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I'm in a similar situation, though only about 2 acres in total. I ended up with an ancient Yanmar YM1600 tractor and a topper - does a good job keeping the paddock under control and will cut most things (long grass, scrub, bracken higher than the tractor) if you don't try to go too fast. It doesn't leave a neat, lawn like finish though. (Might do if I cut more regularly, but probably not even then). I have a Honda petrol mower to cut and collect the lawn. Tractor also carries things, tows things, harrows things... (Harrowing helps keep grass healthy). And it could do more - log splitters, little digger attachments etc. The only issues with the tractor are that it's quite brutal, tricky to maneouvre in confined spaces and is a bit hairy on steep slopes, which I have lots of. The front wheels came off the ground once as I was carrying a load of logs up a narrow slope, and I had to eject - that was scary, and I was lucky. I now unlatch the rear wheel breaks and use them to steer in this situation. If you get a tractor I'd suggest a more modern one with roll cage.

The bloke in Hartlepool comes across well (been to his workshop) and has a fair amount of stock throughput, suggesting competence. But he’s in Hartlepool. I’ve never found anything else good in Hartlepool. It’s a place of quite extreme indifference.

The petrol Hondas on the 125 and 160 are great. The bigger ones (makes escape me) less proven. A couple of clients with the petrol 280 have had hot starting problems, some vapour locky kind of thing I think. The Briggs EFI gets a pasting from one guy in particular on here but I have heard of others with the same problem. The Kubota diesel that goes in everything is well proven. Mick said the engine code. 1505?

Dunno but are there any petrol ones that don't use the B&S EFI engine that lots report problems with?

You youngsters don't remember the days before chippers were ubiquitous, climbing into the back of the truck to rasher down lop ad top, several times . Probably achieved a 3 or 4 to 1 reduction, compared to the 15:1 I saw quoted for a chipper. Actually rashing was a reasonably dangerous activity , often involving remounting saw chains. Doubly dangerous if done in the back of a luton body.

hi all thanks for the replies some useful info .. Im still on the fence which way to go, but going to have to make a decision soon .. been thinking .. if the prices of a TW150 was cheaper then id be happy with that, but seems like a lot of money for an old machine , tho I have found someone who sells them fully refurbished , Have seen a fair few Forsts now, some scruffy looking ones, but cheaper than the TW230 about the same price as TW150 .. I have been looking at some TW230 and I prob could stretch to around 10k Something id like to ask is there much init between petrol and diesel ? what would you pick and why ..? thanks ..

There are a couple of ex-solders on here, maybe they might chip in with any advice using your background that might make you more employable - perhaps give general hints and tips about transitioning from soldiering to tree work.

Duh. Perhaps we should need ID for arbtalk. You need it for all the other websites.

I think that's the thing, no one setup is ideal for every job. I have a 12 foot trailer and mini chipper, I can take chipper and either muck truck or mini loader in a bit less than half the space. Perfect for 1-2 man jobs, can do reductions or take down small-medium tree and fit everything on, or run off and tip chip before taking logs home. Take the chipper to the tree saves a lot of dragging if there's any distance involved. Bigger trees with 3 or 4 people, having only one muck truck starts to be the bottleneck, but at that point I'm getting mates in - they bring a tipper and chipper and we now have a 12 foot trailer as well as the tipper, which can shift 2.5 tons of wood per load legally. But - I'm mostly around the villages nearby. Landrover and trailer is a bit of a nightmare when heading in to the city. Then you want a nice Nissan with 2p turning circle. One more thing - trailer is the ideal setup if you live anywhere near a vosa weighbridge, transit has almost no legal payload.

Hanged.

I was wondering exactly the same thing Mick….

I burn a reasonable amount of euc that I grow and coppice myself. I leave it lying sometimes for 3 months or more after felling and don't find it hard to split with an axe. Though I don't tend to let it get much bigger than 25cm dia or so before I coppice it. I also find it seasons quickly in a polytunnel, once split. The bark is thick & quite watertight, though.

That's because there was no deal before. Starmer had to swallow the Brexit pride and talk to the French, should be hung for that I reckon.

There’s something that doesn’t add up with you. That post is the post of someone who doesn’t really know much about or has even used a chipper. My bet is you’re a certain banned member on about his 5th attempt to pass.

Lifted from the insufferable morning people thread. What are the business pros and cons?

Gradual progression for five today Wordle 1,509 5/6* 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨 🟨🟩🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

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Good morning Arbtalkers 😊

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Thank you. Really appreciate the advice

A bit of hedge trimming. Used the Makita UH006.

Seems still and bright here! Goal, Deny.

Morning all, MEWP job today. Overly heavy side prune on an old horse chestnut. I have advised against this a couple of times but customer is adamant. I have put in writing that it won’t make the tree safer, possibly the opposite long term. It is not visible to anyone else, so I may as well get paid rather than someone else. Have a good day all.

Loni Anderson. Remember WKRP in Cincinati?

Morning, well Floris has brought me in a few weeks work which is needed tbh after a quiet bird nesting 2 months.