Chris Sheppard

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 )

I'd be interested - wouldn't have anything useful to contribute but would be all ears

That's the bad boys - it'll be unstoppable

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Finally eased off here, just got flask to fill and am a heading out

That's exactly what I've been doing - now sat here all caffeined up waiting for it to ease up enough to bother going out.

Windy and rainy here most of last night and no better this morning. We're going to see what it's like in a bit and maybe venture out. Thought of wading trough brash in this weather aint appealing!

They look good - postage seems steep though @ £18odd for a pack of 50 bags as that's nearly 70p to come off each bag jut on the bags. Oddly though, their plain ones are more expensive

I think they do look pretty funky They look a whole lot nicer than the flimsy mass produced stuff in our local garden centres

Yes, physically a bit smaller and lighter.

If anyone's after the Dan Milne book, it's currently half price here: Handbook of Canadian Log Building though only til the end of today - even if you miss out it's still only $20 plus postage.

All back to normal here at the mo - worst I saw was one Asda out of fuel a few days ago and longest I had to queue for so far was about 5 min more than normal. One station put there fuel up 1p and they are fairly dear compared to everyone else anyway so no prob.

I'd go straight for the 550 - mine IS a 2011 one (mid december built) and will kick a 346 properly in the goolies. I was very very dubious of going for a new generation saw but having had a 560 on demo, the bar had been raised enough to take a bit of a risk. There's no doubting the 346 is a good saw, but it just didn't inspire me enough to part with the cash for one. I'd been needing a new little saw for a while to replace my old 353 and was even considering rebuilding a 242 with shiny new gen barrel/piston instead but the 550 is like a 242 on steroids I'm finding I'm using my 550 in timber I'd previously have been taking a 357 into and so far it's been faultless (warm starting was a bit of a knack but I should have read the manual first ). It seems to whip through a tank of fuel a bit quicker than a 346 does, but it'll usually be a couple of trees ahead by then anyway. The way I looked at it, was that if it plays up I'll finish the day off with a spare saw and then drop it in to our dealer on the way home and they'll sort it under warranty. So far I haven't needed too.

Only had one day in York where it was mad and tht was a few days ago now. Everything was normal yesterday

yep, but only about half an hour ago.

It's definitely busier up here but nothing mad yet, just about queueing off the forecourts.

Those standard grease guns are cack - This one os the best I've used so far as it doesn't leak grease all over your toolbox. Grease Gun - New Saw Chains There's two camps for greasing the bar sprocket - some do and some don't. I don't tend to do and so far have only had three or four bars spit the sprocket out in 11 years, most of the time the rails wear before then. My thoughts are the gease will attract more grit and wear it even quicker. Greasing the clutch bearing bearing is dead easy but you need to make sure you clean any crud out of the end of the shaft before you try to put the grease in. If you think it's cutting well now - give it a week to run in and it'll fly once the autotune sets itself up properly Was using mine today in some beech thinnings and it still makes me smile

I'm not the best at regular maintenance. Generally though, IME, if something has broken it's been down to being worked hard rather than something that could have been avoided by cleaning/servicing etc. More often than not, something just won't feel right before it becomes a problem. Usually have some spare starter cord and a few clutch springs rattling round in the toolbox and worst case, if a saw needs anything that I can't fix there and then, then I'll pull another saw out the truck to finish the day off and drop by the dealer on the way home or on the way in the next day.