doobin

I think a lease purchase is pretty much the same as HP. The cost of finance is a necessary evil in order to advance your business further- and let’s face it, interest rates have never been cheaper. Im not a cash strapped firm, but I know I’d rather four machines on finance over 5 years than one owned outright. Might be different if all I needed was one, but that’s never the way unless you have a very simple business.

OK, found some info. Looks like you are using a finance lease, so buying the whole truck. Same as HP but the tax implications work better for you. Fair play, and pretty much what I said as regards to the benefits of HP/5 years warranty. My original post against leases was aimed at what I understood to be a lease- an operating lease.

I think the bolded is wrong. I know when I buy new on finance I can choose whether to claim the whole lot in the first year (first year capital allowances), or to add it to my capital pool to then write down, as you say. I guess the benefit of leasing would be to introduce a fixed tax deduction per month rather than having to take it all in the first year when it may not be needed.

What damage was caused?

Could you provide the figures for this? Sounds interesting. Are you saying when you sell the truck you don’t have to pay tax on it?

The major con is usually that you take all the hit for the most expensive three years of depreciation, without being able to mitigate this by running it for longer. Other cons are that milage restrictions may be an issue if your workload suddenly changes, and it's also the nature of a work truck to take the odd bump and scrape. Which rather than being £100 off the sale price at the end of your ownership will be an inflated £800 penalty charge on top of all the money you already paid to lease the thing. I wouldn't do it personally. From what I've seen, leasing is in a personal capacity the domain of youngsters eager to impress in a new entry level BMW or middle class 'keeping up with the Joneses' in their rented Range Rover. In a commercial capacity, it always seems to be people like county councils who lease, and it's not their money they're spending is it? There are plenty of five years finance deals out there with 5 years warranty, which would give you affordable repayments and allow you to minimise the depreciation hit by timing your selling. That's the way I've always gone with machines, and if I was to need a new truck I'd probably do that too (and maybe run it for longer, I don't do many miles)

You're always flat out in the cut but then the resistance from the chain is preventing it from revving out. Same as fith gear in a vehicle does. But no excuse for revving flat out from cold on a PDI. Only time I would use WOT with no load on the machine is when setting a high screw to ensure fourstroking and not too lean a mix. That said, isn't WOT with no load on the saw for about thirty seconds part of the reset procedure for Mtronic gear?

I really hope all the pattaya pussay is worth it for living under such a toltatian regime! ?

If you are working as a bona fide subby (own tools, give price, do it when you feel like it, send whoever you like to do it etc) then you should be able to register for gross contractor status and skip all the bollocks.

I last tried the Granberg around eight years ago. I stand by my assertations made in my original post- both the 'diamond' stones then and the normal stones were not a patch on a sharp file. The normal stones were OK for a sharpen, but then both clog and wear extremely quickly, leading to a frustrating experience or high levels of stone replacement cost. If indeed they have updated the 'diamond' stone composition, then I would suggest they also update the marketing. Even Chinese built drill sharpeners are shipping with CBN wheels (and work very well, better than any Drill Doctor type machine out there). CBN is entering the mainstream, and for certain applications such as drill bit and wood turning chisel sharpening it's a quantum leap forward. What is ABN exactly? It's not something I have heard of and a Google search doesn't seem to bring up anything in particular.

There's your problem. Top plate is totallly blunt. You need to lift your file up a bit/do the eqivalent on your grinder.

Honestly, by far the best thing for a semi chisel picco chain is a sharp file. Quicker than messing around with a grinder and easy to put just how much hook you want on. The Grandberg uses diamond stones, which from an engineering standpoint is completely the wrong material to use to try to cut steel with. I alway found it gave a piss poor result with either standard stones or diamond stones. What is needed is a CBN stone, but until then, a file will genuinely be quicker.

Which grinders would you recommend? I’ve not found anything better than metabo for anti vibe, but they are pricey.

Assumed it all went for firewood. We have predominantly ash round here and I’ve never seen it cut for anything else.

Are ash saw logs a thing?

Metabo for angle grinders. Best anti vibe in their class. The echo vibration is because it’s on rubber engine mounts rather than springs. That was the norm ten years ago but things have moved on. You might think it’s fine if it’s all you’re used to, but I think even the ms181 is springs.

Given that most of them were bought with 50% grants, perhaps there are conditions attached relating to the disposal of the asset? One would like to think so anyhow.

No, only Stihl can access. I think it only really stores run and start times for warranty purposes.

Well I've bought it now so kind of stuck with it. I have the luxury of being able to choose between it or the MS241- I would like to use the 241 sometimes but I'm scared the crank will wear out with under 100 hours of use again? Everything about the 241 is better ergonomically. Everything. Vibes, tank caps, felling lines, bar tensioner. But it's no good if the mechanicals of the saw can't stick the pace. The Echo is plucky. I like it for now. Bit of an underdog and does pull well..

They are OK, and people have used worse for many years. But it's behind the times.

No such thing as using the brake too much. However, I'd take a slightly weak chain brake mechanism over a slightly weak crankshaft any day. One is a ten minute fix, the other writes the saw off near enough. OP- here are some relevant threads to browse:

I've gone from Airstreams as a daily boot to Oregon Yukon and I'm very please with them. I wear them for everything, and it didnt make sense to use the Airstreams for stuff like concreting yet I still would as I'm a prima donna with workboots- very little seems to fit me comfortably. I'll be the first to admit that I'm hard on boots- despite regular waxing I only got a year at the most out of Airstreams. I tend to get four months out of the Yukon before I say bugger it, I'll have a new pair. At £70 rather than £240 it's working out cheaper per year for me and I find them very comfortable indeed. They'd be my first recommendation for the OP for comfort, price is a bonus. The one thing I do change straight away with a new pair is the laces- the origional laces only last a couple of weeks for me. Decent waxed laces then the only other issue I sometimes have is an eylet snapping. No soles parting company- Meindl take note! I wouldn't recommend them for a climber as they are hard to lace tight enough for support.

Logic is not the educational establishment's strong point. More's the pity.

Bloody hell. A proactive and responsive dealer. We should have him stuffed!

There’s a thread on here about the merits and problems on all three. Fairly recent.