Mike Dempsey

when you blow your nose and out pops a couple of small chips of sycamore!

Thanks for the info guys. I will see to it at the weekend. Mike

I have just felled 6 12'' dia sycamore and the customer wants the stumps treated to prevent regrowth. I havent done any of this before so whats the best method/ treatment. I dont really want to buy huge quantities of anything so if there are chemicals etc I can buy in small quantities that would be preferable to having something that will take 10 to use up. Cheers Mike

Why dont you take a run up to The speyside Cooperage who have a very good visitor centre? Very good visitor centre and the right people to ask questions. If you take up some drawings etc I bet they would help you out with any queries

I have had issues with the local planning dept and noise at my last workshop. The planners let Barrats build 100 houses on the site of an old factory which was in a designated industrial estate. The planners told me that they could close me down if one of the new residents complained about the noise at weekends. The fact that the workshops had been there for 40 years and with full planning rights as it was on a designated industrial estate had absolutely nothing to do with it. That is why I moved my workshop up to the other end of the town to a bigger industrial estate. In the end plod didnt show up and as far as I know nobody has complained about the noise. Some people in my experience like to complain about the most trivial of issues just because they can, and are a pita to plod and council officials because there is plenty for them to do without investigating vexatious complaints, whilst remaining polite at all times. Personally if someone complained to me about a trivial issue such as a little bit of noise etc I would tell them where to stick it!"

I've just used it this morning (see other thread, early morning fell) and it is really good. Saves a lot of backache weilding a heavy 281 about. Thanks Bobh for a link to the manual. Mike

I dont own a silky unfortunately. The jobs done. Fired up the saw at 07.15, both trees on the deck for 07.30 with an hour spent cutting them up and dragging the brash to some piles for disposal. Main trunks and thicker branches cut for the stove logpile and I am sitting here having a cup of coffee and a fag. No complaints about the noise and the police would probably prefer to stay in their nice warm station. Mike

I am just off in 20 mins to fell a couple of trees in a shopping centre. Its the only safe time to do it as there are people around from 8 in the morning till 11 at night. Nearest house is 200m away. I am now beginning to think I should have let local plod know in case they get phone calls. What do you think? Mike

forgot to ask if anyone has a copy of the user manual, not the maintenance manual as I have already have a copy of that Mike

Hi Spud I have actually used the saw for a couple of hours this morning , taking down a couple of small sycamore and a couple of small silver beech. What a difference in the weight, a lot less energy starting it as well. Everything is present and working and even the air filter is spotless. I think I am going to enjoy using this saw. Mike

I've just been offered a Stihl 025 for £100. Its not nicked, the guy offering it is legit and runs a plant repair servicing business. Its pretty clean and starts and runs really well. I dont think its been used very much and the chain has only been sharpened once, I think the bar may be the original. I would use it for felling trees under 10'' dia and snedding as well as cutting up wood for my own stove. I am currently using a Husky 281 for most jobs which can be a bit of overkill. Any opinions or anything specific to look out for. Cheers Mike

Actually it also has something to do with c*cks as well as balls! If Tiger Woods has kept his in his trousers a few years ago he wouldnt be divorced now. Since then his golf has been crap which allowed Europe not only to retain the Ryder Cup but also to go one better and win it outright.

I am just pissed off that normal wood burning stoves will never qualify for any RHI scheme. There must be plenty on this forum who burn their own logs either as arisings from tree surgery or as firewood suppliers. Even if log burning stoves did qualify how would you prove how much timber you used in a year. The only way I could think off was to sell logs to my mate and buy logs from him. Bit crazy isnt it?

Thats a win win situation for both parties plus you had a brilliant experience. That wont come around very often.

I know that there has been training courses/seminars run by the FC in Scotland. Maybe there are some down your way as well. Mike

See its no longer available now. Wonder if someone made him an offer or he is just embarrassed now.

It isnt in the 'interests' of Stihl or Husqvarna to keep records of stolen saws as they sell more to replace the ones that get nicked from law-abiding taxpayers such as the people on this forum. Or am I being an old cynical bastard again as my wife tells me on a regular basis. Mike

I was on a long dual carraigeway last night and was about to overtake another car. I wasnt doing more than about 65mph when this vehicle came out of nowhere and must have been doing at least a ton. Took me a couple of seconds to realise it was a police traffic range rover. It was about 9pm and nearly dark. It didnt have blue lights or a siren on. I think they have have on blue lights if they are over 70mph. Gave me a hell of a fright and you should have heard my son swear - I didnt know that he knew so many swear words. As I drive a Ford Fiesta I think that there wouldnt have been much left of us. Mike

He has just replied to me 'Why pay some numpty wood butcher to do it when someone might do it for free. Worth a try money for old rope n all If no one wants it I'll cut it down myself. Hardly a skilled job is it' Any local volunteers willing to fell this tree and 'accidently' land it on his house. Wonder what the insurance implications of this would be? Opens up a whole new can of worms

They both look really dangerous. I have a 4 inch angle grinder with chainsaw disc on it. You can use them for carving wood. Its a bit quicker for bowls etc than using carving chisels. Funnily enough I havent used mine for about ten years until a couple of weeks ago. I had 4 leylandi stumps to remove from my garden. I felled them about 8 years ago and was fed up looking at them. As my council now has given us 4 bins I needed to remove the stumps in order to slab the area. It took me about 2 hours to remove the 10 inch stumps which were all sticking up about 6 inches above ground level. The were near the fence an impossible to dig out or get acesswitha stump grinder. This was the next best thing to do the job though. I was just amazed at how the stumps looked as though they were pretty fresh. Job sorted though and slabs now down. You can also get a 4 toothed tungsten disc for really hard timber but they are a pain in the arse to sharpen. Mike

I have just viewed and sent him a question letting him know that he is on a national forum as an example of being a total tightarse. Didnt tell him which forum though! Hope his wife and mates see it and take the piss for ages. Bet he doesnt post the question and answer though for everyone to see. Mike

Hi Baz Can you not get it to a garage who will have an impact driver. Failing that they can heat the nut with a blow torch which should crack it. Seen it done many times in the garage next door. Good luck. Mike

Hi Leigh The shop doesnt work yet. Still developing that although hopefully should be up and running in about 3 to 4 weeks time. I prefer woodworking to webworking but my son is more computer savvy than me and I am trying to get him to finish it off for me. Thanks for letting me know. I will get a notice up to say it is not ready. Mike

There is no minimum order for the business cards Mike

Hi Ian Mike is a special industrial machine and cost 13.5k +vat when new. I was lucky to be able to pick it up for 3k. You have to have a very good understanding of graphics software such as corel drawetc which can be a bit of a steep curve to learn. I've been using it for 6 years now and I am still learning. A lot of the work I do for the whisky industry which is fiercely competetive and I cant put up photos on here or my website due to client confidentiality. You can pick up lasers now for about 1k but these are chinese crap and they use their own modified versions of standard graphic software (needless to say that is crap as well) The business cards are 50p each. I make them from local milled beech and they definetly have the wow factor. People hang on to them and pass them around to show their friends because they are so unusual. Apart from the whisky work most of my new clients come from being shown one of my cards. Mike