theflyingscotsman

Yup TU16...good winch

Yup sadly new Tifors are pricey but then last a long long time... The best place to buy a used one is eBay or gumtree.. I picked up my tirfor for £40 from gumtree.. eBay expect to pay £200-300 for a clean one with handle, rope and pulley Older less pretty ones have gone for under £100.. I sent most if last year hunting the perfect combo.. I good all round package is the TU16 power and weight is spot on. I use it a lot as I've no tractor mounted winch. I've not used the Jet/Yale/Ace lighter winches and from everyone's comments they must be good. My best advice is to buy a hand winch no bigger than 3200kg pull Good luck let is know what you get

Lug alls are a compact winch and are very light and are ideal for hung up softwoods... Tend to be less power but less weight... Mine is 500kg pull I think.. The one with blue handles.. The red handle ones are slightly bigger at about 1500-2000 kg pull?! eBay search them I was going to buy one new from the USA for about £150 inc. p+p if memory serves.. I got a used one from eBay for £80 all in.. Just save it in your searches so when one comes up you know..

I have a Tirfor Tu16 and a lugall. IMHO: I had a Jet style winch it was five ton and was not a patch on the smaller Tirfor (1.6t lift/3.2t pull) The TU16 can be bought for £100 and is a very safe bet. Light enough to carry strong enough to pull some big stuff over safely. The 'tirfor like' winches are 'okay' but not something that's advised. The smaller ones may he better. The 5 ton one took ages to winch in and weighed what it could pull. Tifor £ for £ is the way forward..

I meant more for working stuff...as another warning to the buyer that is second hand..... ie: listed as spares and repairs, but in truth in working order.. But you just are unwilling to give guarantee or warranty as it's a used bit of equipment. What your stating is that someone has been fraudulent in there description. I'm saying you can be very detailed with a listing to lessen the chances of back lash by the buyer. eBay is still good if you keep abreast of the scammers and look through the gaps to find some real bargains, but yet expect whatever you buy to possibly have some quirks! And should be factored in to the initial cost if the item... Two very different things.Haha!

Rock machinery are selling them I think

Like most things in life these days there are ways that you can watch your back a little here: like selling your saw as 'spares and repairs' in the condition box: if you do this even on working saws there's no come back always list things as no returns in postage section and in listing description. eBay have full access to your messages box even the deleted ones of it the chap was pleased with it they'll know. If not point them in that direction as it's 'evidence' eBay these days for the most part is folk selling Junkers and getting high prices for them ( not that I'm saying the 357 was a junker!) When I sell anything on eBay I keep all the communication through eBay. Make the listing and description so everyone's fully aware that it's second hand and may break so I offer no warranty and List it as spares or repairs.... If it IS really dodgey I will take an offer away from eBay and take cash from someone (who has already been pre warned it's not 100%) then there's no come back. I've been stung a few times as a buyer and sadly your eyes your witness and it's always a gamble on eBay.. New 357 around 600-700 eBay going for around 250.. Sadly your buyer got what he paid for. A good working saw until he likely bug gered it up. Don't feel bad you did your part and he took the gamble. We all know it just takes too little oil and games over..insert more coins!! Most second hand stuff gets sold because it's needing 'upgraded' buy the seller.. Roughly meaning it's heading down the road of needing repaired more often.. If you ain't good at fixing stuff don't buy anything from eBay. With your saw, he took the gamble, tough luck, that's life....don't feel bad and stand your ground....

Ah I see...I find a max team of four can be a handful...never mind 'teams' (shudders)

Well..sort of..at the grand old age of 32 I have plenty of aches and pains.. Graft naturally buggers your body..I can't imagine how bad my temple like body will be when I'm 40-50-60 years old.. I think a two man team is fine (with another temp for bigger work) I will always work with someone as it's no good if your hurt and can't work..always have a plan B! (Not actually the singer though) Job and knock every day I agree would be very bad for business... But it is hugely appreciated by workers if I do it maybe three times a month or so...unless I'm busy then it's seven days and 8am til dark... They don't mind doing it as they get some overtime. The gate has to swing both ways for it to be successful. A greedy boss or worker no one wins..

