A Townsend

Les Thorne RPT

The Dairy

Lipton Park Farm

Colden Lane

Old Alresford

Hampshire

SO24 9EB

 

TEL: 01962 732 223

MOB: 07788 627 205

 

EMAIL: [email protected]

 

A possible lead for you

Thank you kernowstu, I'll give the chap a bell.

Cheers,

Andrew

Hi chaps,

I would like to sell as a job lot ideally although i am not against selling bits here and there.

Im in north hampshire about 7 miles out of basingstoke towards Tadley.

Best to contact me on my mobile.

Cheers Andrew

Hi all,

I have approximately 30 cm3 of yew in 2.4m lengths, ranging from 18" in diameter down 3".

Some nice piece's in there. Anyone interested?

Cheers,

Andrew

Shifting the wood myself would be the preference anyway.

Hi TCD,

Think I'd stear well clear as if you're already thinking things may get rough is the risk worth it? Why is it generally excepted by landowners/agents that it's ok for the contractor to lose out? No wonder forestry is dwindling in terms of personell.

Cheers,

Andrew

Hello, i can also deliver FMO assessments.

Cheers

Andrew

6.5 to 10 quid a m3.

What is your set up? What are your costs? What are you happy making?

Pretty similar to the other replies.

Cheers Andrew

I contacted a well known timber agent in July about selling some Norway Spruce to them for shavings. It was already roadside and I informed them that the stack was measured at 34.97 m3 without aking into account of air. The agent told me that he would estimate around 40% air, taking it down to 21m3 of timber. He told me that it would get £27.50 + VAT per ton.

 

As it was clearly not a full load, he told me he would visit the stack to look for himself. I gave him the address and access instructions and even gave his vehicle details to the land/timber owner. I'm not sure this visit ever happened. I also pointed out that there were other spruce logs 25 mile away waiting to be collected that the same agent had bought for shavings (We felled them so knew this was true) so a load could have been made up.

 

A week ago I had a text saying the price was to be knocked down to £25.50 + VAT per ton as the load had to be capped. Fair enough I thought so I agreed.

 

Earlier this week, I had an email from the agent saying that the logs had been collected, there was 16.76 ton and because of haulage, they would only pay £20.85 per ton.

 

I refused this on the grounds that they knew there would be this amount (21m3 left to air dry for 3 months whilst he arranged collection was never going to be much more than this), they had the opportunity to visit the stack and verify my measurements and that we had a deal at £25.50 + VAT.

 

The agent has come back with figures of sales, haulage and their purchace and said the he will not pay any more than that.

 

I personally think this is an absolute cheek as a deal is a deal. If they lose money on it, than that is their problem but they should honour the deal that I have in a text from him.

 

I am interested to hear from people who sell timber as to whether they think this is acceptable?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Alan

Hi sounds a bit rough. I have just put a weigh link on my forwarder to avoid this sort of thing. Although at considerable cost i think that it will pay for itself time and again as i have been bitten in the past.

Cheers Andrew

This is the hard bit. I've been wanting to do NPTC FMO and Chainsaw but none of the local centres are interested.

Hi Brush,

Give me a call sometime and i may be able to shed some light on things for you and or be of some help.

Cheers,

Andrew

Yeah, not sure what he is going to do now though.

Seems to me that there is a lot of work around so try someone else as you've nothing to lose. Keep things amicable with him so you could approach him if you're stuck and need a few quid. Wages are always an issue and a tough nut to crack. Work out what you need to earn to live and do what you like to do out of work and base it around that. If you cant achieve what you have worked out that you need then you're either being unrealistic or need to find another trade. You either love this job or you'll love your new job a whole lot more!

Cheers

Andrew

it seems there a bit like chickens teeth Andrew, been looking for one myself for a while but don't seem to be an item that gets sold often

Hopefully one will come up or i can sniff something out. Id happily go to mr wilson but cant justify the cost as it wont see a huge amount of work. . .

Cheers for the heads up brush. I had a pretty decent vreten trailer that i sold a couple of years ago, no lights or steering drawbar and a tidy well shod trailer really and i suppose thats similar to what im looking for. Cheers again and if you see summat about please do let us know.

Andrew

Anyone know the whereabouts of a bolster trailer in reasonable condition? Looking for something that will carry a couple of bays of 2.4 to go behind my roofmount county. Lights,brakes and steering drawbar not essential.

Cheers,

Andrew

I just thought someone may make a list of 10 different extraction rates for different sites - having discarded those rates which are high / low extremes - divide by 10 to give an approximate average price.

