Andrew Reed

When finalising on which long handled hedge trimmer to get I had a dealer directing me towards the Stihl combi system, But I settled on the fixed Echo one instead, even though it was slightly heavier. The while I was waiting for the new Echo to be commissioned a chap came in with a Stihl combi chainsaw attachment that had failed! I suppose all power tools can fail at some time, but this kind of confirmed I had made the right choice.

An uncle of mine lost his life here wartime disaster at Salthouse. Another uncle had a spell in Lancasters in the UK then transferred to North Africa. Father was in the Navy and in the early years experienced recovery of his mates bodies from this and then got himself stuck in Malta as a medic dental assistant while it bombed rather a lot. Another uncle was in the submarine service and survived the war.

If you like using gas then this one works fine first thing on a frosty morning after being left out all night Products - Optimus bit flimsy though.

Now that is interesting because i had a single wasp a day for a few days in my room with the wood basket. So maybe I too have dormant wasps in the log pile outside. No popular or willow, but mainly cypress, eucalyptus, and some old lilac. I've come across two bees/wasp nests this year on jobs. One lot disturbed with a strimmer on an earth bank near rocks, which luckily were only small black bees and only a few of them. The other lot were very sensitive wasps near a old wall in bramble, so I left that area alone until the weather was much cooler.

Submitted to Google this morning. Thanks for trying that.

Thank you. Very helpful.

Steve Thanks for the confidence vote with Wordpress. I'll stick with it and invest more time to find a theme that does what I want. Yes I chose something very simple (probably too simple) because I wanted to get something working quickly and learn. How do you know to trust a theme that I could find out there anywhere on the web? Or is there a safe place to get them?

Certainly the Brompi Oxford was an inexpensive burner, and at the time I could not afford a Morso one (which I did look at). The Barbus is nicely done and operates very well, up there with the quality builds. But unfortunately the rather too handle close to the glass is because I choose a very modern ("contemporary") looking option on the design with virtually no metal surround to the door. Morso do a similar design but does not quite look the way I wanted. I would agree that you need to look very carefully at the construction of wood burners, or ask someone who has had a good one for years. Reason being they take a hell of bashing with 5-10 cubic metres of timber going through them every year.

Just had a new one of these fitted, Unilux 7Kw. Replaced my 5Kw Brompi Oxford burner. Also had a liner fitted in the chimney. Compared with the Brompi the Brabus is quite different in how it burns and a lot prettier. I realize now I was grossly over stoking the Brompi to at least 7Kw, so no wonder it looked over heated and acquired a tiny crack near the door hinge. The Unilux seems to need less wood in it for the same heat from the Brompi. It needs also needs a lot less fiddling with the air to keep it going steady. The Unilux is much quieter(you would not think that a woodburner would be noisy) and seems to be a much calmer burn. The Unilux has an interesting useful widget that opens the throat plate when the front door is opened, and a leaver that can keep this throat flap open with the door shut for use when lighting the fire. It works well. The downside is the modern method for opening the door is rather fiddly and risks damaging the glass, and most frustrating is it often lets a little ash drift out into the room when load up a few logs.The Brompi never had this ash floating about problem. The firebox liners in the Barbus are a hard material compared to the Brompi which had a fibre board kinda stuff. One odd thing about the Unilux model is the depth of the firebox is quite shallow so the logs ought to be only 150mm long which means more cuts with my chainsaw. But thefirebox is wide so you canput inlogs acrossways. Conclusion so far is Barbus is a better built, prettier possbly more efficient.The Barbus (with a flue liner) is certainly easier to use. But note there is a big price difference between them. The Brompi was good for the much lower price,and am very pleased with the Barbus as well.

Anyone here built their own web site? Any advise on which application to use. I am having a play with Wordpress.com and have got this far NexElec.co.uk | Electrical Installations and Property Maintenance in a few hours which is not really going in the right direction but it is at least a presence on the web. Another suggestion to me from a customer was Webplus (free). Also decided to do my own graphics for a leaflet drop. I seemed to get on OK with a app called Scribus, also free.

I avoid cotton next to skin in the winter. I use a thin inner sock with plenty of wool in it, but they are not easy to find. Wool is warmer when damp (from sweat). Bridgedales seem to to be quite hard wearing for a thicker sock. Hunter sockets that were cheap in TKMax were good as well. Gortex/sympatex linings in boots keep your feet warmer too.

