Spruce Pirate

Don't know? Haven't done either for ages, but small areas used to be cheaper to tube than fence and 200m isn't going to fence a very big area therefore I assumed it wouldn't be that many tubes and might be cheaper. Last time I bought 4' stakes was spring this year and they were about 50p each. That leaves quite a lot for tubes but like I say I'm out of touch with prices for both tubes and stakes and deer fencing. It also depends on planting density obviously. Just thought it was worth asking the question. There could be a lot of other reasons for preffering to fence or not to fence.

200m of fencing??? Not a lot easier and cheaper to tube and stake?

I think you need type C for training anyway.

..... things generally start off fairly cheap at auction and go up???😏

Have used both recently, 550 mk2 wipes the floor with the 261 in small conifers and 1st thinnings. Arb might be different, but for commercial forestry work I'd go 550 mk2 every time.

Indoor plumbing and electric lighting.

I'm out of touch with rates, but the last I heard skyline work was fetching from around about £30-£32 up to around £50 a cube. Full on skyline on clearfell with big timber. Your forwarder rate sounds about right, but again I'm out of touch. Can you make it pay at your rates? If you can and they'll pay it then happy days. If you can't you need to rethink your prices, no point in doing it if your not making money.

I'd agree with all that. Last job I left the saw out on was a couple of miles into the wood, the wood was a couple of miles from the nearest (small) village and the saw was 500m odd up the hill, completely out of sight from the forest road, let alone anywhere else. If folk want to nick that then they're more or less welcome to it, it's a lot more effort than most thieves are willing to put into it.

I've left 562 and 572 Huskys out in the wood over night and for a few nights on many occasions. Always been fine and started no bother, never in really cold weather, but have been caught out by snow at least once. Like Stubby says, I always make sure they're sitting on their feet to give them the best chance of keeping the rain out.

I've not have many problems with the 572 that haven't been self inflicted. Ran over it for example. Good saw in my opinion, well balanced, pulls either a 20" or 24" bar. I like it. I have heard of one or two problems with them, but they seem fairly good in the most part. Only ever had a shot of either the 462 and the 500i. Both good saws. 462 was running 0.63 chain which made the bar and chain seem very heavy to me, perhaps because I'm used to the Husky being on 0.58. 500i was a belter, but only used it for a day on demo. Some folk have had nothing but problems with them, others have had no bother at all, think it depends a little on your luck. I have a Dolmar 7910, lovely saw, always put a smile on my face using it but in the longer term it hasn't stood up to use too well. Parts and service for it are a problem here as there's no local dealer that knows one end of the saw from the other. Shavey is good though for these, never had any problems dealing with him. Don't know much about Echo, like their wee saws, but the big things seem heavy and antiquated in design to me. Never used one of their big saws though, so can't really comment beyond impressions of them sitting on the shelf. Don't know any commercial cutters who use one though, so that kind of speaks for itself? If I was looking to replace the 572 it would be a straight race between another 572 and a 500i and I'm not sure which would win.

Making climbers less agile, less competitive and slower will be part of the process to convert people to MEWP work, which is what they (HSE) really want anyway.

What does your leather working friend think it is?

What's it like compared to a quad for turning circle, ground clearance and wheelbase?

Thanks for all the replies, not sure I'm any further forward as everyone has their own preferences! ? I should also add it needs to be waterproof - it's for use in Scotland, not the wettest part of Scotland, but still pretty wet for a large proportion of the time. Predominantly used outside so a good water resistant rating considered essential!

I need to get a new head torch, don't know whether to spend a fiver and get a wee cheap job or spend a bit of cash and get something decent. Would be nice to be able to see a long way if needed and be able to flood the area immediately in front of me if needed. Anyone got any recommendations?

90 days is pretty standard for commercial.

Chipping also reduces the handling. It is much easier to simply feed brash into a chipper than to stack it in even the roughest of piles. Branch into chipper - branch gone. Branch put in a pile - branch in the way of the next bit you want to pile up, trip over branch, just a general pain in the neck.

Is being self-employed not a proper job????

Is it not easier just to get a new clutch? All three springs replaced that way, nice and easy to change. Changing springs always seems to end up with skint knuckles with me.

I did a trial for Forest Machine Magazine with the Milwaukee Impact Wrench and the Forstreich Maschinenbau TR30 wedge last year. Was impressed with it, much better than hammering wedges. Lacks the lift and power of a jack, either a purpose built jack like the Treemans or a home modified job. It's horses for courses, the mechanical wedge is very good, but not the be all and end all of putting trees over, it's not going to replace a jack or winch, but it is going to make your life much easier than hammering wedges. I did try the ratchet type wedge as well, but not very impressed with it. Build quality lower than the Forsteich version and turning the ratchet handle becomes very boring very quickly. I didn't manage to try it in bigger trees, but I think it would struggle to put big spruce on the deck. I might be wrong here, but I think trying to turn a ratchet by hand in bigger timber would be just as much of a pain as wedging it normally. If I've done it right there should be a video of the TR30 trial below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLqxmzD0a5s&list=PLIVu6yRYuJhWApPBp_MYrJwive2wTISCR&index=2

Update on moving the lime. After the advice on here we've made the decision to dig a trench round the tree this year and move it next year. I looked at it with the digger driver and agreed what size of rootball would be movable and we went back and hand dug the trench. Roughly 2' to 3' deep, basically dug down to the water-table. I need to go back down and check the outlet channel is working to prevent build up of water. Any further tips or useful advice very welcome.

Spruce last week.

I do. Excellent tool for looking at trees. Not so sure about taking a saw to the races...…..

Will do. At least this rain should be softening up the ground, although....., thinking about it, that might not be so good for the digger. As far as avenues go I'm not sure that they have to be one species, there's a stretch of road along from us known as the avenue that has quite a few species in it, oak dominated but also some lime, sycamore and I think a couple of ash. They're not all uniform, but they are all mature in varying forms. It makes quite a nice avenue despite not being completely uniform. I do agree though, that in this particular case the avenue does want to be as uniform as possible. I think youth makes it more desirable that it is uniform, whereas we're more forgiving of mature trees. Younger trees in mix with more mature trees are another matter. You need a pretty big gap to fit a young tree in if it's surrounded by mature trees, which generally means you've got an avenue with big holes in it. Putting a young tree in now means that said big hole might have filled up in 50 years time, certainly in 100 years time, so I wouldn't be totally against "gapping up" an avenue with young stock. I've heard of people planting a new avenue 50' wider than an existing avenue on both sides, giving an overall increase in width of around 100', the idea being that this will be well established when the existing avenue is past it's best and dies off that the new one will be properly established, just wider. Presumably this could work in reverse as well, planting a narrower avenue the next time around.

You can still swear at them, but I don't miss the sweating part when you've got a machine to do it for you.