drinksloe

Sorry dumper I never looked at that picture well enough, but aye that's the sort off thing. Dunno if it can be mounted slightly closer in? As seems to stick out a bit but possibly due to Avant design? But u see plenty of hydraulic rescue winches bolted on to tractors etc

I'd just go for some sort of Hydraulic winch and mount it directly on the chasis of ur Avant, somewhere out the way. Must admit not overly familiar with Avant design but I'd also add a couple of old fashioned fold down spades ( like u get on old fashioned Broughton/cooked type winches ) that will dig in when the tension is on. Very simple design and ucould probably attach with pins to removable if in the way for normal every day use.

I really don't see a problem as long are rates are set at the right money. I don't know the lad, but he's on about not working for 12ph, the last fencing company I subbed to were paying some of they're SE fencers about 10 an hour which is rubbish, but they were also useless c**rs and it was probably more than they deserved, I was on a good bit more but I do have a lot of experience. When u start a job as ESS says ur not working at full speed and often ineffeciently as I've not picked up the tricks yet so I can't really expect full wage. Cutting piecework will give u that. Plenty of brickies, roofers, tradesmen etc, fencers, sheep shearer's or agri contractors will all work piece work Ps ran out of battery, just to add Just to add most trades will take 4yrs before they get full tradesman rates. I have no idea about the rate offered but if u havent counted ur pieces u dont really know how far off a decent wage u were, or wot rate is need to be on a decent wage. So if an other contractor offers u another job on better rates u still don't know. ( Althou a massive amount will depend on the actual timber, but with exp u could look at a stand and have a good guess wot if cut in a day and so wot the rates Ned to be, without counting all just guess work)

There is a big difference between 20 or 30p a piece. Either 5 or 3 to a quid. If 30p ur only 45 pieces an hour to get ur 15 quid an hour. Really depends if u could cut 1 every min throu the day? It all depends on the site and timber No doubting very hard work but plenty of outside jobs are similar Tree planting rates are around 7 to 8p a tree, great on new plough but very hard work on steep restock sites

Alright. Just wondering from some of the more tech savvy, wots the best apps? for mapping for forestry or fencing? I'm still stuck in stone age but am probably going to have to bite bullet and get a proper smart phone. ( Non I phone) Worked with a few lads over last few months that got emails of either fencing/forestry plans and could check them on phone when onsite. Quite handy really. Was on a new cutting site the other day it would off been really handy to be able to see where we were in relation to the job etc. Another couple of fencing jobs they got the sat maps up and marked the fence we just put up and it measured the fence from phone was usually within a meter or 2 of the wheels distance. So amazingly accurate Wot should I be looking for with buying a new smart phone, u do see them for not a lot of money. Cheers

It is a load of BS, but atleast they have invented a whole load of courses that never existed before, so easy to just "upskill' Must admit never knew it had to be with a fisa qualified instructor, I was told only 3 in whole of Scotland are fisa qualified. I think a lot depends on how good the trainers are, most other skilled workers do renew like digger drivers etc, Mibbee if keeping fisa compliant means u can up ur rates and charge the money cutters deserve then mibbee a good thing. Mind I was on the very 1st fisa course with a load of exp cutters and do remember 1 or 2 learning new cuts. Think a lot off the older cutters hasnae seen the split level cut before. Mind a few boys saying that in the pub too, after moaning about the coarse. These are boys who done a lot of hand thinnings back in 80's so exp cutters.

