hawthornheavyhorses

Again would be ideal - just don't have the space.

I agree entirely, but our staffing tool a serious hit earlier in the year due to covid, so we are playing catch up and having to force dry semi-seasoned timber that would otherwise have been split and seasoned over the summer. Not ideal but if we leave the cord out unprocessed over the winter it will be too far gone and wasted, so having to compromise a bit. Trying to do it as best and least wasteful as we can.

That's what I was going to do originally, but have read some promising things about heat recovery units, so might be worth the longer term investment if I can find one that is suitable. Our firewood has always been produced/marketed as sustainably as possible, so this would also help keep those credentials. Just need something that can cope with higher temperatures than a bog standard domestic unit.

I've actually been running one of these for a couple of years. We have a very small firewood operation, only about 4-8 cube per week on average. I much prefer it to crosscutting and splitting with a normal splitter which I still do with large stuff. I have both 4 and 6 way knives and it's great for 5-12 inch stuff. Whilst it's not ergonomically perfect, it's less physically demanding than swinging a saw about all day, uses less fuel and saves on wear and tear to saws too. Yes it's a bit of a faff to use, and it's not the fastest, but the reason I went for it is: 1. It's small so doesn't need much storage space and I can move it around the yard on my own 2. It's self powered - I have no tractor to run a pto 3. It's really simple basic engineering. Bars/Chains/Sprockets are dead cheap. Both RSL Engineering and Rock machinery can supply parts if needed. It works for me, I can see us upgrading in future, but for now it does the job!

Hi All, Not been on here for a while, but hoping someone might be able to give me some advice. I'm building a kiln from a small insulated container. I have a heat source and fans, but am looking for a suitable heat exchanger for venting. Is anyone able to point me in the direction of one that would be suitable for this sort of application? Many thanks, Matt

Thanks Steve, advert done!

Hi Steve, When I try to post the classified I get the message below. That's directly after I click "Submit Advert" and then select "Timber Sales". I don't even get the opportunity to enter any info. Quite happy to pay for the Advert, not trying to avoid it, so let me know when it's fixed and I'll do it properly Matt Sorry, there is a problem You cannot create adverts in this category: missing PACKAGE INFO, TYPE or ITEM CONDITION. If you have already created them, edit your category and choose which ones the category will use. Contact the system administrator. Error code: CL-SUBMIT/1

Hi All, Sorry if this is a bit cheeky to post on here, but tried and failed to put an advert on the classifieds page as kept getting errors. We're going to be taking 200-300 tons of mixed hardwoods out of 2 sites near Havering-atte-Bower on the Essex/London border over the course of the winter. Mix of sycamore, oak, hornbeam and ash as part of a conservation thin. Mainly sub 15 inch but will be a few larger (potentially a few half decent saw logs in amongst them too). Good access for Rigid lorries with hard standing, have had 8 wheelers at each site in previous years no problem. Not sure about Artic access as may be too tight, but welcome to come and visit to see. Just on the border of the LEZ but can be accessed without going through the zone if necessary. May be able to help with organising transport if necessary. Price is £45/t+VAT at Roadside. Will be felled and extracted over the next 6 months. Please PM me or contact me on 07814 003787 if you are interested. Matt

Ah yes, not sure we've met but know the name!

It's a small world in the working horse business! Who was it out of interest? (DM me if you don't want to post on here!)

Fair question! From a practical perspective the horses have significantly more pulling power than a quad, and cause less ground damage in the process as the wheels aren't driven so they don't dig into soft ground in the same way. Also the locking axle rather than stabilising legs means it's much quicker to stop/start around the woods to load up. Aside from all of that it's a big USP for our business and is a lot of fun to drive/use!!

Yes it has a hydraulic foot brake - pretty much essential with these weights on steep sites. Also has a lock to act as a parking brake, and the front axle locks hydraulically to stabilise when using the crane.

Depends on your sites I guess - we certainly won't be using it in every wood that we work, and where we do primary extraction is still often via skidding to internal rides or racks, but the forwarder then allows us to take on larger jobs and longer extractions that simply aren't possible without some level of mechanisation. We can move twice as much timber per day as a manual forwarder and stack much higher but retaining most of the benefits of being horse drawn. This Honda petrol engine runs at just above tick over and only when loading/unloading and only uses 3-4l unleaded per day, so much less disruptive and no more polluting than a saw to be honest. They hydraulics are as small as possible to reduce pollution risk. In terms of costs, it was 20% of the price of a new Alstor! It just made much more sense to our business model than going fully mechanised for secondary extraction, but certainly won't work for everyone.

Yep, 500t coming out this year!

There is definitely work out there. We tend to specialise in SSSI's, Nature Reserves and Parks mainly. We're fully booked this season (Sept-April) and taking bookings for next season already! Summer tends to be more shows/demos/carriage rides/weddings but it's good for the horses to have a change. They keep us busy throughout the year, we'll never be rich but we love what we do!

We're stacking into Roll-on-roll-off platforms that get loaded onto a skip lorry and taken away by our buyer. Works quite well as saves space and double handling too! Look like this close-up.

He's a star in it - best of the three!

Yes, although we ended up getting a slightly larger one after taking advice from the manufacturer - it was the right move although means it needs 2 horses if we have any significant slopes, but that's no hardship and the balance of weight/size/strength/payload is perfect for our needs!

Thought I'd share some pics of our new forwarder that we recently imported from Finland. It is proving most useful!

Hi All, I am considering buying a lorry to haul my own timber to local buyers. I need to get some insurance quotes, and wondered who you guys use for your Forestry/Arb trucks? Also any idea on premiums for an owner/operator would be great! Many thanks, Matt

It is indeed. Really nice saw, but hardly gets used, and keep thinking it should maybe go to a collector rather than gathering dust. Then I use it, and then change my mind and decide to keep it! Tempted to put it on eBay and see what it makes based on this thread though!!

D'oh, meant 143!! Stupid fingers, not sure why I wrote 166!

Blimey, that did go for a lot of money!! I've got a 166 in excellent condition, full working order, 25 inch bar with 2 good chains. It was serviced by Spud 18 months ago, only used a handful of times since and I've always run it on Aspen. What sort of money do you think it's worth??

Indened! I am using mini-forwarders (e.g. Kombidrag) and pole/scandinavian arches like this as much as possible to keep everything as clean as I can at the moment - it certainly keeps timber prices up which is good for business! However you do need space, but still a lot less than a machine that could pull the equivalent! There are some nice smaller arches that Logrite do which would help - then need a bit of adaptation too to work with the horse - I am sure I will be speaking to David about that in due course!!

Hi David, It's a great peice of kit - thanks for letting us have a play! Like the video too Going to have to start saving for one for myself!! Cheers, Matt