Spruce Pirate

I would, but I'd want to see it first, have a spin in it etc. I would apply the same criteria to buying a car or a saw off ebay. I have actually bought a saw off ebay, but it was described as spares or repairs and I needed the spares and the price was right. I also didn't hand over cash until I'd seen it, it was local. If everyone used a bit of common sense about these things there would be fewer problems. Agree that Stihl and Husqy should be doing more about this rather than concerned citizens.

Just saw pics on facebook of a boy up the road in the redneck plunge pool - a tarp in the back of the pick-up! Looked very good.

If you're going to do anything as a subbie you need driving license and your own transport above all else. Said before, but 31 and 39 tickets also really needed if you want to get into climbing, but you could get them once you've got a foot in the door somewhere. You'll also need a lot of determination, getting that foot in the door could be tough. You'll never know until you try though.

Based on that I would say the Walk-tax is the tool for you, only problem with it is when the thread knots and breaks for no apparent reason. Keep the inside well cleaned out, the build up of "thread dust" seems to clog it up and cause a few problems. I don't think pacing is practical, and if you're measurement doesn't match the forester's he'll laugh out loud when you tell him you paced it. A range finder is OK, but you're going to have to take a lot of measurements going through gullies etc, might balance out with ease of use on longer uniform areas. Be interesting to compare the wheel with the Walk-tax, or even the GPS or range finder

I'm surprised the wheel is accurate over tussocks, humps, bumps and down through dips and gullies. The thread on the Walk-tax can be a PITA when it snaps and you have to remember to hook it onto something to save it riding up in the air occasionally, but most of the time it seems quite accurate in my experience.

You will get many different opinions on this, Stihl, Oregon, full-chisel, semi-chisel and so on. Fundamentally, so long as your chain is sharp and kept sharp it should cut it.

We're £215 on an 05 plate commercial. Don't know about brand new, but I know a non-commercial 05 plate would be about double that. As far as the finance thing goes, if you run an old truck you tend (or at least I do) to spend a fair bit on maintenance, both preventative and reactive. If you put that money into finance to get a newer vehicle you're no worse off financially, but hopefully you get the reliability out of the newer motor so you're not suffering down time. That said, I'd do whatever I could to avoid, or at least minimise, the amount you're borrowing.

A modern GPS will record your vertical climb (or descent) as well as distance travelled, but in truth I'm not sure how good it would be to get a true distance doing up and down through every gully. Best bet would seem to be the Walk-tax. Mine came from Stanton Hope for about £80, plus spools of thread. I think they still do them.

I did none of the right subjects at school, went on to do the wrong course and then drop out of uni....... but then again, I spend all my time in the woods surrounded by trees. I'm always amazed by people who know what they want to do from school age and who manage to actually do it.

I've had at least one car come through on an all red every time we've done traffic light work. Including a police van! Any more than a minute stopped and folk assume the light is broken.

Walk-tax?? Blue/Black box that clips to your belt, thread spools out the back. Try Stanton Hope, I think they still do them. They can be a bit temperamental with the thread breaking sometimes. If you've got access to a GPS its probably easier to use that in this day and age. I've compared the two in the past and found them to be within 2% of each other, don't know which one is more accurate though.

What about executioners?? Don't get binary.

£0.60 per tree planted, staked and tubed seems a bit on the cheap side to me; £1.00 per tree a wee bit on the high side. I'd say about £0.80-£0.85 per tree is about right, probably £0.80 if its good flat ground with good access. The last lot of 60-90 trees I got came in at £0.50 each, but I only got 300, I think the nurseries will normally do you a discount if you're ordering over 1000 (do plenty planting, but don't normally supply trees). Stakes were about £0.35-£0.50 each, dependant on size, last time I got some from the local sawmill, I think tubes were about £0.60 each last time I got some, but that's a while ago. Ground prep can vary, you could simply leave it as is, plough it and roll it, mound it. I've planted some bits of good ground sown with reed canary grass - its hellish to weed, but if the trees are tubed at least you can find them and it does have the advantage that it keeps the other weeds out. Chemical ground prep is also an option. What is the intended use of the woodland? If you've any ambitions of producing anything other than scrub I would increase the planting density a good bit.

That is the situation I would envisage using it in, and only on quiet minor roads.

I've never used it, but have read about it in the book. I think it sounds ideal for minor single track type C roads.

Two-way lights on a simple set up generally between £300 and £350 + VAT. Can be more if three/four way lights required, dual carriageway, etc. Permits from the roads authority can add a bit to it as well. How much it costs might depend on where you are in the country. That is cost per day, including set up and take down.

Me too!!!

There are very few trees in this country that truly need a big saw, most of the time they can be done with a 660/395 or even a smaller saw. But, as said before, the big saws can come in really handy for ringing up or cross-cutting big stuff and for felling in one cut. I really like the big bar if there's any seriously big windblow that needs off-rooted, much easier than doing reduction cuts and moving around the stem. Well worth having access to a big saw in your arsenal.

Short answer - no (not got one).

There are people out there who insist changing them every 3 years - regardless of what the manufacturer says. If you feel your ear defenders aren't up to scratch I'd say change them, you only get the one set of ears after all.

Don't see a strap - is it highlighting the dangers of an insecure load?

It's always nice to see someone doing something for a good cause. I've never done services in a raffle, but I've put in a few loads of logs into different things. I always make them transferable as some folk don't have a fire, but I always put limits on it both in terms of time and location. So for example in the last Christmas raffle I said the prize could be delivered within 20 miles of my base and had to be claimed by April. You could probably do something similar. It's good to do things for charity, but some folk have very high expectations - you don't want someone winning a transferable prize and then expecting you to travel hundreds of miles to trim their parents hedge.

I was told laurel releases cyanide, hence the reason for feeling crap after working with it. Never heard of ODTS before, so good to know something about it.

Is the thread title meant to mean the oldest saw that physically runs, or oldest saw that goes out and works for a living? It doesn't make any difference in my case, don't know if it does for anyone else.

Following a recent adventure with a fuel cap, I have two surplus keys for a Td5 fuel cap. Key No: A125. If anyone needs a spare of these drop me a note and I'll quite happily post one or both on. Apologies if this should be on Arb-Trader, but I'm not sure how to do that.