billpierce

where you at? i'm coming to dorset for chrimbo and maybe could swing by see what your up to? feel free to decline!

chainsaw carving i reckon is dead safe i reckon compared to climbing/dismantling or felling. what dervish said about the tip of the bar is right. i find there is virtually no kickback on carving bars. your on even ground and and long as you don't get too relaxed about you'll be fine. the closest shaves i have had are ususally just moving reet big lumps of oak with telehandlers etc.

yeah nice. also like the marks on the chair!

can you get 1/4 sprocket nose dolmar bars that run the 1.1mm chain?

probably will but slowly and painfully and i def wouldn't bother. and they are hard to get for 660 i think? milling oak etc with a 30'' on a 660 is plenty work for the saw i would say.

yep agree

also is there seems to be some home user models and pro ones of the 3500 series on the makita range?

used an ea3501/3500 F tother day for carving. dead pokey for cc's. can you get the dolmar versions whatever the model is? how much? and are dolmar making their own carving bars or are they oregon ones? and can you get 1/4 sprocket nose dolmar bars that run the 1.1mm chain? thanks

what design faults you found? the worst i found with mine (back handle) is that i filled the fuel with oil and vice versa a few times. got a 200t and 020t for climbing and on a 12'' bar i didn't notice a huge difference but haven't used them next to each other. i was gob smacked at the front air filter, but its been absolutely fine for maybe 60 hrs carving which is pretty dusty. and oil's well... interested to hear what they like up a tree

meybs didn't explain that well. look at this the stove is top fed with the firebox in the water.direct heat. 1 wheel barrow of wood for one 7 person hot tub last time i did it. also have used an inflatable birth pool with hot water from our wood fired rayburn which is good but takes 3/4 hours to fill with hot water.

dolmar 3410/ makita dcs3410 also worth a look. i have the back handle version. light with enough grunt

i grew up in devon til i was sixteen then moved to northumberland! you shoud check the night skies out up here, the sky is twice as big!

yes def the pokiest 43cc saw i've used. light too. with a sharp chain i'd believe it was a 50cc!

the wood fired ones with the stove submerged in the water are exellent

buy half whisky barrel?

yep agree totally, good tool, impossible to sand flat. the 9'' one lets you sit it right down flat on the wood. kingspor made great 4.5''pads!

the discs have a centre hole. the threaded bit from the grinder runs through the centre of of the pad, through the disc and to a special m14 nut which sits flush in the pad (doesn't rub against the wood when in use.) the nut can be undone with standard grinder tool/spanner thing. these big grinders are only really appropriate if your doing reasonably large surfaces. wear gloves it really hurts when you gouge your hands on 24 grit, or when you hit a weird bit and the pad rips up.... also very heavy for any vertical sanding - best if its sitting on the surface your sanding.

here is a some quick little twig whittles on from some long winter nights- made using a carvin' jack and a mora 120 knife (oh and a silky)

flexcut! i love 'em! stinging sharp and forgiving, they used to come with a free plaster too! if he is serious about carving they are well worth it - don't know what sort of size thing he would be after making but i got 175 or these for slightly smaller. he will also need a mallet and wetstone probs. axminster won;t be the cheapest but you can work out what they might want from their website...... don't get some cheap ebay ones! they'll prob be blunt and just put him off! my dad bought me one gouge chisel one christmas which combined with an axe and a mortice chisel was enough to get me well stuck in also might consider just getting him a mora whittling knife instead as you can carve some amazing things with one of these and need little else in terms of vices etc. or a carving jack from flexcut is also good fun links are just so you can see what i'm on about rather than best places to buy.

got a load of bosch ones cheap off ebay. in my experience you get what you pay for with sanding discs. cheap tool station ones (not that they do 9'') just fall to bits when your on an edge. you really have to watch for burning when you up the grits (100 ish) and you'll have to sweep the sander across, lift up to give it air for a second then sweep - but it's still insanely fast compared to other good quality sanders i have used. you can also shape/round edges a good bit with this grinders. wahey!

yes those sanders are good, but changing up the grades is not so good.....if you have a bit to do and re likely to in he future i'd get a 9'' disc sander with a 2000W makita grinder (i paid about 75 quid new for mine). honestly you'll be amazed how fast they are, especially when you have to take off quite a bit to get rid of chainsaw marks.....

i use one of these 9'' angle grinder backing pads for sanding all my outdoor benches/tables. you can get a mean 24 grit and can go to 100 grit before it starts burning the wood bad. serious time saver compared to orbitals/belt sanders, but you have to have steady hand or you can get some wobbly boards.....

spot on, pm sent!

good stuff!

i wish the big estates still did things like this. the ones near me just seem to be taking out all the big hedge row trees and not replacing!