doobin

Ha ha. 'to hand' Ha ha

Your local dealer sounds like a ponce. 'Too fast for you, have a hobby saw instead' Ok, I know the 261 is supposed to be pro, but the 362 is a far better bet, much more of a proper saw. I love the 251 for the price and weight, and the 362 for the same. The 261 is just a tranny saw stuck in no-mans-land! A 362 will fly with a 13" bar on a 9t sprocket for small stuff and will take a 20" bar on a 7t for big stuff occasionally. Really good all rounder.

Make your own one up to suit. I use a Centurion Concept vented, nice and light. I chose high viz yellow and a reduced peak. I have an MSA type mesh visor for it, a clear visor for strimming, Howard Leight Sync ear defenders to plug into my mp3 player plus a rear cape and a chin strap if I want to use one. Total cost about £60.

If you don't calculate the loading correctly, or if the telehandler looses traction, or a cable fails, that tree is going back into the roof with twice the force it did originally...

Stainless Steel Rigging, Wire Rope, Shackles, Turnbuckles, Wire Rope Fittings, Marine and Architectural 10mm 7*19 £1.65/m I have a 60m of something in the yard Dave, I'm fairly sure it's only 8mm but I will check tomorrow.

A decent hiab combined with a MEWP would sort it, and you may well find it easier to get a hiab driver to work with you?

Hell of a potential for a f-up there. The tree will make a much bigger hole if it hits the house the second time with the branches removed. The telehandler won't be much cop if you pull it too far back either. And do you reckon H+S would be OK with you climbing the tree when the only thing holding it up was the telehandler?

You reckon 'call me Dave' deserves the same?

If that's an 036 / 034 it will handle that .325 13" on a 9t and scream for more. Great saw/bar combo, makes you wonder why anyone would buy an MS261.

Anyone else notice how they only made it to Surrey?

The Stihl mini type has been a pain in the ass to find bits for- I presume this is the type found on an MS250 with a rim sprocket carrier? 19mm o/d of the carrier including the splines. Next size up appears to be Oregon specific. I have an Oregon type drum for an 034 and the spine size is inbetween the small Stihl on the MS250 and the normal sprockets as used on bigger saws. I will try that part number, thanks, @Rob D- you could do with changing your side around a bit. While the 'bar finder' is great for a newbie running stock, it just means I can never find what I'm looking for. I don't run anything too custom, just things like 13" .325/9T on an 036 and 1.1mm 12" 3/8P on an MS250, 8t. I'm sure many do similar and your site is impossible to find things like the 8t Stihl mini sprocket on.

Of course they've cut budgets, of course there's a huge risk. Look at Pirbright from a few years back (before cost-cutting got heavy!) Now imagine that was Anthrax instead!

Rather you than me getting pulled with that by VOSA. I bet the hydraulic legs come in handy for hitching up!

Indeed. American beef jerky is about 20% sugar, and disgusting. The South African stuff is simply beef and spices.

God, don't I know that feeling. I seem to spend forever on the loader, every time I have to move something I have similar thoughts

Loads of uses, but many old cedars have softer/rotted wood in the centre unfortunately. Why not make a shortlist of uses and put it to a vote by the kids? Add in the local rag doing a photoshoot, and of a replacement tree being planted- that's gotta be worth half a dozen Offsted points!

Your a retailer of logs and briquettes, you buy both in right? Simple answer is to push whatever gives you the best markup.

I've not Googled, but I can guarantee that a 1 year auto renewing contract will be in the small print somewhere. Same with that company purporting to give leads to local authority work. On my 'to do' list one day is to ring a few of these companies and waste as much of their time as I can, whilst recording the conversations. I was thinking it could be a good exercise for my mates Amateur Dramatic class, in fact.

If you're starting out, the most important thing to do is to talk to EVERYONE you know and tell them what you're doing. Then when you get your first job, knock on all the doors nearby with a leaflet and do the same. Word of mouth and personal introductions return 10x the success rate of leafleting, and 1000x the rate of the sort of companies you mentioned.

Any idiot can see that's simply a license for them to invoice you. Sorry to be harsh mate but best you learn quickly. Stick around on here and there is lots of good advice. You will learn an absolute ton just browsing the business management section. If there's anything else you're unsure about, post away!

I've told him to list stuff individually to get the best price for his poor sister.

I'll give you £25 posted for the casting, I have one that's cracked.

Government agencies are horrendously inefficient. What is needed is a few well paid ex private sector employees with real life/work experience to keep the costs in check and provide real value for money. Two examples- Public sector incompentence- Our local EA have a 13t digger which they use to clear trees fallen in the river. Great. What the morons don't have is a grab for it, so everything takes three times as long as needs to. Private sector milking the public sector, allowed by incompetent/corrupt works allocators- We had some silt on the road from all the floods. A private company, clearly on 'emergency day rate' (despite it being a week after the silt was deposited) took over a week with men, traffic control, a dumper, grab lorry and, get this- a mini digger with a 24" bucket to clear the roads. Stop/go boards, a 3cx with a 4-in-1 bucket followed by a roadsweeper would have sorted it in a day. Serious piss taking. The country is rotten.

If you bought that as working, send it back! Parts are horrendous money for them. It will be cheaper to buy a working second hand head off ebay for around £100.

If you can send me photos of the bits I have a few heads knocking around. Take the cover off the head, take a photo and post it up here.