Logan

028 avs is great gutsy saw, I bought the 51cc version new in 89 and it was a nicely built saw and felt good to use. Clean out around the chain brake and don't overdo the use of brake, coz hard to find replacement band or handle these days.

It's because all nursery had to burn off their stock in the fiasco of defra making up it's mind, also orders for ash saplings disappeared too. Re stump regrowth, often large trees throw up " drunk" regrowth initially, can be weird shapes and very fast, weak growth. After some failures/ bits snapping off, it can settle down and produce some straighter growth. Or trim it again after year or so and 2nd time comes back straighter. Do now or in may, very fast recovery.

How did you get on? Fix it?

Huh, saw them a couple years ago and thought they looked good. Must say, those billets are very straight and well stacked, considering the low tension on the binding it doesn't sag much when grabbed. We use 19mm green strapping and buckles and use a American metal tensioner, we crank them up as far as poss to limit the bagginess that happens when rehandled. Would be interested to hear how you get on with them rope tensioners.

How about mashing the brash down with your saw?

Leave it for a few more years, or you won't get straight branch-free 1st lengths on your selected trees. As SMG says. For ease of management / walking, mow straightish paths through in parallel about 6-12m apart with your ride on, makes easier to periodically free up your selected trees from surrounding vegetation.

I've not had need yet, but have wondered if there is an access panel under rubber mat, some tractors have them. Have to remove seat and all floor mat. Anyone know if there is such panel in the valtra? If not there aught to be. So far have fixed all probs by removing wheels and looking through the panels in the mudguards. Some of steering connections can be seen looking under battery from LH front of cab. Also had leaks from the hose on filter under RH step, that ran oil down near where you describe. Who's your local valtra dealer, ours are Hosplant near Colchester and they are helpful in past for phone advice. All the best, John.

Is it mike gillet in wales, he may have one. 20 odd tonne on a daewoo maybe. Cheers, john.

Happy days fella. A lot of fun and laughter ahead. Best of luck.

Had it on a later model where one of electrical rocker switches stayed pushed in, and linkage went up and down bit demented, don't know if you got any switches on rockshaft control on that model?

Your local chainsaw shop (the one contractors use) should know who the trainers in the area are, etc.

I am interested in renting a wood, if you are not:-)

hello charcoal man, I am one of those £80 monkeys, your spreadsheet sounds interesting if you could post copy mate. Thanks, John.

As Difflock says, a beak would help. Some people put grab and rotator on front loaders too. We use grab and rotator on 8t excavator which makes sorting a easy job. Any size machine up to 15t would do the job, lot more reach on larger ones but bit thirstier.

yes, we sold some bundles recently wholesale they were ash mainly split for one month, they weighed 430kg per bundle, we asked £60+ vat per. Which I thought I could live with. But next trip was offered only £50+ vat, which I cannot see being able to sustain. Also, splitting large cord down into processor size chunks is a joy compared to splitting down to finished sellable size billets.

They must have been tough old coots, need some fitness for that job. Mind boggles. Had a few goes on the old crosscut and it's nice in some ways ( quiet, smells like a wood instead of 2 st, can hear the birds!) but large cuts must seem to take forever. I bet they kept them SHARP!

Greengui, have tried different heights when coppicing maidens and found that knee high or 0.5m high got browsed by rabbits they even sat on top and left messages. Unless it's a very large diameter, old coppice stool, i keep near to ground as possible, seems to give best straight regrowth. What are you hoping your future ash coppice will be sold as, by the way? High pollards might be option, but are future headache in my opinion.

Moderation. Normally over time rotting wood will be laying in various stages of rot all over a forest floor. A large tree would take smaller trees with it when I falls, that would be a fair pile. Within that, some parts would be damp etc and some dry, mammals prefer dry sleeping quarters. A lot of sites get overly "tidied" especially on "wildlife" managed woods, this is probably more pleasing to the humans than anything else. Trees and woodland life are well adapted to growing through rotting brash. Some clearer patches mean you can see the flowers, wood already on the ground aught to be left alone as far as possible (already got happy tenants, would be eco vandalism to un-necessarily move it or stack it neatly...) so if you're extracting the logs, leave the tops spread around is fine, or row it up to drive machines on. Tops spread around and crossed over so it sits high yet lets light in can slow down browsing damage if deer are problem. However, if you're aiming for short rotation hazel harvesting, those sites are usually burnt off or everything cleared to the edge. Then it needs to be solid dense hazel to run up straight, you wouldn't want heaps of brash everywhere, messing up the light and causing bushyness! What you aiming for really?

We've done some just this year into bundles, to see if it suits our system. Haven't got to sawing them for delivery yet. We lack wind and firm ground so find billets dry well and stay clean, however the repeat handling is a swine. A good processor must be simpler, if you have the yard set-up. John

Regarding extenda dipper, Hitachi made them and I think still does. I had a go on a 8t model couple years ago and was surprised how stable it still was, you could extend out to about 8.5m very quick in and out foot pedal, I tried jerking it while loaded off one side at max reach and it stayed down fine. Looking at spec sheets at the time showed it was down on max load compared to standard fixed boom, but it wasn't silly low. Not sure if they increase counter weight, it looked "normal" from behind. However, I stuck with standard mono/ long dipper, need all the lift I can get.

Hey, your line was "as it happens I'm visiting kiwi, I'll bring a few back instead of taking any luggage". ?!

Think the 361 is still sold some countries, New Zealand for one. Don't know if 346 still sold anywhere.

Like it Bob, very very true. Having a brain the size of europe has got me... Where was I?

Looks businesslike. Saw slightly smaller version pulling a marching fuel tanker near bury st Edmunds last week, looks like quality robust equipment. Why can't more civilian machinery (pick ups, tractors, cars) be offered in this simple solid style!?

ha! Great idea. Good reason to buy more, it's an investment.