Show your tractors

[John Russell]

Talk of equipment being 'not CE compliant' and modifications to machines makes me want to ask a couple of innocent questions.

 

1) I can see that if you buy a piece of, let's say, 'non-standard equipment' and then use it or modify it yourself, that's your own look out. But if you employ someone and ask that person to use a modified or non-standard machine, could you not lay yourself open to a hell of an accident claim if anything went wrong?

 

2) If you modify equipment without informing your insurance company are you not likely to make your insurance null and void?

 

3) Isn't anyone selling machinery without a CE mark within the EU making themselves liable if that machinery injures someone?

 

I don't want to be a spoilsport but I'm innately risk-averse. Here's more on the the CE mark: CE mark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Best wishes,

 

John Russell

[mendiplogs]

HI JON ref modify your splitter its ok too make your bed large on splitter it save your back:lol: mate we large bed on ours and its two hand opp so its CE// BS all the best jon :thumbup:

[the crafty weasel]

Part of the reason I modified mine was to actually make it safer. As is mentioned above, it saves the strain on your back, but the most important mod I made was to the control. Before I cranked the control lever downwards, you used to have to pull down on the control to make the ram go down, and push upwards to make it go up. I was worried that if something were to go wrong somehow and I was to get snagged under the ram, the ram would pull me down and would pull my hand down on the control, in a vicious circle.

 

Now you have to push forward on the control to move the ram down, and pull back to lift up, hopefully now if there was a problem, the instinctive pulling away from danger would make you pull the lever and lift the ram. Maybe a bit safer (If that makes sense, does in my head).

 

If I were employing anyone, I would have a single acting spool on the other side of the ram, which fed the main spool block. That way the control spool would be dead until the single acting spool lever was pulled, making it two handed operation.

 

However this would probably not be covered by insurance unless tested and inspected by BS or the HSE. Seeing as I only use mine for beer money and I don't employ anyone I'm not going to worry too much. That and the fact that I never get to use it because it's the only aspect of firewood that the arthritic old man can manage...

 

I'll post some pics later on of the plans I've got to convert mine into a dual purpose splitter and crane for lifting dumpies.

[cooks]

My set up, always want more though!!!!

[18 stoner]

The 7810 is a great tractor. Nice to see one still working hard.

 

Just one point though, why the massively high stumps?

[treequip]

However this would probably not be covered by insurance unless tested and inspected by BS or the HSE. .

 

Neither of those bodies will test or inspect for you.

Some CE marking can be done in house some needs to be done by an external body.

[Chris Sheppard]

Just one point though, why the massively high stumps?

 

I'm guessing Hurley sticks

[John Russell]

Just one point though, why the massively high stumps?

 

Not sure why others leave high stumps but my reason is that high stumps mean that new shoots get above the browsing height of deer very quickly. They make it easy for coppicing too -- less bending. Low stumps will never get away with new shoots if you have a lot of deer around.

 

Technically I believe a tree cut at that height is called a 'coppard'.

 

Here's more I just found. Looks like the ancients came to the same conclusion I did for cutting their trees high: The Woodland Trust | New discoveries | Beech coppard in Epping Forest

 

Best wishes,

 

John Russell

[18 stoner]

Yeh, get the idea now.

 

When i was into woodland work it was always close as ground as possible and replant with guards.

 

Still looks a bit odd to me! Lol!

[roseyweb]

Hurley sticks for sure

possibly the most horrible job in forestry