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That's pretty much my argument, although kiln-dried does have its benefits. There's, thankfully, no official definition of either and for personal use I work off; under 30 burnable, under 25 good, under 20 perfect rather than how it's produced. The only reason kiln-dried is so popular is because it gives a degree of guarantee. Seasoned can be anything so people buy wet wood and assume that's how it all is whereas kiln-dried is nearly always good because it tends to be sold by larger suppliers and people complain when it's not bone dry. Also in some places people can't air dry to less than 20% so kiln-dried has an advantage there for more sensitive fires. We kiln dry but only because we sell so much now it's easier to cut and dry through the winter than do it all in the summer and need vast amounts of storage. We don't mention it much in advertising, just that we sell dry wood all year round.

I don't think there is a definitive answer but in the winter if we dry wood to below 10% and put it in a dry shed for a month it goes back up to 16. It doesn't go much above that after though and that's ideal for burning anyway. As long as the garage hasn't got water in it or blowing in I can't see it getting damp to the point where it becomes an issue, arguably after a few years wood gets really dry and light instead. Out of a few hundred customers it's only the ones who have outside stores who have any problems in my experience.

I tried to sell bulk loads last year but only managed 2. The problem is finding someone close enough to take it but far enough away to not take your customers. We can do unseasoned for £62 a cube plus vat from the yard but it was delivery that wiped out the profit selling it on for most people (they charged 85).

Good firewood, we've sold hundreds of tons with no complaints. Helps that it looks and burns like Ash. ;-)

IIs it stuck fully out or a little bit? If it's fully out they can jump out of the runners as they get older. It's hard to fix but the easiest is to look down the ram to where it comes out and see which way it's bent then use a long bar/hammer to straighten it and it should pull back in. I do it with the machine on. If it's very slightly out, it's nearly always bark behind the ram and you can hear it hissing. Leave the machine on and sledge it back and it will work temporarily. To fix it put the tractor on minimum revs, use the splitter then turn off the engine while the splitter is fully out. It takes about an hour and a long screwdriver to unblock it but you can just get in through two square holes under the machine and a 2inch gap above the splitter. Or as said if it's lifted up it could be a slither you need to get out or you might get lucky with a sledge.

I think it works if you don't include the tractor, they normally take a bit more than 200 days.

I expect you've looked at them already but 12 way splitters are only good on large diameter timber, for smaller logs you have to switch back to a 6 way, or similar, or you get logs that just make an outer layer of kindling on the ring. If you're going to make one it should be splayed out at the back so it gets bigger as the log goes through and avoids blockages. Edit: just watched a video of the 450 and it looks pretty good. Only things that let it down are the splitter isn't dual speed (faster on smaller logs)and the controls are a bit scattered instead of a one handed joystick. Also noticed it runs a harvester bar, it might be quicker on a standard bar but I guess it's faster than the splitter anyway.

We use a tajfun 480+ on our old 35x which just powers it with 2 men and a loader (the big tractor below was a one off for contracting but I deleted all my decent pictures). With that we do 5cube/10 bags an hour into boxes to dry it in. With large diameter straight timber we'll be more and we peak on 50cm softwood on the 12 way splitter which is very rare but we can do 16cube plus an hour. All of those increase if we're just doing it into a heap and it's worth mentioning that we chip anything under 6 inch to save messing about with it. This is it working ; https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=337726996630041&id=260687344334007 If that doesn't work just scroll down the page a bit; https://www.facebook.com/hormannsfirewood/

That seems very high unless they're for milling. It's normally £30+ for felling/extraction (by hand on banks) so with delivery it would cost £85 a ton for someone to buy. For tidy firewood logs we're paying just under 60. I would pay 15, maybe 20 the way prices are going but if you can sell it for milling or get cheap extraction good on you ;-)

That's what I was thinking of, should be on all the bigger machines in a few years. They all nick the best ideas from each other

I quite like those splitters instead of changing knives, our 12 way is horrible to lift out, only problem with those is the 4 way part isn't very good, I would prefer to have one that lifts really high and has the 4 way on the bottom.

