who will cut and split my timber????

jimini0

Hi all I have been talked into myself buying a half share of a load of timber.
Neighbour buying some and his original partner backed out so he persuaded me.
Anyways how much do guys charge to cut and split? does anyone know someone in mayo that cuts and splits timber? We are in westport.
Thanks in advance

Renegade Mechanic

Im not trying to sound facetious in saying this, genuinely. But if you have time on your hands to do it yourself, theres an almost therapeutic quality to bludgeoning things in half with an axe or attacking them with a chainsaw.

jimini0

I would love to tackle it myself my cousin has a tractor mounted log splitter I can use.
But I just don't have the time. If it was brighter in the evenings I would but its not:( its just the wrong time of year for it. Plus the neighbour wants it chopped up soon and stored. So was thinking if I couple get it cut and split for a reasonable price I would let them at it.

ford2600

€300-350 for firewood processor for the day

drive it

Pm sent

Sam Kade

Renegade Mechanic wrote: »

Im not trying to sound facetious in saying this, genuinely. But if you have time on your hands to do it yourself, theres an almost therapeutic quality to bludgeoning things in half with an axe or attacking them with a chainsaw.

Not many young fellas could use a chainsaw never swing an axe properly nowadays.

Oldtree

This may end up costing you more than an arm and a leg if you hire someone who hurts themselves.

This exercise is not really practicable unless you cut and split the timber yourself. If it is something you intend to do in the future then buy a chainsaw (and safety equipment) and learn to use both it and the log splitter.

Perhaps untalk yourself from buying half a load this year or tell your neighbour to have a bit of patience until you have time to deal with it.

zetecescort

Are you saying that your neighbour wants you to split the full load or just your own share? If it's just your own logs he wants cleared can you ask your neighbour to split it when he is doing his own? Give a hand when you can with any heavy lifting and such.

jimini0

Ye all have some very good points and ideas. Thanks very much
Firstly we would want to get the full load cut and split 50/50 payment.
Then we take half of the timber each. He won't be able to help me he is very sick with the big C at the moment.
Its too late for me now to back out I have gave him my word. Should have had the balls to say no but he was stuck for someone to go halves with.
I actually didn't think about the insurance side of things. I might cut and split a small amount at the weekend then more in the new year when I get time. Will have to buy a decent chainsaw so.

GY A1

jimini0 wrote: »

Ye all have some very good points and ideas. Thanks very much
Firstly we would want to get the full load cut and split 50/50 payment.
Then we take half of the timber each. He won't be able to help me he is very sick with the big C at the moment.
Its too late for me now to back out I have gave him my word. Should have had the balls to say no but he was stuck for someone to go halves with.
I actually didn't think about the insurance side of things. I might cut and split a small amount at the weekend then more in the new year when I get time. Will have to buy a decent chainsaw so.

give it a try urself, once u get started you'll enjoy it
try a few hours at a time and it wont be as bad

Oldtree

On a nice dry crisp bright winters day, nothing like it

GY A1

nice day today for it lol

jimini0

I'm looking forward to doing it myself once the timber arrives should be here by the weekend I'm told. Going to get a chainsaw tomorrow will the 16 inch stihl do the job or will I need a bigger one?

Stella Virgo

throw up a piccy of the timber when it arrives and all the lads on here will soon set you straight ps.dont buy any saw until you see the diameter of the logs first

jamesbondings

Oh man I'm seriously jealous of you.... Love chopping firewood.... Agree with other posters about it being therapeutic although when I done it last we used hand saws that was not the best fun to be fair.

jimini0

jamesbondings wrote: »

Oh man I'm seriously jealous of you.... Love chopping firewood.... Agree with other posters about it being therapeutic although when I done it last we used hand saws that was not the best fun to be fair.

Is that an offer of free help jamesbondings ???
I'll let you know when the timber arrives I'll set you up with a tent and some camping gear and you can cut and chop away.

jimini0

Stella Virgo wrote: »

throw up a piccy of the timber when it arrives and all the lads on here will soon set you straight ps.dont buy any saw until you see the diameter of the logs first

Put up a picture? If only a man knew how.
I'll measure the diameter hn it arrives and let ye know

jimini0

well the timber finally arrived the road in the forest got washed away or something.
the timber is mostly 10 to 12 inches wide and a few 16 inch ones will a 16 inch saw cut most of it? and ill get a neighbour to cut the big ones with his big saw

vinnie13

yea a 16in will cut it no problem i have a stihl ms170 14" bar and have never had hassle cutting up to circa18"..if your only going to get the odd load get a 170 or 181

rayana

Slightly off thread but i've often thought about doing the same thing myself. Where can you get the timber in the first case, (based in Mayo) and any idea of costs? thanks.

Jack180570

rayana wrote: »

Slightly off thread but i've often thought about doing the same thing myself. Where can you get the timber in the first case, (based in Mayo) and any idea of costs? thanks.

Spoke to two firewood lads in the last week (Cork and Kerry, they tell me that loads from Coillte have gone up to €1,400 a load delivered and also that the loads have got smaller compared to last year due to the wet weather and the crackdown by the RSA on overweight loads.

jimini0

rayana wrote: »

Slightly off thread but i've often thought about doing the same thing myself. Where can you get the timber in the first case, (based in Mayo) and any idea of costs? thanks.

