Big J

I can say that with only one exception (being a lovely old Stihl 088), every second hand saw I've bought has been a headache, and every new saw (bar one awful Stihl MS250) has been great. Save up and buy new if you can. I've just got a 346xp for forestry and it's lovely. Jonathan

My neighbour's African Grey Parrots meow.

Not being paid to train on it, but simultaneously not paying! As has been mentioned, the dual controls are an option (£2000 if memory serves) but actually the 5 levers are starting to become fairly natural. They are a lot of money, but they seem to have their own market. There isn't really another forwarder that can fit on a 14ft trailer, extract 40 tonnes a day for £15 of petrol up insane slopes without doing damage to the ground. The base price is around £35,000 at present exchange rates. These woods are on an estate just west of Edinburgh. It's mostly sycamore around 40 years old. Nice stuff to work with, and some good trees left standing. We were quite heavy on the thinning, probably taking out 50% or so. Just working to the prescribed specification though.

That's just wonderful - can't stop chuckling!

I'm starting to train on the Alstor 8x8 forwarder with the woods we've thinned. It's great fun and very productive (though not with me at the helm as I can only manage 3 tonne an hour at the moment!). A few pictures: It's looks tiny with me sat on it. Jonathan

I've always been a Stihl man (MS181, MS250, MS260, MS361 and still have my 088) but recently bought a 346xp as the easy chain tensioning system on the MS361 was driving me nuts. The 346xp is superb, but if I were you I'd wait a couple of weeks for the 560xp to come out and get that. It's superbly reviewed thus far, lighter than the MS341 and significantly more powerful. Unlikely to cost more either. Jonathan

That is some outstanding strength level you have there sir! I did a bit of competition in 2007 (bit bigger then - 20 1/2 stone at 6ft 8) but I'm naturally a very skinny man. The 16 stone I carry now is only as a result of the manual work I do! I used to occasionally train with (and compete) against a guy called Kenneth Nowicki. Funnily enough, we met at what was our first ever strongman session. Anyway, he's doing exceptionally well now (aged 23 I think) - you'll met him at comps I'm sure. Magnus Samuelsson is great - like the fanboy I am, I have his training DVD! Regarding logs, I can make them to any spec, if you want a monster log for instance. The one in the pictures is 5ft in length, almost 18 inches in diameter and 105-110kg.

The chap in question was Nathan Jones - a huge Aussie. He went on to do quite a lot of film work. If you've ever seen Troy, he is the barbarian that gets offed by Brad Pitt at the start. Regarding drug abuse, it's pretty much the same as any top level sport. Due to the requirement of having enormous strength (and therefore musculature) it's just more apparent. I'm not excusing it though. Jonathan

Get it all through the processor now and stored somewhere with good airflow and sell for £80-100 a cubic metre in February when everyone else has run out. It's forecast to be a very hard winter again (speaking of, where the hell is Peckerwoo for our long range weather forecast?!) Jonathan

I wasn't there myself, but my friend who runs strengthshop.co.uk was on his stall at the competition. If you are wanting to order one Yeti, you can get one through the website. I've made well over a hundred of them now. The first couple of batches were really poor compared to the current stock. You just get into a rhythm with them - they are hard work but worth it, especially when they get used in international competitions. Jonathan

Seconded.

I make weightlifting logs for a company that sponsored the Ultimate World's Strongest Man masters. I used to compete a bit a few years back and I'm really looking forward to seeing some of my old heroes competing again. Always a huge fan of Magnus Samuelsson (World's Strongest Man 1998). Here he is, chilling out sat on the log: And the ever legendary Odd Haugan, who aged 61 got 130kg over his head (on a log that's almost 18 inches in diameter): Any other strongman fans here?

Very much the same issue here. I'm often pulling 2.5 tonnes or more and reversing is very difficult due to the high gearing. It needs 2wd low range. Great idea Steve - I'll hold onto that one as a last resort! Good news everyone though - it's not broken down since last week at all!

Woodpicker - totally standard. It's worked damned hard (lots of off road work and lots of heavy towing) but driven gently throughout. Rob - tell me about it! The problem is that it's the only one that's really suitable for me as the Hilux is just a bit too small inside and the others aren't much better either. Jon - I reckon it was the work experience lad that made mine!

That's terrible - I'm sorry to hear that. I've found that when the frequency of occurrence of limp mode increases, it's about to go into limp permanently. In other news, it managed a 300 mile round trip to the Highlands, but not without the left hand VDU (visual display unit) freezing and crashing. For much of the return journey it was 9:90PM

With three different operators using LT40s, milling various hardwoods at 1-2 inches thickness, the average seems to be about 200 cubic foot of boards for me. Works out at £1.50 to £2.50 a cubic foot depending on operator and charges. Jonathan

It's a pretty simple choice in my opinion. Chainsaws are dangerous, and can inflict serious, and in some instances life threatening injuries. There is an enormous range of comfortable, practical and durable PPE that will significantly reduce the risk of chainsaw operation at minimal cost (when compared to lost earnings from injury). I'm not saying that I don't occasionally do the odd cross cut without ballistics, but to me the choice is pretty clear. Just because one's granddad has managed to escape injury without PPE, doesn't excuse one's choice to eschew it personally.

Some terrible experiences here with the Navaras! I wish that I had known this 6 months ago! Anyway, a trouble free 300 mile round trip to Aviemore this weekend at 36mpg, but most amusingly, the left hand VDU (displaying the time and external temperature) has died. First it froze, then it displayed 9:90PM then 9:80PM then when I got home and turned it off and on again, I got a rather pathetic back to front C. Oh dear.....

As a slight digression, what's the opinion on the 372XP? It's a good bit cheaper than the 576XP/MS441/MS460 and a bit lighter too (at the expense of power admittedly). There are a lot of good saws in the 70-80cc class.....

Andy - the 357xp is £507 from fr jones with an 18 inch bar. Best to get a pro saw - it will just last you much longer.

I'm not seeing the joke - I thought that was standard practice in Scotland?

I think the only communities in the UK where such cooperation is possible are the islands of Scotland (Eigg for instance) or very remote communities in the Highlands. Everywhere else, cooperation is just seen as European!

Even the old one is pretty cool tommer! My wife was sat next to me when I found the article and it took a few moments for her to realise that I genuinely wouldn't have a problem spending that amount of money on it!

Mercedes unveils the Lego Unimog - BBC Top Gear I very nearly might ask for this for Christmas. I kid you not!

Some progress today. Spoke to the lease company, the finance company and the Nissan dealership. The dealers have a Pathfinder that I've been promised for later in the week, which is at least reasonably acceptable. I've not had to strongarm them yet, but I will if I need to. They are becoming increasingly helpful at the dealers as I suspect they realise that this is a fairly major issue, especially as it's been different faults each time. Jon - I'm glad I'm not the only one with rattles. After about 1000 miles I took it in to have about 3 rattles addressed. They managed to fix one, but the others remain. I just expected better quality of finish. The paint on mine's OK, though I have the grey metallic. It's already fairly scratched though due to forestry work and has a ding on the passenger side rear wing due to a gatepost that decided to shear off as I drove though it! The dealership will have about 2 hours worth of mud to carve through before they can even get to the car (it was washed 2 weeks ago). As well as the general forestry work, I got epically stuck today - right to the chassis, required John Deer power to rescue me! Rambling now.... Jonathan