My 102PS transporter is a five speed with the particulate filter thingy. On motorways I cruise 65 if I can to save fuel. However it cruises comfortably at 70 or more quietly. It seems to be very economical. I would guess a six speed with cruise control might be better for mostly motorway work touring. The drivers seat and driving position is very comfy. I have 30,000 miles on it and no problems. Tows well too. Changing down into 1st gear is somethings a bit clunky if rushed.

Try Welcome from Steve Horsfield | Acorn Rural Training. I think they occasionally do climbing courses.

My Lavoro Sherwoods are certainly warm, comfy and waterproof. Though they have not had much wear yet.

Hi So what is up with the auto choke? My newish new to me Izy seems to work just fine, except: A handful of grass falls out the grass bag onto the lawn when you unhook the bag and occasionally wheel spin on wet ants nests (happened today). I miss having the roller on the rear though. My really old smaller Honda with manual choke, manual throttle, manual push and plastic roller on the rear still does a good job. I can get it through a terraced house to the back as well.

The three legged ones can be somewhat unwieldy to move around to the job site. You need to have good special awareness when carrying one around in narrow alleys and near parked cars. because of the wide base area there are a few locations I find that you simply cannot get them set up, for example between hedge and a greenhouse or shed. But where they fit in, which seems to be most locations, they certainly are stable. The one I have is very light construction and dents easily. I heard somewhere they do not have a BSI marking so not sure what the HSE would have to say about them.

Please has anyone used one of these? I am considering buying one so wondering if I can find any feedback from a user. They seem to have been around since at least 2011.

A few ideas I have read about from a nutritionist might help; Suggest a mix of carbohydrates and proteins for breakfast. For example porridge, eggs(scrambled) and grilled sausage. Use whole milk, not skimmed. Then homemade energy bars during the day. Make them up at the weekend baked in a tray, use porridge oats, malt extract, Golden Syrup, first press rape seed oil, butter, with a few chopped up seeds, nuts and dried fruit. A few Brazil nuts as snacks. Wholemeal bread sandwiches with peanut butter for lunch. A few squares of a choc bar is another idea to boost energy. But you really need to be working hard throughout the day at a steady constant pace without panting for breath, this to keep burning off the fat reserves. Otherwise you will stack on the weight. Any ex army chaps on here may know something about the number of calories needed for a hard day of work. It could be about 4000 a day?

Those heaters on that link do not look like storage heaters that would be cheap to run on Eco7. They look like ordinary convection heaters. Something like this would be better IMHO:- INSTALLED HEATING - STORAGE HEATERS

Unless you have large rooms, I would be careful if you buy storage heaters with a fan in them. The fan can be slightly noisy and it increases the maintenance on what could be a zero maintenance storage heater system. Electric storage heating can be cheap to install, though some of the newer high tech heaters might be quite expensive. If you are not around all day to feed a wood burner, then I reckon storage heaters with a wood burner in a main room as a top up would be a good solution. Might be worth exploring an air source heat pump. Have a look at the Dimplex products.

I had mine done on the 11th Feb. Mine seems to have been seven weeks to get full grip and be able to do 5 hour physical work with the hand. It was using a hand saw that I found most difficult, and a small axe or hammer was difficult as well. Because I broke the stitches the wound opened up after a week, I still had a dressing on and was seeing the nurse every three days until the end of Feb.

I would vote for punk IPA as well. I have just had one.

Further update. Week five since operation Tried a hedging and shrub pruning job but only managed to use the operated on hand for a few hours before it felt like something was not right inside the healed wound. Had to finish the clearing up with one left hand :-(

I am almost through 5 cubic m of cypress and leyandii in a log burner. It dried very quickly but then seems to soak up a little water over time. It seems to need a good draft blowing through it in storage. However it has kept us warm, and was cheap. Flue was swept a week ago and that was pretty clean as well. It was hard work splitting it compared to say Ash. I reckon it needs careful storage to keep it dry so may not suit everyone. No problem using it though. My vote for the worst arb arising to burn would be woody parts of a Fatsia shrub. I only have a few lengths but it does not want to dry.

Update - When the stitches came out the wound had not closed properly. Nurse says I must have pulled them. So I now have to rely on what nurse called secondary healing to close the gap :-( I am still having to be very careful to help it close it and prevent infection. I think this means the scar will be more prominent as well.