I'm 32 and a 1/2 However I feel a lot older most days.....and would love to work alone...

Haha. I had a nightmare from about feb until mid august due to lazy useless workers...feeling the benefits of a great crew now...work time has literally halved on most jobs. Shows you just how much you have to carry some people.. We're busy year round due to three businesses but at This time of year time is less crucial as the summer contracts stop around the end of October so after a long summer I slacken off on the amount of graft asked of them for a month or so. The logs sales are flying so any and work continues to pile through the door. But...however much I like money... I think it's more sensible to ease off a touch so we can all catch our breaths. I'd like to keep them for a few years as well so it's best to look after them.. Not that I'm a soft touch...my bark can be as bad as my bite...the first 4 chaps this year found that out swiftly

Shane, that's how I am... As you say if the days wages and profit are made quickly sometimes my workers are away after lunch...it allows me to catch up on quotes/books etc...I was an employee once.. If they graft and use their brains and generally 'help' me be profitable and efficient and keep the customers happy I couldn't care less if the full 8 hour shift is done or not.. Their fulfilling their job, I make sure if they do it quickly and professionally everyone wins if we're all happy.. The less I have to think about the better good guys can be a god send...bad guys are a total waste of time and money and are a pain in the hoop.. Here's to the good guy's may we all find them quickly..

Hi, It's heavily dependent on what your trying to achieve.. 20 cube in one go is going to take a lot longer than 2 cube part seasoned! I have around 60 tons processed, just part seasoned and not really salable unless I finish them off! I can't see it being viable long term as you can't get cheaper than free air! But I'll try and make it as efficient possible just now.. As I said previously I charge for disposal so I've made a bit on the wood already so a bit on electric doesn't fluster me too much. If my margins where tighter I'd keep it all until later on next year.. I've opted for a smaller system that's a faster turn around and as high a heat as I dare.. Chaps that already have kilns on the go would give you better advice than me as I've had mine three weeks! But 'touch wood' it all seams to be going fine at the moment..

I will take a few tomorrow.. It's awkward to do anything else bar hand ball the logs in a stacked neatly... A very rough estimate it could cost up to £15-20 per day in electric or around a £10 a day on red diesel genny..but you have to put up with the noise. I'm very much still in the testing/streamlining period. Anything else bar super fast heat and regular venting would have been useless to me as I need around 10 cube a week and demand growing daily... So if I retain that business level until next year when I've built a few solar kilns and air dried a lot more!! I am well aware of the fact that air is free and speed drying costs but didn't want to let my customers down so rolled those dice Seeing its construction it would be simple enough to make a slightly bigger one for pallets and your kindling. I went for 'plug and play' as I'm new to kiln drying.. But knowing what I know now you could built a very close copy for peanuts... I price the original cost of the Koetter 'flat pack kiln' the smallest one being £5000 and the largest one in the range was £10000... My one is in the middle somewhere.. Initial test where on 30% (as I said part seasoned) stuff now I'm seeing how it goes with really green timber.. I also have half an eye on producing some fancy mantles from large yew and cherry tree which have to come down this winter....

It's a long story but it's a Koetter Dry Kiln heat-vent..a company bought out by Nova dry kiln. It was a toss up between Kiln drying and buying about 150ish cube from a competitor. I can spend a bit on drying as the wood is all arb/forestry waste which I charge disposal on. The kiln takes about 2 1/2 cube of part seasoned wood and dries it in about a day - a day and a half at 60oC Bit of extra work and really a bit of a punt but I've modded it to heat up as quick as possible and slowed the high speed circulation fans down a bit on start up via a speed controller. If it keeps me selling wood and keeping my customers happy until Mother Nature finishes air drying the rest of my supply I'll be happy..

Yup very busy edinburgh direction too....I've bought a kiln to keep up with demand...