Dunno how Scotland's doing, but a hell of a new planting gong on the now. Never understand the whole grant thing, but absolutely throwing money at fencing side of it. Got forestry companies putting thousands of m"s of deer fencing up when really very few deer and going to strip down again in 5 yes. Same valley all rabbit netted be lucky to area bloody rabbit up there. Another site only about 50% of fencing is round woods rest round fields not even boundary with a wood and wangled on same grant, and it's 40 odd K meter, so not a small amount of fencing and fancy specs

Are the numbers not massive, 30 mill from government/tories and 60 mill from lib dummies At commercial spacng a ( ie 2m centre's) ur talking 400 hectares per mill trees ( approx 800 acresish) where's all this ground going to come from??? Even with softwood spacing ur talking 30% the size of kielder forest. Not the sort of size ucan just conjour up. Plus if hardwoods acreage will increase massively. There is a massive shortage of softwood trees in the next few decades, but planting squads just can't keep up ( althou still paying them peanuts) same with mounding/ploughing most of the contractors can't find enough bums to put on seats. Also on the ground thing, most likely source will be uplands ( esp if various folk get way and stop grouse shooting) upland heathland is quite rare globally and were always told how important peat is for carbon/global warming. Generally trees aren't very beneficial to peat infact with the draining ploughing and drying effect of trees will ruin the peat. Just more BS from politicians that know bugger all about anything really. Sadly the norm now.

Again spot on to u for doing al that, really interested and intrigued by it, and apologies big J for detail. Be a bit of work to maintain as well. I bet these rewilding clowns/conservationists would see ur beautiful wood and think it happened all by accident and not the massive amount of had work that goes into it every year. Does the aspect of rides change? Ie mainly north to south or east to west or just any direction that suits the trees. Do u undertake any predator control? Sometimes surprising the impact it can have on biodiversity and populations/breeding success. I know I used to be more involved with a nature reserve, fantastic habitat but they refuse to control any predators and now struggle to have any successful nests at all most years. To be honest it's a complete waste of time all ur good work is feeding crows and stoats.

Very impressive habitat management. Was just wondering with ur zones 2 and 3 will u do all the ride in a oner or cut sections each year so always a bit of the scrubber stuff left?? Have u planted anything special in it, esp zone 1 for wild flowers or butterflies?? Cheers. Again hats of to u. Is there grants for that sort of management?

AHH reminds me of my younger dafter days, we used to play Botex Bronco, used to have comps at work to see who could hold onto the grab the longest while the shook/spun it etc. Loser bought the 1st round in the dogs that night. That's was the goog old days before H&S and camera phones.

U won't have to be that clever felling either, if 80% off trees coming out u should have loads of room for felling. Before u crosscut it figure out ur extraction method first, even if at a later date. Bloody pain skidding timber out if been cross cut already, far easier if long pole. Dunno how many stems ur talking on ur site but even skidding out with quad might be vaible if not too long an extraction

Or 2nd best behind the 254xp. I've still got a almost new 1 I bought 18months ago, 1 off last before they stopped making them. A bloody great saw

Must admit I did think 8T was a lot, that's a big stick. But both the reps laughed when said trying to figure it out from the kNm's don't think they have a clue how it relates to wieghts either. Cheers open I'm sure ur calcs are right, just be the difference in all the things u mentioned. Think in the brochures they will be scared to give exact wieghts in case a machine tips over lifting stated wieght Seemingly vids online of the new big ponsse straight lifting a 3T dead wieght onto bunk

Just to update thread. Spoke to a couple of salesmen the day for 2 of the big brands. They just laughed when I said trying to get head round kNm's, said it's just a bunch of bs really. Obviously depend on machine size and distance but most will be about 1- 1.5T realistically, ( 1100l grab tank being about limit) perhaps 2T, they do reckon the new big ponsse can lift 3T thou

Cheers J. It's actually for a static winch im adapting to put a grab bar on for getting forwarded into sites. So will have no problems grabbing/gripping it as will be plastic coated like grab tanks. That's why really needs to be a straight lift, had convinced myself was all ok but just dropped it off at the welders ( actually John's who repaired ur wee forwarder J) and he put doubt in my head. As he thought it looked awuffy heavy, im sure only about 1.6T with its wheels on, but he's got a load cell so will find out over next few days. Cheers again everyone

Cheers everyone. Looking like they should have plenty of power I'm meant to be off Mon and have some jobs to do near ponsse yard, might nip in for a coffee and get it straight from horses mouth. 8T does seem a lot for a forwarder to lift thou. Cheers again

