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Those types of cameras are good, it might be worth putting up an old big one as well that people see (doesn't have to work) and then one of those small ones that people don't see. There was an article in the farmers weekly a couple of weeks ago about the legal side of things if you know someone with a copy and want to know about that sort of thing.

We've got the Tajfun400 joy and the bar (pro lite) seems to wear fast on that, unfortunately the joystick moves the bar at a set speed so we can't do much about the pressure. We thought that the auto off on the chain would make the bars last longer but it doesn't seem to help. Chains last about 20 tons when new then 10 tons after each sharpening and I would say the bar last 80-100 tons. The biggest problem is when the splitter pushes a bit of wood up and under all the guards which I can see as causing major damage one day. I've already had to chainsaw logs out a few times. It's still one of the best processors but it does have it's problems. Edit: We use proper chainsaw oil already but different brands of bars might be worth a look.

Husqvarna (and some Oleo macs), nearly all hard wood in Mid Wales.

My Yamaha grizzly 550 does about 13mpg but that's mostly checking or moving sheep so it's constantly accelerating and at high speeds. I could save a lot of fuel money with a diesel bike but wouldn't want to give up the speed and handling.

I think loader are the way to go if you have enough work for one. Our small Kramer is good for most things (except side slopes). They have pretty much any attachment you want and if they don't its easy enough to change the brackets and couplings on something. 4 wheel steer is a wonderful thing aswell. Bobcats are also worth a look as they come with some good forestry attachments and you should be able to get an older one quite cheap now but we had problems with the bearings going on our old one as it was tracked.

We used to put almost anything through a processor (a good one should take most stuff) but now we leave the smaller or bent stuff to chip (we're lucky to have a hardwood contract though ). Our wood looks similar to the picture that woodworks posted. I normally find that diameter is more important than how straight wood is, if there's a load of 2/4 inch stuff it takes ages to put through a processor (especially if you have joystick controls which are a set speed). I would say that it's about 3 times as fast to put 12 inch straight logs through a processor compared to small, bent stuff which is why they demonstrate with big stuff, and usually softwood.

It's the percentage of people who voted for that option I think. I'm suprised so many people use free hand, I often get the wrong angle with the guide on.

Thanks, nice to know there someone around to correct my mistakes.

I use a vice and file guide because most of my chainsaw work is around the yard. For sharpening a few chains at once for a firewood processor I use a bench grinder but its very easy to wreck the edge of the tooth with them so I usually stick to doing it by hand. It's typical the one thing I forget to put in the poll is the obvious one that everyone uses.

I knew there would be something obvious. Could an admin please edit the poll, I don't think I can.

I haven't seen anything similar so I thought I would do this out of interest. You can vote for as many as you use out of the following; 1. File guide- standard round file in a guide 2. Roller guide - Round file in a roller guide 3. Electric sharpener - Any handheld electric sharpener 4. Bench grinder - Bench mounted disc grinder 5. Powersharp - the oregon 'auto-sharpen' chain or anything similar. 6. 2 in 1 sharpener - Does the depth guages at the same time 7. Clamp on bar guide - like this 8. Other - Angle grinder, electric drill etc. 9. Freehand Let me know if I've missed anything, it should be interesting to see the results... Edit: I missed out freehand in the poll because I was too busy thinking of all the file guides. It might be added later if not just post.

If you want to tip them you ideally need a box rotator on a front end loader but they are quite expensive. Also if you want more storage area than an IPC it's worth looking at potato boxes.

Thanks for all the help everyone. I'll probably go for the 372 XP or maybe the 576 xp autotune if the vibrations on the 372 are too bad.

We can't get an Artic in so we get 6 wheelers in. A drag is a trailer and you can get them to more difficult places than an artic because it follows the lorry better (and you can take it off if you have a tractor to turn it round seperately). Edit: Nice to see 3 of us post at once

Well I'm leaning towards the 372 unless anyone thinks that autotune and less vibrations are worth the extra cost/weight for the 576. The 372 also has a higher chain speed by the look of it.

Do you get alot of kickback on a short bar with the 576?

Thanks for all your thoughts, those were the 3 saws I looked at but if you know any better ones please say. A 20 inch bar would be the maximum I would run, I would probably stick to an 18, it's just nice to have the choice in future.

I'm looking at getting a new chainsaw (currently use Oleo-mac 962 and Husqvarna 357) and thought I should get some advice from the experts. I mainly want to run 15-20 inch bars for crosscutting hardwood logs from 2-20inch but it will also be used for some felling. I'm looking at three Husqvarnas; 360xp, 372 XP X-TORQ and 576 XP AutoTune. Specs are here Will the 576 cut much faster on an 18-20inch bar than the others or is it worth saving weight and sticking to a 560xp? Any help appreciated.

The 1x37 is a good machine if you're doing small wood because it's a manual, it will also make 20+ inch firewood if I remember correctly, the only small problem is the belts wear out and there's 4 of them to change about every 100-200 tons. Our machine did about 1000-1200 tons before the cost of repairs got too much and we changed it. If you look at second hand 1x42s check if they are belt or hydraulic driven, the original ones were still belt driven so aren't as good (in my opinion).

Whats the slot like, maybe buy a cheap one from another machine and weld it in?

We don't but alot of people store wood in potato boxes so that should work. We season our wood for around 12 months after felling but you can half that for ash. Price depends on your area, I would go for £100+ not including the box but you might/should be able to get quite a bit more depending on other suppliers prices around you and the area you're in. The deposit might be a good idea but alot of people might see a £5 deposit as a good way of getting a £50 box. Have you got a way to unload boxes when you deliver them?

Quick review for anyone interested: We got a Tajfun 400 joy from Kilworth recently and it's a very nice machine once you get used to the joystick (I had previously used manual controls). Pros: 15 ton splitter - this is the best feature, most logs will go through sideways and even on 15 inch diameter oak it hasn't failed to split yet. It's also very fast. Swinging conveyor (out) - I think this an option but it's very useful Last piece of wood - This is hard to explain but two plates come up and support the end of a log which, if you cut alot of firewood you will know how annoying it is when the last piece falls in the splitting chamber before being cut. Auto off - If you open the main guard everyting pauses including the chain and conveyor which is very quick way to stop blockages. Hydraulic splitter adjustment. Cons: Changing the chain (you have to take processor chains off to sharpen them) is very fiddly (you should get at least 10 tons per sharpening on hardwood) Most of the machine is very strong but the guard above the chainsaw is a bit weak. Our chain drive belt (everything else is hydraulic) went after 100tons and was horrible to change. On 18 inch logs the splitter can force them up and bend the inside of the machine, this is the one design flaw I can think of but once you know to expect it it's ok. Anything under 15inch is fine. The price has just gone up by a few thousand as more people switch to this machine. Needs about a 45HP tractor. If your cutting big timber this is a very good machine but if you do alot of 2-5 inch logs it is slow cutting these because of the joystick being a set speed. Kilworth are expensive on new chains etc but they have been a good dealer in our experience. Feel free to ask anything else.

Yep. This was the first year we stockpiled that much in advance and we had exactly that problem so we thought if we wanted to keep stockpiling, which we will have to do if we can't get a few dry days anymore, we need to find a drying system. We can get the heat through hot water pipes from a boiler but I don't think that a heated floor will do any good because theres no where for the moisture to go. We came to the conclusion that blowing air up through a drying floor would be the best option but because of the cost I thought I would look around to see if someone had tried something similar or knew of a good system.

We store it like this and ideally want to dry it without changing the system.

Our standard firewood is 9, 12 and and a bit of 18 inch which is split 6 ways so a width of 1 - 4 inches.