AHPP

The only thing that’ll kill willow is communism. Hack away however.

Can't tell 100% from the video but looks like a direct tip tie? Any merit to running the rigging rope to the tree further in the background and letting the cut tree down on a V?

I use the Buckin Billy Ray Smith method. Rounds on the floor or in a pile, kick them vaguely upright and flop/flick the axe off to one side as you strike. If the axe flops left, a split piece will kick off right and the axe will end up safely flat on top of the left piece. Or golf swing through rounds lying down. Watch Buckin's youtube videos and it'll make sense. Suggest watching them with the sound off and/or sped up.

Samantha. You're an old woman wanting to break into a profession dominated (for largely good reason) by young men. It's very competitive, most people make shit money and many people hate it after a while. You're at a further disadvantage being on an island with limited employers. Then consider we live in interesting economic times where bold career moves are risky, especially ones with significant money outlay for training that you might need to use to buy food with in the coming months. And as if all that didn't make for a steep enough hill to climb already, you're annoying, closing yet more doors. Now anything's possible of course and you may delight in proving me and the world wrong but you're starting at several large disadvantages. I'd ordinarily not care what you try to do but in this instance I must strongly encourage you to not give money to the absolute wasters who constitute the majority of the training industry in this country. Their undeserved dominance is making the industry shitter for the rest of us and I want them starved.

I was going to post one of those. Unspeakably crass. I'd sooner purposefully shit myself at a dinner party than wear one. Has anyone seen one in the UK?

That’s a good point but only just. If you’ve got the wherewithal to pre tension a piece, you’ve probably got the wherewithal to hold/run the piece. Maybe you’d be glad of one for something like tensioning with a truck tow ball and you don’t have a portawrap/bollard on the truck but even then you can make a portawrap with a cut crotch or something and it’s straight back to not being an issue. I remain open minded but I reckon 95% of the time I used one I’d be cursing it or going up to unhook the wrench.

Adds a bit of friction at the rigging point but the friction disengages when you pull the rigging line back up the tree so no struggling like when pulling the line back up natural crotches. I’ve not bothered getting one for the reason mentioned above, too much friction for small pieces and if you get it wrong, you have to go back up to it to change it. You can add friction wherever with a crotch, stub, biner, figure of 8, wrap etc, which is more versatile for different sized pieces and you can quickly slack/grab stuff in the tree if you can see something the groundsman hasn’t or you’re just rigging it yourself. Nice idea and I’d like to think useful if you’ve got big enough pieces or a slick enough wrench but I won’t bother unless I find one very cheap or I fancy making one. Would be delighted to hear from people who use them whether my appraisal is correct or whether they are more useful than I imagine.

Thorough answer. Thank you very much. Is the staggered/offset planting pattern to set you up for weaving it each side of stakes at the first laying?

What’s your ideal species mix, order, spacing etc for a functional stock-proof hedge?

I use it, usually for bits on the tail of my climbing line now but have used it loads for bigger stuff. Never had a problem. Don’t use it for serious chunking just because the tails dangle in the way of stuff. Being easy to untie is a huge plus.

Come on, someone. I hate buying new.

If anyone’s on the fence about taking Rob up on his offer, allow me to possibly help. I want to buy a second hand chainsaw mill. Sell me your old one and use the money to buy yourself a new one.

Fingernails. Are you sure they’re dead?

Well there's that small (large) mercy. The 500 will I'm sure be a blip (I've got several other Stihls that ALWAYS start). New tech. They'll sort it. They're not going to put the injector saws out there without being confident they can fix snags.

A few months ago I had the choice of a 461/462 or a 500 and I went for the 500. Regretting that now because it's currently sat in a box waiting for TNT to pick it up because the fvcker won't start.

Bolam asks a pertinent question. If you're setting the rope at 20 feet on an 80 foot tree by standing on top of the machine cab, you're going to need way more power and gear strength than if you can get it set at 60 feet. I'm always amazed by how little pull you need when you have a long lever. Do you have time to be shooting a throwline into the top and hoping that you hit a good branch? I assume climbing is out of the question on account of hairiness? My very limited experience with forestry is that the brute strength option is usually the one that gets used, ie get a strong rope in low and pull with machine. For that, I'd use cheap and thick polysteel or similar and make sure you have a nice, smooth place to tie onto the machine so it doesn't break there. Also consider that pulleys multiply your line pull and can allow the machine to pull from a safer/more convenient place.

661 is here so decision time. Hoping to hear some guidance from people who double end mill. Unused 28" bar and chain from the 661 for sale btw. £100. That's £10 cheaper than the Honey Brothers price and then no VAT (£22). Can deliver most places. PM me.

I’d put Bolam down for that particular quip but appreciated nevertheless.

Any double enders care to chime in with what they use and how they get on?

Do you double end, Saul?

I can’t answer with any experience or authority but if I was wanting to set a framework like a mill up to be true, I’d want to do it on a nice flat floor to take as much guesswork out of the equation as possible. I’m sure it’s possible without but you’d think that it puts things in your favour.

I've got a 500i and a 661 that I want to buy a double ended bar for for milling. I'll also need to to either buy or make a mill. I want to get a big enough bar that I don't keep finding trees I can't do (without having to halve, skim and roll etc) but I don't want so big that it's either unreasonably unwieldy or it sags/flexes excessively. DOUBLE ENDED MILLING BARS - Chainsawbars WWW.CHAINSAWBARS.CO.UK What have people got and how are you finding them? Do the proper mills keep the bar tensioned better than a DIY mill made from plywood and threaded rod? At what length do you run into diminishing returns with bigger bars? What in your opinion is a nice compromise, all rounder size? And I'd welcome any other input you think is relevant. Thanks in advance.

I for one would be immensely grateful if you could keep your constant pointless advice to yourself, you unrelentingly negative, know-it-all bellend.

I bought a quick coupler spigot for a nut gun the other day and the threads to go into the nut gun were covered in crusty white/grey/blue stuff. I assume that's liquid PTFE?

It is. Wranglerstar on YouTube did a burr like that a few months ago.