Matthew Storrs
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Everything posted by Matthew Storrs
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What's the point in a chin strap at all? Iv worn a standard husky helmet in the tree for 8years and never had it fall of .
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That looks like it could work - they always snap at ground level anyway. I once made the mistake of buying Post saver posts which were meant to last as they had a sleeve shrink wrapped around the bottom of the post- I found them to be hopeless- the sleeve just traps water against the post as the wood shrinks and expands and if anything they rot quicker then standard post.
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This is true, I got some large chestnut strainer posts but found they can split down the middle if you try and bang them in with a hydraulic knocker so bow I use telegraph poles for the strainers and SC for the intermediates. I worry soon that everyone seems to be using chestnut for fencing there won't be enough coppice to cope with the demand?
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On your cheeks? What were you doing with it' french kissing the posts?
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Creosote fence posts tend to be double the price to sweet chestnut- I know which I would sooner be dealing with anyway!
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Crap is one word, its not often you see a 'lowland' oak on the higher moors, but the stunted efforts of those that survive still have amenity and habitat value. Having been involved with numerous plantations on the high moor my experiance shows that the planted oaks take years to get going at all and more planted oaks die over any other of the native species however this I suspect is down to the peat and saturation which many of these plantations have been in- FIngle starts to get a bit more lowland and no peat.
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Ponies and cows get hit all the time on the moors around here at night, being misty and the animals black they blend into the night very well but, most of the time they get hit for the simple reason that folk are speeding, it does irritate me. Everyone speeds now and again but on open moors where large animal roam freely I call it irresponsible.
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Yep mine too, tows digger around pretty much daily on steep Dartmoor hills gets it in and out of fields and woods and has done 150k miles. Parts I have replaced in nearly 5 years= universal joints, radiator(by choice) and clutch and other small wear items. Cracking truck would not change it for a million Nissan/Toyota's/mitsubish. IMO the Defenders which cause problems are usually ones which are hopelessly neglected and abused(because they can be).
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Yeah gripples have their uses. My personal method is to tye the netting around the strainers at each end using nots then roll out to the middle of the span-put a clamp on each bit of netting pull it together to get the tension using the boundary chain strainers then when all is good and tight I join the the two ends using gripples, I then release the chain strainers by which time the gripples hold the tension then I tweek each gripple using the gripple tool to iron out any unevenness in the netting then twist the end bits of using a twisty tool thing looks very neat and no chance of the gripples slipping (which they can do in frozen weather unless you tye the ends off)
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Marshall 802 Tractor - opinions?
Matthew Storrs replied to TimberCutterDartmoor's topic in Large equipment
The main problems with Zetor over a certain age, mine included is auxiliary hydraulics are poor and the brakes seem to need a lot of attention to keep them balanced. Engine and gearbox being the bits which count seem very rugged and basic. Nice and easy to work on. Being near Cornwall. I would have thought you'd find plenty of zetors for sale, they seem to like them down there. I got mine a year ago for 4.5k and spent £800 on it to sort a few problems out. Only done 3300 hours so you should find something if you keep looking. -
Marshall 802 Tractor - opinions?
Matthew Storrs replied to TimberCutterDartmoor's topic in Large equipment
cmon Jon you know it makes sense... my girl hard at work last week. -
yes, 10 acres by hand will end up either very costly for your customer or you'll end up working for nothing. A tractor mounted rammer will knock a strainer in in a minute or three and it wont move an inch. digging the same post in by hand will take up to half an hour or so and is never as solid. and that's just one post... Also if your unsure how to get everything tight and pucker properly, it will all end up looking pretty shoddy in a year or so. You Tube is good but can't beat on the job learning.
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yep, that's very similar to my drivall ones, but you don't hook the wire over the hooks the bar, the bar comes apart and you put the netting inbetween the two parts of the bar and tighten it down using the handles/hooks. then attch the winch either on to the big handle or even better have a set of monkey strainers and attach them to the top and bottom of the clamp. just looking the one in the pic doesn't have the hooks on the top and bottom.
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yes I see these little piles of sawdust all over the moor- usually along footpaths, never been quite sure what they are for but assumed it was as a guide for scout groups and the like.
