sime42

Thanks for the recommendations for the time serts, I'll bear them in mind in case I ever need to do any thread repair work in future. I did find the helicoils quite a struggle to get in, really fiddly. Obviously worse since they were only M5. But anyway they are holding strong so hopefully they've done the trick. After Spuds work on the saw it now runs like a dream. It's an animal in fact cutting through timber!

Very nice. How long is the handle on that? The simplest solutions are often the best.

Use a big demolition hammer drill to break up the concrete ball before you get it out. That way you should have a smaller hole than if you just dig it all out in one. I've always fancied the idea of pulling them out with a chain hoist on a tripod frame, but never got round to trying it. I've got a feeling that it may still produce a big hole unfortunately if the post was concreted in. Though if it's a vintage hardwood post just stuck in ground bare then it should just pull straight out leaving a nice clean hole. Changing the pitch of the first panel, and hence position of all subsequent holes is the easiest solution, as long as the customer doesn't mind the slight visual discrepancy.

Thanks for the advice you lot. Very useful as it generally is on here. I'm going to pick up an M5 helicoil kit tomorrow. It's a Draper "Expert" one so I hope it'll be ok. I have been concerned about quality. There's loads of kits online but they mostly seem to be the same but in different colours and with different names on. Like most tools these days. It's hard to judge quality from a picture but I have my doubts based on the number of cheap crap tools around now. Anyway I'll strip the saw down a bit as Spud suggests and then decide whether to take it somewhere to be drilled out depending on how the holes look and the state of the kit.

Good day all, I'm after a bit of chainsaw repair advice. I've got a lovely little MS200T that's recently developed a wobbly exhaust. I've noticed in the past couple of years that the bolts occasionally seem to come loose, but they've always tightened up and the exhaust has held firm again for months. I recently took it in to the local dealer for a general service and repair. When I collected it they said they'd also had to put an exhaust bolt in as one had dropped out, (unbeknown to me). The first time I used it when I got it back it ran sweet as a nut for a couple hours and then the bloody exhaust came loose again, by the time I noticed and checked it was missing a bolt already. I ordered a couple of genuine stihl replacements, put the missing one back in and ran it again. This time it only lasted a couple of minutes before they both shook loose. Conclusion is that the threads are obviously stripped in the holes, (didn't feel right when I tried to tighten them so I had an idea of the problem already). I'm somewhat reluctant to take it back to the dealers again as I've spent far too much money in there recently. Also I discovered that the remaining exhaust bolt in there when I got it back last time was nothing like the original stihl type. It was much coarser and looked like some kind of self tapper. So someone must have known there was a problem with the thread but it wasn't mentioned to me. Plus it seems like a crude repair attempt;- re-tapping the hole or using a helicoil would surely be better. (To be fair to the dealer place it may not have been them that put it in as I've had it repaired elsewhere in the past). So my question to you knowledgeable chaps is;- how easy would it be for me to install helicoils myself? From my brief research it appears that is the best repair to this quite common problem. What exact size of helicoil do I need? If I have to drill out the holes how accurate must I be, i.e. can I use a hand-held drill? As I don't own a drill press unfortunately. Thank you. Sorry about the long-winded post again, this was my attempt at being succinct! Simon

Cheers for the input chaps. I'm not completely sure how Biodegradable that Oregon line is either but I think I'll give it a go anyway. I too have been caught out by tea bags in my compost. And was pretty annoyed about having to fish out all those little bits of plastic paper even after a couple of years! I can see the obvious benefits of using metal blades but in the urban work environment there's far too many hard things around like brick walls, paving slabs and tarmac etc! Which is also a reason I see so many little bits of broken line around I suppose. So this issue of plastic fibre pollution from washing clothes is pretty depressing. It's not something I've been aware of before but I'd guess the scale of it is huge. What's the solution apart from trying to fit fine filters to washing machine outlets?

Evening all. I fear this is wishful thinking but has anyone seen or heard of any biodegradable strimmer line? I was dismayed to see so many little bits left all over the place after I'd been doing a bit today.

Teufelberger multiSAVER ------ does it for me.

That last one is stunning. Which was that, elm or beech?

Beautiful.

Medlar Tree?

Mole Valley is also good for a lot of other things;- tools, materials, clothing and even woodburners. Well worth a checking out.

Thank you. It's actually a really simple concept when you see it. I imagined it would be a bit complicated, but no reason it should be thinking about it.

Thanks mate, comprehensive answers there. I've never heard of a sphere jig for a lathe. Good to know, I'm going to look into one for myself. It would be nice to turn perfect balls.

Hi Lazurus. Great piece of work there. It looks beautiful. I've got a couple of questions if you don't mind. How did you achieve such a perfect sphere? Did you turn the burr and then use a mould for the resin? Or did you cast it first and then put the whole lot on the lathe? Also, what kind of resin is it? Looks very transparent. Thanks Simon

Anything by Jeff Jepson, he has three books that I'm aware of. All very good, informative and easy to read. As well as the tree felling one there is also one on climbing and one on tree working knots.

I spotted this in China last year.

All I want to add here is to emphasise the EX girlfriend.

Well done mate!

http://www.uksafetystore.com/warrior-black-palm-gloves.html I use these. Best I've found so far in terms of the hard-wearing against thinness / dexterity tradeoff.

So i got one of these last night. It seems pretty good on first try. Looks very similar to other makes I've seen but half the price.

Just missed it unfortunately so no thoughts.

Gutted. That's just down the road from my mother, and where I grew up:- Tiverton area. I wonder what'll happen to all the timber, it would be a real shame if it all goes to firewood. It's such good wood to make stuff with as well as for burning. I think this will be a very common scene in years to come as there's going to be an awful lot of ash felling going on unfortunately. Hopefully some will be saved from the flames.

They look really good. What kind of resin was that you used? Must be hard to take a shine like that.

Well done for raising this issue Mike. It's something that always concerns me. Silkys are bloody scary when they go wrong, the potential consequences make me shudder to think of. A quick Google search for cut-proof or meat cutting gloves brings up a multitude of options, ranging from a very affordable £2 right up to £100+ for full on S.S. chainmail! Does anyone have any experience of any of these? It seems to me that they either need to be thin enough to wear under normal work/climbing gloves or tough enough, grippy enough and hard-wearing enough to replace normal gloves worn for climbing tree work. (Buggered if anyone would be bothered to put them on specially every time they used the silky). I would only wear one on the non-saw-holding hand anyway. Left in my case.