Logan

Thinking about saws that shouldn't have sold got me to thinking of the ones that should have bought. MS 361 W, for starters. Missed the last boat, the stocks didn't last long enough. Should have bought a couple of them a year before. Then there's the 440. Now the 660. And the 460. That's just the stihls:-D

My first chainsaw was a 028 avs woodboss got it in '89, was a great saw. Think the 028 "av" had plainer more chunky chain brake handle, also my memory is hinting that they may have been a cc or 2 less, the "av super" was 51.5cc according to my grainy sepia tinted photographic memory. Anyway, the handbook said as harry said there, 50:1 if stihl oil, 25:1 if any other brand.

I am also surprised you don't go for the skip chain and a 28" bar, less cutters to sharpen, nice and light, on crosscutting it will be quick in the cut and quicker than a larger saw moving to next cut... Did you say what species? I'm guessing if they were oak they'd go for milling. If they're fenceline trees definitely use full skip. That said, it's a lot of fun to buy a couple more saws! Go for 660w, then 880 for the milling.

Not sure if 461 is available with heated handles in UK? 441 is.

Sleep next to them? Make things as difficult as possible if you're elsewhere, and not sleeping well. As Toby said, be random. Park here and there, maybe elsewhere. Isolators for machine, putting 2 machines together and loading hydraulics, dig into mud, logs, thorn piles. Weld the nuts onto the bolts...

Hey Goaty, I bought something similar to that grease fitting unblocker in the states about a dozen years ago and had fair success with it for a long time, but having been hammered for a few accumulated hours the end that sits on the nipple don't seal too well and it's not so effective these days. The other one is to try a 10,000psi low volume per stroke grease gun, rather than the normal 6,000psi standard grease gun. We use such a gun on several points that aren't blocked, just a little bit "tight". Not tried heat before. Anyone had success with heat method?

Good find peat. A pallet of that would be good. Any thoughts on whether this wire would be damaging to bird life in a wildlife rich wood?

We use a binderberger 30t trailed machine similar to that posch and its fine, ideally a 2 person machine unless you don't mind walking about a lot, or having to sort out a tangled heap of billets later. The only con I've heard about the tractor 3pt mounted version is that when the billets pop round sideways as they sometimes do they can end up stuck under the tractor which can become a pita.

I am interested in this wire also. Deer damage is very depressing to say the least.

Yorkie, it depends on volume and sizes of wood. Loads of sizes exist labeled vertical or horizontal, the smaller machines for less money are for smaller volumes. If you are looking at more costly pro model 18t+ pto machine, the ones that have a 1.1m stroke on the vertical and a 1.3m stroke on the horizontal, basically the horizontal runs well on straightforward billet length wood, either crane a grab full of logs onto the cradle that go through in one pass, or crane individual log on and split through once and then either throw back over for more (2nd person ideally) or crane logs off again for re splitting later. Such horizontal machines can do rings and bent wood, but are less ergonomic at that. But if you have 300t of straightforward cord and a crane, and 2 people, this works. The 1.1m vertical is good for everything, but is harder work if doing large volume over many weeks. If you are super fit you might not notice, but we use both types and everyone here finds it slightly harder work. You cannot crane load directly, and billets need lifting out rather than simply sliding off the horizontal tray. However, for rings they are best, smaller liftable rings can be sat on a raised table nice for your back, large rings can flop onto the bottom plate without any table. For a table we use a larger oak crotch cut into a cube, sat so it's cross grain. Vertical is good for bendy wood, and just as quick on straight wood if you have the fitness. I would say the vertical is allrounder esp. if not wanting crane loading, vertical if large volumes of suitable cord. For rings, vertical. Hence, we ended up with both. Cheers, John.

Bottle jack? We use a Weber Hydraulik 20t which seems quality product. A5-212 plus we use sealey, but quality sometimes lower. The old sealey gear seems better...

For 12v LED's in 2 containers we use: 2 x leisure batteries (£200) 1 x 80w panel, 10A controller & frame (£200) 30m of cable & rat proof conduit to reach sunny spot (£200) Bunch of enclosures, LED's, switches, etc (£200) Time for set up (£200) Total cost to run a handful of LED's =£2,473,998.02 The batteries and controller lasted about 2 or 3 years, on 2nd set now. If we run generator, a battery charger is on too.