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Not entirely sure what you mean, I assume you mean a bar which is clamped on to the netting with hooks top and bottom to attach the monkey strainers (or winch) to. there are variations on this theme depending on the manufacture, your one sounds like the Hayes one where you lay the netting across the bar then drive hooks into the bar to clamp the netting then attach the winch. They are quite good but rather lumpy great things and expensive, the Drivall ones do the same job but are just the right size for standard stock netting. Perhaps im on about something different altogether to you. I'd download a picture but it takes forever on this computer!
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My clamps are made by Drivall. I use 2 and pull them together in the middle of the span- gets a nice even tension throughout the span. You can you use one and pull it up at one end. Seeing as your on flat ground this will work fine for you but on undulating hilly ground the netting can be tight in some places and slack in other- pulling it in the middle usually resolves this.
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yep might have been my machine- mines a specific fixed grab which is brilliant for timber work but sometimes I think your one where you can have the bucket on too would be handy.
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ok, not sure what your experience of fencing is you will need to pull the netting tight before you can tye it off. you won't be able to do that length solely using a draper bar. Best way on a budget is to make some kind of clamp to clamp onto the netting so you can pull the whole lot up in one go using a vehicle or hand winch then tye off on the strainer once tight. those draper bars are ok for the odd repair and assisting proper straining equipment but don,t do a very satisfactory job on their own. Also mine has an irritating habit of cutting the wire when pulling it tight. The Myti bar is much better but a bit more £
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ok- how long is the span?
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and to add, the fixed grabs are much cheaper on diggers and in some cases quite a bit better- can be used for lots of other things too. whereas a rotating grab is a one trick pony.
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just labour between £2-£2.50. I take it you are doing it by hand? if so it will take a bit longer so may be £3. this is for proper strainers and good tight netting and two strands of barb/plain It all depends on the span too the longer it is the cheaper it is per meter. it doesn,t take me much longer to do a 100meter span then a 20meter span the reason being you still have to put in strainers/struts and go through the tensioning process so really the longer spans just come down to knocking a more stakes in and stapling them up which doesn't take too long. If its a short span I wouldn't bother giving a price per meter as such just give a price to do the job.
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Quite right- its not compulsory to have to go abroad in order to have a holiday. Also a vast majority will go abroad just to do all the things that could be done at home anyway- sit by a pool- go to a bar with other English folk- go to the beach etc. a lot of them certainly aren't culture vultures and would probably do just as well if they saved themselves of the hassle and expense of it and made the best of what Britain can offer (particularly in weather like this. Agreed though last year when it seemed to rain most of the summer I tried a holiday in Scotland and to be fair it wasn't the best, nothing to do with Scotland, beautifull place but I like camping and it was a bit wet and miserable for that.
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I agree, Britain has so much to offer. It always amazes me how much variation is in such a small country. from beautiful coastlines, wild moors and hills, citys and towns large and small- some niceish!, some not nice at all. I choose to holiday in Britain for this reason, there is so much I havn,t seen. I also prefer just to jump in the car, travel for a bit and be at my destination no stress, I can,t be bothered waiting/booking and generally faffing with flights and spend a lot of money in the process when I can have a very enjoyable holiday not far from my doorstep. There are countries I will visit over time but im talking every 5-8 years and then I will really visit that country properly rather then a flighting 2 weeks or so.
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Investment! Forget bricks and mortar....!
Matthew Storrs replied to TimberCutterDartmoor's topic in General chat
Oh dear- obviously uneducated! Its not just tractors IMO, all plant machinery fetches nonsense money. I can't believe how much your looking at paying for a half decent 3 ton digger these days. -
I'd go for an atlas without a doubt. They have many decent features as standard on their trailers that would be an added cost on other manufacturers. The actual price is pretty good too and there are small things I like such as greasable tipping pivots/light guards/ inbuilt tye down points on the floor. The chassis used to be manufactured abroad but Atlas have assured me its all British built- probably by Graham Edwards I imagine seeing as the telephone number is the same for both companies and when they answer Graham Edwards puts you through to Atlas. I believe all the main brand tipping trailers have pretty good resale value particularly nowadays as they are all decent bits of kit whereas before only Ifor had the monopoly. Haven't read particularly good things about the new Ifor but it looked pretty convincing at the apf show.
