Jump to content

Log in or register to remove this advert

Spruce Pirate

Veteran Member
  • Posts

    1,065
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Everything posted by Spruce Pirate

  1. THIS ADVERT HAS EXPIRED!

    • FOR SALE
    • USED

    Two CP 15 sprayers. Haven't been used in years, would probably benefit from new seals. Red nozzle and spray shields included. Bulky items, not sure how much postage would be but can find out. Collection much preferred.

    £24

    Arnprior, Stirlingshire - GB

  2. Skyline not really my field of expertise, but dragging 30-40t a day isn't bad I think. Again, depends on the length of the drag, size of the tree, size of the winch, number of people in the crew, etc, etc.
  3. I can't speak for JDon, but in my experience timber is measured through the head of the harvester when it's processed. Then often paid for by the ton. Amounts pulled in a day can vary hugely depending on the terrain, difficulty and trees. Some days you'll get hardly anything, some days can be quite productive, it does depend on who's cutting and who's on the winch.100m3 plus is possible, but I rarely actually ask what is coming out when doing this type of work. Main contractor sometimes swallows the cost of the winching within their overall costs or will sometimes charge it as a separate part of the contract, normally if it is complex work, such as around roads, powerlines, paths, houses, etc Most cutters are paid by the day, including all saws and fuel. Sometimes you'll get oil supplied, occasionally fuel and oil, but most of the time it's a day rate you agree with the contractor and that includes everything.
  4. This item is SOLD

    • FOR SALE
    • USED

    MS 261 with heated handles, got run over by the chipper and thrown in the shed in disgust. I now need to clear the shed and the saw has got to go. It could be repaired, or it could be used for spare parts. Rear handle took the brunt of the damage. Any questions please PM me.

