wallyward

hi many thanks will have a go tonight. cheers

Hi many thanks for quick reply. do you mean bend the spring towards the switch bit? thanks in advance

Hi bringing this thread back from the dead! saw has been running well for a long tim enow but have another issue that could do with some advice on as I am challanged in these matters! saw starts and runs fine but then when you try and move the switch from half choke to run it doasnt seem to want to stay in teh right position. is there an obvious thing I can do? if you get the switch in just the right position its ok to start and run does that make sense? thanks

Hi I am always looking for hardwood around Bury, though cant take loads. I live in Ingham. can collect sometimes depending on quantity etcetera. Happy to pay a reasonable amount for nice straight lengths. regards

Farmer Ben would be the man.

Hi Have you still got the wood availible? would you be able to deliver or would it be collection only? would only be looking for a smallish amount if that was Ok. could you PM me a price? thanks

Hi I think this debate will roll on and on and the only correct answer would be on an individual basis and the only way for someone to work out if its right for them or not would be to take advice, consider the options and make their own judgement. That said, there are many people on here who employ someone. Is everyone aware of the changes to come in this year on employers obligations to provide pensions? http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/docs/workplace-pensions-law-is-changing.pdf the question of if a pension is a good thing or not for an individual is academic if an employer has to provide one.

Hi there is an oppurtunity here to have your cake and eat it. let the company you work for pay into a pension fund for you and then rather than top that up with your own payments use that money to buy property. All I would say about letting out property if thats what you want to get into make sure you think it out in advance. Most tenants are very switched on now to making sure the lanlord has the right to rent the place by either having consent to let from the mortgage provider or a buy to let motgage. Keep proper records, make sure you comply with all the legislation especially about gas certification etcetera. I became an accidental landlord some time ago when we wanted to move and not have the hassle of selling the place we lived in. It went ok for a while and we brought some more places to let out (always went for 2 bed places with small gardens as they were always in demand). we never made much money out of the rents but were content with the increase in value we saw on paper. It gets very scarey though when you sit back and realise you owe nearly 20 times your annual wage on mortgages (including the one on our house). even worse when you have 1 house empty for some months and another one where you have to end up taking the tenant to court for not paying to get an eviction notice. When that happens the mortgage's still need paying and its your pocket its coming out off. After about 8 years of having rental properties we have now sold out and yes we made some money but i would think twice before doing it again. Though if the right place came up at the right price I would do it again - but only if I was buying cash this time.

Hi I believe that very soon an employer will have to pay into a pension for its employees by law rather than choice. couple of links below: Private pensions to become compulsory for workers | Money | guardian.co.uk Auto-Enrolment - The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) Stakeholder pensions are a very good way of saving. for example my company one is through Aviva. I can log on at any time and check the payments are being made in full by my company and the value of my fund. I can use the forecast tools to look at what he pot will be worth (hopefully!) in teh future. I can set my "risk" level that the funds should be invested at. For example while I am young(ish) I can invest part of the fund in riskier things hopeing for a bigger return and then as I get nearer pension age change the investments to teh least risk ones so ring fencing my pot. any money i pay in on top of the money from the company is completely tax free. at retirement you can take 25% tax free and teh rest must be used to buy an annuty. yes if you die the balance does not go to your estate. so if you want to try and get all teh money out quickly and stick it in the bank or under your mattress just get the shortest annuty you can. Any profit from renting out a property is taxable and also any profit from the actual sale of the property is subject to capital gains tax (tapering) unless it is your main residence for a certain length of time before the sale.

Hi Its a good site for getting a bit of insight but wont really give you any information to base a decision on if to trade with them or not. For that you would have to pay out the £10.00 odd charge to get a proper credit report, and be able to understand what its telling you. If you want to deal with a ltd company and want to extend them credit terms on say a 30 day account you need to be confident there good for it. Things to look out for on a proper credit report would be days they pay beyond terms. On the website it tells you assets and liabilities so if they have greater assets than liabilities it may look good, for example if they dont pay and you take them to court it looks like they have assets. What it doasnt tell you is if all those assets are subject to a debenture or charge meaning you wont get your hands on any money from them becasue they are already in hock to someone else if they go pop. A proper credit report will contain a breakdown of the accounts the company has filed for the last 3 years. This will let you see a pattern of improving or worsening performance. A company can look huge with good turnover but if all the assets are in hock to the bank or subject to charges, they have been making a loss for the last 3 years and its been getting bigger each year and they pay 30 days beyond term (so 60 days on a 30 day account) do you really want to give them credit? You may want to ask for a personal guarantee from the owner/director if the sums involved are largish or at least a deposit up front that covers your costs. so sometimes that £10.00 report can save you a lot of heart ache if it all goes wrong! sorry for the long post. I work as a commercial director for a multi million £ T/O company. I love Arbtalk and it was just too tempting not to post when there was at last a subject I have a little knowledge of!

Just wanted to say a big thank you to farmer Ben & his brother for delivering a big pile of logs for me today. He went out of his area to deliver to me. everything cut to the size I wanted. I havent seen the logs yet but the wife has said they look just the job, nice and dry and better looking than the ugly ones I chop from the arb arisings I get in! So Farmer Ben many thanks

Hi I have an Aga Little Wenlock classic. Get a really good bed of hot ashes, fill it full of wood, let it get going really well then close it all down tight. I am up again by 5.30 to 6 in the morning and can normally just rake the top of the ashes over, throw on some small stuff or a bit of soft wood, open up the top vent and away it goes. Burn it hard for the first half hour or so while I walk the dog clears any blackening of the glass though this is normally only minimal. If I put any largish bits of oak on last thing at night I find they dont break down completely on their own by the morning and a bit of a knock about with the poker gives me some good lumps that just start to flame up on their own. love my Aga.

