Brushcutter

I have a 36" bar STIHL ES one. I've seen 6' bars which are cool but very impractical.

I have a 365,372 and the new 576. The 576 is amazing. It's a little heavier on paper i think but it feels so well balanced you don't notice. Done some big timber with the 576 and cuts very well. Have a 24" bar on mine which is a little too long for balance but its still ok on the power. Put an 18" bar on it and it flys through wood but the balance is still off (a 20" would solve it). If i got another one i'd get it with autotune just as i know people with it on other saws and they love it. I've not used the STIHL but i have a lot of Husky saws and this saw is really good feels almost as powerful as the 390.

Coos Bay i knew it had a name.

It's a handy cut to know for leaning stuff too small for the dogs tooth. works very well on windblown trees too. They look like this just on small bits of wood (thats a 3 cut harvester head job). I'd say you would want to use it on anything over 10" then it's a dogs tooth.

I looked into it a few years back but never got around to doing it. From what i remember you need to do a couple of sit in/observed assessments of candidates. You need to do your technical evaulation for each unit you want to assess (CS 30, 31 etc) I'm not sure if your assessor units 32/33 are the right ones. Best to talk to the NPTC. I don't think you need any teaching qualifications to do NPTC but you do for LANTRA.

Some nice shots.

Yep for another 6 months or so. The last picture took ages to take. Had to light a fire to back light the shot.

Yea flat is good. Problem is that it's very very very wet. So wet infact that we can't go over the whole site. We've had to close one landing as the 810 sank upto the bogies and needed the caribou to pull it out. Ploughed the really badly. I'd like to give the steep stuff a go.

last few. Yea you can cut 3 guide bars with the harvester head too.

the clearfell

A few from the clear fell where it finally started to snow. Then it stopped warmest winter in 50 years in Finland

Back in the UK for Christmas so i thought i'd put a few pictures up from some Finnish forestry antics. Spent the last 5 months driving forwarders and harvesters. I tend to do more forwarding than harvesting as forwarding is more enjoyable. Done a few thinnings and 2 clearfells (1 cutting one forwarding). The 3rd landing on a clear fell site. Pulling out the brash (that kept 5 forwarders busy 4 on brash 1 on stumps) Thinning Scotts Pine stand The 1st landing of 3 on the pine thinning Ponnse Beaver extending the landing a little

Nice new bits of kit. Nice to see the smaller heads comming more popular and there being a bit more choice out there. Not too sure on the loader/feller grapple though i'd have to see one in action.

Worked with Steve a lot. Top guy

The forwarder fell over a little. Since the site is for development everything is comming off brash stumps the lot. They had a 14 tonne digger with a set of stump sheers pulling the stumps up and piling them up for the forwarder. The 1110 was a little overloaded and when it drove away the nose lifted and its wheel went in a hole of a dug out stump and over it went. They pulled it upright with the stump harvesting digger. left it overnight to for everything to drain back to where it should be checked it and off it went to work again. Another 1110 tipped over last week although that was rather stupidly laying out the band tracks and near full reach of the crane. I'd also like to point out that i wasn't driving either at the time. I've been driving forwarders at the moment. An old Valmet 820 (which is my fave) and a Ponsse Caribou which has a VERY fast crane and very sensitive controls. Next week i'll be taking a shot on the harvesters....well thats if my foot isn't broken. Which i stupidly managed to do after cleaning the harvester yesterday. X rays tomorrow. No snow yet should be some by the end of the month i'm told. Had the first set of Northern Lights though

more pics

the pics

Hi all Just before i left for Finland a month or so ago i said i'd put up pictures. The internet is a long way away here but i've found some. i promiced Mr Blair some pics of big boys toys so here they are. It's a clear fell for development just outside Tampere in Finland about can't remember the cubic meterage well over 2000. Been there 3 weeks the kit went on the low loaders last night to the next thinning job. Night shift is the best woking under the forwarder lights. All the biomass has come off the site too. Had 4 forwarders pulling brash on the last night and one forwarder pulling stumps. I think that that forwarder is still there.

It's a nice little winch. One of the estates i did some work on had one. I was very impressed in what sunch a small winch could pull. Is the cable rated high enough for a bit of redirecting so you can get 6t of pull?

I agree i'd steer well clear. We use a steel cable in our winch although crushing is an issue. We had nylon core stuff but that was rubbish as it matted up on the drum. The EA only use Plasmarope in their winches and an assessor i know swares by it. Whats your budget for a winch? Personaly i'd look at uniforest ones unless you want to spend a lot the Igland ones. Also the size of winch depends on the size of tractor.

Dam nice cranes unfortuantly very expensive but they have a good lift and importantly fast. Spent a lot of time talking to them at the APF.

What sort of a beast was that. A 203T on a jake mount was about 18k. It's 6m reach is nice its lift just isn't there.

I know a guy who will only go to Osbornes. Although i'm not sure he is totally happy with his 14 tonne moheda trailer with 7m crane without stablisers on. His had it a month and its been over 3 times.

It's £18500 for the 560 £19,200 for the 570 and £2100 for the 580 all done up at Wilsons. If you can get hold of him it is very helpful. I'm sure he can just ship the crane.

Getting hold of John can be a pain they're always very busy. Do you just want the 560 crane or do you want the 560 crane with all the bits to do the guarding and mounting as well. If you can't get hold of John try talking to Ewan he is very helpful and works out in the workshop. Seeing and working with several Botex roof mounts their work is top notch. I can only hazard a guess but i'd expect that around 6k is what they're charging for frame fitting and guarding. If you get your guarding done else where just make sure they cut out holes for all the filters and bits you need to grease in the belly plate. Because if they don't its a total PITA (I've seen it done too, although the guy did make his own). If your giving it a serious hammering woth considering an guarded tank too. Also i recommend the 570 crane its 1m longer which gives you about 6.5m working reach. Still the same lift and i think its about an exra grand. Mine is ariving in 2 weeks hopfully. Most people who have a 560 really want a 570....hindsight is a beautiful thing.