• This topic has 19 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 11 years ago by ski.
Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 20 total)
  • High 5 Fife Ranger Services – Caution Predictable Wood Content
  • mcmoonter
    Free Member

    What were becoming suspiciously frequent social visits from my brother turned not unexpectedly to be log pinching sorties. With a newly installed stove and no woodpile he needs to get McMoonterified.

    A chance sighting of some newly cleared windfall, and a call to the Fife Ranger Services yielded gold, or rather wood.

    I was up to a clear skied sub zero dawn to meet the Rangers. We had a fantastic day harvesting logs from the woods.
    Mostly mature Lodgepole Pine, Maple and Poplar
    If there is ever a spot on Britain’s Got Talent for reversing a fourteen foot trailer between trees through corners with three inches of clearance, I could be the next SuBo.

    Three two ton loads later we have enough to start his woodpile and replace much of what I have burned over the winter.

    What an awesome way to spend a perfect spring day,

    geoffj
    Full Member

    😀
    *looks up Perth Ranger Service free wood helpline

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    Geoff it’s not free…..yet.

    They were going to charge £15/ton, but will filled (possibly overfilled) the trailer tow what must have been a tad over two. £20 a load and a day with some great guys is good value in my book.

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    geoffj
    Full Member

    £20 a load and a day with some great guys is good value in my book.

    It is. I’ve heard rumours that Dundee City Council will deliver for around £20 a ton, but only within the city limits, and that it can take 6 months before you reach the top of their list.

    That lot looks good to me anyway.

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    Well my brother is a bit more appreciative of what goes into a log pile now.

    I want to burn a bit more of what is in one of my stores so I can split and store this lot.

    Amateurs….

    But we did get his load home before the kids finished school. Top day.

    surroundedbyhills
    Free Member

    @mcMoonter – can we be friends? live in Clackmannanshire have need of logs…

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    SBH, you should give your local Ranger Services a shout. I believe if you volunteer with them for a few hours you are entitled to payment in the form of logs.

    I had to laugh at the absurd levels health and safety have reduced us to. Dallas the Ranger had perhaps six volunteers with him yesterday. The Ranger service provides their packed lunches, but get this, if their sandwiches are unrefrigerated after two hours they are not allowed to eat them. Two hours plus and the Ranger has to have a food hygiene certificate and an on site fridge. The sandwiches are a bigger health risk than the chainsaws.

    bigblackshed
    Full Member

    That really is good value. The going rate in these parts is £50 for a metre cube builders bag. When it’s stacked properly, about 0.6 metre cube. Half tonne if your lucky. As for just felled, it’s non-existent.

    Orange-Crush
    Free Member

    Personally I never eat a sandwich unless it has been out the fridge for at least two hours – I like to taste my food.

    surroundedbyhills
    Free Member

    @ McMoonter – will do, have made it through a good chunk of the winter with what we felled in our backgarden last year but had to buy in eventually. cost of one chainsaw and a small trailer is less than 2 winters worth. I take the Ranger’s are contactable through the local cooncil or is there a Rangertrackworld? 🙂

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    I googled our local Rangers and got them directly rather than go through the cooncil switchboard. I think it is a national service so there may well be others.

    They couldn’t be more helpful, unlike the cooncil parks dept that take all their arbwaste back to the dept to shred. Not brash stuff, but prime stove burning wood. Shame on them.

    The Ranger had heard of log processors having to buy in hardwood lengths @ £60 / ton, goodness knows what that translates into at the customer end. Demand is higher than ever, so it’s with finding a good source now.

    organic355
    Free Member

    Geoffrey any idea how you get on Dundee councils list?

    Mcmoonter how much to deliver a load like that to Dundee?

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    Mcmoonter how much to deliver a load like that to Dundee?

    The only reason my brother got that load delivered was to stop him pinching stuff from my stash.

    Give your cooncil a shout.

    There is bound to be someone near Dundee that could supply you. Have a look, post a request on Arbtalk’s Firewood forum.

    geoffj
    Full Member

    Geoffrey any idea how you get on Dundee councils list?

    Dunno
    http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/firewood-forum/51481-cord-tayside.html

    smartay
    Full Member

    what a different approach, local council have been thinning trees in local country park started October ish, the trunks and thinner cords have been left lying in undergowth all this time.
    Did the right thing and enquired about availability only to be told that they have used an outside contractor and the timber was part of the payment
    only presume we have acash rich council so wardens volunteers not required 🙁

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    Today was a perfect Spring day. I woke up to a hard frost but a clear blue sky. I picked up the last couple of loads from the country park. It was a challenging pull for the Discovery with a couple of tons of logs up 12% climbs with icy patches. Ive just a wee drop to cut, but that should see me through another year or so. It’ll replace what I burned last year and I will have some over for another project.

    Oh I need to take a picture of the snow drops, they are beautiful in this late afternoon sunshine. I love the Spring.

    ski
    Free Member

    MC, slight post hack, what sort of weight will your tipper trailer take?

    Quite fancy getting a tipper as I am getting fed up off loading mine all by hand 😉

    What powers the tipper action, any advice?

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    Ski, I went up to check the plate but it’s missing. I’m guessing at around 2 tons. With logs I’d never get near that weight, but if I get chips or gravel from the quarry it’s a different story. The load area on it is 2.75 x 1.7 x 0.45 = 2.1 cubic metres.

    The hydraulics are manual, there is a pump with a reservoir at the front, it has a two stage ram, slow at first quicker at the second stage. Mine has Land Rover rims and tyres so off road it’s very good.

    It’s a handy trailer, it works well in conjunction with the flat bed Ifor Williams, both do what they do well, but it’s horses for courses.

    I bought it from a someone who had used it while he worked for the Cooncil, he knew it’s history and had put in a new steel floor and relined the brakes. I’ve had it a long time now, but think I paid around £800 for it. I thought that was good value at the time.

    granny_ring
    Full Member

    Good work once again mcm.

    I thought I had loads of logs to last through this winter but am getting through them at a scary pace.
    I have some to cut & split for next winter but I will need a lot more than I first thought so need to plan ahead better definitely….

    I’ll have a look to see if there’s anything similar around these parts.

    ski
    Free Member

    Thanks MC, sounds like you got a bargain price too for it, I have been looking to spend over double that on a second hand one.

Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 20 total)

The topic ‘High 5 Fife Ranger Services – Caution Predictable Wood Content’ is closed to new replies.