Timber Man

Its commonly know as brown stain in the UK trade.

Very little, it had other uses .

Why do you suggest it would be too expensive to harvest? people are doing it all year round. I don't really see how timber could be sold on head measure? There is an argument there for contractors to be paid on head measure, but then again with some species they may be worse off.

Well one in particular did,but some of that's changing now.The landowner has a choice whether they use these companies or not. A lot of land agents are the same on management fees, and as a lot of them work on a percentage of sales on top of, have increased their interest in forestry operations. Its a question of scale in most cases.

I think its more a case of landowners would rather see it stand when the market is flat, why not its still growing unless they need the cash? Management/marketing companies make their money out of doing just that,their margins per tonne vary very little be the price be up or down,they just make higher profits by having a greater tonnage turnover when demand is there.The increased value in timber goes to the landowner, not forgetting the land agents percentage.

It has been cyclical, but the same could be said about other industries. Things have changed a lot with mechanisation, but you cannot stop that. In the mid to late seventies vast areas of land were being bought up for a few quid an acre.There was 100% write off against tax in planting and establishment grants. Business people, pension funds, pop stars, footballers all jumped in . it was a very attractive way of them avoiding tax. Most of that timber has had little to no management in the meantime. In times gone by it would have been thinned in varying stages releasing 20-30% of the stand onto the market, to leave a final crop of mature timber. During those 40 years mills have moved away from bandsaws and most of them work on a 45-50 cm maximum butt diameter. In the days of bandsaws it was bigger the better, and a final stand of timber would just be mature trees. A lot of the timber that was planted under those grant schemes has now reached harvesting size to meet the mills criteria, as soon as demand for homegrown increases people sell,as I said you can only sell it once.In a way it puts a false bottom in the market,..you only have to look at the prices standing fuelwood has been making in recent years to realise it wasn't sustainable. Obviously apart from the private landowner the FC bring more timber to market under these circumstances,which increases the demand on harvesting capacity , more machines are bought to meet demand and so on. It takes very little to start to reverse things.

Who do you mean by forest management?

When currency levels are in favour of homegrown demand standing prices increase, the export market is also favourable for chip exports , it brings a lot of timber to market, you can only sell it once. Its the marketing companies that are causing the problems with harvesting prices , along with there being too many harvesting contractors.

At todays costs maybe, but a lot of the timber that has come to market recently would be planted under different grant schemes than are currently available. A lot of it was planted on ground from which there would have been no other return. Timber growing has never been a get rich quick scheme by its very nature.

It will level itself out, it always does. Sawmills and landowners have done very well over the past 6 or 7 years.

I think there are a lot of factors at play, the softwood market has always been influenced by currency levels. A lot of mills have been carrying large stocks for the past two to three years, in years gone by stocks levels tended to decrease on the back of a hard winter,on top of that a lot of standing timber has been coming to market on the back of a strengthened demand for home grown over the past 5 years. This no doubt led to an increase in machinery levels and harvesting capacity.

I would be tempted to check bottom pulley too before you throw money at the alternator. Does it squeak on start up then go away, if it does its a good chance its the bottom pulley?

Jeez, this drags the memories up, somebody Logan partnered McManus in tag team .Rollerball Rocco, he was a handy lad,i saw him live as a kid against Johnny Saint,he seemed a little upset about something and forgot they were only meant to be playing, the cuts and blood were real that night. Harvey Smith the show jumper had a go too, Tally ho Kaye, Pat Roach who eventually went into a different form of acting.

That may be the case , but in the UK we cut milling timber at ground level,so it would hardly work. Tbh if the bottom cut of the gob is cut at ground level,.as it should be , then I cannot see how the back cut can be cut below that .

Thanks for your help Felix,much appreciated.

Cheers Felix,.someone else suggested Gumtree and bootfairs. I have been keeping an eye on Gumtree. Do you know where the bootfairs are held in Dunmow area? I am not local, so struggling on that one.

Thanks guys. Sadly very little of this stolen gear ever seems to turn up. Makes you wonder where it all ends up.This is our second hit in recent years,add that to non payers and it adds up to ridiculous amounts. The crime was reported through 101, I have since been advised that crime investigation have 7 day window to deal with a crime of this nature, gives the criminals a good head start hey.

Hi, Just a shout out about 5 saws we had stolen from a vehicle today,Great Dunmow/Badfield area. They were.. Ix husq 266 2xhusq 372 1xhusq 550 1x stihl 084, Any info would be greatly appreciated. May have serial no:s for a couple of them , but will need time to check. Cheers

In need of two handcutters for a week to ten days work in far north of Scotland. Straightforward work , cs 30 31,own saws and ppe.Day rate, we supply oil and fuel and lodge , your own food etc. Transport provided to those that can either be collected en route from Lancs or can make it to Lancs. Because of other commitments there will only be 2-3 days warning on starting this work. For the right person it could lead to regular work throughout the country and could be a great opportunity to learn cutting a variety of timber as i have been in the trade forty years. Be warned ... I do not discuss rates on board nor am i anyones"mate " untill i decide i am. I am only interested in keen applicants that have already done some cutting.... it is a long walk home. P M details or questions Thanks

Imo it is a relatively new industry that has become saturated quite quickly. Pre 87 tree surgeons were very thin on the ground in certain parts of the country and a lot of the climbing work was carried out by fallers that had the ability to climb treat is as part of their work and didnt big themselves up. Although the bulk of our work is felling for timber we do quite a bit of felling work for arb companies from time to time, we fell a lot of trees that have been earmarked for dismantling, why? because we can. Undoubtedly i have come across some very good climbers but i have also seen a lot that are pretty mediocre and will never have the ability to fell a tree as long as they have a hole in their butts and in my opinion are in the wrong game, far too many have the belief that because they have the tickets to climb trees they are someone that has the right to easy money, those days are gone in most industries now , ive been in the timber trade for almost 40 years and seen a lot of changes and tbh a lot of the newer entrants to the game wouldnt have lasted a month many years ago.

Its really more of a burry oak than a burr oak, although the chances are it is brown, if not too far gone.Looks to me theres a possibilty of shake , worm could also be a problem.

Mane thing is he didnt get the trots.

Shake in Oak is always going to be a problem in light soils, heavy clay is usually a different story. The theory always was wind movement is more likely in the lighter soils during the development of the tree.

Perhaps theyre going to grind it hey?

Yes, i think youre right on all counts. Im just a timber faller .