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Quite right, we can kiln dry down to less than 6 so it doesn't even register but we aim for less than 20 and just explain to customers who want it drier that they won't gain anything. We only dry so we can keep cutting through the winter anyway and to be honest we're currently burning 30% ash on our fire with no problem. It's just a matter of providing what the customer wants.

Never had a problem with ours but if they're house dogs just make sure they're indoors and someone's with them, sometimes it's worse to change things with dogs than have 10 minutes of noise.

As a comparison, we do 800-1000 tons and get through 10 - 15 chains, depending how many snap teeth on stones, and 3 bars. Chains are sharpened after about 20 tons and that takes 10 minutes. Cost is around £500 a year plus time. Our old tajfun 400 did 3000+ tons and the only replacement parts used were 3 belts, 2 oil pipes,2 tensioning screws and a few new log holding flaps from operator error.

Do you have one of the clamps with a roller on? I find the curved ones like ours grip better, especially with the teeth.

A chain should only jam if it's blunt, in an average day we cut 15 tons and with the exception of a few bent logs which pinch briefly it will never stick until you need to change the chain at around 20 tons. I'm also curious to know if the harvester chains are any better at cutting.

What I want to do now is cut a hole in a tree, put something inside and then some glass over it and let it all seal up so there's just a window. It would make a brilliant story for children years from now. And misery for someone doing firewood years later.

Not unless you're on a massive shoot I wouldn't think, most beaters enjoy it as much as the guns. it was £20 plus food and a brace of birds here and the £20 would normally be only if you bought a few dogs.

Depends where in the country and diameter of timber. If the majority is 6-18inch diameter we would pay £45+ in mid Wales. Unless you're near me then I'll say about 20 a ton.

I would recommend a tajfun 400 for quality, reliability, production speed and price but it's mostly personal opinion. Things to consider; Chainsaw or circular saw. Saws stay sharp longer but chains are easier to sharpen especially if damaged and are cheaper. Also the machine can be physically smaller with a chainsaw. Size: go as big as you can afford and look for one with a big open splitting chamber, this limits wood damaging the machine. Splitting force: with a 6 way splitting wedge you'll want 10 ton plus. 15 is idea though for hardwood and you can go higher. Log tables: if you're using pallet forks or a grab to avoid manual handling you'll want a log table attached to extend the in feed. Power requirement: shouldn't be an issue most are less than 40hp but if you want to move them small tractors will struggle as they're normally 1-1.5tons and mounted quite far back. Unfortunately you just missed the demos at the apf but there's plenty of people on here if you find a machine you want to look at.

Haha, probably 70 years ago someone thought I'll have to remember to avoid those'.

I've been sorting logs and sharpening chains for the next couple of days cutting.

Ouch, they're big nails. Was the wood left over from hedging or just unlucky?

Yes an example of that is in this country a sheep is worth £120, it gets ill and you spend £10 on medicine and an hour treating it. It then dies and you pay £20 to have it disposed of and go and fill in the medicine book and movement book. In new Zealand a sheep is worth 50 and if it gets ill it stays on the side of a mountain. Note that I'm not particularly knowledgeable on new Zealand systems, things could well have changed recently, that's just an example.

New Zealand has 30 million sheep and only 4 million people (I might be corrected on that) so the average flock is much bigger than the UK. Also sheep are left over huge areas of land, it's a very low input system but unfortunately not practical in the UK where farms and fields are smaller. I'm all for an end to subsidies if the price would go up but a combination of free trade with Europe and continued support for European farmers would make it impossible to compete with them. As said already farms can become more intensive to make money or stay as they are and maintain small fields and hedges etc. As with all industries it's tough to find a balance.

We've stuck with arrow and like them, we have a 20kW and a 5. Only problem with the 5 is the steel handle gets too hot to open the door without a tool whereas you can do the older ones by hand.

That's quarterly figures for gdp I believe, so subsidies would be around a fifth of the total. I wonder if all the people doing the subsidy paperwork/inspections are included in agricultural gdp

We aim for a year for oak but the ash in the picture is only just over 6 months.

I think that depends on the cost of firewood. Around here where a lot of people just have a log burner and an oil or gas rayburn it can be cheaper to use wood when the oil price is high.

I think that depends on the cost of firewood. Around here where a lot of people just have a log burner and an oil or gas rayburn it can be cheaper to use wood when the oil price is high.

Yes, seems like most new machines have auto off when you lift the guard. Not that it can't be bypassed. I've been doing one of my least favourite jobs today - picking up all the small bent bits from the end of a stack. Every time I straightened one it moved another...

Yes,we've had a few requests for 6inch logs. I hate cutting them, they go everywhere in the processor. It's normally from people with rayburns who can fit in 9inch after you can give them a bit to try so it's worth double checking with people.

Looks very useful how you can move all the guards to do big stuff. We did a rare bit of contracting yesterday, it was horrible wood so we did 18 tote bags in 4 hours.

Click on your name in the top right where it says welcome. Then there's options just above the box for visitor messages.

I agree with those numbers but in my experience the moisture content is usually taken on the surface of a log if it's 15% on the outside but wetter in middle it will still burn well.

Out of curiosity if I bought wood from you and then split it with an axe would it still be 10-18% on that split face? I don't know anyone who can get it that low internally around here without a lot of time and work