Daniël Bos

I have, dunno how that happened? The makita will probably do you fine, parts should not really be a problem and it does make life a little easier on the wallet. But... Think about it man, the best things in life are orange! Tamworth piglets are orange, mouldy/ rotten piglets are green Red Leicester cheese is orange, mouldy cheese is green Carrots are orange, rotten carrots are greeny brown Oranges are orange, green oranges are not ripe yet Orange antifreeze lasts a lot longer than green antifreeze, I could go on for a bit but, GO ORANGE:thumbup:

Don't be a pedantic git and read before you comment. It says send, not sell and we were talking about the choice between a husky and a stihl, both with anti-sendness built in:001_smile: I did not say it was against the law, nor did I imply that.

Dunno, 'twasn't me. But if it were... Screws.

I like the bit, just after it falls (and the cutter does not move a single step!) he turns to look at the tree and flings his saw at it.

some pics...

I got most of the job done. The hedge was in 3 sections, we decided against pushing on with the last bit (only a little bit). It's been a job to remember though. In the field, there were 5 little fields fenced off with stallions in, continuously eager to escape to kill each-other as they were surrounded by mares and spring approaching... One little Dartmoor escaped, pulled his neighbours fence down and decided to take on the big boys. The next morning I'd been on site for less than 10 minutes before she turned up and started shouting at me about how I nearly killed all her horses as they could have stampeded onto the road etc etc, bollocks, bollocks, hassle etc.: It took me a whole hour of pretending to listen (I have ear-defenders with radio in, connected to ipod:001_cool:) before I managed to get her to see that it was none of my business, and that I had tried to call her but all the surrounding houses want nought to do with her, so nobody had her number.... My client actually rents the field from the Church, via an agent. The dean of Peterborough, as the rightfull owner, and carer of the tree-stock had been told about some elm in the hedge that ocasionally dropped into the road, as they do. So one morning as I was happily cutting, I can hear another saw, close by. We went to have a look and there's a team of tree-surgeons chopping down everything dead from the hedge, just around the corner. They left gaps big enough to drive a vehicle through! I did tell them about the horses etc, so they cut all the rest (20m of hedge worth) at about 4 ft:lol: Next morning, tea-time: Police arrive looking moody, I told him before he'd said anything that it wasn't me:biggrin: Got "Talked at" by a moody copper who was well and truly fed up with being involved. At the end of the half hour rent I finally managed to tell him that it had nothing to do with me. They were obsessed with gaps in the hedge. The hedge was in poor state, not anything near stock-proof to begin with, loose wire in abundance, large gaps in the hedge. So, I put up a complete boundary fence, 10m in from the hedge. One morning after we'd got to a bit where there was an old gateway and had ripped out the old fence, we came back the next day to find the fence back in place.... right beside a 10 foot gap! They "closed gaps" I left at the end of the day, by putting rotten bits of 4x2 on them etc. I spoke to the rspc, the police and the county animal welfare officer. They were all dead keen to get her animals away from her and the bint locked up or drowned in a disused well. But every time they' get an "official vet" the worst looking horses had been moved from the field, the others had been fed for the first time in weeks etc, leading to the same result every time, "these animals are suffering, but not quite enough to warrant action":thumbdown:

Certs: Certifications. Chainsaw retailers cannot send you a saw unless you have proven competency by providing certificates. It's fine face-to-face, no qualifications of any sort needed. I'd go for the husky, if your local dealer will sell it for £280-ish that is a good price (look on ebay for a 435:biggrin:, there's one used one for sale for more than that) and it'll run well on Aspen. The 210/211 does not like Aspen for some sinister reason. ps, Aspen is better for occasional use especially as pump-petrol/oil mix starts to degrade after about a month. If you leave your saw in the shed for more than that time with fuel in, you run the risk of killing the saw the next time you use it. Aspen prevents this completely, has a long (unlimited?) shelf-life and is far less evil for your health. Easily worth the extra cost:thumbup1:

I switched from stihl synthetic to co-op rapeseed. The veg oil I use is much thinner, so I set the oiler to max, but only a little over £1/l so no prob. It works much better in the smaller stihl saws (that normally oil inadequately) and just fine in the husky's. No gumming up at all, not even when the temp was -17 in the morning. When you overfill and spill it all down your saw, dripping fingers etc, you can just lick it off. It did do strange things when mixed with the stihl stuff though, the two combined became very gloopy and snot-like, but after the stihl stuff cleared completely it's been super. Highly recommended.

