Ilnumero

This is something I have been involved in for years. It’s a hard game trying to sell milled timber . My associates and I have quite a lot of machinery between us; we have a large rack bandsaw, two modern mobile bandsaws and several Alaskan-type mills, so we can cover just about any situation. We also have a stock of about 50 tonnes of good round timber of all sorts of species at any one time. The few customers that turn up always want it a bit thicker, wider or longer than we have in stock, or a different timber. Nothing ever seems right for them, so milling on spec doesn’t work. We do buy wood in for specific orders but not just because it’s available. For example. I go and buy an oak stem 16’ by 30” for £50. Bring it home, spend two or three hours milling it, cutting the slabwood into firewood (also needs splitting) and stacking the boards or beams and clearing up the waste. I’m now into about £150 or so. Fuel and machinery depreciation not included. I now have some boards or beams of a size that’s just not right for anyone, so that doesn’t work. Okay, you might come across sawlogs as part of your tree work, but one free log to you only saves £50. If I was then to make something from it, garden furniture, fine furniture, log store, sheds, fencing, shepherds’ huts etc, then I will use a lot of time and probably need a lot of workshop machinery and space to do that. And I still don’t have a customer, so that doesn’t work. If you think of milling timber for customers, there are very few who can see the value in that. Who pays £300 for you to go to their site, set up and mill a few logs for a trailerful of planks? It’s finding the customers that’s the hardest part. Having said all that, on a positive note, I find that although our milling machinery doesn’t make a living for us, it’s great to go and mill something for yourself for your own projects. My mill is used several times a week and probably pays for itself in savings through not having to go to Jewsons and buy rubbish. You can’t go to many timber shops and get a few boards of chestnut or beech or ash or cherry. It’s a very rewarding experience but not a profitable one. Please remember, this is Just My Opinion. I am not giving a negative opinion because I could see you as competition, I’m 300 miles away from you. If I had an established arb business like you have I would very much concentrate on building up and expanding that. After all, it’s what you know and are experienced at. If anything, your main business generates arb waste that can be processed into firewood, that’s a direction you might want to expand into.

It's easier to mill the timber in method 2, as in the pictures above, and will give a better surface finish. I have built a shingle jig myself and am now finishing off a modified version, actually very similar to the one pictured above. The cants are clamped onto a frame that lifts with cams to give the angled cut. Well worth the effort of building a decent one.

Have you tried equestrian suppliers? Our local stables use a lot of bags as bedding, they just wet it a little and the pellets fall apart. Very popular.

The problem with involving the insurers for such a small claim is that the OP's father will most likely lose some of his no-claims-discount and have a fault claim on his record. Next year, when it's renewal time, the insurers ramp up the premium, and for the next four years too. Remember the question - 'have you had any claims or accidents in the last five years?' The increase in premiums will far outweigh the cost of settling directly. I know this from bitter experience - some t**t insisted he went through my insurers for knocking off his number plate (stuck on) in a car park. Result - £783 claim against me! And my insurer thought that was a reasonable claim for the damage done.

Snowing here, 1 1/2" so far. We are at one of the highest points in Kent, so always get lots more than in the village down in the valley.

Ok, no problem, but it'll have to be after 20th. I have a real job too (as well as playing with wood) and won't be around. I'll give you a call when I get back and make arrangements for you to come up. I have to liaise with the JCB driver too, as he can load up for you. Located in Sevenoaks

I'm glad I wasn't the only one. Genuine offer, first trailer-load at no cost.

Ok eggs, your post sounds like a question, the OP sounds like a statement. And for that, to Flarris - I am humbly sorry. And if you come to the yard with an Ifor trailer, the first load will be at no cost.

In the first line of his post......

No Mark, but the OP stated that he wasn't interested in 'doing logs', giving the impression that he was looking for logs for purely personal use. If that was the case, I might let them have a trailer load every few months for not a lot. It's a different scenario when one suggests that the logs are for personal use, maybe in order to get them for a better price or have someone look on them favourably, then to discover that they are in fact selling them on, 'doing logs'. That doesn't sit well with me as there could be a perceived element of insincerety there. I always believe in doing business fairly and honestly. It's just unfortunate that the two related threads happened to be next to each other at the time. This is just the way I see it, others will, I'm sure, see it differently.

