refresher status and First Aid tickets too. And that you're working on a self-employed basis, putting in full shifts and capable of turning up and getting the job done. You might find that what you should be charging and what you can charge are two different things. -
Cut to length if we have to, only if the harvester has already moved site or is too far away to make it back to process a couple of trees. Most of the time fell and run out if needed until the machine can cope with the branches, knock a log or even two off if the trees are too big. How much processing depends on which harvester is on site. Carrying stuff in can be a job in itself, especially up hill, but if you get a kind operator with a big cab it can help. Often need to buy them some spray cleaner for the cab afterwards!
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Agreed, the fibre pull was just a thought as it does seem to increase with a low back cut and a normal thickness in the hinge. Low back cut also gives better control over direction, particularly if there's a bit of a side lean. Luftwaffe, these trees were in groups, each seemed to block the other from felling across the racks. It was easier to fell them in with the jack and with the angle of the rack there were only a few branches on the timber the harvester had felled. The forwarder knew we were coming and could have cleaned it out the day before but didn't, so.......
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Increased chance of fibre pull?
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So long as I'm getting above 5 I'm happy enough!! Yes, back leaning and back weighted. Felled straight in to aid snedding. Round about two feet diameter on the hinge (just over), don't think the back cut is that high? Not sure why some pictures are the wrong way round.
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Go on then. What do I get for this?
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White emulsion on choke butterfly?
Spruce Pirate replied to TimberCutterDartmoor's topic in Chainsaws
Sorry to derail the thread, and I know the price has been discussed before, but how much is Aspen coming in at? Please feel free to PM me if you don't want to say on the public forum. -
Good learning experience for the young one there. Is that whole trees getting pulled over to simulate windblow? Is there not enough about the place already?
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Thanks for the kind words guys. I've never minded the early starts - I must be a morning person! That said, last week's job was fifteen minutes from home so not so early for that as it's not light til about 8. I think the Humbolt and Swanson cuts both get the tree to jump from the stump better than a conventional cut which helps get it further down the hill to the harvester which can be the difference between winching a wee bit at the top or not. There's some debate about this, but I'm pretty sure they go further with the upside down cut. As said, the Swanson lets the butt touch down first which I think helps stop the stem from snapping which again lets the harvester get the whole stick rather than having to winch a load of butts down. Anything which saves having to drag a winch cable up the hill is a good thing.
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Harvesters are good, and getting better, but they've still got their limitations. Was a excavator base winch pulling the roadsiders. Don't think I've got any decent pictures, but really good tools. Forestry is hard graft, but it has a few plus points too (see view in video of the sunny day). The money might not reflect the effort, especially if you start comparing the price of a cube of timber roadside to that leaving the mill or on the shop shelf, but that's life when you're supplying a raw material. You either deal with that or go and do something else. Good cutters, that's a subject for a whole new thread.
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Another vote for Pfanner from me, like them, but to be fair haven't tried the Arbortec. Got my Pfanners from Clarkes.
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It's probably about as close as you get these days, but not really proper contour felling. The line left was handy for catching a few, yes, but it was really as the trees you see standing were weighted more on the outside as they were by the side of a burn and it was more awkward to fell them out onto the rack that the rest were going onto. The standing trees were felled across the burn to another rack, but when it was filmed that rack was still full of timber waiting for the forwarder to lift it, so they lived to fight another day. Hope that makes sense?