Copy of my post on the other thread : As always with prices it depends where in the country you are but I wouldn't advise charging by cube except for regulars because you don't know what the logs will be like - having a lot of small or short/knotty logs will really reduce your production. If it's production speed you're after it's usually better with someone on the loader unless you're doing softwood with a big table. I try to avoid going out but with all new machinery, including a telehandler and 2 men we needed £70 an hour plus transport. That meant we couldn't compete with the people who charge £30 an hour and tow their processor for small jobs but for commercial, as I assume you want, we worked out at 10-15 a cube which is fine

I've pretty much switched completely to rotatech now for all our saws and tajfun 480 processor. They have a few minor issues like the initial stretch but they match the performance of other chains and beat them in value. I've lost the odd tooth but never snapped one, although I've snapped a few oregons

As always with prices it depends where in the country you are but I wouldn't advise charging by cube except for regulars because you don't know what the logs will be like - having a lot of small or short/knotty logs will really reduce your production. If it's production speed you're after it's usually better with someone on the loader unless you're doing softwood with a big table. I try to avoid going out but with all new machinery, including a telehandler and 2 men we needed £70 an hour plus transport. That meant we couldn't compete with the people who charge £30 an hour and tow their processor for small jobs but for commercial, as I assume you want, we worked out at 10-15 a cube which is fine.

I think it would probably be fine... Right up to the point that one dodgy box snapped and landed on your pickup We use one with a top and side bar which works well but as you say they're not cheap and a decent one will weigh the same as the ibc so you'll want a stable loader.

Nice to see a 35 out and about. How do you split the beech after you ring it woodworks? We've been back to cutting this week and did well today with 19 tons including 5 with the saw out of the smaller stuff and sorting the nicer logs to make posts.

Shouldn't be, ours uses chain oil and they still stretch but they are fine after the first sharpen. It could be more noticeable on processors because they run at a higher speed and I tend to run them very tight so logs don't pull the chain off.

It's strange the range of opinions on rotatech, other than the stretchiness and a few snapped teeth (which I got with oregon anyway) I've had no issues. We normally use them on a firewood processor but gave them a go felling this week and a new chain did almost a full day felling alder without sharpening which was the same as the husqvarna chain on the other saw.

If no one posted there machinery there would be a lot less to look at on this forum, it's not like we're posting details of our security. Besides, I expect most people here spend a lot of time and money advertising what they have anyway.

Here's a few of ours.

We sell 95% hardwood and cutting softwood is definitely quicker because softwood is more consistent in size and straight. I usually do (on 9 inch) 5 cube of hardwood into boxes per hour or 9 of softwood but a lot of that is because the softwood is big enough to split 12 ways - if the timber was straight and the same dimater there wouldn't be much in it. Fastest we've ever cut is 18inch softwood into a heap at 17cube per hour. Hardwood is harder work for the processor but other than wearing the chain faster we have no problems. The splitter only strugges if a bent piece slips sideways.

I think we should all support all our industries and try to keep as many industries here as possible. I've nothing against importing what we need but I would rather support local products when they're available. In terms of farming I would prefer a tax on imports from countries that don't have the same standards as us but subsidies are a way of keeping food prices down for everyone while helping farmers afford to farm to Britain's high standards. To put subsidies another way - if I was a tree surgeon and one day the government said I had to keep a record of every branch I cut and which cut I used, only cut certain days of the year, use a special type of very expensive fuel etc I would have to put my prices up. That would be annoying but not a problem unless they allowed tree surgeons from other countries to come and do it cheaply without any restrictions in which case I would need help from the government to compete with them. Not the best comparison but you get the point.

I see a lot of posts from you about farming and, although I suspect you're playing devils advocate, you seem to use examples of bad practice to judge the industry as a whole instead of viewing them alongside all the good that farming does and don't seem to have much knowledge of the industry. I could of course be wrong. In terms of overgrazing etc it's easy to say we should cut back but while there is plenty of improvements to be made the biggest issue is that Britain doesn't produce enough food to feed itself. Importing food is easy enough of course but it's only cheap and easily available because it comes from countries with less environmental and welfare regulations so it's just moving the problem not solving it.

We started off selling offcuts of oak stakes 20-25 years ago, built it slowly then started really pushing about 8 years ago and put a drying system in 4 years ago so we could keep cutting through the winter. Depending how much time and money you want to invest I would say start with adverts in local papers/newsletters and on Facebook. Get a cheap website with all your details and prices on - it saves people phoning up with the same questions all the time. Find loyal customers and deal with any complaints quickly - a bad reputation travels faster than a good one. Get a pickup and get it signwritten - unless you're a terrible driver Try not to sell out - easier said than done but it's easy to lose customers like that. Find a way to dry your wood, everyone seems to have a moisture meter now. Don't bother processing by hand unless you enjoy it, buy a processor or hire one in for a while It's hard to make money small scale (and large scale to be honest) but it is possible. Good luck.

To be honest, if you can fit down the gaps and do a few tons an hour you should cover costs and have a happy customer, don't see the problem myself. It's a rare treat to be felling on flat land.