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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.

I agree with most of that. The only thing I would add is that unlike your RHI example if you stop receiving subsidies you still have to stick to all the rules so the complaints are genuine in that it's not a straight choice as compared to other countries. I'm not clear on that, appreciate if you could expand? I'm just shooting off the top of my head here, I'm thinking there will be aspects of HSE, Environmental, Protected species legislation for example that we are all bound by. There are additional, comprehensive and complex cross compliance regulations, requirements and reports attached to BPS eligibility. Are farmers obliged to satisfy the eligibility demands of BPS if they are NOT drawing down BPS funds? Not in terms of the mapping exercises no but general regulations yes. I should just point out I don't have an issue with most of it, it's just a comparison to other countries that have very few rules I'm making but examples include restrictions on cutting hedges, hedges can't be removed, movement licences/passports and a record of all animals on holding and all movements, animal movement licences/tests for hauliers, medicine records, tagging with 27 days of birth, spraying licences, buffer zones, having to pick up and pay for the disposal of any dead animals (then registering the death online). Obviously there's a lot more and the general environmental /HSE regs you mentioned. Edit: sorry that's hard to read. For some reason quotes aren't working for me.

I take your point, it's a fair one. What I would add to the mix though is: planting grants don't provide any specific advantage to myself but RHI for biomass does. Subsidies are a carrot rather than stick approach. I installed a Biomass boiler for a number of reasons - personal desire to reduce CO2 footprint through lower dependence of fossil fuels and the volatility of fluctuations in the world market. There was a small cash incentive for installation and, at the time, the domestic tariff was some years off with many people believing it would never materialise. I went ahead anyway at reasonable personal expense. The "cash" to fund RHI payments was that which would have been paid by UKPLC to EU in fines for failing to reduce CO2. Hence, carrot rather than fine. I'd agree there are a broad range of "subsidies" flying around, it's only my opinion, but it seems to me, through those I speak to daily and that which I monitor on NFU websites and the media, that the biggest moaners are those that have the greatest degree of benefit from a broad range of financial and regulatory support. What really grates, and resulted in a recent, fairly energetic argument with a good friend was when farmers say they depend upon subsidies but then whine like billy-o about the regulations that are attached to receiving them. If I stop burning biomass, my RHI stops, simple really. You can't have it both ways - the subsidies are tied to actions which are intended to mitigate the environmental impact of agriculture as an industrial activity. No one, so far as I am aware, is compelled to draw down the subsidy - it's a choice. The consequence of that choice is compliance. I also struggle to reconcile how literally 10's, sometimes 100's of £1000's can be paid to farms which could be (many are) successful in their own right, but DLA/JSA/ESA, libraries, school crossing patrols, social care, NHS etc, etc, etc are all in decline. There is no threshold test to pay sub's to ag areas that would go-under without it as distinct from those that are doing very well and just getting more cash. Perhaps means testing would be a fairer way? I agree with most of that. The only thing I would add is that unlike your RHI example if you stop receiving subsidies you still have to stick to all the rules so the complaints are genuine in that it's not a straight choice as compared to other countries.

Not sure what it's like in your area but that's more like saw log price here. We pay £32-36 for 4-12inch diameter for chipping with delivery.

The problem is the only farmers who can are large, usually more intensive, farms. From an economic point of view you're right but I would rather see more small businesses be sustainable. The biggest reason I think we need subsidies (although I think they need a massive overhaul) is because UK farms can't compete with the rest of the world because of all the restrictions here. I like the fact our country has high welfare standards and we look after the environment but it's an inefficient way of farming and financially makes no sense so subsidies or higher prices are needed.