Charlieh

applecross pass is awesome, although i must admit to having spend a lot of time up near durness/cape wrath and the walk out sandwood bay is increadible, its a lovely area but a long drive up there,

I have these for on the ATV they are wiley-x xl-1 and have changable lenses, and have a seal that sits tight to your face, either that or as i have mentioned in the past the Uvex ultrasonics which are what stihl re brand as their own goggles, i find when im using the CSM they are very effective and not to bulky to have on when wearing the helmet with the visor down either when strimming etc

ok a little picture thread, I bought this: (sorry about photo quality my camera is on the way out) anyway it was bought as a non runner, after a bit of messing about i decided the carb was the source of the problem, poor photo but you can just make out the lump of blue pastic that was sitting under the metering needle spring, causing it to constantly flood the engine, Once that was solved it ran quite nicely, then I did a muffler mod on it, opening up the exhuast outlet area to about 75% of the exhuast port (i wanted to be a bit conservative as its my first attempt and a smaller saw, so i didnt see the need to go to 85%+) After removing the exhuast I had to drill two holes and then filed and dremmel out the edges on both the exhuast and the mounting plate, the problem with the 346 exhuast is that it doesnt mount tight up to the mounting bracket so once you have drilled and filed the exhuast you then have to use needle nosed pliers to gently bend the outside of the hole you have created outwards so it touchs the mounting plate, I also drilled a hole in the internal baffle as well, as i didnt go to the hastle of spliting the muffler apart, i drilled this hole off center to the exhuast port and new opening so it doesnt have a direct line through, my reasoning for this is that if you push the saw into something bushy like a conifer when limbing and a branch does push the screen in at least its not going to push it straight on/into the the piston I have then just used a small peice of isopon car body repair mesh as a spark arrestor mounted between the exhuast body and mounting plate, just to stop debris entering the exhuast all told took just over an hour with the retune, which i did by ear need to get it on the tacho really now, My first impressions are good, the saw pics up revs very fast, it seamingly cuts faster, the noise isnt as bad as i was expecting its certainly quiter than my 254xp (and less vibes and less thirsty). The fuel economy doesnt seem to have been adversly effected and im very happy, I used an older saw for this effort as its not a very tidy job but now i understand how to go about things i would be happier doing it on some of my newer saws, oh and i cleaned the huge amount of build up out of the exhust port which was probably about 1.5mm deep all the way around the port so far the saw has cut about 2 trailer loads (7ftx4ftx2ft) of logs mounted to my portek log master, on one tank of fuel its great it will go into to timber the full legth of the bar (15") and doesnt drop the revs noticably at all, my advice.....do it!

forgot to say single entry traps only, double entry's aren't that great as they dont drop both doors at the same time, setting the traps in a basic ply tunnel will increase catch rate, but its likely to increase no target capture of other mustelids

if you can do it by shooting them you obviously have way to much time on your hands, also if its in areas for timber production filling the trees with lead shot isnt the best idea, plus a good operator with an air rifle will be considerably more effective than a shot gun

bet the climber needed a change of trousers, did the crane make it into next doors garden as well? i really wouldnt want to have been involved in that lot, at least no body was hurt

bethal rhodes will do a discount if buying a load of traps, i think its 10+ also its worth contacting Cumbria wildlife trust Save Our Squirrels : Information ::: save our squirrels project, Charlotte is one of my friends, i went to school with her, give them a ring they may be able to help sort you traps etc

what sort of traps are you using? if your using live captures i can highly recommend bethal rhodes for the quality of construction these are by far and away the best made traps i have ever used Bethel Rhodes the mink one is the right size for squirrels, i usually set these on the side of obvious runs between the trees i have heard mixed responses to the use of kania traps KANIA 2000 trap | grey squirrel trap | mink trap not ideal if your in an area where you might still have some i have always used peanuts for trapping, but i dare say their are better baits out there where will you be doing the trapping? ie nearest town

you may want to have a look around locally for other training providers as whilst Rodbaston is good its not cheap! although for July they were offering free chainsaw training and you just paid for the NPTC assesment, so its worth giving them a shout (Kathy Chapman is the person to speak to), also try BASE on the edge of the chase and Countryside Training and Tree Manangement I have done training with both of the last two and they both offer very professional and enjoyable service,

got 16hp briggs and straton v twins on my atv topper and my old mans ride on mower, awesomely powerfull engines and not had a spot of bother with them in several years of use, also i have smaller 3.5hp B&S engine on my ransome marquis mower, made in 1979 and its still a good un, it had been un-used in the shed for 4years until this year and it just needed a bit of tweaking on the carb to sort it, and thats a 30yr old engine! i dont have much experience of honda engines other than in atvs and that has always been very positive, i would by honda over any of the other brands just for the engine reliability

next you will be onto these

was he starting the saw from cold on the ground? if so why was he performing a warm start technique, if he was starting it in the tree cold why hadnt his groundys warmed it up? as i havent ever had this problem with a warm saw?

sorry i cant find a match for that, it might be that you have to take it to your stihl dealer and get them to sort you a chain out that will fit the bar, it will be safer than risking a guess to save a couple of quid on an ebay chain there is some info on here http: //cart.chainsawshop.co.uk/index.php?p=page&page_id=Selecting%20Chain%20Size or stihl make a little square tool that has notches on it to help you to work out what you need, but if you just need one chain for one saw i would ask your dealer

nope oregon and stihl chain isnt the same, also you will need to know the pitch eg .404 or 3/8 and also the gauge either 0.058 or 0,063 not just the number of drive links is there any writing stamped on the bar near where it mounts on the saw

rescue saw recoil starter handle! its the future ask your dealer to order you the handle from the MS460R its about £3 and a lot nicer to use on the big saws

We have been trying layering (and it relates to your post in the strange places you find roots thread) with willows on eroding and unstable river banks as you can layer the willow branches reasonably easily into the soft soil, and they take reasonably quickly helping to add structure to the soil again, although i must admit we havent tried to create/replicate a fracture, other than aesthetics in this situation are there any benefits to it? is it a good habitat for inverts and fungi, or is that better created by traditional fracture pruning?

on the top of the peak district moorlands roots were being washed out along a gully side BGS who i was surveying with at the time thought it was several thousands of years old, and had be preserved by the bog! it look quite fresh for its age!

i think they will become more popular as people without b+e licenses get older and cant tow caravans!

hmm i have a slasher and mattock in the shed will have to go and dig them out

what is the forth one?

my old man found one with the ride on mower, they were under a piece of tin after it had rattled around the mower deck they were seriously unhappy, after about ten feet on the mower he realized that he wasnt going to out run them on the mower and had to abandon ship for a few hours

my father in law also has a 180 it spends more time on the bench being repaired than it does running, if its got so few hours on it isnt it a warranty job? a few more details would be handy, mainly is the fuel getting to the spark plug after half a dozen pulls over on choke

but not as much fun to take to bits and fiddle around with, also you dont get many axes as spares or repair on ebay

I have several of their bill and hedge hooks, very nice quality i find i prefer the balance of theirs to the elwells

orange scrap it may have been this morning, but now its a finely tuned high speed coppice machine to replace the axes