the village idiot

Sorry to complicate matters, but do you know if the owner has thought about deer? 

Depending on the local populations they may be very disappointed with coppice regeneration without any protection and/or stalking pressure.

It may well be that the brash will be best used to protect the freshly cut stumps rather than burning it all. Also very good if the owner has biodiversity benefits in mind.

The Ash is unlikely to respond well to the coppicing so wise to factor this in. Is there much in the way of understory (scrubby species like Hazel or Hawthorn or self sewn Oak and Hornbeam?)

On 12/04/2024 at 21:04, Will Ingleton said:

Just read my way through this most fantastic thread in it's entirety, for the second time. Think I originally found it a year or two back.

 

How're you getting on!? I must know what happened next! 

 

Hope you're doing well,

 

Will

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.

On 25/05/2024 at 10:00, Tim H said:

It would be great to have a big shed, scbk and maybe I will take the plunge and build one, if the pension permits. It would certainly give peace of mind when the big storms come roaring in.

It is heartening to hear of 'old boys' still having the interest and strength to c/s/s timber in their late 70's. 

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.

21 hours ago, woody paul said:

Here's a ford one

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.

1 hour ago, slack ma girdle said:

At the risk of stating the bleedin obvious,  why not use your nice forwarder to move the timber to where you want before you cut it up?

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

On 08/05/2023 at 16:01, Stere said:

How  much each do you sell the hazel rod bundles for?

 

 

 

 

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.

21 hours ago, Treemover said:

How do you like the farma trailer is it the 6 ton?

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.

2 hours ago, GarethM said:

If you've tried a bigger flow on the input, there must be a restriction somewhere on the pipe return.

 

Only other option to keep everything else stock would be to fit a smaller displacement conveyor drive motor, smaller displacement would increase the rotational speed.

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 

3 hours ago, devon TWiG said:

You  seem to have become highly mechanised !!!👍

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.

On 18/01/2023 at 23:46, marktownend said:

OK Graham, since I posted this on page 63 just over 18 months ago things have changed somewhat as fairly shortly afterwards I, together with my 3 siblings, bought 4 acres of slightly neglected broadleaf woodland in Hampshire.

 

We're not going to manage it commercially, more as a place for a mixture of conservation, play, relaxation, chainsaw fun, firewood processing for our woodburners etc. Absolutely loving it.

 

I've been rereading quite a lot of this thread this week and realising how much I'd learnt from reading through the first time! Plus seeing how many of the issues you've got are so similar to us, just on a larger scale. So thanks again for putting so much effort into this thread, it's genuinely a really valuable resource. You don't know it yet, but I'm coming to visit you at some point in the future, I'd love to have a look around and bring Hobnobs.

 

And some updates would be great!

 

Mark

Thanks Mark,

Always happy to receive interested guests, especially ones bearing biscuits! Looking forward to your visit.

2 hours ago, woody paul said:

What I've found is; 14X34 FIXED V33123800.  11x24 FIXED V33123900 13X24 FIXED V3312400.

The  rim picture you post has long number which match's part number.

 

Have you tried Agri-linc 

Fantastic! Thanks Paul.

5 minutes ago, GarethM said:

Close enough, but no skinny dipping. Just enough to wet her feet.

3 minutes ago, GarethM said:

Nah, it'll be pining for the Finland fjords.

We've got ponds in the wood?

2 minutes ago, Canal Navvy said:

 

I'm proper intrigued to know the reason too, could it be to fit in a container, or to clear under an aircraft wing, or to fit in a chinook/Hercules? . Could be all of the above, get flown into a battle zone, prepare a landing strip for the heavies and then be useful around the place. 

 

I bet it's pleased where it's landed for it's civilian role 😉

 

 

You never know when you might need to do a bit of 'low profile' ploughing behind enemy lines!

10 minutes ago, GarethM said:

Why not ask woody to get the agco part numbers for the 24 & 34" rims.

 

You can then price it up from kramp ?.

Then atleast you'll know if the dealers are on par price wise.

That's a good idea!

Are you able and willing to do the honours Paul?

6 minutes ago, woody paul said:

I can log into Agco parts and it lists the wheels and tyres you have fitted and it's got in brackets after MOD. 

That's interesting, thanks Paul.

They do fit in a high cube container on those little wheels. I wonder if that has anything to do with it? Either that or the low height reduces the chances of having the beacon shot off the roof?

1 hour ago, woody paul said:

There is 5 different size wheel configuration that fit that tractor right up to a 12.4 x 38 rowcrop. 

 

These are the ones listed in the manual (Just about every size of wheel apart from the ones that are actually on the machine) 🙃. If anyone has any of the sizes with an X in the 600 column knocking about I would be interested.

9 minutes ago, Canal Navvy said:

 

I've worked it out by assuming that the aspect ratio of your current rears is 85% and used 80 for the fronts and come up with 1.4 to 1 

 

The factory fit sizes you've given if worked out at 85 aspect ratio are 1.36 to 1.

 

In my experience factory fitments are not always perfect but the only time you ever noticed was when working in newly germinated crops or when touching the brakes on the road (which engages four wheel drive to give four wheel braking)

 

I was actually half expecting them to have used an oddball front diff to get it to work but fortunately not 😃

Excellent work professor!

21 minutes ago, Canal Navvy said:

 

The fitment you've got is oddball (presumably to get the overall height of the tractor down) , fortunately the ratio between the front and back work out pretty much the same as if it had the full size rims on 😁

Those tyres on rims that Gareth posted look pretty much ideal if fitted with the correct disc, that pattern of rim is particularly robust and not prone to cracking 🙂

Thanks Mr Navvy,

Did you work out if the ratio is acceptable (if so, how) or are you just going by the fact that the tractor sits level?

I have inquired about the ones Gareth found. They're coming back to me with a price.