    £20

    , Stirlingshire - GB

  5. I got a pair of Lavono (? spelling ?) boots with caulks a while back. They've been good boots, great grip if you're walking on logs. Haven't been able to find a pair since. The thousand dollar price tag on those ones seems a bit steep for boots.
  6. Was in Auchentorlie not long ago, just wee stuff to waste though. I'll see if I can find a picture.
  7. The plate has three grousers welded across the top for a bit of grip and a ring on the bottom for the jack to seat into. The tree didn't look all that much, but it was heavy. Cutting mostly central belt, occasional forays further south or north, sometimes even into Argyll.😵
  8. This hairy back leaner couldn't go the way it wanted so had to be jacked in. It put up a bit of a fight! Think the base of the jack was about an inch into the stump.
  9. Whereabouts is your windblow course? Many years ago when I was trying to get into forestry work I called all the FC offices. None of them had any work, but some of them gave me the names of contractors working in their areas. You could try calling them, along with any estates or management companies you can think of, they might be able to point you in the direction of someone who is good. You could also try the FCA (Forestry Contracting Association) Directory, you can search geographically on that. Remember there's quite a big difference between the ticket and the actual work, it's the old driving test analogy of actually learning after you've got the ticket. Be prepared to travel, most cutting work is for contractors and they're seldom in one area for all that long, cutters working for big outfits might be on five sites in one week. Keep stumps low, snedding tight, remember in timber cutting wood = money for the contractor, production and efficiency are important. Know your log sizes and specifications. Take any work you can get, it's all experience, all trigger time and if you can do the crappy mundane jobs they may eventually lead to where you want to be. That's about all the useful advice I can think of, expect to be overworked, underpaid, never happy with the weather and always in debt with the local saw shop.
  10. Ah, but was it a BT pole before it was a post.......?
  11. Yeah, way out of area - I'm not really even sure where Gloucestershire is! Generally I steer folk towards the merchants if it's a clearfell, for smaller thinnings like this it might be possible to find a firewood merchant who'd be interested. Biomass can be an awkward market now due to the nonsense that is Woodsure, so I'd guess firewood is probably your best bet. Don't know anyone down there who'd be interested, but you could try trawling through the firewood suppliers groups on Facebook, you might be able to sell it through there. Do you know roughly how many tons / cubes you're trying to sell? Species?
  12. I've seen Big J trying to squeeze himself into a van and through a doorway - I can easily believe he has to put his arms out the windows to fit in the wee Novotnay.😂 Hand stacking not too good in Sweden then? H8 looks a good wee machine in flat ground that's reasonably firm - don't see any around here.
  13. The locals aren't the only ones! 😂 How was the wood cut Jonathon? Small harvester or hand cut?
  14. I think a lot of the Loch Lomond oak woods, certainly on the east side, date back a long while for charcoal making for tanning and then smelting. You can still see a lot of overgrown coppice stools if you wander through them. Ship builders of old seem to be either hailed as guardians of the forest, making sure enough was left to maintain their future needs or as total rapists, destroying everything in sight to build a navy. Depends who you speak to. Certainly changed days in terms of how woods are managed though. Sorry J, I'm really not trying to pick a fight. 😂 What you've said in the two posts above is very much the crux of the matter. If we want to protect the natural environment then we should be looking to native species. Oak, for example, as we're talking about it, support a huge variety of species in addition to producing timber - this is the trade off for growing slowly and being difficult to dry out. It's a problem of having a very limited number of native species, and probably why we've been introducing things since at least Roman times. I'm not disagreeing that a lot of Victorian introductions have been disastrous (although Doug fir is a bit of a success at least). Of course, if climate change really does bite then we have to look at the long term prospects for all species - oak could be out altogether and we could be growing gum trees? cedars? Corsican pine could make a big leap in the productive species league tables Again, out of curiosity, are there many non-natives in Swedish forestry? I always imagine it dominated by Scots, Norway and birch, but that could easily be wrong. What's the average rotation age?
  15. Yes, approximately 3' spacing as I was saying earlier. That's a fair point Jon, BUT, remember we're dealing with a very long term product here. History suggests that good quality hardwood such as oak will always sell, and always fetch a good price. Good quality, not average, not poor, properly grown oaks of good quality. Such being the case there should always be a decent return on the investment in the future. Remember the planting costs are only one of the costs of growing quality hardwood. Formative pruning around year 3 -5 with regular pruning and high pruning up to thinnings stage all eat up the cash. Also remember that at high density nobody's tubing and staking, fencing becomes the only feasible option at these densities - if you take a square hectare and plant it at 1100/ha each tree is paying for 36cm of fencing, at 13400/ha each tree is only paying for less than 3cm of fencing, a significant economy of scale. It would have been correspondingly cheaper to plant at 3m spacing in the 1930's compared to planting at 3' spacing, just the same as it is now. The main difference seems to be that between the wars and immediately post war people valued timber production as it was a very necessary resource. We seem to have lost sight of the fact that unless we plant trees we won't have any timber, and if we continue to plant at ridiculously low densities all we'll end up with is a firewood crop. I'd imagine your days of sawmilling would give a fair insight into different planting regimes and their relative impacts on timber quality? Out of curiosity, what's the planting / restocking like in Sweden? I don't know much about it, but from what I've seen in pictures and videos I'd guess a fairly high density?
  16. I don't know if there's much evidence or study on reds and damage to trees. But my money is with yours, I reckon almost as bad as greys if not as bad.
  17. Going to have to disagree there. Those spacings are what the grant schemes dictate, not what is good for growing timber. Most of the old literature, I'm lead to believe, favours tight spacings. Anecdotally, I've seen this in practice and it works, but my experience is not wide enough to be considered scientifically robust. Locally, we have some hardwoods destroyed by squirrels, however, there has been a purge on greys to favour the reds which are moving back in. The result is that it is now years since I've seen a grey squirrel, which is a good thing, and timber damage has gone down too. The reds have, as yet not really moved back in to fill the vacuum, if and when they do it will be at least interesting to see if the damage to trees increases again.
  18. 3 meters is massively wide spacing for commercial oak, 3 feet is more like a commercial spacing. With that in mind I might be inclined to suggest high pruning as high as you can and a delayed thin. BUT, I don't know the wood, don't know what the soils are like, what aspect it has, whether it's sheltered or exposed or how well the trees are growing. Do you have any pictures? In the absence of visiting the site they might help people give a more informed opinion. As a slight aside, there is a long tradition of growing trees for someone else to harvest. I wouldn't consider looking after a future crop for your children, grandchildren or somebody else altogether as irrelevant at all.
  19. I've got a couple of jobs through here. Had a few folk work for me through Arbtalk. Sold a few bits of wood through here. Got lots of ideas how to do things differently or more efficiently. Had some good laughs at the jokes thread or some of the general comments. Got frustrated at some of the less helpful contributions. Think I've been a member for 11 years now, still don't know how the badges work or what they mean, but I keep coming back. I'd definitely miss Arbtalk if it went up in smoke tomorrow, of all the tree websites it's the most useful to me - UK based and more helpful than a lot of the others which tend to be more pissing contests.
  20. It's a long time since I was involved in Christmas trees in any serious way, but this is almost exactly my experience. There's money to be made, but you have to work for it -quite hard. Are there millions to be made? Not sure, possibly, if you're in the right part of the chain but it's not going to be easy money.
  21. It certainly used to be the case when I worked for them that FC consulted with LPA on any applications, be it felling or planting. That's over 20 years ago, but I don't imagine it's changed. I don't think the reverse worked with LPA's consulting the FC.
  22. I mostly work seven days, but to varying degrees. Some days not much, maybe a bit of computer stuff or maintenance, other days a lot. I too have very little work / life separation, been self-employed so long it's just pretty much who I am and what I do. Sometimes it is a bit much, but generally I'm pretty happy with it, I generally enjoy what I do, so that helps. Given the chance though, no I wouldn't work at all. I'd have a nice big pot of money, enough to see out my days with whatever whim I choose and keep myself busy indulging said whims. Unfortunately I'm constrained by the real world and so have to work, but ideally, no, I'd be a gentleman of leisure.
  23. Not sure if you need a license for P. kernoviae or not, I think you might. Best to check with your local FC office.
  24. Good old RInglink! I just had a look at the NPTC website and it seems you're right Dave. Individual Windblown Trees and then Interwoven Stems & Part Blown Trees. It's a couple of years since I've known anyone do it, but it was definitely only one ticket at that time.

About

Arbtalk.co.uk is a hub for the arboriculture industry in the UK.  
If you're just starting out and you need business, equipment, tech or training support you're in the right place.  If you've done it, made it, got a van load of oily t-shirts and have decided to give something back by sharing your knowledge or wisdom,  then you're welcome too.
If you would like to contribute to making this industry more effective and safe then welcome.
Just like a living tree, it'll always be a work in progress.
Please have a look around, sign up, share and contribute the best you have.

See you inside.

The Arbtalk Team

Follow us

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.