david wood

have wondered about a plb although i am on an estate and do lone forestry at times my supposed buddy system is others answering phones, makes me nervous knowing they may not answer cause in wrong mood etc. would a plb go through to a dedicated operator or other service - ie one who doesnt suffer moods etc and just answers regardless?

had two now. first one was opened up properly and that took a good while to heal. did take a good time off work and then did odd bits to build up again, but once back to work i guess after a year i got too keen and it failed. had 2nd one done keyhole, slower recovery second time round but maybe i was more cautious and touch wood its been fine since. watch out for painkillers, they can back some functions up badly!

I voted other because there is nothing worse than somebody who you go well out of your way to help and get not too much in return. i would work out mininum wage and offer that explaining what he could have had, what he is getting and why. you never know it may wake him up and next employer gets a better employee.

after a nightmare with parcels2go i can honestly say never use them, and ask seller nicely to take pics of saw - box - packaging material and finished package and e mail to you. makes it fair for both parties if any question of damage in transit.

you are correct spud, sadly i fell for the p2go prices and it took weeks for the insurance claim to be sorted out, and boy do they try to wriggle out. i now have better plan when sending by any courier, photo of object in good condition photo of all packaging used photo of how its packaged photo of address label secured to package try to find item valuation before sending then skip broker and go to courier directly

avoid parcel2go they are rubbish

Hey Eddie, I will pass on your e mail to my manager when i next see him, would be nice to have aspen here. going to keep prompting him as some of our lesser used machines sit for weeks or months with fuel going off in them then run poorly for a while.

going to badger work again next week, stinking horrible on a husky 555 today as was cutting and chipping so autotune didnt settle down and every burst of throttle was fumes. horrid

having used a few older toros, couple kaaz mowers and then had a demo of some john deere mowers i have some thoughts, toros are nice on slopes as all weight is low down so better balanced, the three speeds on older ones were nice range. didnt seem to bag well in damp to wet and after first year we had dealer turn revs up past max recommended a few hundred to give a lil more go! Kaaz seem hardwearing mowers, heavy to manouver and rubbish on steep slopes, want to fall over lots and not grip. do bag bit better than toros but heavy, harder work to use, no grease points so eat wheel bearings, ok easy and cheap to replace but just annoying. now i only have about 3 hrs on demo john deere rotary pedestrian mower so not based on a years use like others, but as for first impressions worth sharing i reckon. have a huge range of speed selecters on forward range, cant remember how many notches but a lot. i tried on steepest slopes we have which are way above recommendations, like tough to walk on and the range was great, crawl with lots of power there to a good speed on flat open bits. seemed well built but cant comment on life span. now the bit that sold me to beg employer was the bagging, i realised i was running out of time to try out (had been playing with zero turn and lawn tractor) and dealer was on way to collect so figured best try, was raining all night before and drizzle in morning, needed waterproofs for test so you get idea. grass hadnt been cut in 3 weeks as winding down to last cut of season so dense, soaking and overall worse of many areas i cut. full revs, lowest forward speed and set height quite low to ensure last cut of year, kind of abusive really of kit but hey its demo kit... i started with expecting ten foot and chute blocked, none in bag etc. now it was dead slow and wouldnt make money commercially unless well priced but it cut tidy, lifted all of it and filled bag! dont know costs etc so cant comment there. but point of my ramble is try at least three makes pre buying, you may be surprised. i am hard on mowers, average 150 - 200 hours a year mowing, stones, branches etc get hit, log edges get fallen off. they get transported in a loader on site. washed top to bottom every use and i dont skimp on oil changes.

barely a dusting here, lil below freezing but hey its jan thats how its meant to be. week or so ago was worse, we had perfect weather combination for misery, sleet and rain in night and early am and then it froze - was a once in every few years event. whole estate i work on was shining like glass, four wheel drive was just coping and no more if driven with care.

got a 372 with heated handles and i love it, that and good gloves make such a huge difference. wish when i bought 357xp i had gotten heated on that too

set mine on fire, prone to solenoids failing. phone david bowyer and try for a deal on one of his goldfish winches - i love mine.

i keep a large pile of old chains with a sharpen or so, maybe below limit marker and generally worn in a tin of diesel for these jobs. quick touch up and go till blunt, see if any life and re touch up. saves buggering up good chains.

got my chipper course in either feb or march, one is mewp refresher, one is chipper...cant remember. want to do chipper as been using for a year or two without ticket and finally work bought one last summer so cant hide any more. how was chipper ticket? as for saw assement, relax - enjoy - take time and think twice before every move. if any doubt talk out loud to yourself/assesor about what/why you doing it and it tends to jog memory and assures assessor you are doing for right reasons.

not a climber or in industry full time but i have always worked on belief if i felt something was truly unsafe to do at work then i could and have stated to manager that i would not do it on safety grounds until alternative was found. been threatened with all sorts but have always remained calm and said no on safety grounds and said if worst comes to worst see you at tribunal, never gotten there yet! far too easy for a boss in heat of moment to try and prove his point and then oooops oh well after something bad happens.

i would be sticking on ebay, gumtree and wherever else i could. even if you got £10 a load still quids in. thats kind of stuff i would buy happily to split and sit for a year for elderly mum, fantastic value. too kind giving away for totally free, even a stack of beers per load is good deal.

i can honestly say your pile of misery looks a hundred times better than pile i have had in previous years. i only do for my own and family use, never sold a log yet so unless its truly junk or rotten i wont turn down if price is ok. thats a good looking pile in my eyes, would keep my mum going for a winter or so - haulage kills lol. if beer money guys want to slog through it, mix of splitter and chainsaw and sell dirt cheap then hey why not, its a win win deal. you clear yard and get cash, they get knackered kit and bodies and lil money in return - cant do too many loads like that i reckon.

if you were nearby and price was good i would buy. as for what to do - ebay - gumtree etc buyer to collect or delivery charge. sell as is.

is it wall sections you can lift up? even a little. if you can get between joint of wall and floor then a good hefty bead of tiger seal would work - sticks and seals.

i hate the 555 so much it deserved its own post. now to attempt to justify my hatred..... had a makita something or other, about equal to dolmar 100 for my first saw for years, litteraly worked it to death, great first saw. husky 350 i think as next saw and ran for many years and then sold on ebay for 50% purchase price, it was a truly hard working saw and if i hadnt run into some pennies would still have it. works 351 still runs, a little tired but work horse and used for rough joinery work, fencing, felling and firewood by 4 users for many years, and if its less than bar length i still grab it first at work. my own 357 xp well its worked hard since day 1, and still goes hard, love it my own 372xpg , equally worked hard and i love it. take it into work for free and accept wear and tear over using crap 555 works 555 - hate it! never seems to hit peak revs, especially no fun in windblow. too fussy to start from cold so sucks for fencing and joinery type jobs and just hatefull. thats over 19 years of saw use so hope a little experience.

for the love of god dont buy a 555

wellies - work of the devil! i love my haix boots work bought and some good socks are fine until water runs over top, then i see it in way thats its wrong job/wrong day and change plans. good socks are essential to even leave house in wellies

its got to be a 372xpg - the heated handles are sooo nice for long firewood days

dohh its you looking, sorry

look on lr 4x4 i think somebody selling on there