gdh
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Everything posted by gdh
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Click reply then go to advanced and scroll down until you see manage attachments then add the pic,click upload, click close window and they will appear when you post your reply.
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Thanks, it is . It still lifts the front end not the processor anyway, and it's on extra large tyres to get the pto at less of an angle. Still it's nice to have a proper tractor around.
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It's a Ryetec 40 ton, takes up to 4ft lengths for biomass.
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A few pictures of our last few weeks, we're flat out cutting at the moment which is nice. The big logs on the trailer are to be split into lengths .
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Obviously we're not losing money, that's the going rate around here, not just us. I would like more money, everyone would, but it's just about making sensible decisions. There's people around who sell for more and there's people who sell for less - it all depends on the area and the individual business.
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There's very little profit in it to be honest but we break even and it keeps us in work. We were up to paying £55 a ton for the last few artic loads. £90 is before delivery so it still leaves £35 to pay for cutting and everything that goes with it.
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Yes if it's collected, all oak and ash at the moment. Too much competition to put prices up. :-)
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How much can a wood processor with operative produce in one day?
gdh replied to TeaMonsta's topic in Firewood forum
It's a tajfun 400 joy. Feel free to pm me if you want to know anything about them. -
At the moment we're £90 for 1.8 cube which is about a ton, could probably knock a bit off for a large amount fresh. Seasoning would be an issue because it will go moldy in a heap. A shallow stack on pallets with plenty of airflow is the best way to season.
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How much can a wood processor with operative produce in one day?
gdh replied to TeaMonsta's topic in Firewood forum
We would normally do around 5 cube an hour of 9 inch but doing 18 inch out of straight 12inch diameter we could do , and have, 10-12 cube per hour. Obviously it's very rare to get perfect wood, especially with hardwood. -
Same for us - we get 1.8 out of 1 ton but it does go up a bit if you cut longer logs.
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We got our 400 from killworth a few years ago. The 480 will do 19inch. The tajfuns number is roughly the size in mm.
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The 400 joy is what we use now, it's a really good machine. I haven't seen one that can cut faster and it's reliable. From what I can see the 480 is just a slightly bigger version then the plus model adds the auto adjust and measures how much you cut but I'm guessing that it costs 20-22k
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A lot of people, including us, do dry using heat. The problem is that if the wood is wet it takes longer to dry and increases the risk of mould developing. Also to do large amounts you're looking at an investment of 20-50k so you need a friendly bank manager and have to justify any price increase to your customers.
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Has anyone had any experience with the new models? I like the look of them but I'm not sure if the electronics on the plus version are worth the extra cost.
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We were up to 90 days of rain with only 4 dry here although we did put plastic over our first 300 tons, unfortunately that ran out last week. We're lucky that we dry our wood but that's now taking 4 weeks instead of 2 or 3. We've finally had a few dry days, the problem is it's getting colder now and if the wood freezes like last year we'll be blunting chains all the time. Still it's all part of the fun of firewood. ;-)
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We peak at 60-70 cube of firewood, 10 cube of 4ft pieces for a boiler and 15 cube of chip plus 20 for ourselves. We tend to have a couple of weeks like that more than being really busy in one week because we're on a farm so there's other work to do.
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Yes, we dry the wood in a shed we converted into a kiln, it takes 3-4 weeks to do 180 cube. We dry the chip to but that's mostly for ourselves and one other regular.
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Orders seem to be picking up since snow was predicted. It's the first time this year I've started falling behind with the cutting. We're averaging 50 cube a week now and a bit of chip.
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Decide how much you want per hour for labour, divide the cost of all your equipment by the number of hours it will last, add on any overheads,fuel etc and you've got your hourly rate. Then add a bit more because it's never enough.
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Expensive logs I can deal with but it really annoys me that those chains are slack.
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Wholesale log suppliers a bit of help please I'm new sorry
gdh replied to A Hicky's topic in Firewood forum
I can't help with the logs since I'm mid Wales but if you want to put a new boiler in any time soon you should look at the rhi grant which pays for the heat you make. It's a lot lower than it was but it would still come close to paying for all your fuel and you could probably get the commercial version which lasts 20 years. Our price for big loads of hardwood is currently around £60 a cube delivered locally if you're interested but could easily be double near you. It's very hard to get unprocessed seasoned hardwood but unseasoned is £55-£60 a ton around here. -
There's farming connect in Wales which pays 80% of costs and applies to agriculture and forestry. Not sure if there's an equivalent elsewhere.
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With firewood it's worth getting vat straight away as you buy in at 20% and sell at 5%. I can't see that vat will be too complicated for you as it's the business that pays not the individual. I'm in a similar position and don't have any problems but that could because I don't make enough money.
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It would probably be worth hiring a processor in for a day, if the wood is reasonable you should easily get 20 cube done in a few hours. If you enjoy cutting the wood your self or can't get a big lot at once you could look at getting an electric splitter and a small generator, I'm sure that would be cheaper than a tractor.
