Chris Sheppard

Don't know if the 254 has it, but I'm sure one of my huskies has a plug a bit like that in the top fins of the barrel. No idea what it was for though. Other than that, I think maybe my 181 had something similar in a hole under the carb (not the grommet where the fuel line comes through though).

You starting to worry about putting your 361 up against a 560 now Pete Sorry haven't had chance to give you a call - dunno where the last week has gone. Agree with the spark arrester, took it out of my 550 and it definitely made it better again. From what our dealer said, if you really wanted to and could make it fit, then there's no reason why a normal carb couldn't go on - other than the auto tune they're pretty much a normal saw still.

That sounds like what my body needed to do today

A decent set of T handle allen keys is a worthwhile purchase

The BCS looks to have been a good buy at that price. Bet it's a handy setup with the drive to the trailer.

Bad luck Nige, couldn't have hit the one in the top photo any worse We've been suffering a bit lately with those metal clips off those square plaggy tree guards - whose stupid idea was it to use metal ties that the tree swallows up, right at felling height

We had one like that a while back. Somehow managed to miss all but one with the saw

Logs or chips to and end user is 5% vat, timber isn't. Bit like heating oil is 5% but a barrel of Crude isn't That's my understanding of it anyway

That's my understanding too, though it doesn't become a domestic fuel until it's been processed - so a wagon load of roundwood is still a wagon load of wood at 20% vat and doesn't become 5% vat until it's been processed into a useable fuel if that mkes sense.

Got any pics of the rest of the winch in case anyone can ID it? I'd be talking to local brake/clutch place as they might be able to send it away to get some made up

That sounds a really good setup to cover most sites

On the whole then most of you would have gone with the winch it over then fell the stick - yep, that's pretty much what we did The photos don't really show it that well, but there was very little holding the torn bit to the main stem and it was only really resting on the Ash, rather than tangled into it. But winching wasn't really feasible as the only way we could have pulled would have been into the wood and there was too much chance of the top falling out towards the field as it was already leaning that way. So, Brett went up the main stem and anchored in fairly high. Came back down abd across into the torn bit, getting fairly high ready for the two winch ropes (massive huge skidder and tirfor). Anchored into the Ash rather than the torn bit - was moving a fair bit so maybe for the best. Tirfor was for pulling it upright and the tractor for pulling it over - what didn't help was getting enough angle to pull upright rather than across but once under tension it didn't really have much choice where it was going. Took a fair bit of moving to get it off the ash enough for it to go, but it came down pretty cleanly - little tractor dug it's heels in pretty well. Bit of a tidy up and then onto main stem. Was weighted fairly well back into the wood, so it got intrduced to the 3120. Despite the lean, the wind changing direction didn't help so it needed a bit of wedging, but came down where it was told Buzzed the skanky bit off the butt, snedded it up, cleared the brash, stacked the smaller firewood and it's all ready for the Estate to come in and firewood it EDIT: Just realised they're in a bit of a funny order but you get the jist

Just waiting to see what pics Brett got too and will post rest up

that looks lovely

You know how protective farmers are of their crop - in reality though it would probably only flattened a couple of bags worth of grain. Also, don't think the Estate own the field (not actually sure on that one though). As it is though Rupe, you're closest so far

Your tracked chipper must be huge, Ed

Before anyone starts - not asking how to do this as we've already done it, more interested in how people's approaches to the same tree differ - bit like the thread "would you climb this?" It's on the edge of a wood, needs to go back into the wood rather than out into the field. The remaining stem is to fell too. No cherry pickers or cranes either A bit of damage on the way down isn't too bad as most of what's nearby is only ever going to be firewood grade. Approx 42" diameter above buttresses. Couldn't get far enough back to get really good photos but these should give you a bit of an idea. Will post pics up of how we did it in a bit

I might have read it wrong, but it looks as though the £300/day is based on one man and the machine? As much as that's what it would probably need to be, I think you might be being a tad optimistic to get that 5 days a week every week of the year. A small alpine like the AGT 835 doesn't want much of a trailer behind it really - to really exploit the benefits of the AGT (as in where it will go compared to a conventional tractor) it's better paired up with a winch. Unless the terrain is fairly bland, you'd be looking typically at an ATV type timber trailer like the Vahva Jussi, jms 900 or Timber dragon TC1, which won't get a lot on a load so is really quite a niche market and needs the right sites to make it pay. I'd be looking at the following: Do you have work there for it ready to go? If so, how much. If it needs to be working all day every day at X amount to make it pay, then is it really worth the stress? What else can it be doign to earn it's keep if it's a bit quiet in the wood or the ground conditions cause work to stop for a few weeks. Can you guarantee work for it all year round - shooting season on most estates means the woods are often off limits. I don't mean to sound negative, but it's all too east to convince yourself that something will work because you like the idea of it. If it was me, I'd start out just getting back out there with a saw and build up a bit more slowly.

When the work van was bust a couple of years ago I had to use my old V8 Discovery for the trip down to Hampshire, with a small trailer on, somewhere about 3/4 of a tonne. Somehow managed 18 mpg on the way down, but oddly enough coming home a couple of days later and with no trailer it was more like 11mpg Generally drive pretty steady now, not that the 90 inspires anything but steady. Normally somewhere around 29-32 mpg.

Generally I never run a 50cc saw on an bigger than 13" and as yet I've not tried the 550 on a 15" but I'm sure it would be OK. If you're throwing the 560 into the mix then I'd say it makes sense to go for that - it's light enough to take into stuff you'd generally take a 346 into with sackloads more go. if you were using it for small thinnings all day every day then maybe it'd get a bit heavy, but it sounds like you're not into that yet.

I've one I'm chasing locally at the mo that looked in better condition than my 550 does now, but he seized it on neat fuel. He's diggin his heels in but I'll get it eventually that and the 288 he's got that went the same way I think the 550 feels like the modern equivalent in handling wise, but with a bit more midrange. Hoping the new 543 when it comes out will be the new must have tiny saw.

Too many pies jon

Personally, if you're comtemplating anything bigger than a 15" bar with any regularity I'd go for the 560 rather than a 50cc - it might not sound much of an increase in power but for ringing up it'll make it slightly less boring I won't put a 20" on anything less than 70cc but then my 372 spends most of it's time with a 15" on anyway. The 560 pulls a 15" crosscutting scarily well

Give it a few days and it'll settle down - like stubby says, you need to set the auto tune. Instructions are in the manual. One thing you might find though is that it is a bit lumpy off the bottom when it's been sat ticking over - apparently that's the auto tune trying to compensate (they are a forestry saw though so not really designed for being sat idling - should be busy cutting ) - found that if you take the spark arrester out of the exhaust that helps a lot with that. Starting from empty, give the primer a couple of pumps til you feel some pressure, then a couple more, choke on then off to set half throttle and it should go first pull. I kept flooding mine to start with trying to start it like I would an older saw.

We were comparing the oregon one and husky one's today and decided the hook on a husky digs in better; the oregon one sometimes takes a bit of getting to dig in, especially on the Ash and Sycamore today.