Matthew Storrs

just to sway the argument- had a polish artic come into the yard to pick up a tractor I was selling (he wasn't the one buying just picking up), Anyway threw a right hissy fit because a)he couldn't understand a word I was saying and b) didn't seem capable of swinging his artic round in the yard and eventually gave up saying he was going to bed which he did for the next 20 mins before driving off in a right huff without making any effort to secure tractor in the curtainsided lorry. Had an English (Cornish!) artic driver deliver a load of chestnut stakes last week- nothing was a problem to him- and swung his artic round no problems and went on his way with a wave and a smile! Good and bad in all sorts.

what, like this thread!

Awesome- I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun in that, looks like a nice spacious cab. The ram which pushes/pulls the dipper arm looks like it has a 2 holes where it attaches to the dipper arm- whats the purpose of this do you know?

anyone who has seen a deer running will know that a lynx would happily choose a field of nice grazing fat lambs instead- and who could blame them. If they were wiped out in the first place they're not going to stand a chance now what with traffic- more intense agriculture and considerably less space altogether than AD700. Perhaps concentrate on keeping the animals we do still (hedgehog) have. I think we should let sleeping cats lie!

wow- incredible skills you have, quick too!

Another vote for the tirfor TU16 here, probably only use it a few times a year but worth its weight in gold when I do, Got mine for £200 of ebay, in excellent condition with a new cable so can't grumble at that!

Oh they say that up north too do they- that's exactly what they say about Dartmoor down south! I don't believe either could be considered true wilderness, when both are competing for the title of being the furthest place from a road in England- 4 miles I think it is, a lynx or any predator could easily cover this distance and would come into conflict with traffic,farmers,tourists along the way. I'm afraid i'm a cynic In these matters

Its a nice idea- and I see the logic behind adding a predator back into the food chain to keep everything in balance. But I can't help thinking id feel sorry for any of these predators lynx/wolfs/bears (add what you will), Everywhere in England is too hemmed in for them to live a truly wild existence and I think they would soon bear (pardon the pun) the blame and be the losers- thinking urban foxes etc, I can see the headlines now- 'walkers attacked by introduced Lynx', These poor animals all need to eat and I reckon a grazing sheep is a far easier target over a deer or badger or whatever. So something else for farmers to have prejudice against.. Just my thoughts. Scotland, possibly but England no way. I live on Dartmoor- considered one of the wilder parts of England but occasionly I hear people mention re-introduction of wolves or whatever- it would never work. Too many people too little space - unfortunately.

Hmm that was a lucky outcome to an unlucky situation! Not sure how much mine will be, waiting for the bill, but 3 utlitly vans and 3 blokes were there for 3 hours fixing it so I doubt it will be in the hundreds anymore:thumbdown: Never mind, will make me be a bit more careful in the future , but as we all know services can be found in the most unexpected places, I once went through a BT line right in out on the moor on Dartmoor- just a small one that connected 2 remote farms. what are the chances.

This is close to the bone to me! I went through a gas line this week with an auger on a digger- really didn't expect it as it was next to a big open ditch so I didn't think they'r run the cables through a ditch. after that and what will be a very expensive repair bill we dug the holes by hand- came across two big mains electrics, and a sewer pipe- no damage done to these as dug by hand but very glad I didn't put the auger through the big armoured mains cable!! Proceed with caution and don't go hacking at anything in the hole unless you know EXACTLY what it is!

Thanks for that, I tried divining a few back on water but had no idea it worked with electric too- will definiatly do some of that tomorrow!

This works with electrics does it? Gas?

Oh I would be long gone by the time the street lights came on:laugh1: In all seriousness that is a good point though- but im no sure how you can use a genny with a non hollow pipe like a street light as you can't put the lead up through the pipe? TBH even if it could detect electrics and BT lines I would consider it money well spent.

Well we went through a gas line today whilst installing post and rail fencing- and the auger just missed an HV electrics by an inch or so:thumbdown:. I want to buy as good a CAT and Genny as I can for under £1500- a few pipe detections will soon pay for it. I got a bit of info about CATS of the utilitity boys who fixed the gas but in general I have little knowledge of these them and would like to know what to look for when buying, any particular makes... Thanks, Matt

sorry:laugh1: I love the exac1 site- get all sorts of ideas.

is this your grab Exac-One Ltd - Mini Grapple Seems like they have different grabs for bigger machines

Wouldn't you be worried about bending/breaking atachments on the 7 tonner? I was comparing my grab to one on a 7 toner the other day- they both opened up roughly the same amount but the 7 toner one was twice the metal....

Sounds good. I'm sure having a big machine will open up a lot of jobs for you. I'm really not sure why I haven't got a tilting grader as almost every landscaping job I wish I did:001_rolleyes:

in a similar emergency I once ground down a pair of old pliers to a fine point and these worked so well I never bothered buying a new set of circlips!

You'll need a big hiab to load the back of that trailer Harry! What will it be used for, timber?

Got a Tanaka and the biggest Kawasaki brushcutter they made- Kawasaki beats Tanaka hands down in almost every aspect. Tanaka- poor starting from new, weak material-very easy to strip threads etc, it also has a hedgetrimmer attachment and this doesn't leave as clean cut as my Kawasaki hedge trimmer. Kawasaki brushcutter- excellent starter and very reliable (5years and never had a tool to it apart from a grease gun) only slight downside is the vibes are a little higher than id like.

Well done Stephen!, proper job! Look forwards to seeing pictures of that- I assume it will be a large version of your current one with the demo grab etc? Is that new or used?

i think theres a difference here, being offered a cup of tea and accepting is fair game, its on the customers terms, but wearing a t- shirt asking for it/sending a pre text or whatever else people do to goad a cuppa tea is rude, you are being payed by them to do a job not have them wait on you. Anyway why not just bring a thermos- that way you can have it when you like it and how you like it- and theres no waiting around for ages whilst someone makes you a brew when really you just want to crack on and get back up the tree:lol:

Couldn't agree more. nothing more unprofessional than turning up and spending the 1st half hour drinking tea. Me- I rarely work in an urban environment so always take a thermos with me. stop at 11ish for a quick break and then 2ish for a bit longer. If I was working a day rate- I would hate to think the customer thought as me being lazy and sitting round drinking tea all day so I don't take the p*ss in that respect. I'd prefer they called upon my services another day because they thought we were hard workers.

The trouble I have had in the past when fencing for farmers is say I get a job of 3000 meters spread out in various different fields, a strain of 300 meters can work out quite good money but when the strains are down to 100 meters or less (much less in some cases) the price per meter is still the same and I simply can't get the meterage up with the short lengths to make it pay- the process for doing 300 meter strain is much the same as a 50 meter one ie you still have to put in the strainers/struts and go throught the same wire tensioning process. Now I tend to set the meterage rate based on how long the strains are- a 20 meter stretch isn't going to work out cheap- buit a 300 one will seem quite good value to the customer. When I started out I must have worked for nothing on soo many occasions- lack of decent equipment/knowledge and not taking ground conditions seriously enough at the quoting stage- you will learn as you do more. Also the more you do you get systems going which make you far more efficient.