It's a bit difficult asking professional users for an "occasional use opinion" I reckon. I've had a stihl ms210 for years and used it probably 40-60 full days a year for 3 years. In that time all it needed was an airfilter as I brushed one to bits and a recoil cord. I now have a husky 346xp, and a 550xp for work, and would never buy another smaller saw. It did me perfectly fine for years though. I had a 14"bar on and cut mainly hardwood, up to 30" dia oak without any probs. It would just take a bit longer. Go with one of the saws you suggested, make sure you get a good deal (check fr jones' sit for prices, try and get your local dealer to match, assuming you've no certs? If you do they can just send you one) and if you find it falls short of your needs, flog it again. I've seen a 2 year old ms 180 sell for just as much on ebay as a new one from jones'. residual value (esp for stihl) is excellent so don't worry too much about getting it wrong. In 3 years time you'll get not less than 2/3 of the new price I reckon, providing you'll look after it.

I second the Aspen suggestion. It does lead to another decision though. Though I've never used the Husky you mentioned I'd go Husky no doubt. I've had an MS210 for years and though it's been great it's one of the saws that's always given the most trouble when running it on aspen and I've heard this from a few people about the 210, the 211 may be different though...

Surely if you've had it for a whole year you should have made your mind up before! A fault, even if it re-occurs twice in a year can't be reason enough? If you do get a refund, go 550xp, it eats 346's for breakfast, then it warms up and works a bit faster still!

I thought it was ace, all the kit in the back would still be ok:thumbup:

I used to do Tae kwon Dodo, but it has died down a bit since.... Sorry, I'll get my coat...

Thanks, never knew you could graft conifers:blushing:

As mentioned, use a tyre:thumbup1: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh1kBwAzKYA]Chopping wood using tyre (tire) NAKED - YouTube[/ame] But don't wear gloves when swinging an axe:thumbdown:

Why did it do that?

Get an X27, amazing axe! Use the spare £450 to pay yourself, think of it as actual work, not just fun:biggrin:

Fiskars X27:thumbup:

:thumbup:Best site I've used in a long time, clean simple and to the point. Very good service, impartial advice and good pricing. Well recommended:thumbup:

I Like the Edit Rob (Brash "monkeying" is not actually the used terminonlogy:biggrin:) Forgot to say that as it needs less sharpening, a chain lasts quite a bit longer, I reckon even though it's slower it'll cut more wood over it's lifespan.

A square one is not going to be much easier for his round posts? A sledgehammer is wrong you are correct, the tool I use is called a beetle. I use a hand-auger is very hard clay all the time (we have a serious drought on), he did not say it was stony, just hard. I've not managed to break my wrist yet, but then it is a well trained wrist, the wife often works away from home:biggrin: I've been putting 3-4" 6ft chestnut posts in by making a 2" pilot hole with the auger, the a decent bit of whacking with a large home-made apple-wood beetle. Rock solid.

It's an Olympus Though, TG-310 btw. Shock and waterproof, takes decent pics, video and is quite easy to use. First is half submerged in a lake, second is a holly growing 15ft high in the fork of a very dead HC

I bought my wife one as a present, she's hardly seen it since she unwrapped it as it keeps mysteriously migrating to the cab of the landrover:thumbup:

One could read the above as stating such:biggrin:

They can be, but you'll need a few as the law of sod commands they're always facing away from the camera. The other issue is with that evidence you've gained the authorities are not very likely to do f all. Don't mean to sound negative, just bitter experience.