Matthew Storrs

I’m talking absolute crap actually. It is 3500kg you allowed to tow now. So I defer to my original post 😅

Actually, must read more carefully! It’s does say only up to the unladen weight of tow vehicle so basically around 2 ton. If you want to tow the full 3.5t I guess you still need the E entitlement

It would normally be good news- but can’t help feeling pissed of that a lot of us had to pay quite a bit of money and time to take the E entitlement. And now every bugger gets it for free. Spiteful yes, but justly so I feel.

My wife was a healthcare assistant for 6 years- very much more on the frontline back then compared to now as a Occupational therapist. Healthcare assistants are well under valued for what they have to do.

I guess there might be an argument that square posts last longer- being cut out of the heartwood- rather than cundys which are basically the shit sappy top of the tree. I’ve seen a lowland contractor try and twist square 5x3s for post and rail up here on Dartmoor- didn’t end well for the posts. They’d snap rather than twist and it ended up looking like a dogs dinner.

I think square would look shit unless your in boys ground. They’ll twist all over the shop- at least octopost has more tolerance to twisting and more faces to staple against if they did twist.

The things you do when your 19! Still, it’s character building, and something to show for your efforts. Don’t think you’d get many 19 year olds opting to do that now. Looks a nice area by the way, is that Northumberland national park?

That’s the theory! I think if your a waller dealing with courses and sedimentary rock you should be able to use what you pick up- Dartmoor walling is a bit different as much of it has to be manipulated into place with a digger so you ‘eye’ it from the digger cab- there’s room for error 🤦

Agree. That’s pretty damn good! It’s not easy getting the coping stone lined up nicely. What I love about walling is every area has a pretty different style. Where I work it’s mainly big lumps of granite- it’s not coursed and you really have to try and fit it together like a jigsaw.

I’m a dry stone waller mainly. Been doing it 12 years professionally- but since I was about 5 as grew up on a hill farm spent my childhood messing about with granite. It takes about a day to learn and a lifetime to master. Seriously- get yourself a good book about it and go from there. 90% of it is getting your eye in and the only thing can teach you that is practise and experience. Some of my early walls weren’t the best- but they’re still standing. or look at conservation charities- snowdonia national park etc- often they run short courses for a nominal fee. I agree though £80 isn’t a lot- that’s not much more than a meters worth of walling!

Might be ok for some attachments. But for example when I’m using a post knocker it needs to be in proper single acting mode so that when I press side B of the pedal it dumps the fluid back to the tank as the hammer falls. My old TB016 and subsequent 216 had a lever next to the offset ram to easily change between the two…

There’s a tap/handle on the outside front of the machine next to the king post, think on the right of the king post as you look at it from the cab. Just needs turning from double to single- couldn’t be easier

Old landrovers for me. A 110 hicap, and a 300tdi Disco. Nothing fancy about them and often wish for more power. But being able to shunt around the steep lanes around here with 2.8 ton digger, it’s handy having a low box you can use on tarmac.

A dog that collects firewood for you sounds awesome!

Thats it! Most people think he’s either a staffie or a Labrador pup 🤔!

Got this little rascal back in January. Mad to buy a terrier too but he’s a breeze compared with the collie we had. Right size to be cab friendly too.

Lovely pup. I do love border collies, but wouldn’t own one again 😉 Our old collie would spend literally a whole day out in a field with me scrabbling a rock from one end of the field to the other barking incessantly at it!

I’d doubt it. I have one and think the bed is a shade over 6ft long… loose would be no problem but don’t think it quite has the length to get 2 dumpy next to each other.

Don’t get a TB216. I have one, does the job but has some pretty undesirable attributes- sloppy slew from new, not the greatest breakout force. Very stable machine though for size, but aux hydraulics are controlled by a foot pedal- not ideal.

Intermacato. TG12 I think the model is. It doesn’t normally have the plates but I asked for them to be put on as I have quite specific job coming up for it.

Just got this little fixed grab for my 1.8t and it’s pretty handy. Obviously for timber work you wouldn’t have the plates welded to the tines but still. The photo with the fence posts are 6-7” strainer posts to give an idea of capacity

2.8t will be way better and far more planted. 1.8t will do it but got to be realistic in your expectations- you loose stacking height by adding the rotator. And you’ll be working at far reach most of the time to avoided twating the boom when rotating. Personally I’d forget the rotator on the 1.8t and leave that until you get 2.5t plus size. 1.8t is still a very useful tool with a fixed grab to be fair.

We live in a small island with a massive population. It’s not surprising that any area with a level of natural beauty is going to get the life squeezed out of it. It’s not Devons fault, I’d have loved to have seen it 100+ years ago. Just reckon there’s too many of us here.

I’ll stick up a bit for J. As I feel I can relate to a lot of what he says. I love Dartmoor and feel very lucky to live here- there are some other parts of Devon which are nice too. But have to say i feel it’s become too crowded for its own good (and yes I know we’re all part of the problem.) it’s pretty land locked by agriculture really,we recently drove to East Devon near where J lives to see a friend, on the way we thought we’d go for a nice walk somewhere, i can honestly say that after leaving Dartmoor we really struggled to find anywhere in the hour of driving that wasn’t skirting around a field of corn only to be met by another road- I just don’t find the countryside easily accessible or inspiring outside of the national parks. went to the beach the other day- was lucky to get parking and that was before 9am! Yes it’s a lot quieter in the winter but then who really wants to go to the beach much in winter aside from a quick bracing walk. Yesterday we went to Newton Abbot- the amount of house building going on there is shocking so I can only see the situation getting worse. Friends of ours in Sweden have recently purchased a decent plot of land and are currently building there own good sized house, they have the equivalent jobs me and my wife have, yet there is no way we’d be able to achieve what they have done over there on our income here. I know that all sounds very negative and I’m all for looking at people that are far worse of them ourselves and feeling gratefull for that but have to say I can see the angle he is coming from.