Martin du Preez

I find the sawpod a vast improvement compared to hanging off your harness. It doesn’t get tangled in your saw lanyard or much else. It’s always where it is so you don’t have to faff about it finding it or trying to put it away when your in an awkward spot which tbh Is the only time I used one. My only gripe is that my lanyard or rope can get stuck underneath the bottom of the sheaf but this is outweighed by everything else. But to be perfectly honest since my addiction for the 150’s I never really climb with one, they are just lowered silkys and ashamed to say I cut and hold to much

Suffolk woodchip have a biomass chipper mounted on a silage trailer, also their own fleet of lorries and on top they’ll buy it off you.

I guess its all completely dependent on what you main usage is for. For us with Arb i couldn't be without, loading vans with arb bodies, threading arisings through tight spaces, skidding timber, cut and holding etc

ahhh i see you meant over a hanging grab. yes that would be true but the fixed rotating grabs are in a different league. the intermacto grabs are built like a brick shit house, they use them for moving boulders about in Aus.

really?? i'd personally take a fixed rotator over a fixed grab any day of the week, it makes all of those things you mentioned 10 times for efficient and easier. I've used both a fair bit and id definitely suggest trying a fixed rotator grab. The fixed none rotating grabs is like having a cast on your arm, why wouldn't you want another dimension of movement?

that looks smart, what sort of money is one of those do you reckon?

I’d hedge my bets on an ash looking at the branches in the first photo

The work load is surely unprecedented. I put it down to a couple of factors (domestic) 1.people have nothing else to spend there money on so are completing bigger projects (no holiday) 2. Working from home, being at home more. Where I am the majority of people work in London and are only about on weekends so now this is all bugging them. 3. Stamp duty break has driven the housing market nuts, we are carry out works in so many new homes people have recently bought. 4. On the commercial side for site clearances and fencing on development sites. All the developers I know have said they are just rushing like mad to knock up as many houses as they can before the housing bubble bursts which is they feel is imminent. It’s going to be interesting to see what’s going to happen to all these new start up firms when this workload disappears. What’s going to happen to the firms who have financed so much gear under the impression it’s going to last?

It’s perfect for linking my tether to my zigzag. Haven’t given it much thought for anything else. It can be a bit of a fiddle if if you haven’t got delicate hands

On srt I use an alpine carabiner and micro pulley for my top anchor on reductions etc, nice and smooth to pull out when I’m done.

Looks like a dream, is that bandit the 12xp?

Is it though?? A 7.5tonner is only a down rated 10 tonner. Get a nice sized hiab on that. After a while it just becomes to much of a headache trying to keep up with transits, they become a bottle neck, you’re always overloaded and it’s unfair to ask lads to drive them over loaded all the time.

Wasn’t much drama hooking rotator grab to this cat, love the machine can’t fault it. Having said that I haven’t tried much else

That sounds like a good set up! Would be nice to drag a hooka lift trailer or something of the sort behind it

I’m sick and tired of the stress of running over weight transits, it’s not fair on the lads either to expect them to do so. Planning on getting a 10 or 12 tonner with a hiab, the only thing that I’m just finding impossible to find out is how much can I tow behind a say a 12 lorry?? Thanks in advance

Ct foot ascender is the best there is in my opinion, couple that with a haas ascender for longer ascents. Rope wrench on my zigzag. I use a tape sling with an accessory carabiner as a chest tether. Canopy anchors allow you to achieve a more static line, I use drenaline

Cutting, splitting on a horizontal splitter and filling cages 2 blokes do 10 cube a day, 8inch logs. 1 bloke 6/7 cube

As far as another team goes, get them out a few days if the week with a subbie, build from there. Never back off your prices , you’d till want to be getting at least £900 a day for 3 blokes. Build it up, it sounds like you’ve got the perfect set up with a brother and a good mate that you can trust, I assure you that that will be all the stress dealt with

I think what people are trying to tell you about the chipper is that it increases productivity and thus the hourly rate. The more efficient the site is the more work you can get cleared and the less lads that you have. Snedding is a ball ache and takes time, you end up with an extra lad. We’ve got an 8inch Jensen and it runs absolute laps around a 150 of which it’s work alongside. You get leylandii to the rollers and it’s gone, thorn and fruit wood no problem. Saves us heaps of time and is still what I would consider a small chipper. I’ve used 150’s quite a lot and I can assure you that a bigger and better chipper is worth it. Even for reductions with 2 blokes

i Ping a picture of the stump with my foot next to it to my bloke and he gives me a contractors price and i add my margin on. if its a full dayits £400/450 from him. i dont know if thats to high or low as i've only ever used him

I would say that’s pretty lucrative.... I know two contractors around my way in north Essex which just do stumps and they charge £400-450 a day...

Is that difference even noticeable?

The only difference in between air dried and kiln dried is that a supplier can create a finished product in 2 weeks not a year plus. it is not better at all, its the same thing. just some have space to air dry and some don't depending on volume of sales as well

4:1 gap ratio, make sure that the slays and gaps are vertical on horizontal. You will have to leave one long side open for access into the bays, will be a nightmare without. Will also speed up drying. Slope the roof down to the open side. I’ll get a picture of mine later, on a nice windy exposes spot. Gets most timbers down to 15% in 6 months

If you want to build yourself a good name, don't buy from travis perkins, find an actual fencing supplier, their uc4 is horrendous. you will also save yourself a bit of money. Augers are brilliant but on diggers, anything smaller and they are only quick in soft ground which a lad could dig with a set of spoons and go through hardcore and roots which little handheld ones wont.