Chris Sheppard

Using the saw and the splitter together can be done (though does say in the book not to) but you need to half keep an eye on the other guy as if you end up sawing a big bit at the same time as trying to split a gnarly bit you can pull the revs down enough to stop it or slip the belts even on a PTO one, so can only imagine the petrol one to be even more fussy. £2K doesn't sound too bad for the petrol ones at all.

Eagle's only a sawbench with a corkscrew on it, not a conventional processor in that sense - don't know what they cost now but they must still be somewhere around 1/3 of the cost of a processor, though I know what you mean

I used to have a PTO eagle and for a first stepping stone into mechanising firewood it was great. Not everyone lieks the corkscrew splitter on it btu I found it ok. Found that it was useful too when I bought a vertical splitter, billet everything down and then when you're sawign it to length, any odd bits that were too big still could just go through the corkscrew. The TCT blade is a must have and if you are careful will last a good while before needed sharpening. Did look at the JAPA version but prefered the working position of the hakki, though build quality was similar. Never actually saw a palax in the flesh but know someone who had one and liked it. HTH

I Like that idea, kinda like a no handed froe

If most of your wood is going to be coppice, try cutting it in metre or longer lengths and then split the long length using a wedge and hammer - one split will do lots of logs (if that makes sense) and them maybe look at a sawbench rather than a splitter - well quick at cutting up the billets and small diameter roundwood so probably quite helpful on the charcoal too. Petrol splitter would be great but fairly costly so maybe something to look at a bit later

In my experience, most gamekeepers are overly cautious and worried about you disturbing the birds, even if you aren't working anywhere near pens. In reality though, pheasants really don't seem that bothered by the presence of work going on and I've even seen them come back to roost in the woods on an evening when we've been thinning the same wood. I was lucky on one estate that the head keeper was from a forestry background so the only time we weren't allowed in a drive was the day before a shoot or one really important days, a few days before. You will still struggle to find a keeper that will let you do any work out of the Feb-June window so all you can really do is Blitz it in that time window and live with it IME - not ideal but on most estates, pheasants come first

I've only ever used one a few times on someone else's saw and din't really notice anything too bad with it. Am going to give it a try on my 353 as where we're cutting at the mo is really sandy and kicking the crap out of chains (never known it before where have had to tighten chains in between fill ups) so anything to save a few quid has got to be a good thing. Am goign to try some multicut too but don't think that'll be any better for stretching, just keeping a bit sharper.

It's not the fact it was £10 that I was getting at, more why they couldn't just put it on the website - I'd have been quite P'd off if I'd been in a car on my own and had £10 to pay to park and get the bus when a car with 5 people in would have had to pay the same between them. Even if it was just a case of paying a fiver each to get in sounds an awful lot better than getting £10 a car sprung on you. I'm pretty sure there were plenty of people who were finding alternative places to park too, so gettign free bus rides Those burgers didn't look too clever either We timed it right on the JD stand, they brought round cakes However, the fact that it was a forestry show in the North is always a bonus! Just reckon that there's potential to include a few more stands maybe for the next one as I would guess a large percentage of the visitors there weren't ever really going to be in a positon to be buying a brand new forwarder or harvester.

Somewhere I've got a pic of when my mate fixed his diff pan by weldign on the top of a gas bottle, even left the old valve in it for comedy value. He did make a nice job of it though

and put some mudguards on too. Does look good though

We had a ride up today, was good to actually see machines workign rather than just parked up on stands, though reckon yesterday would have been better as we about needed binoculars to see some of it as they'd covered a fair area Only real negative was the car parking fee - yes, we knew there was going to be a "small" charge for parking, but £10 a vehicle was a bit of a surprise. The amount, whilst seemingly quite a lot for parkign, wasn't really the issue, more why they couldn't just say that on the website

Wish I'd have made it down but had too much on - looks as good as always

Bit of breeze here helped today but still too hot to be felling

In most cases you would end up as a self employed cutter working on a tonnage rate.

If yu're looking at a 130, seriously consider a H/D 110 tipper instead. You'll never get a 130 full before it's over weight and the H/D 110 will carry more as it weighs less and carries almost a full half tonne more than a standard 110. Despite what some will try and tell you, it's not just a case of fitting helper springs to a standard 110 to get you up to 3.5t

Far too hot here today

Maybe on good going where the woods have been looked after and are clean, but round us there's not that much that a harvester can tackle, plus there's never likely to be a harvester that can replace a man and a saw in big hardwood, not going to happen. However many harvesters there may be in the future, there'll always be a need for a good man on a saw in the woods.

Thee are still quite a few out there round us but getting less as they retire and there's not really that much of a next generation following up behind - something to do with it being far too much like hard work

Me and Buzzsurgeon are heading up Saturday I think

Looks pretty tidy but at only 110hp and been used for mulching I'd say it could have had quite a hard life.

The very one and yep it is - was getting a bit of a PITA skiddign some of the smaller stuff out

Cheers for the pointers They're more liek the 346 than a 357 if that makes any odds?

Don't know what model but it's a 30hp Landini

I heard they aren't right clever Englebert Strauss - they'll be what I'll be replacing the husky ones with if they do end up going back.

Maybe they're just settling in and it's just the initial wear - but after a week they do look like they've taken a proper beating. We're in amongst a bit of light bramble in places and the brash is fairly light hardwood so really nothing too bad. That's interesting on the sizing though, the prolights I'd wear a large, the technicals, the large were huge and the mediums I can't wear without braces.