Chris Sheppard

Wonder if our two were pre-production or just a different batch?

Who's to say it's the autotune that's at fault though? For the extra power the autotune seems to provide, I;m hapy to take the chance Never seen a 365xp though

On Arb waste, 2 of us usually average about 12 cube or so a day. That's one of us ringing up and one on the splitter, with the one ringing passing to the splitter when not sawing. That's on an 18T vertical Thor splitter. Couldn't do that in a day with an axe as I'd be pooped,

Mine was one of the first ones out and, so far, has been problem free. Was dubious about the auto tune saws before I tried one but been happy so far.

Cool, does it need much doing to it?

Absolutely - no more chewed up screw heads

If it's something you don't need to use all the time, I really rate the ryobi one+ 18V impact driver. I've got the Lithium Ion batteries for it and it last ages on a charge. Did the Dog Kennel roof the other week and was putting 10x4 screws in with no pilot holes no bother (probably best part of 50 or 60) and a few of the big spax coach screws too and only swapped batteries towards the end and it wasn't freshly charged when I started. Bought it not expecting big things but it's been really not bad for a DIY grade tool. Think it was about £70 bare, but B&Q were doing the drill/driver with two Lithium batteries and charger for £99 - two batteries and a charger were over £80 to buy separately so it made sense to get the drill set.

Been to BC and Alberta a couple of times. Like others have said, Vancouver Island is lovely, Sea to Sky highway up past whistler and Squamish is fantastic, and the icefields parkway between Jasper and Banff is great too. Depens what you want to do - You could probably easily use up a couple of weeks without leaving Vancouver or you could move somewhere new every day. Both times we landed, picked up a car and just went where we felt like - you'll cover some miles but get to go at your own pace and stop off to see some of the smaller sites that the bus trips go straight past. The last time we went, we took a ferry from the top of Vancouver Island up the inside passage and then drove east down to Jasper and Banff and flew back from Calgary. The ferry is almost like a bit of a mini cruise and goes past some really remote little communities and we even got to see Orcas from the ferry. Would shove some pics up but they're all on the old computer at the mo.

We had a ride down the the Dirt Bike Show at Stoneleigh yesterday. Was a good day out and got us all revved up again for getting out for a ride (and served to spur me on to getting my theory booked if I'm going to stand any chance of getting practical's done before January). A few pics including 2 of the actual bikes from Skyfall, a proper man's bike (old CR500),an old CCM open classer, a hand built custom retro enduro bike and one of Stefan Everts old CR 250's,

That'd be £3 per hoppus foot (cube) rather than £3 per cubic metre

This week's been the closest I've been to switching it off so far. It's not really painting a good picture of reality is it

Scam scam scammity scam. The real ad was on there a few weeks ago.

Cheers, might have to take you up on that before too long Nice one, no huge rush as I've not yet started the site I'm thinking it would come in for. Have only ever used wire before but always on bigger winches for skidding and never had any problems but from what everyone's saying, the dyneema is the way to go on the smaller ones. It'd be interesting to see how the dyneema fairs when dragging through the dirt though.

Is it possible to order one without the wire and if so is there much saving?

Our dealer reckons that once they've gone, they've gone so if you really feel the need for one grab one soon

Pete, if the guy at Whitby won't travel to where you want, let me know as there's a guy at York we've used a couple of times for wood related stuff and he would probably come as far as you. Don't think he'd travel to Grimsby though.

Wow, look how lovely and smooth the intake is, no sticky outy bits in there at all Liking the afterthought bits either side of the roller

The 42 is a lovely little saw, and when running side by side a 242, it isn't as far behind as I expected them to be. You'd notice a definite increase in power going up to either the 346 or the 550, the 550 being even more poky than the 346 but feeling fairly similar to the 42 in handling. If it was me though, the difference in power wouldn't be massive so I'd be looking at omething a bit bigger maybe. Depends on sort of size stuff you'll be looking to cut and how often. FWIW, I usually run my 550 on a 13" but it will happily pull 15" in hardwood at a reasonable pace. If I needed bigger bar I'd be reaching for a bigger saw, but that's me.

It says stihl on it

The 353 isn't a bad saw. I bought one new in about 2004/5 and used it day in day out for a few years as my main thinning saw. It wasn't as revvy as a 346 but made the power lower down so was IMO better in the cut than the 346's of the time. Don't think there can be many new one's kicking about but if there are they should be pretty cheap. My dealer offered me one a bit back f0r £400 all in. Only real gripe I had was that they are heavy on clutch springs - know of at least two others that were the same. It hadn't been used properly for a while but I dug it out of retirement last year for a bit of thinning and it took it fine. Did replace it with the 550 though and the 550 felt leagues ahead power wise. 345/353 will feel positively awful though compared to the 550 - the newer saws feel much the same way to handle as the older 2 series saws from when there was a lot more production cutting going on.

When you say all rounder - are you planning to be more forestry than arb (or vice versa?) or just one or the other etc etc?

Agreed, as much as the 560 is a great saw to use, it's fairly agressive. I'd like to suggest the 346 - they're OK but I never liked it enough to buy one. If you were considering a 346, the the 550 is maybe a better bet, look at it as a halfway house between the 346 and 560. Depending on what sort of work you're doing, the none XP versions might even be worth a look - the 545 and 555 are from what I can gather just the same as the 550 and 560 but not quite so agressive.

Tempting Too busy at mo to start any other projects - SWMBO's getting arsey cos the kitchen still isn't finished

I'm not telling and haven't told you to try anything - what you do is up to you. I definitely wouldn't suggest putting a foot up to a sawhorse, that'd be well uncomfy Holding a limb on the floor using your foot, while definitely not a very good idea, has been known to work well. That was why I didn't ant to say owt - it works but isn't a very safe way of doing it.

Cheers Do really fancy doing another one, have got a 130 double cab sized itch that needs scratching