duncanswood

Hi All, I have been extracting some oak butts from my woodland and would like to get them slabbed. The biggest is a handsome piece of pippy oak about 40 inches diameter at widest. Butts have been towed to level ground in private wood near Catsfield, East Sussex TN33. If anyone local-ish has a mobile rig and would like a day's work please do get in touch. Many thanks, Chris

I use an Igland 3201 3 tonne winch purchased a couple of years ago from JASP Wilson. It was not overly expensive, works every time, is quiet, not a heavyweight, mechanically it is simple and straightforward with very little to go wrong. There may be better winches out there but I am completely happy with my Igland. Good support from Wilsons also. Recently they were delivering in my area to another customer - a chappie from Wilsons rang me to say they would be nearby and would they like me to call in to check all is well with the winch. Nice.

I run a BCS Invictus 38hp machine. It is a great little thing which does all I ask of it in our woodland with little ground disturbance. It goes places no other tractor can get to and given that our ground is hilly it is far less likely to roll over on slopes than conventional tractors. Recently I have been looking at replacing the BCS with something equipped with a shuttle gearbox. The hydrostatic or shuttle gearboxed BCS tractors, the Ferraris, Pasqualis and Carraros are all fearsomely expensive but I found a machine made by a company named Wisconsin Engineering, the Yukon W-5000. Made in the Czech Republic, 48 hp, shuttle gearbox, permanent 4x4, articulated, front and rear linkages with PTOs, cab or ROPS, choice of tyres and a two year warranty all for circa £15k. In design it is no looker but if it gets the job done and is reliable then it could be outstanding value. I am giving serous thought to bringing one into the country and giving it a try. No UK dealer but details at: http://www.wisconsineng.com/en/produkt/w-5000-yukon-articulated-utility-tractor/

I am looking to purchase a PTO chipper in the next couple of weeks. 5 inch max capacity would be ideal, no need for anything bigger. It will not be for commercial use - the machine will be used to keep a private 55 acre woodland neat and tidy, getting rid of brash from thinned out areas and dealing with windfall, etc. Tractor has 38hp at the PTO. The Woodland Mills WC68 chipper looks very good value, has its own hydraulics for the feed roller, and comes with a 3 year warranty. It is made in China but lots of folk here on Arbtalk have good things to say about their sawmills which I presume are also Chinese made. The Canadian made Wallenstein BX52 is similar-ish money but has no hydraulic feed roller. Please get in touch if you have any experience of above or any advice on alternatives, and if you have a decent PTO powered machine you are thinking of selling for circa £3k please let me know. Thanks.

Just out of curiosity - what does one do with 2m lengths of thick hazel?

Hi Richard, I have thick brambles rapidly spreading their way across 15 acres of sweet chestnut and mixed woodland. I have another four acres of open ground, tracks and rides which need mowing. I will not use chemicals and sadly I do not have the time available to manage the brambles on about 19 acres of land with a strimmer, hence my interest in a ride-on brushcutter. The Canycom machine's shaft driven blades are thoughtfully protected by a shear bolt which will fail if a solid and immovable object is struck. Replacing the broken bolt looks to be a three minute job as access to it is a doddle. I do really like the idea of having pigs do the clearing job. Large Blacks appeal, and water for them would not be an issue as we have ponds and three natural springs. But would pigs not eat up all the bluebell bulbs, snowdrops, wood anenomes, foxgloves, campion, etc, as well as the brambles and bracken? I would value your opinion. As you are in East Sussex too, PM me if you could spare half an hour sometime to look over my woodland. Best wishes, Chris http://www.wealdenlogs.co.uk

Grillo Climber 8.22 looks to have plenty of ability. Two year warranty and about half the price of the Canycom machine. Interesting.

I have been looking out for a decent used machine. I did have a demo of the Etesia Attila AV88 - good machine from a manufacturer with a fine reputation for top quality tools. The Canycom is the better of the two though, but at a price. £3.5k more for the Japanese machine is quite a wack.

£10k for one of them. Could probably haggle a bit with the importer / dealer. A lot of cash but given its ability, ease of use, and engineering I'd say it is good value. I am told that it will put a blooming good finish on lawns too. My problem is that I would only use it in my woodland seven or eight days a year. If I could find a few folk locally who could also use it, I would indulge.

I had a demonstration in my woodland yesterday of a Canycom 4WD ride-on brushcutter. Amazingly competent, easy to use, and beautifully engineered bit of kit. Japanese made, shaft drive to both axles and the cutter, 18 horsepower V twin Subaru engine, blade change is tool-less. It safely coped with steep (25 degree slopes) and blitzed through thick dense brambles. Highly impressive. Imported to the UK by Ian Stanbridge at ICB Plant Ltd. Video on YouTube: [ame] [/ame]

The only comparison I made was that a curtainsider is cheaper and more durable than a polytunnel. No need to tilt at windmills mate.

I am thinking of getting a twenty foot curtainsider for my storing and drying my logs and kindling. Open the curtain on the windward side for airflow when it dry. Close it up if it is wet. Simple, and it seems to me a lot less bother than getting a solid container and cutting holes in it. Quite a few curtainside boxes on ebay. Cheaper than a polytunnel and more durable.

I bought a John Deere 2140 recently. An extremely versatile machine that is proving to be superb at every task I throw at it. It was cheap, 82hp is plenty, the SG2 cab is roomy enough for me, spares are abundant and not expensive, but most importantly the nearest local agricultural engineer is a John Deere man. I think this is the crux of tractor selection: if you are relying on the machine to do work for your income, make sure you check out the local spares and servicing facilities before buying. I have heard that Zetors are tough and reliable but if your nearest engineer / source of spares is a distance away it might not be the best choice. The only criticism I ever heard about the more modern Zetors is that the large areas of cab glass are vulnerable in woodland / forestry situations. That stated, every tractor has its problems. Front axle on the JD 40 series are known to be a weak spot - I knew this was a potential problem before I bought mine but at least I know I can get it fixed quickly, locally, if anything goes wrong. Last little bit of advice: horsepower is the capacity to do work. The more hp you have available, the more work your tractor can safely do. Good luck, Chris