gdh
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Everything posted by gdh
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Yeah, not an easy day but satisfying. The splitting was alright, around 4 ton an hour, putting it through the processor is harder work, ideally I would have a longer splitter and load it all with forks but we usually leave it as billets and most of its two bent and knotty to make straight lengths anyway.
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Finally got on top of our oversized stuff today, that's the oak oak done, now just 100ton of massive poplar to go.
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Durable fencing timbers? Do they exist anymore..
gdh replied to Matthew Storrs's topic in Landscaping
We mostly use split oak and it actually ends up cheaper than the creosote ones although that's partly because we make them ourselves. Finding straight oak is hard work though. We've been using cresote ones to make up the numbers and they're alright but it looks like they're dipped as packs so the middle ones don't get the best soaking. -
I've had both and the 560 is a better saw in most ways, just a bit less reliable but I guess that's the trade off for saving weight and gaining performance. Still miss the 357 though.
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No experience with it but this looks OK: http://www.tractordata.com/
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I see your point and in most cases I lean towards spending more to buy quality but it works out at 30p a ton and that soon adds up especially with tight margins. I've never had issues with sharpening or performance so there's no loss in production and swapping between oregon, rotatech and husqvarna on the processor there's no noticeable difference so that's not an issue. Even if you assume the cheaper chains cut slightly slower over a hundred tons for example when you hit a piece of stone or metal and snap a chain it's a lot more economical to be replacing one less than half the price.
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I would say all costs are relevant but in the case of chains it's surprisingly big, for comparison our firewood processor chains without special offers or VAT: Stihl - £26.04 New oregon - £24.36 Rotatech - £10.90 We get through 30+ chains in a year with all the saws so that adds up fast and after all the chains we've tried there's very little realistic difference although I would be tempted to go back to oregon if it lasted significantly longer. Unfortunately I've just got a load of Rotatech otherwise it would be interesting to buy an EXL and try a durability test on different brands, although awkward trying to make it fair.
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School Children getting paid for work experience
gdh replied to Darrin Turnbull's topic in The Lounge
Assuming we're talking about the week most 15 year olds do we were never supposed to be paid when I did it but those who went to small businesses and local farms usually got cash at the end. Now I'm on the other side I appreciate it's a lot of time, effort and paperwork from the employer. The idea earlier of giving them a tool or something useful is a nice one. -
What to do when you want to sell kit onHP/finance
gdh replied to Matthew Storrs's topic in Business Management
Can you transfer the finance to the next machine to minimise fees? We use a separate finance company so it's simpler but obviously if it's with 2 dealers that's not an option. Not sure about the technicalities of transferring finance to the new owner which I would be very careful about but maybe an option because it looks like it's going to cost you heavily especially with initial depreciation. -
Climber <£170 Leicestershire - must pass criteria!
gdh replied to beddowtreeltd's topic in Employment
Those are balanced out by plenty of positives and to be honest I wouldn't expect someone to pay me for being off ill anyway. Freedom to work how we want shouldn't be relegated to the 14th century, it should be the future. No point worrying about who it suits more if you're both gaining. Life would be better if we worked together rather than seeing it as two opposing sides. -
Sales have been very good this autumn to the point where we're struggling with drying enough. It's hard to tell if it's the colder weather or, more likely, that we usually put up our prices end of September (and have again). We've sold a lot wholesale over the summer which has been nice although maybe I'll regret it now it's harder to find timber.
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You'll probably get more responses if you post in the firewood forum or general. The 400 is a good choice, we've got the 300. You'll need a minimum 120hp, there's 2 versions - one for hand feed and one for crane. You can carefully crane feed the hand one but I wouldn't want to hand feed the crane version (awkward and dangerous).
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560 for me. The older 357s are great to but hard to find. Easier said than done but I would get 2 saws whatever I got because there's nothing worse than being stuck with a broken one.
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I think you'd have more luck lifting with a digger as you can wobble it to loosen it. A straight upwards pull is surprisingly hard. The downside is access and cost. Would be interesting to try one of those chainsaw winches on a frame.
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It's going to depend a lot where you are the country, here in mid Wales we can dry to less than 10% and it will balance out to 17 in a month or two. Interestingly I noticed recently that Certainly Wood who are pushing for the new regulations only average 20% on their kiln dried. Personally I think under 25 is acceptable and under 20 is good, I haven't come across a log burner that wouldn't burn that and would avoid any that did struggle.
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Sorry, we traded in at the apf. We're having the demo one from the stand so it was a quick deal.
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I am talking about winching and extraction on banks but 2 artics a day is impressive on any land. How about we meet in the middle and I'll pay you £20
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It's a worse price when you consider it's market demand not costs setting the price. Extraction is usually £30-35 a ton plus £20 standing so there's a big step to £70.
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Yes, they said you had been in earlier. Depending on condition /tonnage around 10k.
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I think half of arbtalk was there, we went on Friday and it was a good show. I didn't see any big developments on the processor side this time although we did buy another tajfun 480+. Hakki pilke look unchanged, posch had some interesting stuff and I didn't take a close look at palax.
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You've covered most of the key points, I would say a digger could also damage the yards more and might be too high for sheds but will be more flexible with a grab and can reach up and over into trailers etc. I would think you're looking at an 8ton digger with 4000+ hours on your budget. 13tonners are easier to find but might be too big.
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The gates open at 9, we arrived just gone and only queued 10 minutes but it was up to a two hour wait later so I think we got lucky. Hopefully you get straight in tomorrow but it depends how many people hear about today and go in early. Not sure about the ticket, logically it's no different on a screen though.
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I think a two child rule would actually be a reasonable way of steadying and slightly reducing the population. This fun topic has taken a dark turn...
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I would like to say cure disease etc but in reality I think we need to help ourselves for the most part - if we worked together even a lot of natural disasters could be avoided so I would sit back and just say if you do good there's a place for you in the end. Then I'd sneak up on an atheist and scare them.
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Yes, probably average 6 stakes from a log. We tend to get 15 years out of them before we think of restaking/replacing.
