bilke_user

Getting to grips with some of the "save for later logs" Silver Fir lump milled to 10"x 2". Customer seemed happy with it.

They have their moments, if their young sons turn out the same I'll be happy

Two of mine, the younger ones don't come with me when this pair are with me

Nice job and agree about spruce, treated with creosote it'll last forever. It's what they used to make fish boxes from and the sea water preserved them. We used them as go-kart boxes when we were kids and they lasted forever. Makes my wee shed today look a bit small

Douglas is pretty abrasive stuff, I normally get three hrs from a Woodmizer Double Hard but with the Rippers it was very noticeable how much less I was getting. normal would be 2 hrs with some lasting a little longer but not much. Like I said, in Beech and Birch they were fine, but I mill a lot of Douglas and can't justify the extra price for less life, even if they do say they take a third more sharpens. I think a lot is talked about blades and their performance, but really if you find something that works well stick with it. Ripper blades may work well on someone else's mill, simply because it suits their style of milling and maybe what works well for me won't.

They were fine on the birch and beech, but when it came to the big douglas (3ft dia) they were lasting about an hour or so less than the Woodmizer blades, and at £8/blade more expensive they weren't doing it for me, so back to what I was using and know best

No, not used them. TBH I tried the Rippers just to see what folks were raving about. Grass greener on the other side etc. I'm sticking to the Double-hard Woodmizer blades, but will get Stephen to sharpen them, cheaper than Woodmizer and does a good job on them too What mill are you running?

Shipping? as in time it takes or as in how much it costs I've found Stephen to be pretty reasonable with cost of shipping, and we are classed as Highlands and Islands which always carries a premium.

Good place to get advice on Forestor mills is a group on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/624322064843413 Have a look on the UK Woodmizer users group on Facebook too, there's a lad there who bought and did up a Tom Sawyer, he'd be a good start to get advice from. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2331771573750718 Adan Sutton is here, https://www.facebook.com/adam.sutton.127 Genuinely though, if you are needing large slabs cut would it not be more cost effective to take the wood to a static mill that has that capability?

Widest slab from a "wide" option Woodmizer, before you go to their industrial mills, is 90cm and that's on the LT15, it is limited to a 1m max diameter due to it being non cantilevered. The Industrial WM1000 is a bit wider than what you are looking for and it carries a hefty price tag well in excess of your budget, not often they come up for sale used and when they do they tend to hold their value well Surely for slabbing you would be looking at a slabbing mill such as an Alaskan or similar or a Peterson/Lucas with a slabbing attachment (not cheap). If you happen to find a Tom Sawyer I don't think your budget would cover a barn find one needing possibly as much again spending on it to bring it into good working order. I'm sure there are others on here who use Alaskan type mills and they'd no doubt tell you that a 2" or 4" slab at 1.2m wide and 3m long is a lot of wood to be handling. I find it bad enough cutting 26" wide slabs at 4", even with all the fancy hydraulics on the mill to assist

If they ask me I tell them it's not something I do and if that's a problem I politely decline the order.

To be honest, if your getting more than a couple of hours cutting softwoods you're doing well. Hardwoods tend to be a lot easier on blades and can sometimes stretch it to 3 hrs. Larch and Douglas are very abrasive as is not so fresh Sitka, all to do with soft fibrous bits of wood and harder bits all in the mix, confusing the hell out of the blade. With hardwoods it's pretty much similar density all the time so it doesn't confuse the blade the same. Speed of the blade should be as high as the power of the engine will provide. Strat the cut slow and build up speed until the engine note dips, then ease of a little and keep to that speed for the rest of the cut. You'll get to hear the blade singing and know when to push it a bit faster or when to slow up. It doesn't take long but a lot of folks just give up and say it's the blade's fault for them not learning how to use them properly. Stick at it and it'll reward you well

£36k pa. Imagine there'd be a queue miles long if that job was advertised here

Started this job 4 weeks ago and have finally cut the last board. Great start for the new machine

3 8hr days would do the load with ease. Fwiw, why work 7 days? If you can't make enough in 5 you're wages aren't suiting your lifestyle

20l petrol/day

I use one to process 8 loads for myself and hire it for about another 20 loads a year. Plenty power, and a very capable machine. Mine's 5 yr old now and still runs well, albeit the engine dropped a valve and blew, I replaced it with an electric start one and have often wondered why Riko didn't offer this as an option. Makes starting it after a stall so much easier. Make sure you get the log lifter with it and also the chamber-side splitting lever. Think there's a used one for sale near Chorley. Done literally nothing and fully loaded with all the extras, lad's wanting £10k for it no VAT good saving on what a new one costs Have a look at the Facebook page Firewood/Log Processors & Related UK ( Sales, Help&Advise, And Banter/pics

Try sawing a bit with a handsaw. If it's oak the blade will go blue/black overnight. Looks like oak to me

Think you're talking about carb adjustments on chainsaw. No chain speed adjustment on the WP36, other than throttle speed. If it's not running fast enough at full revs there is a hydraulic flow problem. I gave a brief explanation of what it may be in your first post

How's the oil temp? Saw going slow is normally a sign that the splitting ram is not triggering the valve to stop flow going to it. sign of this is that you'll be able to hear the pump labouring a little when the ram returns and before you pull the lever to saw. Oil temp will rise quickly and there's a good chance it will go black if you use it like this for too long. There's two trigger blocks under the infeed, the one closest to the saw end could need a touch of adjustment. No 13 in the diagram BTW it's a pig to adjust

It is. Good machines for the money

None.

Small scale and softwood only, but still churning out around 20 bulk bags/week for the past month. Oddly enough it's the longer (15") logs that are going well and the demand for 9" ones hasn't really got going yet. Happy to wait until later on in the winter for them to pick up to where they were last year.

Surely the heat loss from the tunnels would make it a non starter............am I missing something though?

£280/day for machine and man. Extra man £120/day Hire of machine only £200/day. Weekly rates are negotiable with one or two men, but non negotiable on machine only. You'd be surprised how well folks treat the machine when on hire without an operator.