Chris Sheppard
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Everything posted by Chris Sheppard
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Great fun aren't they Have you tried it on an 8 tooth sprocket with the 15" yet?
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IMO, Forestry is in need of new blood, but very few want the hard work and comparitively low wage that goes with it and it's not as glamorous as climbing trees with shiny gear What gets me is the number of colleges doing courses that are supposedly covering Forestry as well as Arb, but don't actually go into the workings of commercial forestry.
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I'd agree with that. If you'd have asked me a few weeks ago though I'd have said 372 all day long, but then tried a 560 and bought a 550 and both a leagues ahead of their predecessors in theway they deliver the power so I'd guess the 576 is going to be pretty awesome. Still think the 372 is a beast of a saw for big softwood thinnings though
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That looks ace. What it needs though, is a log cabing building on the back and it'd make a proper camper
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We're probably a lot too far away but might just be felling one suitable tomorrow or Wednesday.
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By the time you'd felled the first one, it wouldn't be cutting as well on the second, whether you ccould actually notice it or not depends on just how muddy/gritty it is and what you consider to be blunt. We've been on some birch round a lake recently where it was dulling off and stretching chains enough to need to fettle it before you had ran a full tank through.
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What did you do on your 1st day out there on your own?
Chris Sheppard replied to button1803's topic in General chat
Line thinning some really hairy sitka on a steep valley side on one of the local estates. Had line the work up few weeks earlier while I was still employed. Finished the old job on the friday and was on my own job on Monday. -
What vehicle and gear did you start off with?
Chris Sheppard replied to button1803's topic in General chat
Ford Sierra Sapphire and a second hand Jonsered 2163. When i went back in the woods after college it was an old Toyota landcruiser, an old wooden bodied 7x4 trailer with moggy minor wheels. The same old 2163, a husky 372 and a jonsered 2141. -
I'm still riding my Malt 1 ltd that I built up nearly 15 years ago complete with a whopping 1.5" of fork travel. Old skool cool
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Took the spark arrester out of my 550 yesterday - made it even better. Seems a bit more crisper sounds less gargly. Know what some of you mean regarding the 346 - but until you try a 550 you'll just not understand Way I look at it, if mine starts to become a problem once it's out of warranty, it'll go on ebay and I'll buy another new one. Admittedly, I was anti next generation saw initially and then I tried one and all was forgiven According to the dealr, the only thing the computer is doing is the tuning - every thing else is just as it is on normal saws.
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Hoping to get to woodfest, justins, APF and bentley this year as didn't manage any last year. Glad the APF is gong back to Ragley as it always seemed a better show when there.
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Beauty of retort was that it's pretty foolproof - as long as there's enough heat it keeps on working. When I used to burn in the garden on a night, I'd get it going and pop back out about every 30 -45min or so to shove a bit more wood in. Worst case, if you ignore it too long is it'll go out and have loads of brown ends - rather than it burning itself away. Time wise, it didn't take long to get it burning the gas - been a while but think it was usually less than a couple of hours on green birch. http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/forestry-woodland-management/21912-my-first-charcoal-burn.html http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/forestry-woodland-management/31057-mini-charcoal-retort-mk2.html Going to have to try and make some time to get to do more making stuff and less "crash bash" forestry
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Hadn't thought of it like that - good point Am liking the idea of a retort as none of the wood in the kiln is burnt, only scrap wood for firing it. The few times I've burnt it's been green it didn't seem to take much firing to get it running on it's own gases. When I get time, I want to try and build a bigger retort but still be really portable - ideally want to be able to load it up first thing, get it running and look after itself (other than a bit of stoking) and then b ready for opening the next morning - meaning we can still be felling etc the rest of the day. Sorry for the hijack
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Ran a couple of tanks through this afternoon on some hairy lodgepole and so far it seems OK - have been fairly steady with it so far but got some more pines to go at next week so be interesting to see how it fairs compared to the 372 once it's ran in a bit, given that it's 27 years old
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Can't be doing with blingy ones of any sort - there's very little a bog standard one can't do. I don't actually mind driving mine, especially round town as you can see what's going on, it's a doddle to park and generally other cars give you plenty of room. I don't find it uncomfy either. Did 6000 miles in a fortnight a couple of years ago and it took it all in it's stride (and I could still walk and hear afterwards )
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I'd be interested - wouldn't have anything useful to contribute but would be all ears
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That's the bad boys - it'll be unstoppable
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We did burn with unseasoned birch and hazel last year in oil drums and it seemed to work - was proper smoky though but didn't really have anything to compare it too though so maybe it was half normal Done a few burns in a smll retort I made out of a 50kg gas bottle and an oil drum - was green nearly every time and seemed to work fine - just needed to get it hot.
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1975 Ford 3000 Tractor ???
Chris Sheppard replied to TimberCutterDartmoor's topic in Large equipment
International 454 - it's not a bad little thing and did surprisingly well with the trailer. Recently replaced it with a 4wd kubota of similar size to a 3000, but it doesn't have the same sort of hydraulic power as the nasher. -
1975 Ford 3000 Tractor ???
Chris Sheppard replied to TimberCutterDartmoor's topic in Large equipment
Nice little tractors. We had one with a 3T fransguard on for thinning on one estate and it stood up to it well. Seem to remember it being quite stable too. There's a power assisted steering kit available for them too, which made ours nicer when sneaking out of the wood. Haven't seen that many about so maybe quite sought after? -
Which size did you go for Steve? I was trying to picture each one full and which I thought might be the more popular - quite fancied trying the small ones.
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What you will probably find though is the only agri's you'll find in those sizes have really open centre tread that is only a couple of cm deep. It really is worth the bit extra to get your whee/tyre combo right - it will transform it
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Nice little tractors and really good climbers as they are fairly heavy over the front for a small alpine. Looks a nice tidy one Pre-riko, I used to work with a guy who ran one for flailing. A fair bit of the time it was on woodland rides on sites where previously they were always done with strimmers as it was that steep/rough - I remember one day driving it up a long set of steps in a wood that I really didn't think it would have done, and it didn't bother it. I'd ditch the wide rims when you can afford as there's very little choice of tyre in 31/15.5/15 (it looks like that's what's on it?) - you'll make less of a mark and have more ground clearance on some decent mid width agris than yuo would with a set of 31/15.5/15 terras.
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other than the wind given me a battering, it's not been a bad afternoon once the ran stopped. One good thing though with the wind being the opposite direction to normal where we've been has meant I managed to get a load of leaning edge trees done without having to get the winch out
