Brushcutter

Two hundred pounds won't get you far these days I'm afraid. if you want to do your chainsaw course and plan to use your PPE on your course and working it's worth spending a bit to be comfortable. I teach a fair few chainsaw courses and one of the things that disadvantages people the most is being uncomfortable in the gear. Screwfix do a good range of Oregon chainsaw PPE. A pair of proper boots can be had for £100 now and a worth that over a pair of wellies. An pair of treehog chainsaw gloves and an Oregon hat and some Oregon trousers would come iñ about 30 quid or so over budget. It's also worth getting proper trousers rather than chaps as these can be problematic on some courses.

Only cost in that I'm afraid. Nobody will do it for the firewood or the timber. There is a lot of work to get it down and then some serious kit to get the wood out. In short the cost of removal is more than it is worth You may get some money off if the timber stays on site. There is a video about a valuable walnut tree but I won't post it

Chain oil is expensive now especially the oregon stuff. For many years I used Clark forest bio oil as it was required for the sites I worked on. Last few years I've been using husky mineral oil which can be had for about 60 quid for 20 litres.

Any stem over 8mm between the 2nd and 3rd node. 1.5ml of neat product per stem. There is also a stem filling technique. Cut it off quiet high up and fill it up wirh diluted gylphosate within 15mins I have never done that technique.

The best way to get rid of knotweed is to inject it. I use round up pro vantage 480 injected into the stem after flowering. As you are going to get to your maximum dose in one application if you want to hit it earlier spray it with something with a different active ingredient.

The franagard doing it's thing.

I have a franagard 6,5 tonne. It's fully manual which makes assisted felling a pain. I use iglands krpans and uniforests over the years. All have their pros and cons. I like the big krpans personally which radio remote and auto brake. Makes pre tensioning for felling very easy. Not used a franagard or an igland with a radio remote only the manual which is less good than a remote. Get the biggest you can afford. If you have a 6 tonne which and only put out half the cable you could have 3 to 4 tonnes of pull. They do constant pull winches now they get round the drum wire gearing. Tractor wise I've had a 9t winch on a 100hp tractor with a loader and grab. It was a bit lively sometimes. 9 tonne on 125hp tractor was really stable. 6.5 winch on a 75-100 is a solid base.

Hi I have a Husqvarna 520iHE3 and the trigger is being a little twitchy. When ever you turn it on its side the throttle dies off to a about 50%. Turn it over and it runs fine. Seems to be some wear in the trigger wiggly it and works. anybody else had problems. Is this a new trigger job or a new board? cheers

More cable on the drum gives longer reach but as you say the pulling power on full drum is reduced. The cable on the drum acts as a gear. I use a an extension cable with some chokers on it. Which the 25m extension in and then swap everything to the main cable. I must admit despite being tempted by a textile cable I've never made the switch from steel. I tried steel with a nylon core but hated it.

I've mulching blades on both. Personally I've preferred the 360 over the 410.

Do you mean the brackets for a bucket which might not be the standard euro 8? If so then agri linc is your friend. If you are after a subframe the arms the loader goes into that is a harder find. New they may still make one. If you want a used one then machinery auctions would be the place to look.

