Brushcutter

Minimum wage is over £11 now and there is easier ways to earn that than Arb. 

Yes. The local chainsaw shop seems to be selling a lot more 525 husky blowers. I have a little husky blower that is teamed up the br700. The husky one seems to be as good

13 hours ago, Acerforestry said:

That has occurred with another 560 or 62 previously, and has also affected colleague's saws as well. Husqvarna seem to have dropped the ball somewhat in recent years, these are 900 quid units and you expect better really

I know a few people that have had the problem. I'm lucky and not had it.  Apparently it's because the bearing cages are plastic now. 

560 just out of warranty hardly any work......I call crank seals....air leak causing hard starting and poor performance.

With most Winches you don't need a lot of horse power. As you don't need a lot of power to turn the input shaft. The gearing on power train and the drum do the rest. 

Most Winches use the cable drum as a gear so when you have all the cable off the drum you get maximum pull.

50hp would be on the low end for a 5 tonne winch I think a fransgard might be lower in hp than igland. It's most likely to do with the linkage size and the weight of the machine as much horse power requirement. My 6,5 has always run on 100 to 115hp but I doubt it's ever used that much. However the fact that it's about a tonne before you load up the butt plate with logs.

You're really under valuing your time. I think the last thing I had fixed was my 660 which spud did and that was a good deal. Most of the time now most repairs are 50 60 quid an hour plus parts. Heaven forbid you only have an tractor dealership to fix your kit or that workshop cost is closer to £100.

Ms 400 if you can only have one sawn which does everything. If you don't need a near 70cc saw them you can do wrong with a 550. 

You can take the ISA cert Arb at some training centres at a time that almost suits you. You don't have to wait for the 2 or 3 paper exams a year. You also get the results then and there.

I'm not sure the ISA cert Arb is level 3. It should be if it isn't but I'm sure its a level 2. Either way if you get the study book and the cd and listen to it in the truck each day you will make good progress through it.

GCSEs are very expensive. About a grand each with the exam fees. 

It might be worth talking to the school and finding the out what exam board they use. Most likely AQA for history. Then see if you can do the exams and coursework through them as they have him as a registered candidate and see if you can just buy the lesson material online. Or even better if the could just record the lessons for you at the school and you just homeschool it.

3 hours ago, maybelateron said:

Jensen in my view. Jensen work with one hydraulic motor driving a gearbox with two timed output shafts, one to each feed roller. This way the rollers can have coarse teeth that interlock. All other chippers that I am familiar with have a motor for each roller, and therefore the rollers cannot overlap or the teeth would get damaged. Please correct me anyone, if there are other makes that do it the Jensen way.

The Jenson rollers also move up only on one side keeping really good contact on both big and little material.

2 hours ago, woody paul said:

Spot on with that. 

Great sales team but the back up isn't great. 

3 hours ago, woody paul said:

There's a couple of companies near me how have gone Jensen A520 after using Forst and Timberwolf, there is a Jensen agent/agri dealer less then 4 miles from them so many be why, or like when I went there for a chainsaw helmet part as I was that way chipper sales man spotted me and then got me to look at chippers, he could sell sand to Arabs. 

Was over looking a farm which 3 tree companies run out of mixture of chippers Timberwolf, GreenMech and Jensen in yard would be a good place to ask what they thought of them. 

Is it Tuckwells ? I bet it's Tuckwells.

Get some demos. I really like the Greenmech Evo 165 but others I work with don't and prefer the 230 from timberwolf. I like the 230 but I think the forst and Greenmech feel more productive. 

Jensons I like the 540 with the tapered rollers great on bendy bits. What I don't like on the Jenson is you get an extra oil because the drive to the rollers is oil immersed. If you go down to the 530 with the old school stress control reset you will be sad. I personally hate the Jenson and forst buttons.

Marking trees is a personal thing. I swap between using tape and spray. I really dislike blazing because it's easy to miss one when cutting. 

