Chris Sheppard

This one? 110mm diameter so a good bit bigger than the first one [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjRqrfS3plc]URBAN TR110 - YouTube[/ame] We're in a similar position - loads of suitable timber to go through one but trying to move enough to justify the machine. It'd help to get hold of a few bags of product to be able to show potential outlets but that's been proving hard enough.

Saw the Krpan winches the other day at Marshall's open day - though they looked quite good. Look to be simple but well built

As frustrating as it is, selling the 90 with a paggered clutch won't get anywhere near what its worth with the clutch done. Once it's done it should last a few years before needing doing again. You could go out and buy another truck tomorrow and something major could go pop on that one too. I'd stick with what you've got - you know it's foibles and if you've spent out on a rear crossmember it can't be in that bad a fettle otherwise you'd have gotten rid before hand. You know it makes sense to keep it

Driver's side footwell, inner wings and sills rot bad too, but repair panels are dead cheap. Pretty bombproof generally mechanically - sure you'll like it

We took a soaking yesterday afternoon. Didn't help I'd left my waterproof trousers in the landy, which was back at the yard Don't mind the rain too much but once it's soaked into me boxers I get grumpy Last week was rough with us though. All I can say is it's been Cumbrian Had the last few bits to get felled and forwarded out on one job and travelling through the wood became almost imposible which meant going along the field sides opening and closing several gates each way We've done work on that site over most of the last year and it's never really been a problem with it getting wet. Usually it dries out within a day or so - the last two weeks it's all changed.

The little goldoni really is tiny and has quite low hydraulic flow, with not a huge volume of oil either so would be better off with a PTO pump and separate tank for a crane. Also, you'd be hard pushed to find a winch to suit it too as the geometry of the 3PL would make for some interesting PTO angles and also, even a small winch would greatly eat into it's weight capacity. If you wanted something to use with a simple linkage mounted skidding arch or an ATV trailer, then it could be a great little thing. Personally, I'd be looking for either a conventional compact of around 25hp upwards (though the more hp the better) and put some decent tyres on, or an alpine no smaller that 35hp (more from a physical size point of view). Most alpines can be set up as little as 1.2m wide if you have the right wheels, but you'd lose a fair bit of the stability that most people look for when going for an alpine if that makes sense. At 1.5m spacings, surely it'd be as easy to say take something like every 5th row out on the first thin and give it a bit of a tickle in between the rows? Or, to avoid straight lines you could put a few more wiggly racks in and thin between them. I'm sure a quad has it's place, but it could be fairly limited - at least a tractor can be used for other things too. Other than flat out speed, an alpine will go most places (and more) than a quad will anyway.

Why don't we look at doing something similar for us up here Pete? Reckon I could probably blag the demo 560 again if none of us have got one by then.

Very small/light so bit limited for skidding. Might work quite well with an ATV type trailer though. No good if you've got big feet either as it's quite a small cockpit

Speak to your local Tilhill or Euroforest offices - that'll give you an idea of worst case prices.

There is a post hole bore on the market that has a cone splitter attachment for it - don't know the make of it other than the motor is blue Only thing with using a borer would be that if it is free swinging, you won't be able to start the crack and chase it up like you could with a splitter that uses bucket mounts if that makes sense?

Looks tidy, but cn't say I like it. Look like the lovechild of a MB trac and an old OSA harvester.

Jeez, that standard 46 sure looks slow in comparison. ported 46 sounds sweet

Quick, hide that pic before Stevie sees it

Before I tried one I really didn't want to like it, but it really did surprise me.

Looks like you all had fun. 560 looked like it gave everything else a pretty good show

Same here - first tree I ever felled was with a 242.

I thought this was cool when I first saw it eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace

A used, but fairly new, Jonsered 2163 that I somehow blagged for £150. kept it for about 5 years and stuck it on ebay and got a fair bit more than I paid for it Was a good solid saw.

That sounds a PITA. Absolutely

Won't most artics take 3 bays of 3.75m?

A far as I can remember, I've always used the Oregon 2 stroke and never had any problems.

I knew what you meant though It varies a bit round us, we do still get some blocks to do in return for the timber but quite often it can take a fairly high bid to get into a block of nice stuff to work. Only 5 or 6 years ago processor grade hardwood was a whopping £17/T roadside if you knew where to send it

It's crazy to think that firewood is costing similar money standing as it was at roadside not that mant years ago.

I have a 353 that's 8 years old now and up until recently was my main small saw for thinning etc and it's been great. I prefer the way it delivers the power to a 346 but the only thing I could really fault was that it used to eat clutch springs, and I know of at least two other people who had said similar. I retired it a few weeks ago with a 550 and that's so far been awesome. If you find your 357 is overkill, then a 550 will be too.

That's pretty much what I was trying to say but you said it so much more clearly It wasn't that long ago though that Newton Rigg was the National School of Forestry, with a whole load of machinery getting used regularly. On our CS31, we were felling and presenting timber ready to be forwarded out and sold (a novel concept ) Around us there has been colleges going into privately owned woodlands and "managing" them for the owners. In reality it usually means a minefield of high stumps and little eco piles of brash and short lengths of timber, making it twice as much hard work when it comes round to further work needed doing. Sorry, gone off on one a bit