Chris Sheppard

Don't know anything about boreholes really but I know a mate of mine had one done for a place he'd bought in the last year or so and it was loads less than £50K to do, so on a cost view it looks much more appealing.

But with the thing in the vid, there's no loading to do - the action of cutting with that one is similar to the loading of yours and you don't need to pick up a saw at all, just crack on cutting and letting the wood fall into a barrow etc. I'm not saying the one in the vid is safe, but it's certainly effective.

The weight distribution means they're more even across the tyres - typically 50:50 front to rear with an implement on the linkage. Artics leave minimal ground damage as the front wheels follow the rears, though an artic is less stable on side slopes.

The small wheels all round do make them quite close to the ground in comparison to a more conventional tractor of similar size, especially on the smaller ones. It only really becomes a problem if you have a cutter who leaves high stumps. What becomes more of a problem is th overhang at the front if you are going straight up/down real steep slopes. That said, it would still be steeper than anything else could cope with. They're also good for getting big PTO hp in a small package.

Yes and no. They don't have huge ground clearance (though some of the bigger ones are up to 16" clearance) but they'll go across/up/down slopes that conventional tractors won't. I ran a 50hp one alongside a County and they worked well together.

I'm erring that way too. If it burns hotter than anything you've ever burnt before then I'd still say Yew

I agree with Charlie. The smaller Pro lites are made of cheese at the mo, especially the sprockets. Previously the Husky bars were awfu but the last few I had weren't bad - definitely better than the current Prolites. I've not got as far as a Sugihara one yet but will be doing shortly.

Ali or plastic won't damage a chain either. I'm sure it works OK on some stuff but I'd not want to rely on wooden wedges unless I really had to. Chances are if the wedges are coming out it's a sizable tree and there's enough other stuff to concentrate on than wondering whether the wedges will stand up to getting the tree over.

Like Andy said, double ring the highlift and the wooden shaft will last a lot longer. The stihl branded highlifts at the moment seem to be the best I've encountered. The ends are sharper than the previous ones I've used and will even knock into a cut that's pinched I usually have a highlift and at least one plastic wedge, but usually two, and usually the fairly small ones. High lift does the work and the plastic ones get chased in as backup. Never been very convinced by using purely plastic ones but to be fair I've not really given them much chance as I've not needed to change. Best wedging hammer I ever had was a 14lb sledge with a good third or more cut off the handle, though you didn't want to cart it around much. Currently using a 7lb sledge with a shorter handle but wants a bit more cutting off yet as it's not quite right.

On something of that size and weight, I'd personally think a steering drawbar wouldn't be that much use as you wouldn't want to be dragging that dead weight round the woods through trees, unless you were planning to keep the drive to the bogies somehow. As a secondary forwarding trailer from the edge of the wood to where the wagons can get, then it would probably be quite good. The old Timberliner driven trailers were quite heavy and they didn't have legs on so surely it can't put that much strain on the tractor hitch? However, with a crane of that reach, I still think I'd fancy a set of legs - the forwaarder would more than likely have had a hydraulic stabiliser to use the weight of the front half of the machine for ballast too.

I've not tried the X torq one but it would need to be a whole load more powerful than the old ones to call it high power - they always felt to me like a 372 that wasn't running right. Really robust though.

I quite like the look of this little skidder for first and second thinning [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JMnq989wec]Tigercat six-wheel skidders - YouTube[/ame]

It'd be interesting to put a 576 up against the new X torq 372. Only briefly used a 576 but didn't really like it. My 372 felt more nimble and more lively.

I don't think there's any such thing as a perfect set up, but if I could only have one tractor to do everything then things I'd ideally want would be tyres with strong sidewalls, belly guarding, valve guards, smallish (read narrow) cab with brash bars & window guards. Ideally a fairly compactish 4wd tractor with 6 cylinder engine (so around 100hp maybe) and good turning circle. It'd never be great on big stuff but should still wiggle into younger stands with a bit of thought. If it was purely to use in the woods and never needed to do anything else or go down the road then I'd say my old County was pretty versatile, though didn't like side slopes or forwarding out pointing uphill plus was a fair bit wider than 2.5m I've never used a reverse drive tractor thats not been an alpine but I've never really felt it would help that much except maybe when forwarding occaisonally and even then it would be more of a luxury than necessity. If it was purely for smaller blocks of thinnings then I'd be looking at one of the smaller valmets or if I was feeling flush, a 95hp Carraro with 16" ground clearance.

Know what you mean, I know of a completely standard 357xpg that will outcut any other standard 357 I've encountered and no one knows why. I'm not totally anti 346, I just couldn't bring myself to buy one when my old 353 wanted retiring as they were really starting to feel dated and just not that robust compared to the earlier ones.

I do like that

your 346 must be some saw then

Nice reply, they can't really argue with that OP - they can't hate tree surgeons that much though, that thread is over three yearss old and only has a handful of replies........

Was the 550 fresh out of the box or had it been run a few days? I've not used a standard 346 that's anywhere near the performance of a 550 yet.

Problem is that most people just want cheap - they don't care where it comes from. I've had a little go at burning in the garden using a couple of retorts I made from gas bottles and had them sat inside a 45 gallon drum when burning. Once the gas ignites and it becomes almost self fueling, the noise is fantastic. Sounds like a jet engine Really like the idea of burning commercially as we get a fair bit of stuff to small diameter to put in the firewood stacks and it seems a shame to waste it. http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/forestry-woodland-management/21912-my-first-charcoal-burn.html http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/forestry-woodland-management/31057-mini-charcoal-retort-mk2.html

PM me your address and I'll get it on it's way in the next few days That's the same problem I was having, it turned out I'd be literally just before the window was open. The thing I found with the 125, it seems every car driver feels the need to cut you up/overtake/generally try to bully you because you have L plates on. What 125 are you riding? If you're not in a rush to get through test for a bit, the KMX's aren't bad little bikes that don't take much to get full power out of. The one I had at 17 was easily as powerful as the CR 125 I had at the time by the time I'd fettled it

Cheers It wasn't too bad as I did it over a few months one bit at a time in between work and the bad weather. It's been more frustrating than owt else not being able to just crack on and get it done but figured as I'd left it so long to make a start on it in the first place another few weeks wouldn't make much difference. If you've not done the theory yet, I've a practice DVD with both questions and Hazard Perception on you can have if it's of any use? I got on well with it as you could review each clip and see where you'd clicked in relation to the window, whereas most of the online ones just say if you've passed or failed. Originally I was going to do the A2 restricted - being limited to 33hp for two years didn't worry me too much but it was good to then be able to go bigger if I'd wanted. Instructor said that may as well just go direct access as the cost difference was hardly anything (like £5 per hour more per lesson). Really glad I did as the difference between riding something like a CG 125 on CBT (and would have been A2 lessons/test) and even the GS 500 I did my module one on was huge - the bigger bike was so much more confidence inspiring on the road. As we missed the january cut off because of the weather it just meant I had to do Mod 2 on something like a 650 - the difference again was really noticable, in a good way. Was quite funny yesterday morning though, I'd ridden an SV650 on lessons and yesterday was the first time the instructor had taken it for use on a test and he was a bit worried they'd say it was too loud so an hour before my test got me to swap bikes for a bit and rode the ZR 750 he usually rides.... That really helped settle my nerves Got to ride the SV though so all good. Go for it, you'll love it

Good call Dean - That's one I keep coming back to. Just opened the bottle of Jura Druiachs Own I bought before Christmas and can highly recommend it Even smoother than the superstition. Going to pick up a bottle of Prophecy at some point too.