the village idiot

Hi Will, You've read through it twice!!! That's bonkers. I'm doing very well thank you. Apologies for the epic lack of updates. There has been a lot of progress in the last few years. I'll do another splurge of posts before too much longer. All the best, TVI.

Our amazing volunteer Pete is in his mid 70's and still does a full day on the saws with us. He's a great role model for showing what is possible. He does do a yoga class once a week which probably helps a lot. I echo the other comments on Birch. Needs prioritising over the other species. Get it split and under cover as soon as you reasonably can manage.

Had the beastie out today. The ground was finally hard enough to extract our stakes and binders. You can see the articulation point on the second picture. Very pleased to get that job done.

Similar principle to our Frankenstein Forwarder. It's an articulated dumper with the skip removed and replaced with bolsters, and the hydraulics repurposed to power the crane. The articulation makes it surprisingly nimble in the woods. It's the first time I've bought something totally ridiculous and not have to give myself a stern talking to afterwards. It's pretty awesome.

It's a good question. We do the ringing up in big batches and end up covering a sizable area with rings. I want to be able to bring 'batches' of rings right up to the infeed of the autosplit. The machine itself isn't straightforward to move so I want to avoid consistently shunting it along to meet the edge of the ring pile. Hope that makes sense!

Thanks guys, I should clarify there's concrete under the piles of rings.

Hi everyone, I'm after a bit of advice. I have a Posch autosplit which converts log rings into lovely regular firewood. I'm looking for a way to transport rings from a very big heap to the machine (could be up to 100yds). We currently fill potato bins with rings and transport them that way, but it is a bit hard on the arms. I was thinking about a big bucket on a tractor foreloader or Avant. Does anyone know what happens when you drive a big bucket into a pile of rings? Is it effective with the right bucket or is it a non-starter? Many thanks, TVI

Hi Stere, Apologies for the appallingly slow reply! That is a load of hedge laying binders as you probably know. We also produce stakes. I sell them for £1 per item. They are in bundles of 20 so £20 per bundle collected.

Hi Treemover, Yes, it is the 6 ton. It has been a really good little trailer for us. I bought it second hand towards the end of last year and then the big yellow forwarder (converted articulated dumper pictured on the previous page) seduced me. (I am a complete sucker for weird vehicles). My thinking was that I would sell on the Farma but have since changed my mind. It does a really good job and we run it behind my little Valmet, alongside the big yellow Hydrema, making the most of dry ground windows with two forwarding machines. We reckon we have managed to get 5 ton on it with the bunk extended and the 'greedy bolsters' in. It won't lift massive logs but the crane is actually more capable than I thought it would be. Here's Steve looking particularly chuffed with a good load of Ash. I think he used the excavator to load the trailer on this occasion but the crane would have been fine with all the logs pictured, many of them two at a time. The levers are located on a pole attached to the drawbar. This obviously means you have to exit the tractor to load and unload the trailer, but we have found this can be a bit of a blessing on hot summer forwarding days. We could mount the controls on the back of the tractor but we haven't got a reversible seat.

That's interesting. I hadn't thought of changing the drive motor. I'll ask Jas P Wilson's if this is an option.

The log ring size is certainly relevant but it is the conveyor advance that is the main determining factor. There are some terrible videos on the internet but it actually produces a really good product with half decent feed stock. No more trash than a conventional processor and much more uniform. I just need the conveyor to advance a few more cms and the world will be a wonderful place once more.

Hi folks, I wondered if any of you had experience of the Posch Autosplit machines? I have recently got hold of an Autosplit 350, mainly to produce firewood. It states in the literature that it can produce a final product with a cross section width ranging from 1cm to 18cm (small kindling to chunky firewood). The size is dictated by the amount the hydralic log ring conveyor advances each splitting cycle. My problem is that I can only get the conveyor to advance a maximum of 11cm each cycle. This produces rather small cross section firewood logs. I've tried a larger capacity flow regulator on the hydraulic conveyor belt to give it more oomph but it made no difference. Starting to think that the oil pump is already working at it's capacity. If so, the machine cannot perform to it's stated spec. Has anyone got any bright ideas/ experience of this issue with the Autosplits? Many thanks, TVI

Steve and I have been experimenting with lots of different machinery combo's. I'm sure you all know that feeling of having loads of ideas of how to do things swimming around your head. You never really know what the best options are for your particular circumstances until you actually try them. The two excavators and the big John Deere are not mine. Just borrowed to test some concepts.

It's been far too long. Apologies to all for the lack of updates. I'll try to remedy the situation over the coming weeks. Lots of developments to tell you about. Here are a few pictures to whet the appetite.