charlieb

Looking to hire in a processor for a day or two's solid work this winter. With or without operator. (We'd have someone on site to help make the most of it in any case.) If you're local (SE Scotland/borders) please get in touch with details of your rates. In any case, can people elsewhere give me an idea of what I should be paying and how much I could expect to get done in a day. It would be splitting various-sized hardwood thinnings - decent form (as anything that isn't decent gets chainsawed and taken away as rounds) and straight onto a big pile. Cheers

Thanks Idiot. We're the right end of Scotland, but still several hundred miles. Good to have a general vote of confidence in these machines, particularly the BCS as I've heard good things about the dealer. Not that it makes decision making any easier. And I saw a local Kubota dealer this morning and it turns out they're not so expensive after all. I wish all dealers would just show a list price, publicly, for all their kit and treat us like adults who can compare like for like and make up our own minds. Thumbs up to Riko for doing that.

Looking at getting a small all-terrain tractor for general estate work, including but not limited to forestry. Probably around 50 HP. Seems to be a toss up between Slovenia and Italy. (Japan seems to be significantly more expensive). Anyone got experience, good or bad, with either of the brands? I'm interested in things like durability, ease-of-repair, flex on implements, spares, etc. Thanks

Probably too late, but Andy at Blue Bear Trading does them. Seems to be 50 minimum order though. Nice guy, based in Edinburgh.

I cut alder splashbacks for my kitchen and some (indoor) window sills 7-8 years ago. It's been absolutely fine, and planed off really well. Much nicer than spruce I reckon. (But not orange as BigBeech says.) I've heard it called 'Scotch Mahogany'. Doesn't seem particularly soft to me...

£100 a cube here. Intentionally on the high side - customers say we're dryer than competition, and friendlier about helping unload. (handled out of pick up, and regularly do weekends.) And it's almost certainly a bit more than a cube. All our own wood and we don't go more than a few miles. If we had a proper processor I might start selling softwood - just because thinning lengths are so much straighter - but just hardwoods for now on an upright splitter. I do burn a bit of pine and spruce myself. Noticeably less heat per log, and resin stickiness is another downside. It doesn't make sense for customers to want them, but if there's something at £100 a cube and something else at £70 a cube they'll go for the cheap one regardless.

Great guys. Thanks. Loads to be thinking about. Heavy lift not too important - accessing small sites for thinning more so. (There is always someone around with a decent lift capacity - either contract farmer or foresters.) And getting around the yard which is an old steading. Encouraging that people think (mostly) that a smallish telehandler would be a good all round machine. Any thoughts on little alpine tractors, like the AGT 835 from Riko. I guess you can't do much without a timber trailer and grab, so the two costs need to be added.

PS I've been an occasional lurker observer on here for ages. Finally posting now. Tanks for all the info over past few years!

Hello all, I'm taking over management of a small estate in Scotland with 100ha of woodland. Most of the work gets done by proper contractors, but we sell hardwood firewood and take the odd log to a local woodmizer for sawing. We currently have an ancient 2wd Massey F with front loader and box on the back for logs. Keen to replace this in due course, so I'm just thinking out loud about what would be the best single machine for yard and woodland work. (Landrover pickup does day to day stuff btw.) I've seen the Avant loaders at APF and elsewhere and would LOVE one. But new price is miles out of range, and there don't seem to be many around 2nd hand. So I'm interested in your thoughts on any other small 4x4 telehandlers that have a decent reputation for forestry. And how they'd compare to a small 4x4 tractor (possibly proper alpine) as an all-purpose estate machine. I'd really like to get a small bandsaw mill soon, so it would be used to load that. And a PTO would be useful for flail and possibly future attachments. Likewise 3 point linkage box for firewood be useful... Any thoughts much appreciated. I'm not going to rush into buying anything: for now just trying to get thoughts in order.