doobin

These guys are helpful and cheap, I use them for wire for my Lewis winch. I'd get a 40m length and cut it down, then you've got a spare! Ormiston Wire | Specialist Wire Manufacturers & Suppliers in the UK

You must need the Tirfor to hoist your staff back up the tree after that!

For what you're doing the biggest Mitox might fit the bill. 3 KW, 20" bar, £250 and two years warranty. Worth a look if you have a dealer nearby I would think. Gardenkit on here rates them. They're no Stihl but the price is right and with a two year warranty you have none of the worries of s/h kit breaking. I will be putting my money where my mouth is next week and buying the little top handle for £150! I need one once every few months for hedge reductions etc, plus I want to try the brand.

This. And link the alarm to both your mobile and a local security firm. More chance of them getting there first than Plod, and they often also have direct radio contact with the local officers.

The daft thing is I bet the police have got far better things to do than process notices of intent to move a power harrow three hundred yards down the road to the next field...

Why are we all so cagey over the price of wood?? Everyone is happy enough to say 'I charge £X for a two man team with chipper'. Yet nobody ever posts prices when advertising cordwood.

Another classic. Also- indicating right to turn into the field. As you start to turn the wheel, the same BMW flies past you, having overtaken from five cars back. I had a beauty on the A27 once. I was driving a telehandler down to Fareham, and some old duffer (presumably with 'grandpa rights' to tow a trailer) pulled in in front of me with the caravan. I braked so hard that I hit the windscreen. I should have just let the forks open the bloody thing up. It's funny at first, then it starts to get to you. That same season some dozy bint found herself coming up way to fast behind a tractor and bale trailer, complete with beacon at rear of trailer. Panicked, went to swing out into the outer lane, but didn't quite make it. Unfortunately her friend was in the passenger seat, which went under the trailer. She ruined untold lives that night- killed her best friend, and the pigman (who was only driving the tractor because the weather was catching us) ended up in therapy for two years. If the boss hadn't pretty much forced him to keep his job for his mental wellbeing then I don't like to think what he might have done to himself.

Nice one! I just got given an old MTD chipper/shredder. A quick oil change and sharpen the blades, and it's saved at least a day's money for a labourer on a row of garden clearances above a sunken lane with nowhere to park. It chips up to 3', so in reality about 1.5-2" allowing for unions. Still amazingly effective on garden jobs with poor access.

If you're that scared of it, maybe ask your boss to find you another job? I drove 50-300HP tractors from age 17 to 19. Anyone who has driven a tractor will tell you of the horror of seeing the car coming towards you turn it's lights onto full beam. It's 30 yards away from you, and suddenly a car flies past your offside door and in front of you, missing the oncoming car by an inch. It's crazy. Simply crazy. I can almost guarantee the above scenario if I take my old tractor out along the nearest stretch of straight A road. The vast, vast majority of the time, car drivers are at fault. Most idots in cars couldn't handle a 500KG Halfords trailer, let alone a dolly trailer. Yes, a few young lads in tractors have been stupid. These are the same young lads who will be stupid in their Vaxhaull Corsa. If idiots make up 5% of the young tractor drivers, then I bet idiots make up 30% of the young men with cars. By and large young farmers are more responsible and mature members of society. That said, the use of red diesel and cheap young drivers to haul the harvest, despite farmers always wingeing about an un-level playing field re Europe, is a perk denied to some EU member states. Technically speaking, if the crop is hauled by anyone other than the grower, back to his home base, then normal haulier rules should apply. Massive can of worms.

If it's too much then just swap to a smaller sprocket when you put a bigger bar on. Simples.

MS 362 would be the pro Stihl equivalent if weight is an issue.

Really? I had no trouble picking up 5 for £20 each from a scrappy, with very good tyres on them. Can't imagine them being worth FA to nick. As for the cat, yes, get rid. MOT emmissions test is far less strict than the modern EU emission laws as it applies to a much wider age spectrum of vehicles. So most of the time the car will fly through anyway if everything else is in order.

Fully agree. I have a very tight grip on log costs, and don't mind telling you that a 0.65m3 bag costs me £38.66 to produce, and that's with timber costed at £40 a ton in the yard (cheap). Therefore I need to sell at £70 within 4 miles to make £30 clear profit. That's clear profit without me personally doing anything other than answer the phone.

As I said, it still felt a bit wrong. However had I refused, would someone else have done it? Dead straight 2' diameter ash, tiny crown. Down and loaded in an hour. As the customer saved money, he was happy to part with money for extra work. Win win for us both. Happy customer = recommendations. As for devaluing the industry, that old chestnut always pops up. The figures either stack up or they don't, and whether they do or not is very dependant upon personal circumstances. Which is the reason I never moan about being undercut. If it doesn't make money I'll just find something else that does. We do not operate as a cartel!

If you can cut it down and get it to your yard for significantly less than the cost of timber you would otherwise buy in then refusing to do it cheaply/free is cutting off your nose to spite your face. I appreciate the majority of jobs do not fit this description. But I've had a few that did- ie. a mile from the yard, drive right up to them with the tractor, burn the brash on site. Still felt wrong 'giving the customer a freeby'! But the figures stacked up, and I also managed to sell him some hedgecutting.

If you're buying new then the Ifor will hold it's value better.

Get an alarm.

A grapple is the same money as that hydraulic thumb. Vemac Engineering if you're wondering. Mine still going strong after three years of abuse. A compromise would be to have a special bucket made which is basically the top half of a grapple, and have the thumb made curved. Then crowd the 'bucket' and move the thumb at the same time. If you're putting a proper grapple onto a quick hitch, it only takes thirty seconds to change over anyway (make sure the geometry is right though, you might want a curved brace bar). Even with no quick hitch, it's still quicker to change over to the right tool for the job if you're doing any amount of grab work. Thumbs do the job but are not as dexterous as a grapple. You wouldn't keep a 12" bucket on for grading. Same principle, most efficient tool for the job. A couple of minutes to change the attachment is nothing in the scheme of things.

Great to have tucked away on your jib when using a bucket, for moving the odd log or rock. Useless, however, compared to a proper grapple for the tasks you refer to.

Agreed.

Are you sure it's the diff and not one of the two prop support bearings? They don't half whine when they're on the way out, and they don't have to be that bad (hardly noticeable in fact, jack it up and put your ear to them) to make a hell of a racket when the truck gets above twenty ish. Mine have failed after only 500 miles. They can bloody well stay like it.

What are the benefits to your mind?

I just use an Excel spreadsheet. I like it because it's tailored to my business, and I can customise it and add bits whenever I want. That will work in something like Docs2Go for mobile devices I think.

That looks good. As stated it's 2 speed not three but the bottom gear is lower than most two speeds (400RPM, the 3 speed 1st gear is 300RPM) Add an extra 8NM of torque over the 3 speed and that looks like a good buy.

£50000. Or do a search.... Ok then, £90-100 if you want to make actual profit.