trigger_andy

You don’t say?

Never gonna happen and I’m not surprised in the slightest you like her. Her nasty politics suits you to the ground. She’ll never get independence though, not nearly enough people support her.

Fixed that for you.

He's not suitable, but who would make a good replacement? All the other contenders are just as bad, not that we'd ever know that by the constant Tory bashing. To make an informed choice regarding who to vote for next time surely some balanced bashing is in order?

Thats mad!

I never mentioned anything about whataboutery. I was simply highlighting that there is corruption in all the main parties in the UK. You're a broken record when it comes to the Tories, its like you go out of your way to search out such links. Surely it would be better to post links about all the main Parties so when it comes to the National or even local elections we're in a better position to make an educated vote? Posting nothing but a constant barrage of Tory hate simply exposes your own prejudices no matter how you try and dress it up.

Post more links up on here? But only if it paints the party we personally detest in a bad light. That should do it.

My two oldest went to a Private School in Stavanger for near on 5 years. (British International School of Stavanger) At the time it was about £1000 a month per pupil. I can assure you that the education level was far superior than anything that we've seen in the two fairly well respected High Schools they went to when we returned to Scotland. Smaller classes, respectful pupils, engaged teachers who pushed your kids to a level they where comfortable with irrespective of what the other pupils where capable of. My children where advancing through material for the year above them and the teachers encouraged it rather than holding them back like they would in a State School. My Wife was the Science Technician at the American International School of Stavanger. I think that the fee's where about £1500 a month there. The level of education was extremely high. For example the budget for Science was far in excess of what you'd find in a State School. A lot of time, effort and money was spent on providing experiments you'd just not see in a State School. My Wife even started a course (or whatever its called) in anatomy where she went around the abattoirs and collected various products such as eyes, hearts and lungs. Items that needed certain paperwork to be allowed to collect and dispose of after they have been experimented on. The kids where all issued iPads for homework etc. There is simply no comparison of a State School verses a Private School.

I bought two chains for my 034 as I had a bunch of dirty wood to clog up and for £10 each delivered I was not that fussed if they went in the bin right after. I found they held their initial sharpness very well, had a full day out of both of them before they needed a sharpen. Virtually no stretch and found all the cutters sharpened nicely. Not tried a Rotatech Bar and dont intend to but I'll happily continue to but Rotatech chains for clogging up. Will stick to Stihl for Milling though.

Pure greed. 🤣[emoji13]

Ah yeh, contradicting. If someone says they won’t sell firewood as the margins are too tight but then claims someone who does sell firewood with a margin that makes a worthwhile profit is being greedy then there is a disconnect in reality. Some see selling firewood as a way of dealing with the Arb Waste they generate and some buy in timber purely to make firewood. Regardless the reason you’d think a site like this where wages are what appear to be in a race to the bottom people would be glad to see a product they’re directly involved with generating an income that reflects the time, costs and effort to produce it.

Yeh, I fully understand why you don’t bother selling firewood. I burn about 50 cubes a year so buying the processing equipment is a no brainier for me. If I can sell enough to cover my outlays I’ll be happy.

Not sure what you mean?

What?? Labour are as much a set of scumbags as the Tories? That does not fit the narrative though.

If you run the numbers it’s no wonder no one sells logs full time and for less that £80/£90 a bag. What’s a ton of processor grade hardwood these days? £70-90? Will you fill 3 dumpy bags from that? Then factor in you’ll need to buy a processor, chainsaws, maybe a splitter, fuel, a way to move the bags around so a teli-handler of some kind, a trailer, preferably a tipper, somewhere to store/dry them. Factor in your time to process and stack then time spent delivering them. How much profit is actually in that £90 a bag? Seems quite little to me really.

You don’t think you’re contracting yourself? You won’t sell logs as the margins are too tight but those that do sell them are being greedy? There’s a serious disconnect going on here.

I’ve also had either an open fire or a stove my whole life and my old man was in the game. I chose another path as I actually like to make more than minimum wage for my efforts. It’s a free market. If people don’t want to pay £90 for a dumpy bag of Hardwood then good for them, keep looking til they find someone willing to sell for less. I know a few firewood operations to sell up in my area as there was simply no money in it. I think you’re seriously underestimating the costs of producing firewood and how tight the margins are. I’d certainly not be able to make a living off of it. As you say, you’ve never had to pay for logs so I think you’re wrong in your opinion that you’re informed. As I said earlier, everyone is free to cut and split their own firewood. But I expect they will just keep paying the market value. A market value that will jump considerably this coming season. I’d not be surprised if we see £120 a dumpy bag of seasoned hardwood.

I’m not yet in the firewood business but I’ve bought some equipment to get the ball rolling. My aim is to sell 100 this coming season and expand from there. With that in mind I’ve been paying attention to what dumpy bags of hard and softwood sell for in my area, which is the North East of Scotland. A Dumpy Bag of seasoned Hardwood is £90+. Soft seems to be £50-£70 If you’re not in the market for buying or selling then how do you know what a fair price is?

Market value prices. Dont like the price? Try and find someone cheaper or do the work yourself. I’ll hazard a guess most folk would rather pay the £90

Is it not possible to make alterations here? I wonder if its possible to run two liners in the same chimney?

Definitely should not be considered a charity that's just taking the piss. Even more so that Capt Toms money grabbing family.

Thanks for the tips. I considered a new Chinese machine which will do bigger Logs but at the end of the day it will always be a Chinese machine with dubious back-up and parts. Hakki said they still have 75% of the parts for this machine available. I see this machine is meant to do up to 250mm, I see some say they manage up to 300mm. How did you find putting anything bigger than 8" though it? I found very little info on it on forums or youtube. I'll mostly be splitting Birch, Cherry, Oak etc from the Plantation. Get a spare what?

So its a win/win then?

Yeh, like the Bandsaw it something Ive been eying up for a couple of years. Kept an eye on ebay etc and although its a baby compared to others I have a near constant supply of the timber its designed for at about £40 a ton. Ive my Splitter for bigger logs at my house. Im also finalising a gentleman's agreement where I'll enter a partnership with the Estate I get my Oak, Spruce and Plantation thinning's from. I noticed he has no time for Processing these days. His Stoves are about as hungry as mine and he burns a cube bag every few days. He also supplies the 11 or so houses on his Estate. He's down to his last 4 bags. So my suggestion to him was I use his Palax processor, his tractor to run it, the Avant, his fuel, his logs, his land, and do all the processing and stacking myself for half the produced firewood. I'm guessing I'll be producing 8-10 Hardwood bags a day and up to 14 Softwood Bags a day. Im now renting half the Barn so I can store about 100 bags there and the rest will have to be outside somewhere.

My plan is to get the missus trained up.