difflock

Within Local Government training standards are abysmal, there are a few genuinely gifted individuals offering various "Officer" level training, and few less gifted delivering stultifying boring subject matter. The training for the manual staff is far less satisfactory. late starts, long lunchs, early finishs, basically pay the rate for the day and your raw material will come away "rubber stamped". It has become a hobby of mine to ask "What is the %age failure rate on your course?", Generally met with a bemused blank look from the trainer, Failure?, Ca? What is this word? Whereas the Driving test, for all its faults, has a %age failure rate, surprisingly high too. I am also, not so humbly, of the firm opinion, that one should only be allowed say 3 or 5 attempts at the Driving test. Then stood down for a minimum of 1, 2 or 3 years before allowed to try again. Because some persons are simply not possessed of the skill set to drive safely, competently and not least, considerately. PS I do not possess the intelligence, aptitude or skills to be a Sniper, Pilot, brain Surgeon, etc etc. We are all different. Marcus

Difference, that I noted, between "standard" hedge cutting flails with swinging flails, is this head was the same as a forestry mulcher (and I was wrong speaking of "flailing" in my OP) in that the tungsten carbide tips are rigidly mounted to the central shaft. And unless I misunderstood rotate in the opposite direction, thereby vastly reducing the amount flung debris.

The young man on this machine went along after and "swept" the arisings into the base of the hedge at the same time as he flailed the rough undergrowth, he bes a right tidy operator does Jack.

Sorry, Co Antrim, Norn Irelan

Gents, For a little perspective, having grown up on a small farm, "ah knowed" what a days/weeks work was (I did not particularly like it mind) especially when watching the Rds Service guys sitting in a van playing cards, 'tother side of the hedge, cos hey its raining! Happenstance I then ended up working for Local government since 1984. Big Government is desperately, desperately flawed, and horribly horribly inefficient from an insiders perspective. I could quote specifics but feel that would be improper, and probably sackable. Being a shite, useless employee is fine, telling stories is not! Marcus PS Now routine for staff to take a few weeks, quite a few weeks sick, on full pay of course, when their parents die in their 70,s, 80's or 90's. Then require a period of adjustment when they return to work. Another staff member off with "stress", "rose from her death bed" , attended an internal job interview, got the better job, but still off with stress! Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

Excavator mounted flail heads "thing-gies", having seen what one accomplished along a sports pitch in less than 3 hours this morning. What hedge? No fuss, no mess, no hedge. (well not literally but almost):lol: Just the job to tidy up round the 50 to 100 year overgrown pond at "The Risk", only prob will be paying for him on a "PJ" = Private Job. Sigh M

I am not wishing to "turn a pound" or profit, merely hate seeing wood that would be of interest to artisans or craftsmen hagged up for firewood. As happens all to often. I presume if I take on to fell this tree as a favour within the family (which I may or may not) keeping the trunk in 2m or 3m lengths would be OK. Or what is the best way to log up for woodturning? m

In a front garden of my mothers home-place. About 500mm dia (DBH?) Dead on its feet. Uncle wants it gone, I merely stopped by last night to suggest to him that it might be of interest to woodturners etc. Not to simply burn it(which was his stated plan) Was I correct? Marcus

Ah cud lust after wan o those for the front of the 1490. To double up as a front logging blade/self recovery winch Since i Got front links but no PTO Unfortunately despite having virtually the requisite hyd oil flow I only got 140 (& since 1984, somewhat tired)Bar so only 3 tonne line pull. Sigh boys n their toys! M

Meh, as a soft-eyed lover of functional antiques, I ud favour the .416 Rigby, eh what! , old boy. A "blue-sky" cartridge when designed and then the basis for the famed .338 Lapua. British design at its best.

Entirely practical and ultimately pragmatic.

Entirely possible, & possibly quite practical, but entirely unpragmatic. I imagine.

Until this spring I had only been very selectively thinning around them, to encourage them to reach for the light. This spring I clearfelled the surrounding birch. btw, they were mostly about 1/2 this size 20 year ago when we bought the property. but the leader shoots, or this years growth, look quite promising. cheers M

Recently been re-locating young-uns like this that are over-fond on sprouting on the footways/tractor tracks.. The last one I mentally marked and felled around. Remarkable how many Oaks are coming, from presumably Gray Squirrell dropped Acorns, a good 1/2 mile as the Crow files from the nearest mature Oaks.

Been nuturing them this 20 years, a mix of mostly Oak with sporadic Beech.

V pleased with this fell, done on "auto-pilot", when getting tired. In among a pile of rubbish hindering good access, with a couple of other "hung-up" trees (small though) to focus the concentration elsewhere than on the felling cut.

my old girl, the 4WD DB1490 appears to be nicely matched to my re-shod on Ex slurry tanker "Russian" tyres log trailer, in that the tractor marks the softish ground exactly the same as the loaded trailer. Also much easier to manouver when towed behind the winch, since the tractor and trailer "yoke" can be turned through virtually 90 degrees.

Went to steel stockist, local family firm, looked around their stock and picked the 90mm box, also bought a length of 100 by 6mm(&would rather have had 10mm) flat to make brackets etc, then pondered over time, so by the time I started measuring and cutting it all fell into place, really pleased with the anti drip fabric coated "tin" from Steadmans, at 0.7mm thick (as opposed to the standard 0.5mm) it is simply twice the product. I oh-so-nearly, did not get it hot dip galv, but very pleased I did. Cost, for hot dip galv, about 70p/kg, used about 15m of the 90mm box at nom 10kg/m=150kg + a wee girder at about 30kg, say 180kg-200kg at 75p/kg=£300.00=bloody hell! but a tidy looking lifetime job.

I will "artistically/autistically" clad the lower end (the second "bay" away from the back door) in waney edge planks sawn on my Logosol mill, so as to have my logs nearer hand and bare foot accessible. Then open up the currently closed in bay for tractor storage and access. Then I gotta "finally" (pending this 5 or six years) build my boiler room around my outside Solarbayer boiler. Getting there! M

see some more

So on my laptop at home the Photographs are displayed, on this work computer, they are not?? cheers M

So 5 bes the answer. ok more tomorrow. Anyway I was more than a little pleased with my fabrication skillz using nowt but a tape mesure, a steel rule, centre dab and 4.5" Angle grinder with the thin cutting discs and a crap buzzbox air cooled welder. I found when I went to Rotobroach the 14mm dia holes for the woodbolts, that I did not have the correct size centre for the cutter. So promptly fabricated one from a 6" nail, which worked flawlessley. regards marcus

Erm! try again Anyone How many 800 by 600 images are we allowed? Cheers M

See photos

I certainly hope so, and am pleased to confirm, that the much discussed, among us students, horny middle aged "Mrs. Robinson's" hypothis is indeed true. Or as a sage older farming neighbour so succiently put it "The older the Fiddle, the sweeter the tune" tee-hee!