doobin

I dunno, I’ll give any neighbour to a job who asks as much free horse chestnut as they can handle !

There is a special place in hell reserved for ‘tree surgeons’ who take on clearance jobs. They love it of course- lots of lovely day rate for a bunch of unskilled brash/knuckle draggers 🙄 Whole trees are easy with a digger and a fire. Little bits, cut up and chucked onto a chestnut stool cut far too high not only make for shit chestnut regrowth, but also make it hell to clear- you can only fit three lengths of that diameter in a grab, so when the lengths are short it’s far more work. Luckily the loader was on site and can just about cope with the hills.

Man basket, mini chipper. Pass it down straight into the throat of the chipper, get it gone.

It’s so easy with the right tools lads.

Not looking good, is it?

The white hvo will be even more. The base fuel costs more, the tax is the same.

I love my loader mancrates for jobs like this. Coupled with a mini chipper it makes them very profitable.

The problem is getting it out of the low doorway. That's why in other countries you see cutouts in walls just under the ceiling.

Got a link?

I'm going the whole hog this winter. I'm going to wrap some flexible steel 6" duct around the stove, then couple this to a 6" inline blower. This I will couple ten metres of normal plastic flexi duct to, and suspend up the banisters to the top of the house. Will look gash but so would the gas bill otherwise.

I’m usually lifting big butts with pallet forks on the multione. For lots of brash the big clamp type ‘curved forks’ grab is good but cumbersome for domestic work. Generally if you can fit the large loader into a job then you can fit the chipper in too, so why make a mess dragging? Chip into the bucket and keep all the mess next to the tree. I don’t even have a pincer type grab set up for the multione. Although I do need to make a backplate for it like I did the Sherpa. Last week we were using a bucket grab on the multione- best compromise🤣 all sorts of cut and ripped out stuff to be transported to the customers woodland for future burning.

Because you told me it was a good idea! 🤣And the plate also fits all the other digger stuff like the auger, breaker and post knocker. I tried it but prefer the bucket grab.

Yup, they are certainly not at the level of Carter! I like the look of them but when I went to look at a luigong 1.8t I really didn’t like it in the flesh. Maybe the Sany will be better. The spec is good- twin aux on rockers as standard.

This is my bag. For tree work, a grab and rotator etc, 2.7t. The 1.9t machines will handle it (and I do run one) but even with a short dipper the stack height of the rotator/grab/hitch means that you have very little lift height before the boom ram tops out. They are also less stable and don't lift nearly as much as a 2.7t. Flip side, they can fit into a garden. For towing a 2.7t machine, the Ifor GH1054 is pretty much perfect. The digger will fit like a glove, and it'll be legal behind a truck with 3.5t tow ratings. Stump grinders- waste of time IMHO unless all your work is expensive stumps halfway up a bank. Flails- a bit marmite. Sort of work, but unless all your work is tricky to reach banks (again!) then a compact tractor or even pedestrian flail will be quicker. Basically, 50l/min hydraulic flow (all you will get from a 2.7t machine) is not really enough to be efficient with either flails or grinders. If you buy a 2.7t machine, get the model in the range with a 26hp engine (biggest you can get these days). You will never regret the extra power with attachments of any kind. If wanting to run a rotator, you want it with twin aux services with proportional rockers on the joysticks. Anything else is a bodge in this day and age. I'd avoid zero tail swing too, you want counterbalance for tree works. I like the Bobcat E27, it can be ordered with twin services as described, extrea counterweight, full fat engine and for lifting and shifting timber it's been brilliant. Other attachments that pay- a post knocker, auger with drill bits and a cone splitter for breaking big rounds, ripper tooth (essential), maybe a tilting grading bucket and grading beam? I run a tilting quick hitch sometimes, not convinced on tilt rotators cost vs benefit for that size machine. A v bucket is cheap and makes a lovely easy job of creating ditches, same with a v profile pipe laying bucket for drainage etc where you are on meterage rate- saves a lot of money in stone etc. You can get all the attachments above for less than the cost of a tilt rotator setup, and they will make you a lot more money/versastile. The Hooka didn't work out for you then?

I've seen them before! Very cool

I'm still a big fan of the bucket grab for logs etc. You'll not be carrying chunks longer than the grab is wide on such a small machine anyhow, and it's useful for lots of other things. I'll try to find the thread, @ahpp and I had quite the debate!

Are you talking air spading or vertidraining etc?

You mean like air spading ? What’s the going rate for that?

Ok, so I tried the mist coolant with water. What an improvement. You can really hog it off, no light taps, and burr formation on the side plate is much reduced. This is going to come in handy for when I get the bandsaw sharpening wheel setup too. the chain is ice cold when it comes off.

As regards a machine not getting it as sharp as by hand- that simply isn't true, with the machine set up correctly and an operator who knows what they are doing! It turns out that it's really hard to take a photo clearly showing a well sharpened chain, but I've tried. You can also see all the many angles of adjustment that a pro level grinder offers. Re the 'burr' at the top- this is not an issue. It's simply the layer of chrome on top of the tooth peeling up as the hook (the inside top plate angle??) is set so fine. I've had conversations with 'old timers' in the pub who are incredibly proud of their worn file handle that they use to knock this bit off after sharpening to such a level by hand. This just does it a heck of a lot quicker. CBN wheels are great, they cut well and are always the correct profile without needing to be re-dressed. They cut fairly cool, (and the ceramic ones Oregon ship with aren't bad in that respect either) but any abrasive working on such a small tooth will have a tendancy to overheat the metal if you go at it like a bull in a china shop. I'm going to experiment with the airline powered mister off the milling machine, misting the tooth with water as I sharpen.

Look into my eyes, not around the eyes, into the eyes, one two three...

Thats the key. A pro can (should?) go all day without a sharpen, unless he is careless or just unlucky (barbed wire not visible or in tree etc) I carry a box of chains for each bar and just swap them if they get damaged. That quicker than trying to sharpen crouched uncomfortable over a stump, and it's a pleasure on a wet day to stand inside by the workshop log burner and to put them all through the grinder to restore them to factory fresh.

I didn’t build that one- it’s from Euroquip in Wales. Great price, around £700 plus vat for a very good design. The loader is great to work from. It will lift around 1.2t so it’s nowhere near capacity.

Each to their own, I got it out again yesterday and it’s still giving me factory results. If it’s badly damaged chains you use it for then you could get Baltic abrasives to do you one with a coarser grit. But if they are badly damaged I find it cheaper to bin them than do anything with. You should always take a little off every tooth and then go round again for damaged chains, but that’s the same for any grinder.

Not a bad saw, I started my career with an 023. Plenty good enough for your use.