Chris Sheppard

What you should do is sell it to me I've not tried one of the non gen kits for a 242 yet but I'm guessing there won't be many closed port ones about. Open port will still be OK but effectively make it run like a standard 42 - so just not quite as revvy. From what we've worked out between us, the only part number difference between the two is the barrel and the difference being close or open ports. I did price up a gen Husky pot and piston for one a while back and got the dealer down to about £170 ish I think. If it's a really tidy one, I'd be half inclined to pay the bit extra for genuine (if it does need both)

That's pretty good going We're all cleared out of softwood now, but how far South does he bring in from?

Oregon one here too. Bit flexy but never actually bent it, and has a nice wide foot on it so doesn't tend to sink into the timber much. One thing you might find is that if you run .325 chain it's a bit snug in the cut.

That was my understanding of them too, but one day I only had my twisted one with me for some reason so didn't have any choice. The odd times I've tried cutting one in the wood theyve been next to useless, maybe it depends on the wood?

The twisted ones aren't very good for felling with (or at least the steel one I have isn't) as they tend to have a habit of geting spat back out. Hi-lift wise, I've found the sthihl one to have the edge over others (quite literally) as it has a finer point on it. Some of the others are quite blunt ended and can be a bit more of a faff to get started. The stihl one will even find a way in if its sat back on the saw. Definitely double ring is the way forward. If you can though, when it comes to putting a new shaft on them, the oschenkopf ones are a bit thinner than everyone elses and the rings slide a good couple of inches down before they sit tight - I managed to split a new oschenkopf shaft in one day. I put it down to the amount of wood sticking out past the rings.

It's a modern day 242 on steroids

I don't disagree

Sounds like you might get an odd bit of Pallet or Dunnage out too - last time we asked, Euroforest were offering around £28-£30/T for those at roadside. Don't tend to bother wasting time cutting fencing grade as it's a lot of faff. Easier and faster to chuck in the chip pile.

Think that's on youtube somewhere - if not it's very similar EDIT: Found it [ame] [/ame]

Thanks for all your replies gents, really helpful I'm thinking maybe the simplest thing would be to go down the steelwork route. Keeps things simple and probably cheaper. It does seem like it would have been simpler to do using wood when building it in the first place rather than trying to make it fit after. So, anyone had any good results hollowing out a beam to cover an RSJ? Thinking if I'm going to end up boxing it in with plasterboard anyway, then it may as well get clad in something a bit nicer. Pete, we're erring on the side of caution regarding the state of the concrete - it's been on 40 years and we can only see the underside of it as the top is covered. Reckon the smallish amount of extra work to include the intermediate will give a bit more peace of mind - on paper the span should be OK without it, but.....

Had today off unexpectedly so knocked a wall down in the kitchen and had a play with the Alaskan on some Lawson this afternoon. I'd had this idea for a bench for ages but never seemed to get round to doing it. It hasn't come out quite how I envisaged it; I think a larger log for the top would have looked better proportioned and had the feet notched in deeper, but I'm happy for a first attempt. It's not quite finished but it's not far off. What do you think?

With the header bricks out we should be able to get 9" wide by 6" deep I think. Currently the concrete lintels are only on 4" overlap but we should be able to get a fair bit more on one end - the other might be a bit more difficult but worse case we could run another course of bricks up to get 8" overlap. To get more than 4" at the other end of the wall we want out is doable if need be but am hoping we can get away with maybe 4" wide but quite deep piece going out that way. Maybe 9x9 for the piece to replace the concrete lintels and 8x4 for the piece to run where the wall is? Sorry for the poor pic - the lintels are purely supporting the concrete roof - the photo was taken from the back door so everything in the photo is part of the outbuilding. What I was hoping to do was to use a mortise and tenon joint to make up the T Dad's been a civil engineer for the last 40 years and is retiring in about 5 weeks so will have plenty of time on his hands to help out - but his experiences with using wood in structural situations are a bit more limited

I'm hoping that as it's only an outbuilding and not officially part of the house as such, that we might be OK keeping it unofficial Hope photo shows it a bit more clearly - I can't get far enough back to get any more in. If we have to go down the official route then I think it might have to be steel as we need to put it in as a "T" - the top of the T going between where the doorframes were and the long bit of the T going back towards the back wall.

