Big J

Just had a look on the bay - she has a nice Echo cs-4601 and Stihls MS230 C, 025 and MS250. Very reasonable prices!

My mum's up down in Belper - Mount Pleasant. It is crazy how economical the Stihls can be. I cut larch today for firewood, totalling 4.5 cubic metres (stacked) on 1.2 tanks with my MS260. What's that, about £2 worth of fuel and oil? Jonathan

I've had two chains snap in the last week (after having had nothing for over two years) - spoke to an engineer friend of mine who said that the very cold weather causes the steel to become quite brittle. One of the hazards of thinning in minus 10 conditions then!

I'm sorry mate, but I just don't see the point in the cut. Gob cut it flush to the ground, come in from the back, flush to the ground. Leave a reasonably meaty hinge to account for the lack of a high difference and pull it over. Job done (in half the time) and a much neater end result. Jonathan

I can't get the link to open - is there any chance that you could paint me a picture of the situation?

Superb - thanks again for taking the time to post the forecast. It's great that Arbtalk has it's own resident weatherman!

We had minus 12 night before last, now plus 3 - madness! Hoping the snow goes to be honest - really makes self employment quite difficult. Jonathan

Nope - not cracked the PJs out yet! That said, my wife will not get into bed until I've warmed her side up first. This has been the case for the last blinking 7+ years!

If you can wait until February, a friend is importing a batch. 5kw burner will be about £120 or so.

A shorter bar on a saw will result in quicker acceleration and quicker cutting through any given diameter, resulting in what could be construed to be a more aggressive saw. Try a 21 inch bar on an 088 for fun and games! It does always make me laugh when you see the toy saws in B&Q sporting a 14 inch bar and a whopping 1 horsepower! You'd have time to make a cuppa during every cut!

Spent an afternoon ringing up with a 660 yesterday and loved it. Spent the morning on an old 281 and despite there technically only being 1.3hp in it, the 660 was head and shoulders better!

Same here - I don't have a 13 inch bar on my 260, but have the option of one if I want it. Conversely, I find the opposite to be true regarding domestic saws - they tend to supply them with much too long guide bars for the power of the saw. I suppose it's to make it less aggressive. Jonathan

Seems cheap!

I just want to thank Jayvee for taking to time to explain everything - I think that he is getting a very hard time from some members, and quite unjustifiably so as well. His product may well come into what can be considered the premium bracket, but I think the importation is completely justifiable and could easily become a good standing arrangement for a firewood merchant. I have lost track of the number of people posting threads about wanting/needing cordwood (and not being able to get any) and other people wanting to kiln dry timber as they don't have any stock this winter. So little is actually produced in the UK now. I'm not saying that we want to consider long term energy dependency on yet another foreign country, but don't forgot we are a net importer of energy - why not bring in something that is at the very least sustainable?

Instant candidate for your position of groundsman? Cracking job there - superb, neat halving of the log too.

It's not funny, but the image of you bursting through the hedge in the landie did make me chuckle!

You really really don't want the snow, honestly! We live down by the coast and have less than everyone else, but still have 16 inches. Tree-felling is proceeded by digging-the-blinking-tree-out-the-snow-with-a-spade! My wife's boss lives in a village in East Lothian that has a level 40 inches of snow!

Balls! I'd forgotten about yew!

Here is my invaluable old Shogun - it's been worth it's weight in gold these last two weeks. How the hell else am I meant to get to the best slopes for sledging?

Whether a tree is classified as a hardwood or softwood is entirely dependent on it's seed. Hardwoods (angiosperms), have a fruiting body that contains the seed. Softwoods (gymnosperms), do not have a fruiting body and have exposed seeds. As a rule of thumb, hardwoods are broadleafed and softwoods are needle bearing. The exception to this is the gingko bilobo tree, regarded as a living fossil in it's own right. Jonathan

If you can shift the slabs, the return is much much better than firewooding. My milling and firewooding is fairly labour intensive (Alaskan mill and splitting axe) but in a day I can reasonably do: - 50 cubic foot of boards at 1.5 inch thickness - 5 cubic meters of firewood split fairly small 50 cubic foot, provided I can get a customer for it, will sell at £600-1800 depending on species and whether it is green or kilned. 5 cubic meters of firewood will net me a maximum of £300. Timber costs obviously need to be deducted from those figures. So yes, milling is definitely worth the effort!

Thanks for the replies - food for thought certainly! Had a look at the specs for the MS271 - seems quite heavy for the power and the vibration figures are quite high.

Can't comment on Logosol as I haven't used them but here are my pros and cons for Alaskan mills: Pros: Quick to set up, cheap, can mill large logs (though larger bars can reduce accuracy of cut), quite well made generally, very portable and generally quite reliable. Cons: As Rob says, U bolts can be a weakness (though since getting a few spare, the mostly threaded ones on the mill have hung on to dear life for months!), handle design isn't ideal (can cause the back of the mill frame to rise up, scoring the underside of the board) and getting a smooth entry/exit off the log takes a lot of practice. One final observation regarding Alaskan mills is that they can all be made to work a little better with minor modifications such as: * When using an auxiliary oiling system, it pays to drill out the hole in the oiling bolt so that more oil can flow. Otherwise it's too easily blocked. Also, the pipe from the auxiliary oil tank doesn't fit that securely on the bolt, so use a cable tie. Finally, the jubilee clip holding the tank to the mill can break, so get some gaffa tape involved! * When using the EZ rail system, ensure you screw down into the log as well as using the dogs and bolts. You have two pairs of threaded holes for the bolts - use one for the bolts and one for the screws. * When using longer bars, get a second handle and clip for the throttle. Both hands on the mill result in much easier milling. I've now milled over a thousand cubic foot of timber with my Alaskan, and it's a great tool. I will get a bandsaw next year, but there will still be many many occasions where the Alaskan will be brought out. Jonathan

IMO, yes. I don't think that there is any place in normal gardens for spruce, and conifers do need tight regulation to avoid becoming an issue.

I'm considering flogging my nearly new MS260 on ebay for no other reason that I quite like the look of the MS261. I was wondering if you folk would consider it worth the hassle, or whether I should stop being a pillock and stick with what is a perfectly reasonable saw! My justification is that the MS261 has lower fuel consumption, lower emissions, lower vibration and is significantly shinier and newer than my MS260. I only got the 260 in summer, and it's performed sterling work, but the reduced fuel consumption should amount to about a £5 saving each week, which is quite attractive. In addition to this, ebay seems to be filled with folk willing to pay new prices for old saws, so the price difference might be quite small. What d'you reckon?