Hi Ok, have now tried the saw on Aspen with the original bar and chain and played with the carb settings. Put a few tankfulls of 2T through and it was perfect! I'm now a convert, thank you for all your help. Only thing is - can you make it cheaper!!! Only joking as now dont fear leaving fuel in the saw at the end of the day when i know it wont be used again for a week or so. Peace of mind is worth the price you pay for Aspen. regards

Have got in late this morning as went to pick the saw up after repair. Seems that yes changing to Aspen may have meant I needed to alter the settings slightly but it seems the main issue was the chain and bar! I didn’t think about it at the time but as well as switching over to Aspen I was trying out the free Oregon power sharp bar and chain I was sent to trial. Although the bar and chain were the correct ones for my saw it seems the saw was struggling to drive the chain. I have only had this saw for a couple of months and put about 20 tanks of normal pump fuel 2 stroke mix through it. I havent been put off useing Aspen and the fault rests with me as if I had looked into things better it would have been clear about potentially having to alter the settings I really do appreciate all your replies.

Hi Thanks for replies. Have heard from Alex at Aspen who has confirmed that the yellowish colour is from older batches as they have now changed so that newer 2t is orangish in colour. So hoping now that its nothing to do with the fuel that has caused the problem as really like the idea of using Aspen. Regards

Hi Silly question of the week time but what colour should Aspen2 be? I got some last weekend and it wasnt the reddish colour you expect 2 stroke mix to be. ran a tankfull through the saw which started to run like s..t and is now in for repair. Probally just coincidence but could the fuel have been so old it had gone off or should i have retuned the saw when changing from pump fuel to aspen? thanks in advance.

Hi Don't know if its still the case or any good for you but maybe worth trying the Suffolk wildlife trust. Pete Fordham on 01449 737996 used to be the main man at Bradfield woods. when i was there we made a lot of thatching spars, hurdles, rakes etcetera from the wood that was coppiced. they are coppicing about 72 acres and I am pretty sure they would find another outlet usefull. they are really in to keeping up traditional methods. just thought they might be worth a try. regards

Hi many thanks for the replies. Interested in anything you have to offer really so just PM me the details and I will get back to you. look forward to hearing from you. regards

Hi Have been lucky enough for a few years now to be able to source enough free wood to keep us going. This year though I have cut up the last of the wood I know about and have had to buy in a couple of cubes to get the 5 or so in the woodpile we normally need for the winter. plan to install another burner with back boiler for next year so that will be 2 burners I need to keep going!! So back to the point. is there anyone in Suffolk who will sell me firewood by the cord so I can cut and split myself? wont really need it till after the winter though so being a bit premature but like to have a plan in place! will probally need 3 to 4 cord or so but would want to buy it a cord or two at a time. I have only got a small trailer for behind the car so would want it delivered if that was possible. So anyone in Suffolk looking to cut this winter happy to deliver a cord or so in the Bury St Edmunds area? prefer hardwood but happy to have some softwood in there as well. If there is anyone out there how much would a cord delivered be? Sorry if this sounds cheeky as I realise you make your money processing and selling by the cube to an end user like me. Truth is, apart from not liking the thought of paying out for processed logs by the cube (not to say I dont think the prices arent fair - ive cut and split enough logs to know how much work goes into it!), I really like the whole cutting and splitting bit! would be happy to consider exchanging labour for wood if anyone is interested in that as well but can only really do weekends. thanks a lot for reading and for any replies in advance. regards

Hi So do you get the bar, chain and sharpening thing for free? thanks

Hi many thanks for the replys and the PM from spudulike. I am in the Bury st edmunds area, anyone nearer you can think about Andy? another thought, as I only use the saw for cutting firwood which is usually no more than 300mm or so thick would it be worth considering gettting a Husqvana 240 which seem to be on a good offer everywhere at the momment as an alternative to repairing the stihl? The stihl has always been a good saw but is showing its age now and I am just thinking if I spend money now repairing it and it goes again in teh near future I might end up spending as much again as buying the husky? worth a look for what i need it for? thanks in advance

hi New to Forum and after some help if possible. I was useing an old stihl 026 over the weekend and ran into some problems. The saw was running ok to start with but after a while it started to fade out at full revs, if you dropped the revs it was ok again. It had been stored with old fuel in it so before i ran it I emptied out the old fuel and filled up with fresh. It was ok for about 30 minutes before it started doing the above. Any thoughts? Also when i switched it off I heard a strange rattle. seemed to be coming from the chain oil tank. When i first started it I checked it was oiling the chain ok by looking at the spray pattern it made on some old paper, all seemed ok. I filled the tank up at the same time I filled up the fuel tank. when i stopped the saw it had used half a tank of fuel and about half a tank of chain oil so that seems ok. looking in the oil tank it looks like the oil pickup (think thats what it is) has come loose and is rolling about in the chain oil tank. How would that happen? is it repairable, if so how - do you have to split the engine to repair it. If so is thats something I would have to take into a dealer to do as not good at that sort of thing. So the age old question - is it worth doing? many thanks for looking and any helpfull suggestions you could make. I am in Suffolk, can anyone reccomend a good repair place to look at the saw to see if its worth repairing. many thanks