Chris Sheppard

Absolutely - A little rough around the edges shows you work it hard rather than spend all day sitting in it

I heard somewhere the other day (no it wasn't april fool's day ) that those stupid looking toyota hybrid electric thingys cause more pollution per vehicle just whilst they are being built than running a 4x4 everyday does. Something to do with the manufacturing processes for the special batteries. Don't know how true it is but it'll do for me!

Yep he was miserable with me too - good to deal with but just grumpy as hell. www.gsdrake.co.uk i think is the link to his site I love mine (havent got as far as taking the box off yet (over a year later - oops) and have had somewhere around 2 and a half tonnes (ssshhh-don't tell anyone) in it once and it didn't really bother it. I use mine for leading firewood out of the wood and back to the yard and delivering too - my concern with going for a tipper body would have been that you are lifting the floor height up considerably therefore lifting the centre of gravity. Off road this wouldn't be good and it'd make going round corners a bit more interesting. Had mine over the weighbridge with some scrap a few months back and it was 2400kg empty so you can carry a fair bit.

Yep, massive and marked ready for felling

How mint would that be!

Definately full - though I'll agree that if you do clip something hard with it it takes a lot of sharpening

Newer engines with ECU's and other electronics don't always like veggie - TD5's for one.

Don't put your head too close to the air hole on a Kelly Kettle if you need to blow more air into it to get it going - Mine blew back at me today and singed my eyelashes and face fuzz. Might have had something to do with the amount of diesel I'd poured in to it to help it

Matt, that looks mint - your first attempt is better than one guy's stuff I've seen who tries to pass himself off as a professional carver I had a go but all I can do is mushrooms and they still aren't great

Mine's a bit long winded but pretty much took the reins on a job (a 350 - 400 tonne thinning ) for (a then) mate after he lost the plot when his missus left him. Seemed to be spending an awful lot of time on site on my own but gave him the benefit of the doubt fo a week or so - Found out he was going to other jobs and in the end I had to keep going just to get some timber out and get paid anything at all. He managed to get himself even worse in a mess by billing the estate for loads of wood that we hadn't even got forwarded out, so I put a bill in to him, took his landrover and 066 hostage (he thought he was being helpful lending them to me!) for a while, eventually got paid for all I could bill for at the time and walked off the job as soon as the cheque cleared. Still owed at least a grand but won't ever see it as the wood's still laid where it was felled. Last I heard his tractor had been re-possessed and he's sold the rest of his gear.

Here's our two, Fen, the Spaniel and Milly the terrier.

Had a hunt through our pics and these were about the most random ones: first one was our wedding cake second one was us on holiday in the Blackcomb mountains near Whistler third one is a mate of mine showing that discovery's can actually fly

Sounds a good idea to me - bit of networking never hurt anyone

Here's my clan: The 130's my current work truck - had it a year and still not got the box taken off yet The hilux is my old work truck - it couldn't handle hard work - got rid to buy the 130 The jimny is the "normal" car and the pink discovery was my toy but I've just sold it to buy something V8 - either a classic rangie or early disco.

I know it's a bit different but we'd get a right bulling if we left stumps any higher than a couple of inches, especially in big stuff. We did one block of mature hardwoods, mainly Ash and Sycamore but had buyers from across the country queing up for the sycamore - Rippled or not - some weed eh?

Like what he said! You'll not find another one like that

Thanks, here's a few more pics - Sold it about 6 months ago though as wasn't getting chance to use it much. Most of the estates round us will only let you into the woods between Feb and June because of their pheasants.

What a great thread this is I have found myself in a similar situation to some of the other guys - though not entirely. I've been in forestry since leaving school (though I did spend 2 years at Newton Rigg - did Game and wildlife management for some stupid reason) and have spent most of these last 5 years in manual harvesting and tractor extraction. For various reasons I ended up selling my County, packing up contracting and now work full time on a local Estate (it's absolutely soul destroying ) and then doing my own firewood orders on an evening and weekend. I have cs 30 and 31 (i think) but really should have had medium trees and both windblow ones too for some of the work I have done over the years. I've been giving a lot of thought about getting into Arbor before I get too old (I'm 25) but it's the cost of training and the time involved that's been putting me off. I do like the idea of the distance learning options but was wondering if anyone else had seen or heard anything about the "ten week tree surgery" course that Guildford College is offering? I'd seen it advertised in last months FMJ but didin't know if would be any good.

Yep, more of a woodman than an arb type but thinking about about getting into it.

I run mine with a 15" bar and an 8 tooth sprocket with low rakers - brilliant for felling and awesone for snedding. Did use to run a 20" on it but it just didn't feel right. My 353 has only ever had a 13" on it but that's been robbed to go on the processor at the mo. I always though a 395 with a big sprocket and a 24" bar would be a good combination - would rip through anything

Same around us too. I did a bit of enquiring at a few outlets and none of them were prepared to pay more than £1 - £1.50 a bag, and they were all selling them at around £3 - £4 a bag. If you can cut the middleman out then you're on to a winner

Hi Guys, Was put in the direction of this forum via a landrover forum I'm on - always wondered where all the tree working gang hung out I'm Chris, I'm 25 and have more of a background in Forestry than Arbor. I've recently reluctantly packed up contracting (sold my tractors ) and am currently working in the woods department on a local estate but keeping my firewood round going on evenings and weekends.