Ah, a Hitachi 85 us. A proper machine there mate.

Both posch and binderberger upright splitters have 1.1m capacity standard, and the horizontal models have 1.25m cap. standard. If you buy new you can specify additional lengths I think it's in steps of 200mm. Riko is same I think. So you could spec a 1.5 or 1.7m machine, I bet for a 1.7m horizontal it would be more than 10k. As far as chop saws, I saw a picture of one on a binderberger machine, but I reckon this would double price. So it depends on how hungry your boiler is/ how bad your back!? To place a 1.5m log correctly in a horizontal is itself a fight sometimes, the chainsawing to length is the easy bit! A 1.35m upright might cost £4000.

Maybe the decompression valve was already pushed in!? Those older style valves only go click and move tiny bit, could be temperamental and stay open until revved pretty hard.

Steve, keep it banked and wait a while and one sunny day soon, a good 'cruiser will appear, you can have a good day out and spend all your wodge! Personally, a lot of things I see and hear (the world, but especially UK forestry and log sales...) depress me, but when I say this to my clever wife she reminds me that our little girl is laughing, dinner is cooking, and that's a beer in my hand! It is definitely easy to get pulled down, that's where a good partner, mate, dr, dog, meditation etc can help put things in better perspective. Good luck people. Cheers, John.

Those dogs can be filed back to correct squareness if they're rounded off. Is that same engine as 075? On the old one we have, the decompression valve turns round if twiddled, but it clicks in to use. Has been prone to loosen it's way out occasionally which was a pain. Good luck with your clean up job. Have got a cannibal 075 but not sure what's left of it! Cheers, John.

Ishoran, what length log do you push through your 12 way? Also, do you grade your stock and then do batches with 4 way, then 6, 8 way etc.? We use a 30t gigant with the 4 way, although have a 6 way but haven't ever used it. For our 1.1m lengths, wasn't sure if 30t would handle 8 way, might on straight easy stuff. Cheers. John

Is that the latest PPE from Husquarna you're wearing there Graham?

As per Daniel and Mark. In a log burner, dry goat willow catches fire well and roars away, burns well. Doesn't last as well as the denser woods, but gives off lots of heat quickly.

Round here, don't know anyone who splits 30m3 a day for £230. Then again, to do that amount would involve a loader/extra man to shuttle the cord, and deal with the output, that would cost same again? Say 5 days at £500, maybe 25m3 a day not allowing for bendy non conforming logs, looking at £20 per m3 at best, if everything was organised and like you say, good processor grade wood. In poorer grade wood, then, 15m3 per day? Over £30/m3. 2 of us just been working through 50t of mixed size cord this last week that's sat for a year, we've split it into billet bundles. Sawing to 1.1m as we go, we did 14m3 first day, then 16, 17, on my own for part of 4th day did 6, that was all the good bits, then done 11, 12 on the ugly, got ~ 10 left for next Tues, leaving another day to ring up the super uglies and split. That's 7 x 2 men, plus my part day. = ~15 man days for ~ 100m3, about 7 m3 / man/day or 14m3 per day as team. We're using tractor and 30t horizontal, plus a 20t vertical for the uglies, a excavator log loader plus saws, fuel, insurance, ppe, work truck. This pile's been mostly fragile birch, sycamore and beech, only the ash split nice. A fair proportion was cranky 2ft diameter stuff, so pretty slow going. If priced at £20/m3 we'd get £280/day then for 2 men and all that kit. Can't do that wood for that price. Would be working for zero wages. £30/m3 would be around £450 day, is bit nearer the mark I think for the grade of wood. If our mate there is charging £180/day, perhaps the volume split per day is proportional to the charge? Or it could be that we here are greedy lazy boys.

Wish you weren't so far away, would give you a call. However, £25 x 8 hrs = £200 plus £20 fuel, £10 transport, your up to £230. Plus VAT? What volume m3 loose could you average over say 5 days mate? Is that for 1 man/1 tractor/processor? There's no fruit flies here in the alps, just beer and champagne and charcoal burners on their 4 month winter booze up.

Good find wills, there's a SRL F12 on the English page that has the correct spec for me, max 12mm cable, 6t input line, 12t on shackle. Pretty good diameter 135mm I think, will try order one up.

Bollocks. Missed a year somewhere.

Cheers! Here's to 2014.