The average price has to be as much as is humanly possible to get. Forestry work is in my opinion not as accessible as arb work due to the variables involved in differing sites. As tcd states with the race to the bottom for some contractors (which i also dont want to be any part of) makes any risk of loss that much greater to the uninitiated.

Why dont they get a machine in to do it? Too many variables to say what to charge like terrain , species, tree size etc, if they are going to extract the timber by forwarder then the ground is suitible to travel with a harvester, for which it would only take about three days to complete as apposed to man on a saw what take weeks or months to complete, but knowing the highlands its probably plated on steep rocky ground for for which you fell sned and winch the trees to a hard standing ready for conversion into the required sizes.

We are on various estates that have had bad experiences with other contractors and will not allow our harvester on site so that maybe a reason for it. Id say about £12-13 a tonne for cutting, converting and stacking depending on how many specs there are to cut is about right going on what we are on down here.

There's no doubt about it, you can easily catch a cold with it if you are not sure on costings. Work out your day rate, look at the site and then base your rate accordingly. If you can't earn on production work what you would need on day rate then there is no point in having a piece rate.

Cheers Andrew

My word that's rough! Bet that made him wince for a day or two.

Does this Richard chap travel the UK doing electrics on forestry machines? If osa turns out mechanically sound I'd consider giving it a full rewire, difficult getting auto electrician with right knowledge and attitude for a machine like this though.

Richard is a really sound chap and id certainly recommend him. He is one of the busiest guys i know which really is testament to his skill and ability. Joe is a nice chap too and like Richard would always help if he could.

Cheers Andrew

I second the husky contingent. The new stihls do cut i admit but are in my opinion heavy and cumbersome. We run 560's on 8 tooth large 3/8 rims and full chisel stihl chains. . . .nothing comes close. A makita is a good shout also, gutsy, reliable, light, ergonomic and fair on fuel.

Cheers,

Andrew

Hi John,

I am located near Basingstoke and can provide training/assessment for your fmoc.

Cheers,

Andrew

Hi,

I too would happily offer some help/advice. It's never a closed door . . . .you just need to up to it and there needs to be a business need from an assessment centre. Training is very different to assessing and not everyone suits both.

Cheers,

Andrew

Hi,

560 everytime for me. Im now on my second as i replace after 2yrs, whack it on 3/8's full chisel stihl chain with standard sprocket housing and large 8 tooth rim, and my word they cut well! Never had bad troubles with them just wear and tear. As long as you tune the carb properly from the get-go to suit your fuel and again when things change i:e if its very hot or cold you'll get on just fine. Ours are thrashed day in day out on production cutting and i think itd be a hard saw to better. Never been a stihl fan although i think they are ok, just cumbersome and do like dolmars/makitas which would be my second choice. Worth trying them all if poss and tcd is right as the proof is in the timber and how it feels in your hands.

Cheers,

Andrew

Cheers for the advice. She's in bits currently so i'll whip the pump off and give it a once over then clean out the pick up. At least then i'll have explored all avenues.

I'll let you know what happens.

Cheers again,

Andrew

Hi all,

I was kindly given an old 254 which needs a touch of work. Runs well but isnt oiling. Checked the worm gear which is fine so new pump time i reckon. Does anyone have one or an old duffer that they may want to donate/sell?

Cheers,

Andrew

I have a 6400 with roof mount 570 and its very stable indeed. With a 4 pot you can slot into spaces and the tractor is very nimble. If you put a float valve in the block you dont have the back and forth crane movement, instead the rams go into a sort of limp mode and move accordingly as the tractor is driven with the crane sat on the trailer. Having run trailer cranes id never go back now ive got the roof mount as they are so versatile.

Cheers,

Andrew

If you can familiarise yourself with the qualification guidances, hse publications and the owners manual of a saw you'll be most of the way there. You could try paying for a days training in order to see where you are and go from there? There are as many 'experienced' operators that are very good and capable of passing without training as there are 'experienced' operators that just don't know or are not capable of the required standard. It is wholly dependant on what experience, consolidation and mentoring that person has had.

Cheers,

Andrew

Hi all,

I am looking for a motivated and hard working individual with an interest in forestry and timber. Applicants need to be able to hand cut to a good, productive standard and have some experience with agri-based forwarders, hold relevant qualifications and hold a full driving license.

Position based in North Hampshire-Berkshire area.

Please contact Andrew on 07748854549 or via [email protected] only.