Oh I know that sinking feeling: bought a second hand Ranger a few years back drove it from London to Scotland it promptly broke down and sat being fixed for three months!!! And about £4000 later my 'new vehicle' was road worthy...for a month...£1000 later it seams to be better with a year of trouble free motoring.. When you get a Cun...Lemon cough.... Of a motor you can't win sell it fast or you will have to keep it forever to get some money back out of it... 8000 purchase price 4000 initial fixes Around 2000 small fixes.. £14000 for a ranger that's now done 87,000 oh my..... Good luck hope the landy feels better soon!

My friends a mechanic and had advised me to go for an old disco as the parts are cheap(ish) and plentiful...old commercial ones seam cheap....

Don't use this rope for anything ....it may look pretty... But that's it... You can literally tie it to a post lean back and it will break... And I'm not fat.. You can also buy it for about £2.99 a roll so 8.95?!? I'd research marine type rope...long lengths and strong... Not the cheapest though

Ah cool thanks for the offer but my plans are to buy a Wallenstein soon and to get it modded into a wood production beast thanks again for the offer

Ah I see... Nothing wrong with a wee mod to speed things up

Very true: the big boys in my area who buy in and invest thousands in equipment are selling for £45 per cube madness... My woods all free/waste or labour/skill exchange for it. Makes me have a nicer life throughout the worst of the scottish winter... I sell at £80 per bag no over heads and a very realistic view on growth... I also have access to around 400. Customers through my other parts of the business. The ones with stoves/fires only buy from me so it's a no brainer. I plan to simplify the firewood next year and pre sell the wood before the winter and store/ deliver the logs once the customers paid the full amount up front. That means I can have a stock but not sell out and stock to order.. Easier to keep customers happy.. For example: 10 customers taking 10 bags per winter on pre pay would be £8000 going in to the winter.. I have 6 pre pay customers already and stock for Next year to take on about 30 customers. Good luck to everyone if there is a wood apocalypse...log war or perhaps a giant bun fight

Yes I was a bit puzzled as do you not need both hands to operate the machine? Most look like they bear hug the log and make sure you have both hands on the levers before the wedge comes down.... It's the length of the log not diameter that counts... I could see my one struggling to try to get through a knotty 2'x2' but when your trying to process firewood to sell my normal size is 6-10" Thus a 2' x10" round should be pretty easy work for anything over 4/5tons.. My ones 4 and 8 tons (fast/slow lever) and crunches through knots.. Only thing thats stopped it, is wood which has got a bent grain like bad forks multi stemmed junctions (for the want of a Better word!) I also process a few bags if 1 1/2 foot logs through the machine.. Can't fault it... I thought the chap was looking for an opinion on cheap do it all splitter... If the cheap vertical is more suited to small stuff and cheap horizontal can do both.... Thanks for your response though I looked for months before I look a punt on the northern tool one...well chuffed..

This is my old beast: Supercab... Good access and space behind the seats.. Good compromise between single cabs and double: 4x adults is a squeeze Possibly a bit out your budget but the L200 Long bed or. LB is probably going to be my next motor..... Happy motoring

Yup mobiles getting to be a 'biggy' these days: Leave it in the van (out of sight) Be respectful of your bosses equipment (he was like you once and has grafted to buy it all so you can have a job...look after it and it'll look after you..) Be keen...even on the crap jobs even if no one else is...bottom rung stuff is your department..do it with a smile Keep in mind there's a huge difference between fast and efficient and plain hashy...that will earn you a dressing down although you may feel like your horsing through the work.. If you ever want to skive when the boss is away: work faster and make sure your work is 110% then do it while waiting for his return...if the work is endless, keep working no one likes a skiver.. Once your a wee bit more experienced: look at the company procedures and analysis them, if you occasionally come up with a way to make things more efficient discuss it with your boss: none of us are perfect and can all miss things from time to time...this will help him and in turn help you.. These are my gems of knowledge good luck and stick in