Chris Sheppard

Real one here, Nordman this year as the new house is warmer than the last one and the Norway last year wasn't looking great by Christmas day. Doesn't help that Wife want's to get tree the first weekend in December each year. It's turned into a bit of a day out though now - head off into Helmsley, go round the shops, go pick a tree then head up to the Lion at Blakey for some Dinner.

Glad you like it - it will get better and better over the next week or so after a few more tanks. If you haven't already done it, take the spark arrestor screen out of the exhaust - that made mine pick u even cleaner and lost most of the flat spot that you get if it's been sat ticking over for a bit. Plus it sounds better too

Well, not quite, but at least it was warm and wet instead of cold an wet Can just about feel my feet and fingers now

We've had snow today, from sleety wet stuff to proper blizzarding big flakes. Cold and windy too. Come back Summer, all is forgiven

On the whole, a front steer alpine will turn a whole lot tighter than a conventional small tractor of similar physical size, just the artics turn that bit tighter again. My Carraro was front steer and was fine in tight thinnings. One thing to remember with an artic is that if you're skidding and the front goes light you will lose the steering as the artics don't (usually) have independant brakes.

There is, but it's usually sold before a saw hits it or we don't get round to felling it all before shooting season starts and they turf us out til spring

That big Carraro's actually owned by an Arbtalk member too. From what I've expereinced of the ferrari/BCS/Pasquali, they seem pretty robust, well thought out and nicely finished. On the whole, the bigger ones are easier to work on too as there's more roon to get at stuff - generally the smaller ones need kiddy sized hands to work on them. I remember fitting a starter motor to mine and very nearly getting quite angry with it.

I'd agree with Dave, maybe even a tad more if it's going to be all Ash.

Great Pics Bet the guy on the Matador has some great stories to tell from over the years

If one were to come up, I really quite fancy one of the 95hp Carraros. I can't remembr the model number off the top of my head but it had something like 16" ground clearance, big lift capacity and a 40k box on it. Was probably only similar size to our 40hp Kubota. In 2wd on that ali roadway stuff they put down on showgrounds if it's wet it would drift off the throttle Got to spend a bit of time using one a couple of APF's ago and reckon it would work really well with either winch or forwarding trailer. It's the £40K that put me off nd I've only ver seen one come up second hand.

That's hardly difficult Come on, get some videos

I'm looking forward to seeing the results of your testing Jon, I think it could keep Husky on their toes if nothing else. Had husky not brought out the 550, I'd have been more open to trying something else. I've not had any experience of the Makita/Dolmars but I'm going to take some persuading to hang up my 550, it's just so light and zippy

We have a 454 too and it's been a grand little bus. When we got it there was (and still is) something come adrift inside the injector pump so it only has tickover or about half/three quater throttle and that's done off the stop lever. We used it for a few months pulling our forwarding trailer and it's now sat in the yard running sawbench or splitter. I'd go as far as saying I've never known a better starting tractor than that one - it can sit for months and will go first turn of the key with no heat or hesitation. Was worth the £700 it cost

Stick an 8 tooth rim on with the 15" and it's even quicker again Mine lives with a 15" most of the time for felling rougher pines etc and it just eats wood.

I've never use the X torq one but the older ones we used to run on 15" - chances are the X torq is a fair bit pokier now so reckon 20" should be fine. I've not put anything bigger than a 20" on my 372 but most of the time it's pulling an 8 tooth sprocket.

Dunno, but I used one very briefly a few weeks ago and it wasn't great. Am pretty sure I've seen the same in red too.

365 probably better suited to a bit of logging.

I needed a new small thinning saw. Already have 3 60cc saws on the shelf but the old 353 was getting tired and needed replacing and I didn't want a 346. Depending on whether we get similar stands to work next season, a 560's on the shopping list as soon as I can justify it. Talking to Husky at the APF, they suggested that most of the saws that have had running problems (rather than mechanical failure) were saws that wre only getting lighter use on arb type work (so more sporadic use during the day) rather than being pushed hard in the woods all day.

Can't help from a towing point of view, but in my experience, any cheap old quad is going to be fairly knackered - and bits soon start to add up cost wise if you have to get geniune bits. Last one I had was an old 2wd honda 300 Big red and whilst it ran fairly well, needed about £400 just on a few brake parts and bushes for the suspension so ended up on ebay.

550 would be the closer equivalent to your 261 I think but I'd be fairly confident it would kick the 261's arse in performance. I had one of the first 550's and mine's been great. It's not been out so much just lately but I dug it out the other day and had forgotten just how poky it is. Generally mine's on a 13" but i had a 15" on it for some Sycamore thinnings in the summer and it did it no bother. They were the sort of size I'd generally have een taking the 357 into. Had a 560 on demo for a week prior to ordering the 550 and was that impressed I ordered the 550 off the back of the demo. 560's not much heavier than the 550 but the extra power is really noticable. I'd go as far as saying it's probably not a million miles behind my 372 but a good chunk faster cutting than my 357. A lot depends on what you're using it for - Mine's out in the woods thinning, as a chipper/ground saw it's maybe a bit overkill.

Don't know where it would end up going locally to you, but chances are you'd get more for it splitting it into sub 40cm TD and oversize as you'd only get oversize price for it if you mixed it and that's often as much as £4/T difference at roadside (well is round us anyway). If you struggle dealing direct, try someone like Euroforest - you'd get a bit less for it and they often take 90 days or more to pay but it get's it moving fairly quickly. Round us typically it's high £30's for 3.7m sub 40cm TD logs at roadside, depending on where we are.

Yes, much better for ringing up than a 346 or 357.

Proper woodmans tractor Complete with cab big enough to live in

Dad went through one of the yellow plastic gas pipes when digging out for his driveway. It was something like 15 years or so ago so don't know if it's changed since, but they repaired it FOC as it was fairly shallow (less than a spade's depth). First bloke came out and wrapped the gunky tape round it and a few hours later another van came out and stuck a join in in about 10 min.

'Tis but a scratch Is it terminal? Least there's an excuse to buy a proper saw now