Matthew Storrs

The same place where you can get a 3 tonner for £50...... Admittedly there are massive regional variations but even so that’s mates rates at best.

Interestingly I have had sweet chestnut snap off in 5 years- o believe it’s down to too much sapwood within the post- this rots off quick anyway but if there isn’t much heartwood left after this it doesn’t take much to snap it.. the trouble is sometimes the stakes can be too skinny. A good lump is needed for durability IMO

How do you go about splitting the stakes? Have you got a log splitter that has a long enough stroke? Do you think a cone splitter on a digger would be able to do a tidy enough job of it? I usually buy in split chestnut from Dorset way- but there can be a long wait and wonder if there is any merit in splitting your own...

Beans on toast. Stick an egg on top if feeling fancy. That’s my go to can’t be bothered meal

Not sure it would be worth treating if it’s got a good lump of heartwood in there. Creosote aside I think the natural durability would outlast most treatments. Also Oak won’t split as easily as chestnut when driving, Chestnut can be an absolute bugger for splitting open if the ground is fairly hard.

Well this thread has taken a cheery derail!?

Same here on Dartmoor eggs. Been rained off twice this week- I’m not against working in the rain- but would destroy the site and make life very difficult for myself if I persisted.

I think most pensioners would consider it a benefit?

Not for long- free tv license is being stopped for pensioners next year I think- In practise I don’t agree with it but perhaps it should be means tested as some clearly don’t need the benefit...

Hard life for some!

Yes, known a few who just reach retirement and then don’t get to enjoy it- sad, but perhaps a lesson not to focus on retirement as being a cut off from work but rather treat your life from now as if you are in semi retirement- hare and tortoise mentality. Obviously I don’t want to get to retirement age and feel that I still have to work due to lack of pension/income, but would be nice to still do a few days a week- I’d be terrible retired anyway!

This is how all men should be able to retire!

No amount of force will be any good on 3-4” posts unless a pilot hole is made first. The top spec bangers apply 60 ton or so of force on impact- which would promptly snap anything less than a strainer post! A postdriver with a rock spike would make short work of piloting a hole in clay- usually the spike is about 75mm so allows the post to drive down without the bottom mushrooming or snapping.

Just got this email from JCB, would love to have a go in it to see how it performs. Clearly this is the way they will hear- I’d love an electric digger if it had the same performance as diesel.https://www.jcb.com/en-gb/products/mini-excavators/19c-1e?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=update_etec_mini

Cheapest forms of advertising are sometime best- I don’t advertise much but when I did I used local parish rags, cheap and generally gives a trustworthy/local approach if advertising in church/parish. Obvious stuff like vehicle signwritting- one off payment and people actually see you in the job- especially good if you do a lot of work in the public eye. Sandwich boards outside jobs? Did leaflet drops in the very early days- did it myself when I was quiet- not a huge response TBH.

I don’t profess to be squeaky clean, who is when running a tractor in any form on the road?. But that setup above was a one off. Borrowed trailer, hired digger and just used to get the machine a mile off site every evening as vandalism would have been a problem. However, my usual setup with tractor and multi purpose dump trailer I’m not sure where it stands really- VOSA pulled identical setup over (another local contractor) and he had to prove that the tractor and trailer was to be used on site (dump trailer)and that it was for agriculture, (how do the agricultural contractors get away with it otherwise). What I do know is that if you turned up to a building site with that kind of rig, or was pulled on the way to it you’d be absolutely roasted with no chance of reasoning. Personally I’m on agri land much of the time anyway- and I have my tractor gone over every year- brakes etc by local dealer to maintain road worthiness and keep all records of doing so, low loader transport is largely a non starter round here.

@doobin. https://www.bobwild.co.uk/equipment/mini-excavators.html These chaps seem to have a tidy selection of machine- that hitachi looks tidy- thinking paint job looking at undercarriage but never less looks pretty straight and together- It’s a great machine the zx27

Yes, I saw that. All their Taks they have came from a drainage/landscape company who specialise in golf course and sports pitches. It’s actually that TB250 on steels that I have my eye on, I think 5 ton will be better as can fit it in my trailer, 8 ton becomes haulage job for me- last time I had a 8.5t Kubota behind the Same it was all up weight of 12ton and felt a bit like the tail waging the dog!

It’s a hard situation for sure. I’m in a similar boat and go round in circles over the best machines to have. 1.8t is too small for most of my work- yet I have one anyway just to cover all bases small jobs and narrow access work, then my 3 tonner is the bread and butter machine- doing probably 70% of my workload, but then I cringe a bit at some of the jobs I’ve done with it where it would be comfortable 5-6 ton or wheel digger territory, anyway decided to just bite the bullet and get the 5 tonner but find myself in a slightly ridiculous situation and a one man band/operator with 3 diggers, just so I always have the right machine for the job yet the other two sit idle- Im rather under the opinion that it’s better for me to have 3 reasonably tidy machines which have done most of their depreciating vs just having one lovely new one that will have limits either side of the size spectrum...

If I had the dosh I’d agree wholeheartedly with you!

It’s plated at 10,000kg gross and it weighs 2.5t so 7500kg payload. The Herbst website only says 6t though so not really sure which is right. Anyway it carries weight well and is quite heavily built, 6mm sides and floor. it’s 12ftx7ft and for me this size was perfect as could still get it over the old narrow Dartmoor bridges/lanes. If I’d have gone for bigger I’d have filled it and felt sorry for my poor 85hp tractor! you might be able to make out my protech post driver tucked down alongside the digger- I can get it all on and still fit 200meters worth of stock fencing/posts etc around the digger-strainer posts I slide under the digger itself.

The first pic- does your Tak fit on that trailer with the 600 tracks on? Also how do you find that amount of hitch weight- mind is quite bouncy with the digger that way round but my tractor is quite a bit smaller which doesn’t help.

It looks the same length as my red multi purpose dump trailer I use for moving my 3 tonner around. The total bed length is 12ft and I could just fit a 5-6t in there with arm out the back, I can also fit it in with the arm out the front with the bucket resting on the headboard- I prefer it this way as the bulk of the digger is over the trailer wheels- not on the hitch of the tractor. I think a mog doesn’t take hitch weight as well as a tractor either...

Sweet- could do with that on my job at the mo- flippin massive rocks trying to wrestle Into position with my 3 tonner for dry stone walling- can just about drag them along the ground! That one you have in the bucket probably weighs 2 ton. A cubic meter of granite is about 2.6t.

Would you not be better off putting money into a 3 tonner and keeping your 6 too rather than upgrading 6. I very nearly traded my 3tonner in for a new 4-5 ton Takeuchi, but then for the same money I could keep my 3 and buy a used 5 tonner too, 2 machines better than 1 as unlikely they both be broken at the same time an different sizes for different jobs- I often have the need for 2 machines on a job anyway to speed things along a bit.