Alright Just wondering wot sort of wieght is the max a largish forwarder can lift onto the bunk,? Is over bolsters from closeish in? Been looking online at a few brochures many quote around the 160kNM of torque/force for the larger machines. How does that translate to approx mass lifting wieght? From my old school days, many years ago I thought 1 Newton = 1kg , so 1kN should equal 1000 or 1T but makes the mass lift about 16T which is not right. But that was Newton's and not Newton meters Guessing it's 1.6T? Cheers

U seem to have done ur homework and got a fair idea wot u want to do. I was just hoping to say do ur basic saw tickets then mibee try to get a wee bit work grounding etc to make sure u do want to climb. Expensive tickets and gear Everyone wants to get a saw ticket and then climb. There is always more forestry type work, must admit I enjoy it far more than climbing. Less hassle. But everyone's different.

Seem them at forestry show and said the exact same, lifetime guarantee on the syysttem, which doesn't help u go to work if they're away getting fixed. Also my other thought was wot happens if u have a bad accident and medics need to remover ur boot?? Do them not normally cut the laces off ( well they do on TV shows) taking a bit of cutting those laces, a boots themselves will be bad cutting FF chainsaw proof. Clever idea but really solving a problem that doesn't exist

But I think I might struggle to find wheels/rims in the approx size narrow enough. I'm probably going to have to cut/bodge the middle off the rims as an odd stud pattern. Just wondered if I could just stick some wide 1s on which I can source easier, but at same time don't want to waste money if they won't be right. Cheers

Alright Just wondering wot everyone's opinions are on wether wide tyres are better than narrower tyres? Althou I do imagine a lot might depend on the ground conditions u normally work in. The wee skidder is only about 1 1/2 to 2T ( basically compact tractor size) and running on 20"X 6 inch wide tyres, it seems to grip the ground really well. Esp when turf/ground not ripped up, it did struggle in places where forwarder had exposed greasy clay soil But I know I'm at a job next week and think it might struggle to get throu some of the wet sphagnum mossy bits. And it might of been handy. But worried if I go for the wider wheels it might just sit and spin and lose traction a bit as not enough wieght to really grip? Have any of u had similar issues after putting wider tyres on compact tractors? Ideally I would set it up with twins but so far struggling to find suitable rims, But I old easily adapt 6T dumper wheels and I think some telehandler wheels too. But they'd be too wide for twins Bear in mind I'm in s wet Scotland and also do odd bits of peat work jobs so extra footprint is always good.

I was going to say wot busy daddy said many valmet's the seat turns round some even have a pedal and steering wheel to drive it in reverse. Have a good look if anything expensive hanging down or in a place that could be speared by a branch easily. Some tractors don't put a lot of thought into it

Cheers again, bloody hell I bet that does look well after being mulched. Be nice to see some finished photos too I forgot u mentioned earlier u multched the brash. Just that used to how they do it up here and the majority of restock sites on the mound. Plus with the wetter soil/climate the 360s need the brash Matt to travel on anyway That is a big stick in the photo doesnae even look like an outsider or if it is it's not very hairy. Does look some cracking timber. Has it been thinned previously? Or just the warmer weather better soil down there.

Cheers j Wot size of head/bar is on that then? But ( and not having a go) but u also have the extra expense of hand cutting to pay for in that 4k, most heads would cope with a 60 butt and would romp throu that, looks cracking timber. Amazing how it mounts up thou. And it does look a tidy site. Will the site be dolped/mounded? I've never drove a 360 mounding, but would it be easier for them on a normal harvesting site where all brash is in the Matt instead off all across the site?? Possibly the 360s might have to redd all the brash up 1st before they dig the mounds. So it actually takes longer than it would on a 'bomb site' more normal harvesting site even thou it looks tidier Be interested to hear wot mounders think, like I said never done it. But could see them fouling digger bucket, I know the local welder adds 2 bars to back of mounding buckets for dragging/pushing brash on the back stroke.