Selling to Rye Oil, though.

I have been using them on all my saws and can honestly say that I can't tell the difference between a Rotatech at £5 or a Stihl one at £21.

Beech says to me - furniture carcasses, school desks, lovely hot fire! I would take beech over any other timber for the fire. As to its value and desireability, it seems to be out of favour nowadays. I had a superb beech stem, 4'6 dia, about 6 tonnes, couldn't get anyone interested so it's all ringed up for next winter's stove fuel. I have another 15 ton load to pick up as I couldn't find a buyer for any of that either. I do like it as a woodworking timber though and I have several tons of spalted that I'm sawing into turning blanks, so maybe that's its future - let it go mouldy for a year and then sell it.

Definitely a telegraph pole. I have seen them washed up on Strathy beach and Bighouse beach from time to time, so not a million miles from where you are. I do wonder where they come from, though. Fish boxes I can understand......

I made some 1" boards for my trailer from lleylendii, which is a similar timber, stringy and light. I have to say that it is an excellent timber for this, quite shock resistant when lobbing large lumps into the trailer, fairly tough for dragging things over it and light enough not to add too much weight. I just gave it a couple of coats of creosote (real stuff) and it has weathered very well living outside. I would imagine willow would be equally as good. Just one tip, make sure the boards are dried before fitting as the shrinkage is shocking.

I did see these on ebay last year for varoius models, could still be listed there.

I still have the pulp tongs I bought for that job, Stihl ones, I think, and do use them all the time. I wouldn't be without them, a very useful tool.

No, this was a chap called Richard, came down from Yorkshire to do some clearing after the storm. Big guy, one finger missing, drove a G-Wagon. The Militant was a beast, no power steering. Had a 20 ton Boughton winch on the front that was used to pull it laden back up the steep banks we were clearing. Also had an enormous hiab and timber grab. Worked on a NT site for over a year and still didn't seem to make much of an impression. 650 acres, 95% down. Good times.

I started cutting in 1986 and all pulp had to be 2m length if it was up to 12" diameter. Between 12 and 16" dia, it was cut at 8' for pit props. Anything over that diameter, it was laid out and sold individually as sawlogs. All the pulp and props were hand-balled onto piles and collected up with an AEC Millitant 6x6 truck, all very physically intensive. I worked for a contractor, self-employed, for £35 a day but never took the money. Instead, I took a log, selected by me. It went on my trailer straight to a local sawmill who milled it once I had a decent pile. I did have some fine timber. I worked through the bonanza times after the great Storm in 1987 and we all thought we had a lifetime's worth of timber but it didn't last long at all. I've got my own mill now and still get a real buzz opening up a log and tuning it into good timber.

The term 'Cordwood' is used round this part of Kent to describe any sort of small-diameter timber, usually destined for firewood. Probably because there was so much coppicing in this area, it's hung on in our terms and was, and still is, used as a measure as well as a general description. I thought is was a common term everywhere. 30 years ago I was cutting 'pulp' for the manufacture of newsprint but that has probably declined dramatically along with the decline in newspaper sales. I haven't heard that term for a while. It's all 'biomass' now, a completely un-inspiring word, sounds like some kid's had an accident in his pants!

I found that as soon as I bought my mill, all my potential customers disappeared.

Maybe the OP has a big order for cricket bats....

Register it as a historic vehicle, still need to apply for tax but fee is nil. I have a large collection of vintage tractors and registered many of them myself, some with the original number where supporting documentation was available and some with an age-related plate. Easy enough with the forms you have ordered. DVLA need proof of age which can be in the form of a letter from the manufacturer saying serial number xxx was built on such a date. No mot for tractors of any type (I have modern ones too).

The DVLA have a list of 'approved' clubs that can help you with registering your tractor. Or there are independent people like Thomas Andrews, 01726 883195, who specialise in tractor registrations. You will need to register your tractor as you'll be amazed how many times you want to move or tow something or do a bit of mowing somewhere, all on the public highway. I'd be totally lost without mine.