IronMike

As a stalwart Husqvarna man, I found it tricky to admit how good the Stihl 400 is. But, I'll openly admit it is fantastic. I have a Mk2 550XPG and run it on an 18inch bar with zero issues. It was bloody excellent stock, but I've since had it fettled by @Crockyand it's even better now. I also have an old 555 that is a great saw, if a little hefty. Local dealer support can often be a deal breaker. No good buying a saw if there is no dealer local.

I prefer to say I've been economical with the truth 😂

Amazing mate, nice one! New career path sounds great, did you keep the Logbullet just to remind you of what it’s like owning a small machine and why you changed!?😂😂

What you doing now fella?

You won’t be disappointed if Crocky has messaged you! He pimped my 550 & 572, lovely work 👌🏼

I left school at 16 with some GCSES but very little academic interests. Tried college, tried 6th form, didn't enjoy either. So I got a job working in retail, and spent the next 13 years doing various roles in that sector. I was managing a clothing shop in Carlisle earning a good wage (on paper, if you worked out the hourly rate I was on buttons as was doing about 70 hours a week) when I decided I'd had enough of slogging my guts out for someone else. So I packed my career in, and moved back in with my parents on their farm in the Lakes. I set up on my own doing drytone walling and fencing. But one day I got asked to help out a mate who ran an arb firm in Keswick. Well, I was hooked! Sacked off the walling and, managed to get a grant to do my cross cutting and maintenance, and small trees ticket plus a chainsaw and PPE. Spent a good few years as a subby groundsman in Keswick, then moved to North Yorkshire and carried on the same with new firms here. I got the opportunity to start my own business in Foresty nearly 4 years ago and haven't looked back since! I like many on here I'd imagine do this job for the love of it. I didn't get into forestry to be rich! But I'm lucky as I go to work every day with a smile on my face (mostly!) and get paid to do something I enjoy.

I couldn't tell you meterage unfortunately. We just work on day rate, regardless of site or spec. The top end of the pay is for my experienced cutters, who I know will produce day in day out. They're as fast and efficient as possible on the sites we have. The lower end is for the newer starters who haven't got that speed and efficiency yet.

I pay my cutters between £120-160 a day I'd say. That's them providing their owne saw and fuel plus all the trimmings. I tend to get quite a few new lads and lasses, so clearly they start towards the lower end but given the world we live in, I think it's not too bad a wage. The main differences I find are as others have mentioned.... Presentation and standards. The top whack cutters lay it down all day, and everything is stacked in decent heaps and graded off to make my life easier for forwarding. The newer cutters I try to instill confidence in, and tell them in the beginning to remember "low, and slow"!. I'm taking about stumps here when I say low, and slow as in their saw usage. What I really mean is steady, not slow, but it doesnt ryhme as well! I'm trying to teach them to get good at their craft first, then get quick. You can't get super quick and efficient straight out the box. I'd rather someone was working at a steadier rate, but doing everything well than have someone flying like a bat out of hell and leaving the timber converted in pegs or worse, unsnedded on one side! This literally makes my piss boil as a forwarder driver, having to get out the machine to finish their job off. I could waffle on for days really. But I'd say anyone looking to get a decent wage and lots of work should strive for the following: Turn up on time, sharpened and ready to go. Look presentable and not like you've slept in the brash pile! Keep phone in pocket til break time! Work quickly and efficiently, stacking where you can without hurting your back. Process well with accurate hand cutting. LOW STUMPS!!!!!

@Crockyported my MK2 550 and my 572. The results are superb! So much so, he is getting my 555 and 390 to tinker with in December. All I’ll say is he is a victim of his own success….. his waiting list is long! 🤣💪🏻

Only one man for the job! @Crocky

Just need to cut the PTO to length, but winch looks really well on the tractor I reckon.

The price made me gasp mate I must admit. But, we live in a mental world unfortunately 🙈

I'll keep an eye on things mate, fear ye not!

After cruising around the APF with my main aim being checking out all the winches on offer, I opted for a 4.2t winch from Igland to go on the back of my 50hp alpine. The main reason was the pto input being centralised, which matched the tractor perfectly. All the other offerings (Uniforest, Krpan, Tajfun etc) had it offset to one side and I don’t fancy running it with the pto on a queer angle. Plus it was was very simple from a mechanical point of view, looked easy to work and well made also. Finally, it matched the colour of the tractor 👌🏼🤣 which is mega important as we all know! Jas P Wilson had 4 in stock too I think which is another major consideration. £3165+vat+delivery.

I've officially written the past 3 weeks off as a total sh*t show! Back on site today, first load of the day infact, and the pin for the outer on one site sheared. Got it repaired fairly quickly, but sacked the rest of the day off! Onwards to the APF tomorrow!

My poorly Logbullet is back together after 2 rather stressful days! Turns out we did such a good job of repairing it last time we changed the stubs, that undoing our handy work this time round was rather tricky! 🤣

🤣🤣🤣 Bravo Steve, bravo!

Thankfully, the support from Pekka over in Finland is exceptional and I have the replacement stub sitting here ready to go.

The stubs are probably the weakest part of the machine. I snapped my first one over 2 years ago, and at the time we decided to replace both whilst it was in the workshop. Fast forward to now, and I've done probably 1000+ hours with the machine, in various terrain and on demanding sites. The snap last week I can pin point to a single incident of hitting a high stump with force, this set the axle off on a tiny bend and it got worse progressively. Yesterdays was down to a big old buttress that had been taken off these large Sitka getting caught in-between two wheels and making the machine bump suddenly up into the air and slam down, hard! Both avoidable, in hindsight, but in reality I'm trying to bash on and now I've paid the price. Such is life!

If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all! Jokes aside, this is just comedic timing in reality. I should've changed this side when the machine was in getting the other one done alst week. Such is life! At least the part is there on the shelf, should be operating again come Wednesday morning fingers crossed.

This will make you laugh..... (And no, this isn't the same breakdown from last week, it's the stub axle on the other side!) 🤣

I’ll be following this with interest as just got an AGT 850!

Some very useful suggestions and input here folks, many thanks. Seems the tilt bed is certainly worth considering. The trailer will be moving the tractor, plus various attachments as time goes by. First purchase is a winch, but looking at 6 inch PTO chipper later too. So having space would be handy. Busy looking for secondhand, anyone got any hot leads to a 16ft tilt bed that's in good nick but not totally mental price?! (Unlikely, I know!)

Bumping this one back alive! Off to pick up my Alpine today (barring anything being majorly wrong with it of course) so the hunt is on for a new plant trailer. Im going to buy new, as the secondhand market is quite frankly mental money. In a bit of a quandary at the moment, as usual. Tractor is 10ft long but I’m gonna need some extra room for attachments obviously. It’ll mainly have a winch on but could also have a few other bits and bobs. Local Ifor dealer says the GH146 Tri-Axle will be in soon. That’s 14ft internal, triple axle. Around 5.5k + vat. Nugent off same length but with available as a twin axle. Slightly lighter overall. Bateson only do a 12ft I think, as do Indispension. Haven't looked into Meredith and Eyre yet, @Big J I know you rated yours.

Yeah, this was fun to watch, and listen too!