Chris Sheppard
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Everything posted by Chris Sheppard
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Subaru legacy - not hugely better on fuel but on LPG are very cheap to run and really will go further off road than you think they will. Trooper's are quite heavy on fuel. To be honest, if you're only looking to swap to omething more economical, then it's not going to be hugely better than the hilux really. Why not just keep the hilux?
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TDi Discovery - mid 30's mpg and mega comfy
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It'd be interesting to see how many of those who really rate the 346 use them for primarily arb and how many use them primarily for production cutting.
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I don't even need to ask - granny log is 5-6" long I bet? Thankfully always managed to work around that one. Tis a shame more people don't have big stoves that take 18-20" logs. My old next door neighbour had a huge dog grate and would take a 10" diameter piece split once at 22" long - like doing his logs
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Always used to cut at around 8 1/2 to 9 inches unless someone specified any different. Ours seems to be a normal sized fireplace and while 12" fit, they are a bit snug to get a decent pile on. Am sure no one will be too bothered about the few longer ones though.
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Same as everyone else, a big vertical splitter and a decent chainsaw. If there's a lot of branchwood or decent stuff that will billet, then a circular saw isnt a bad addition, maybe even one with an elevator.
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The 550 is ace, but it's not really a firewooding saw - it's a proper lightweight production felling saw and likes to be worked hard
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Definitely safer than your driver's door!
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Ideas for uses for chain oil containers 25l.
Chris Sheppard replied to Andy Collins's topic in General chat
Nope, but the deposit on the drum made it even more expensive. Admitedly we've not priced it up again for a year or so. One thing our dealer really does seem to be good at though is keeping the 20L drums fairly sensible price wise. -
I never thought to keep count but I can quite beleive it. Never understood why though as the clutch and springs are the same as the 346 ones - which don't seem to suffer the problem anything like the 353
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I don't climb, but when we're on arb jobs if it starts to rain a bit then we'll usually keep going unless it starts to properly lash it down in which case we'll usualy sit it out a bit and see what happens. Same out in the woods. Though sometimes it's the ground conditions rather than the actual weather that stops that. If it looks like it's going to be a proper wet day from the start we generally don't bother/do something else. Getting fed up of the rain though, it's been rough most of this week but at least have got excuse today as waiting in for a delivery that was meant to arrive on Tuesday.
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I've not used the other two, but have had a 2004 model (from memory) from new and it was my main small felling saw for 4 or 5 years, then it got a 2/3 year rest before getting brought back out of retirement until earlier this year when it got replaced by a 550. I still have it and it got brought out for one of the other guys to use a few weeks ago and still does what it needs to when required. Shares loads of bits with the 346 and handles the same just makes a bit less top end but has a good mid&bottom end. Only thing it used to do was go through clutch springs reasonably quickly and I know of at least two other people who found the same. Rane mine mainly with a 13" but it handled a 15" OK
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10 week Tree Surgery Commercial Course
Chris Sheppard replied to Kedi100's topic in Training & education
Rather than specifically tree surgery, if you want to get out in the countryside, why not look more into Forestry. Rural work rather than in town working in peoples bak gardens, usually more chance of decent saw time, and (round us anyway) there's more of that sort of work about than arb. Plus, it'll get you into a good mindset for working too - generally a good woodsman can become a good groundie, but not as often the other way round. -
Ideas for uses for chain oil containers 25l.
Chris Sheppard replied to Andy Collins's topic in General chat
Daft thing is its cheaper (or was last time we priced it up) per litre for us to buy it in the 20L drums. -
Google YRM metals and they sell the channel in strips so you an replace it yourself. Not done it myself but doesn't look too bad a job to do.
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Ideas for uses for chain oil containers 25l.
Chris Sheppard replied to Andy Collins's topic in General chat
Cut in half lengthways, they make good oil catch trays for draining sumps. If you make them a bit taller then you can pour the waste oil into a smaller container through the existing pouring hole (rather than just out of the cut corners) so it's less messy. Have used them in the past with each end sawn off to make filling rubble sacks/log nets/charcoal bags easier. The old Oregon ones were quite rigid so with one side cut off don't make bad boxes to slide under the bench and the handles mean you can still slide them out loaded. EDIT: forgot the obvious one of decanting cherry into for refueliing tractor on site -
Perfect excuse for an old timberjack skidder
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I like the simplicity of it but think it would need something like a big 360 (so slewing on a turntable) with a grapple to pull the wood through rather than a conventional loader with slewpots.
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that's a good description I find that most of the time it's when pushing up a hairy softwood (gnarly sruce probably worst) and you'll catch a branch you can't see. Shorter bars generally tend to be less prone to kicking too. Never used one of those triobrake huskies but had hold of one and didn't like it.
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My experiences af the Farmi's were always pretty good. Found them nice to use and very quick in comparison to similar spec machines due to the fact the ram is feeding the rest of the log into place while it's splitting the sawn bit and you don't have to take the ram right out every time - only with the last piece off each stem. That probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense written down but if you watch a vid it will. They take bendy stuff well too.
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Put woodcracker into google and that should get you a bit of a start - different companies market them as slightly different things but they all seem to be a similar sort of thing. The other one to look at would be a lasco cone type on a digger boom or similar.
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I think they've been working on that one thoug hwith the new 5 series saws. Not only do they still rev like a husky, but they don't seem to drop off in the cut.
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All I can think is that the quality of saws varies hugely across the production runs as the later 346's I've experienced felt like I could fold them in half and the back handles were soft enough to flex if you gave them a good squeeze. the older ones with darker plastics certainly felt a bit more robust. I don't mean to come across totally negative on the 346's - I'd say that out of the previous 50cc pro saws it would have been the best, but it just didn't excite me enough to warrant replacing it's predecessor. My experience so far of the 5 series saws has been all good and IMO think they feel more like the older 2 series saws in both build and handling. It'd be interesting to see whether those who've had problems with the 5 series saws have been predominantly arb use or predominantly forest use as I think there may be a trend develop.
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Looking very Airwolf now :001_smile:
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After a 346, a 550 will feel like a breath of fresh air - it's not that I really dislike the 346 or anything, it's just felt so dated for so long and I couldn't bear to actually buy one as it was no real imporvement over my old 353 (except a tiny bit more top end and less mid)