Got it through one of the forestry drivers think he was barrett.
It cost 1090 euro

TomOnBoard

ford2600 wrote: »

€300-350 for firewood processor for the day

If you know someone with a 30hp+ tractor, you'll get a firewood processor (Hakki-Pilki Expert 37) for a week for €420 that can be powered by the tractor's PTO.

TomOnBoard

jimini0 wrote: »

Got it through one of the forestry drivers think he was barrett.
It cost 1090 euro

At the moment, timber is very wet still, so your load will be much smaller in terms of actual timber volume, than if you buy next September.

Why pay someone to transport water to you? Oh sorry, that's another Phil Hogan/Irish Water issue isn't it? :-)

ford2600

TomOnBoard wrote: »

If you know someone with a 30hp+ tractor, you'll get a firewood processor (Hakki-Pilki Expert 37) for a week for €420 that can be powered by the tractor's PTO.

Where? My figure was for two operaters plus processor.
Have the tractor myself

Jack180570

TomOnBoard wrote: »

At the moment, timber is very wet still, so your load will be much smaller in terms of actual timber volume, if you buy next September.

Why pay someone to transport water to you? Oh sorry, that's another Phil Hogan/Irish Water issue isn't it? :-)

Hi Tom,
totally agree that timber is drowned at the moment. .. is this because the weather's been so wet for the past while or is it because its winter?
You mention September as a comparison, is this the month that timber is driest?

Jack180570

TomOnBoard wrote: »

At the moment, timber is very wet still, so your load will be much smaller in terms of actual timber volume, if you buy next September.

Why pay someone to transport water to you? Oh sorry, that's another Phil Hogan/Irish Water issue isn't it? :-)

Hi Tom,
totally agree that timber is drowned at the moment. .. is this because the weather's been so wet for the past while or is it because its winter?
You mention September as a comparison, is this the month that timber is driest?

Farmer Pudsey

As far as I know the moisture in timber has little to do with the weather rather how long it is cut. If the trees are cut and stored for a while they will dry out slowly and moisture content is lower. This is why ideally timber is sold by volume with a deduction for moisture content.

If you can get timber that is cut 6+ months it is idea. Soft woods need to be seasoned for a year as sap will ruin your chimney. Cutting choping and storing this time of year will mean that you have good timber for next year.

jimini0

When storing timber for drying what's the ideal way of doing it?

TomOnBoard

Jack180570 wrote: »

Hi Tom,
totally agree that timber is drowned at the moment. .. is this because the weather's been so wet for the past while or is it because its winter?
You mention September as a comparison, is this the month that timber is driest?

Anything that's been cut this season is still loaded with sap. The reason I mentioned September is based on the fact that timber that has been harvested this side of the Summer will have had the benefit of the driest and warmest months to season. By weight therefore, a given volume will be much lighter. Because it is lighter, the truck will be able to carry a larger volume before it has reached it's maximum load. Therefore you receive more timber that ought to be ready to burn much earlier.

All that said, you will get even greater seasoning if the timber has been cut and split. This exposes the maximum timber surface area to the air, and therefore more drying will occur. I've seen 3 and 4 year old logs to be surprisingly wet when not cut and split.

TomOnBoard

jimini0 wrote: »

When storing timber for drying what's the ideal way of doing it?

Cut up into final lengths, split and stacked in rows on old pallets with a galvanised sheet put on top kept down with stones or blocks. Do not enclose the sides of the stack and let air get at the bottom.

Or if you want to express your arty side (and we all have one), why not build a set of Holz Hausen stacks. Guaranteed to lift your heart in more ways than one..

jimini0

TomOnBoard wrote: »

Cut up into final lengths, split and stacked in rows on old pallets with a galvanised sheet put on top kept down with stones or blocks. Do not enclose the sides of the stack and let air get at the bottom.

Or if you want to express your arty side (and we all have one), why not build a set of Holz Hausen stacks. Guaranteed to lift your heart in more ways than one..

Thanks tom
Ok I will put it on pallets and cover that stack looks good but it will probably take me till summer to build it that fancy

TomOnBoard

jimini0 wrote: »

Thanks tom
Ok I will put it on pallets and cover that stack looks good but it will probably take me till summer to build it that fancy

LOL!

I put the Holtz Haus or whatever in there just to tickle yer challenge bone.. :-)

Bottom line is to expose as much surface area as possible to the wind & sun from May to September,while protecting from the rain from above and the damp from below! Do whatever you have to. And it doesn't have to be pretty!!

Although, I'll be disappointed ;-)

The timber you will burn next December won't know whether it was in a beauty contest or not.. :-)

jimini0

TomOnBoard wrote: »

LOL!

I put the Holtz Haus or whatever in there just to tickle yer challenge bone.. :-)

Bottom line is to expose as much surface area as possible to the wind & sun from May to September,while protecting from the rain from above and the damp from below! Do whatever you have to. And it doesn't have to be pretty!!

Although, I'll be disappointed ;-)

The timber you will burn next December won't know whether it was in a beauty contest or not.. :-)

Well tom I don't want to disappoint you so I will attempt a small holtz haus just for you. I'll try post a picture in a few weeks just for you. It might not be as beautiful as the one in the picture but it will be attempted.