When choosing your marking colour choose something that contrasts nicely against the tree. Don't mark Pines and Larches in reds and orange as the don't show up well. Watch out for red and green as colourblind cutters might not see all the marks(true story).

If marking a big area I do like using the Finnish marking system which uses tape. Red is the boundary if the knot on the tape faces you, you are within the boundary. Corners have two red ribbons on. You should be able to see ribbons down the line of trees.

Blue ribbon marks environmental features. Could be waterways to avoid, nesting birds etc don't cut or cross into blue tape area.

Orange is for racks when you were marking them. Tape on every 5 to 10  or so tree so you can see where the rack goes.  Depending on if you are rack distances are somewhere between 5 and 7 rows normally slightly wider if hand cut.migjt be some ghosting racks in there. Basically if you have a 10m crane on the harvester he will reach 10m ish from that rack. The next rack will let the machine reach back to almost the same point.

What size area are you talking and what size trees? Could it be more cost effective to put some good hard cutters in get it down and stacked the  go in with the digger and chipper to tidy up. 

30 minutes ago, Donnie said:

Not long off the phone. 5 mill public and 10 mill employers. 1000 a year, not that bad actually. 

Thats about the money. The employers is the expensive bit. Mines a bit higher but the training stuff ups that.

Trust and arborisk will be your big two. I think trust do a discount if your a FCA member.  The employers is the expensive bit. I'm with arborisk and I have pl el and tools all with them. 

Thinking of getting some Nicks boots from the good old us of a. Boots designed for logging in Oregon should manage a Conny hedge in the burbs.

Velvet Ash maybe Fraxinus velutina.

It's a difficult question.  Minimum skills and minimal ability  still means minimum wage for a legal standpoint. 

There are lots of people out there doing it for minimum wage because they are yong and the Arb industry are tolerant of things other industries aren't (does depend on the employer). I see lots of people go into Arb but I see quite a few drop out after a few years. Mostly to do with money.

My attitude is always pay people what they're worth. If your self employed and making less than 150 a day, especially if your supplying fuel or kit. Your wasting you time.

I've used the IM imer 19m mewp a fair few times. It's heavy but doesn't quite have the sway of the hinowa. Like all machines I've hired has some sensor tantrums. However it is a very nice machine.

20 hours ago, Moose McAlpine said:

 

Not seen a 540 back handle before. I do like my T540 a lot, but wonder if it's worth having the 540 over a 550?

 

I ordered one ages ago and one day it just turned up. I really wanted a 339xp but I never got one and they go for silly money second hand so I knew I had to get in at the begining on this as husky didn't make that many 339. 

540 Vs 550. They do different things well. The 550 is a shedding machine with it's rev boost and will cut big stuff well. It's my go to saw 

The 540 is light, really light and for the weight it is very powerful. The ergonomics are great it's no 550 but it's good because it weights nothing. I like the fact it doesn't scream like a 550 it's a little tamer on the throttle response but when you want power it is there. Works well in the MEWP and on the forest floor. It's a great little saw for coppicing and small felling.

I think I payed 620 quid for it so it was fairly cheap for a provisional saw. And I really do rate it...

I would recommend the 540xp. Light nimble and has lots of power for a 40cc saw. I think if you were to get it ported it would be ridiculous. Stock it comes with the 3/8p 1.3mm guage but has the option of running .3251.1mm guage which is the same as it's battery counterpart which may make it a little faster in the cut.

I really like mine I as it's so light and nimble. I use it on stuff that really took big for it but it works. The only thing is the chain tensioner is a little weak if someone gets it stuck and gets to pull it out 

2 hours ago, Doug Tait said:

 

I feel for you. I broke mine in July on a Sunday riding my bike. had surgery on the Monday afternoon to put it back together. 1 plate 8 screws hold it together. 

6 weeks signed off. The. Something like 3 months of doing physio and light work. Still hurts still not as strong as it was. 

Hopefully without the surgery you should heal quicker.

Varioclean by STIHL. Makes old crappy case covers look like new.