I completely understand where you're coming from - when they were first talked about I was absolutely convinced I wasn't going to have one due to the autotune. Took a 560 on demo for a week and within the first 5 minutes I was pretty much convinced I was going to buy a 550 off the back of using the 560. I almost didn't want to like it but really impressed me. So far, mine has been fine, but if it does go wrong I'll finish the day off with whatever spare saw I've got with me and drop it in the dealer on the way home. I know they'll get it sorted as quick as they can. If it turns out to be problematci it can go on ebay once the warranty's out - by then it should have earnt it's keep anyway. My understanding is that all the auto tune is doing is twiddling the high and low screws as such anyway. the 346 isn't bad - but the 550 is a whole new level You should be able t o pick up a 550 for £500 all in without too much haggling - that's 346 money isn't it?

Thanks for the replies guys. Hadn't thought about what would happen in the event of a fire - that's a good point Dave A Fitch plate sounds like it would make things a lot easier, I'm liking that idea Does the timber that's encasing the steel help to stiffen up the steel or is it purely cosmetic? Where the original doorframes are, there are two 4"x6" concrete lintels that join in the middle where the dividing wall is, with taking out a bit of cosmetic brickwork we could fit a 6" deep by 9" wide timber in. Going out along where the dividing wall is coming out is currently only single brick thick so might need to make the pillar at the far end wider yet, but as it is could take 4" wide and 6" deep. I'll try and get some photos today to show it better.

I can't comment on the 261 as I've never used one, but all I can hope is it's better than any of the other small stihls I've used in the past. Out of the two I'd sway towards the 346. However, the 550 is the same money as the 346 (or should be if you know your dealer well) and will blow the socks off the other two. I've had my 550 a couple or 3 months now and it's doing well still. Out of the box they have loads of zip, but once the auto tune beds in properly it just gets better and better. Geometry wise it reminds me of the old 242 and it's lighter than a 346 as well.

That's exactly what happned to the one I have. I went down the route of non gen barrel and piston and that got round the auto decompressor problem as the new cylinder was for a normal decompressor. the non gen cylinder doesnt seem to give as aggressive power delivery but it still runs an 18" bar OK. Think Spud's done a few where he's blanked off the auto decomp where it leaves the basee of the cylinder and fitted a normal decomp.

Not sure if this is in the right place so bear with me On the side of our house is a single storey, brick out building with a 6" poured reinforced concrete roof, that once upon time was probably an outside toilet and coal shed (two separate rooms). but at some point had a roof put between that and the house and a door on each end and became a bit of an extension to the house. What we're planning on doing is knocking the dividing wall out to make the outbuilding into one bigger room - some of the neighbours have done the same but either risked not using a lintel or used steel. I've no problem with doing it with Steel, but I'd prefer to do it out of timber (partly for aesthetics and partly as it won't hold the cold as much), especially as there's relatively little weight to support and only over a relatively small span (sub 6ft). However, I've never used wood in an application like this and wondered how you get round any movement in the wood compared to steel which should pretty much be inert - I'm guessing we'd have to use something that was suitably dried already, but are certain species better/worse than others? Might have enough bits of Oak to do it out of but would take some drying out, but not averse to using some shop bought kilned softwood if I had too. Also do you still put a fillet of mortar on top like you would with steel or just push it up into place and fill below it? Hope that makes more sense that it did to me reading it back

That looks fantastic, absolutely fantastic

I've had a hankering for one of those for a while, just can't bring myself to part with the 90. From what I gathered, they're pretty much a LWB pajero underneath with a van body - think the earlier ones were L300 bodies.

Once upon a time maybe Morrison's or Asda here

Older 4.2 lancruisers seem to be well thought of for travelling.

It's something I hope to do one day

Husky 560 or if I was scared of autotune, husky 372 If you only had one saw to choose from then anything less powerfull would soon get boring when you needed a bit more go.

No prob. IT's something tht's on my to do list at some point too but it never seems to get any closer Might not get much useful info for costs in relation to UK, but there's shedloads of US based websites that might help with timescales etc - Log home Builders Association and International Log Builders Association could be a good start