The biggest thing is to look after yourself nobody else is going to do that for you. The terrain can be harsh the weather is often crap. Hammering wedges is bad on the elbows and lifting stacking and dragging all takes its toll. Find a good physio and do some stretches each day before and after work. Know when to stop. Hopefully that will stop you ending up in the physically broken cutter pile. The courses will teach you a lot and once you get into the more forestry orientated courses the people on it can become valuable contacts for getting work. Other than that phone around local companies. The forestry contractors association have a directory of members and their areas. Go and see them introduce yourself and see what happens. One of the big things about being a hand cutter is that work in most areas is always away from it. Just because the company is 5 miles away doesn't mean their work is not 100 miles away. Local estates may have forestry teams but it is quite seasonal and the pay isn't great. When I worked on an estate the winter was forestry the spring tree surveys and summer grass cutting and then back to forestry. One thing you could do is try to see if a cutter will have you for a day stacking for them. You can watch them work see the difference between felling one tree and working a forest of trees for felling. A copy of practical forestry for the agent and surveyor can be had quite cheaply second hand. This will give you a lot of the forest terminology explained and the theory of how woods are managed. Be able to ID your common trees. If your knocking over oaks and it's mean to be ash you won't work again! Keep stumps low stacks brash free and stems dressed clean and length and grades correct. You don't need all the gear at once. The basics yes but don't worry about ranges of saws at the start. Always have more fuel that you need. Spear bars and chains are a must. I have a little aluminium flight case that holds a file kit 2 spare chains a combi spanner a shot of emergency 2 stroke oil.

Have a look at the May unsold lots at cheffins auctioneers in Cambridge. Or look at the catalog before hand if you really want them. It's a long shot but they have pages of tyres and rims each month.

We have a JCB 526-56 which is 5.6m reach. It will fill a grain lorry but it is a little tight on reach. 7m with a 3 tonne lift is really the minimum to be useful. Had a Kramer 5 tonne 10m reach machine on demo 2 weeks ago. Let's just say it was too much machine as it had more push than grain store wall had restraint

ISA arborist's certification study guide. I only have the 3rd edition and the 4th is just out but is a must have for any bookshelf.

If you look at some of the FSC courses on the list that are expensive and hard to get on. I expect some big companies got in there early and now have a load of employees on fsc training. Tilihil and fc I expect.

Get yourself a grow bag tray long enough to fuel a chainsaw with a 20" bar or so. Keeps the spill off the ground refueling. Other than that I've used a hot water pressure washer to get the spill out the patio.

Husky 550 is 50cc and not too far away from the 254. The 560 is 60cc and a bit heavier than the 550xp. If you want a Stihl a 261 and a 362 are the direct counterparts. Personally I'd have the ms400 which is 65cc or so. All of these are a lot of money now. Maybe cheaper to do an aftermarket pot and piston.

I worked there for a year. I drove harvesters and forwarders rather than doing arb. I didn't see much in the way of urban tree work. It does happen but it didn't much happening. I remember we once backed the low loaded up somebodies drive to fell two Norway spruce trees as it was on the way to the yard to clean and service the harvester. drove it off and felled the tree and cut it into 30cm logs. Then back on the loŕy and home.

Ask the insurer would be the best bet. I would imagine it would be based on what happened and how involved the HSE are in terms of RIDDOR. I would imagine the insurance would look at the best practice tg1 and the work at height regs. I bet the sticking point will always be if you only had rope would a mewp have been safer. Or as you said on point 3 is the use of one rope justified Vs a mewp or was the risk assessment written to say one rope because you wanted to use one rope.

That looks like a very early 346 mid 2000 I'd say. Quite early as it has the old oil cap that is opened with the starter or the combi spanner. If you look on the RHS under the handle there will be a little black plate with a serial number on it. the 50cc refresh had a fuel primer bulb a silver clutch plate and grey clips for the top cover. The original one had all orange. Pic is a 346 original on the left refresh on the right.

Is that for hurley sticks as they look a bit short?

How long since a hydraulic oil change and any debris in the filter? Sounds like the spool valve is got something sticking in it. you could replace it or strip the valve down and see if anything is worn inside.

How do you like it? Had one with the powershift gearbox on demo last year. Very very good little tractor. It's like an a series with the bells and whistles of an n series.

I have a 270 litre 3 phase one that powers hard line tubing across 2 workshops. It's used for cleaning tractors various chainsaws blowing up tractor and trailer tyres. There is also a range of scailers die grinders air hammers etc Any compressor is better than no compressor. If you are all above board on your health and safety they require inspecting each year as it is a pressure vessel. That is expensive so in some cases it's just cheaper to change the compressor every year.