Chris Sheppard

We bought our first house around 6 months ago and found RBS to be very helpful. Mrs is employed and also banks with RBS so that helped a fair bit too. They didn't really look too much into my earnings, other than bank statements going back a few months. They could also see that we'd been paying a similar amount each month in rent as we would be on the mortgage and that seemed to help too. We had to find 10% as deposit but at a reasonably hih interest rate, though e've fixed it for 5 years which would mean that based on how our rent had previously gone up each time, we would be paying a fair bit less each month than what the rent would have ended up. Hope that makes more sense than it sounds reading it back

Definitely think there's a market for some retro fit drive systems for smaller trailers - I'd certainly consider it for ours.

I think one of my favourite saws would have to be the husq 242, but if I could only choose one saw, and from the point of view of best all rounder, it would have to be the husq 372 I think. In biggish softwood it flies and is still fairly nimble with a 15" bar on. the new huskies are ace but the old ones still have something about them. As much as the 346 isn't a bad saw, the later ones just didn't do it for me

A lot of it comes down to the driver - big tyres and diff locks just mean you can drive a bit less carefully. I've had a bit of all sorts over the years and for off the shelf ability it seems to be either defender or jimny/SJ. Jap pickups need a bit of weight in the back to be any good but will always suffer with low ground clearance and big over hangs. Not that it would do what you want, but a subaru legacy will go places a hilux won't if it's just a case of needing traction My old 130 used to do pretty well for it's size though.

Saw a lot of the RM range in the flesh at a show in Slovenia a few ears ago - was really, really nicely made stuff and a lot of it ends up on the German markets. Do like tht little crane of yours Dave, would suit what we're doing really well but can't justify upgrading at the mo. EDIT: looking at that link, that's an RM crane on a Riko trailer I think.

Is it oiling properly? If all's oiling well and it's sharp, then try using less pressure when cutting and making sure the piece of wood your cutting is held well as a lot of the uneven wear comes from too much pressure cusing the wood to move a bit if that makes sense. (Well it did with my old Hawk) EDIT: just thinking about it - insufficient oil would probably just wear faster but fairly evenly, so prob not that.

Agree with that Whip bar and chain off and put a square across the rails - there's a good chance one will be higher than the other. If it's really bad and a file is too much like hard work, I've levelled them out before with a grinder but go steady so as not to heat it up too much.

We've a spare load of hardwood left at York, similar stuff to what you had last time so maybe a bit smaller than you want?

I'm fully aware of the differences between forestry and this tree, Sam. I was reffering to bit regarding thinning a woodland and paying for the wood, hence the quote.

Me too, it's called Forestry

No, but I wouldn't mind doing - it's only half n hour up the road from me. Get to see another of his cool trucks again soon though when he comes to shift two big fir sticks for us. He's bringing his 6wd wagon/forwarder based on an ex MOD truck but with a modern truck cab on and a monster Atlas loader. They use it it for leading oak out of the woods back to the mill. Used to like having an excuse to drop by their yard as it was just full of proper old school stuff and huge lumps of wood.

What about this? One of a kind, built by a guy from a local sawmill to us a good few years ago. Didn't realise he'd sold it until I spotted it on ebay just now. He's fairly well known locally for his home grown vehicles Forestry Tractor, Timber tractor, Timber trailer, Forestry trailer, timber Crane | eBay

£6500 - Ouch, isn't that over double the price of the TR70? As it is though, I reckon anything that's too big for the TR70 is good enough for the firewood stack anyway. Managed to get hold of one bag off of Andy at a show but I'd of happily bought 10 or so but he wouldn't part with any more. Have had a bit of a look at the grants but they seem like a lot of hard work

Heavy and noisy probably

Narvva do a shear head that delimbs as well. It's a stroke head so doesn't need a computer for measuring either.

Cool

Be interesting to see how much difference the porting makes on it - Might be up for it on mine too

Friday saw us having a play in the yard with the small log mill and mini mill for the first time - neither of us really knew what were doing but it went OK considering. Brett's got some photos so will try and get a few up. Over the day we tried various saws on each mill, including 550 on a 13", 372 on an 18", 181 on a 20", 066 on a 25" and a 3120 on a 20". All were using standard chains left at standard angles (372 and 066 on full chisel), but by far the best finish was using the tiny 550 372 had an 8 tooth sprocket and full chisel and was an awful scratchy finish - is a fast chain speed a bad thing? General straightness and squareness wasn't too bad I didn't think. On the 181 and 3120 we were using the same bar and chain and found it was leaving rounded ridges along the boards nearly every time (both on Larch and on Oak) - is this most likely because of chain type or operator error? We couldn't resist giving the 3120 a whirl at crosscutting with the small bar on - it's a bit rapid

yep, those are the one's I've got.

Used to work almost entirely on my own, mostly thinning and extracting and it never really bothered me. Thought about it a bit on day and decided I didn't really like the idea much. Mostly there's someone else about somewhere on site, even if we're at differnet ends of the same site, but do sometimes still do some days on my own. Generally find I get more wood on the floor in a day if I'm on my own though.

As much as I can, but in reality you'd not get that sort of money for a man and a saw in the woods round us unless you were on tonnage and going for it.

If the petzl helmets are the same fitting as the husky helmets, then the Sordin ones (sometimes used to see them branded as husky) will fit and IME last fairly well. I had a set of the basic ones for about 7 years before they completely died. There's a guy on ebay selling them and he's the cheapest I've found @ £69.99 or £79.99 for the stereo ones.

Charlie, that pdf is ace - hopefully a way to be able to justify upping prices to what they should be for a man and a saw

Cool. Depends on when, but if next week's job shows some bigger timber then there's a good chance of some 560 presence......... After using Brett's 3120 on Friday with 20" bar on it, I reckon we might have to try it on a 15" and 9 tooth rim