Head Ranger Pete

And how do you remove said nasties and where to they go ? ( I suspect the answer is into the air - which shoots a large hole in the green argument , though i'd be happy to be proved wrong) and lastly my principal negative comment is fact based - aspen is significantly (x2-3)more expensive than standard fuel , and in these straightened times I cannot justify multiplying the fuel budget by that much without very good reason Your not giving straight answers to questions like... What is the chemical make up of aspen ? Has there been independent and peer reviewed research into the health issues of these chemicals, and if so where ? How is it manufactured ? What's its total carbon/polutant footprint ? and what is the justification for it being nearly 3x as expensive ? (by which i mean actually why does it cost that much, not what's the justification for buying it) ...doesnt help make a case for spending the money to give it a trial. I'm not being bloody minded either these are all questions that I will have to answer to justify trippling my fuel budget , as simply repeating unproven/unevidenced assertions from your marketing litterature isnt going to cut it

Yeah but i dont want 60+ litres of fuel kicking about, where we currently have less than 20 stored as it will create problems with insurance and the 'elf and safety people on the latter point he said he's pretty certain it doesnt contain any solvents -that may well be true, but as petrol itself is a solvent it doesnt really answer the question I dont have any beef with the idea of aspen and if other people want to use it then thats their perogative, my issue is with the 'wonder fuel of the future' type marketting when there are still significant questions unanswered. Also we have kit that needs to run on 100:1 , 40:1 and 25:1 as well as the saws that run on 50:1 so it doesnt make any sense to pay a premium for premixed fuel which won't be at the right ratio for much of our kit

I have used aspen once in the past - the other team we used to share a workshop with in my last job was on it so we used it intermittently when we borrowed fuel from them. and to be frank I didnt really notice any difference - fuels fuel , and while the exhaust may smell a bit nicer so long as you arent working in an enclosed space you shouldnt be breathing your exhaust gasses to a serious extent anyway. I also have a hard time buying the ' theres no solvents in aspen' line as petrol is itself a solvent - so you are essentially saying aspen isnt petrol , in which case what is it ? - which goes back to my question about what the actual chemical make up of aspen is, and whether anyone independent has looked at the health/environmental ramifications of those chemicals. Also whats the whole carbon/polutant footprint look like when you consider the manufacture and distribution side in toto - I am always wary of these greenwash claims that stuff is greener at end use without mentioning the whole picture. However the bottom line for me is the price and inconvenience of sourcing the fuel - I'm not trippling the fuel budget for no real benefit except for the 'joy' of driving into exeter to get another can, or waiting days for a delivery , rather than just popping to the garage at the top of the hill.

it depends what you want - for a main stream work knife for a bit of whitling you could do worse than a mora from workshop heaven - if you arent surte which one give proprietor matthew a bell http://workshopheaven.com/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi?usr=51F4078180&rnd=9797866&rrc=N&affl=&cip=&act=&aff=&pg=cat&ref=MORAB&catstr=HOME:Knivesgeneral for an actual carving knife axminster power have a nice range Woodcarving products from Axminster both deliver nationally

I'm afraid i'm another one that doesnt believe the hype for one thing is aspen comes premixed why doesnt the oil break down like it does in normal fuel and secondly what are the chemical components of aspen and has any independent party done any reasearch into their health effects ? I find it hard to believe that its emmissions are fresh air and butterflies. and thirdly what is it in the aspen that warrants such a high price ? Strikes me like a case of the emporers new clothes , and he's naked from where i'm standing (if i was really worried about localised emmisions - which largely i'm not- i'd use a rechargeable or electric saw)

as the OP didnt know what to put in his tank its hard to see how aspen would have helped - he could have just as easily used standard mix at 50-1 and also been fine the issue came from using bar oil instead of petrol - talking of which I once had a minion fill up a strimmer with parafin (well hey its red so it must be mix, right ) rather more suprisingly it started and ran , though the huge clouds of white smoke were a bit of a clue that something wasnt right. Personally I dont buy the ' fall down and worship aspen - fuel of the future' hype , IMO if its going to replace mainstream mix as a most people fuel of choice they need to get the price down , because paying nearly twice as much per litre to avoid the everso difficult task of mixing 100ml of 2 stroke with 5L of petrol doesnt look like a good use of resourses from where i'm standing.

I can highly reccomend Huw and Carolyn Ross , of Rawhaw wood near Corby - its not that close to you, but not a million miles away either - they have top quality goods, and are reasonably priced. I havent got a phone number to hand but i think they are on the Small woods assoc website

I bought one of these for a craic - but its actually really good, just like a romper suit but for adults - result the only downside is you do look a bit of a tit if you decide to pop down to shops without taking it off - DAMHIKT

Our west dorset team (I'm east devon) have a propper cider made by a volunteer team from local apples - its appropriately called 'old volunteer'

big plus one to that - their scythe bar mowers are very good and they are on honda engines which are fine - but the flail deck is a bag of testicles. SCAG mower is where its at imo -(though we've also got a rabid euro - that'll be being sold as soon as i work out why it wont start)

this here is mine - kim the collie as you can see theres no question as to who's boss in our house - she goes everywhere with me including to work (naturally she's head dog in our office) but she's not really an arb dog becauise she's frightened on the noise of the chainsaw - but she's quite happy to sit in the van and watch

I was told this by a stove dealer earlier this year - alledgedly its to do with the tannin content rusting the steel - I tried to point out that its a bit hot and dry in a stove for rust to be an issue , not to mention the stove's being powder coated not bare metal , but he was adamant that burning oak would void the warranty I told him to go forth and multiply - if his stoves not up to burning decent firewood , i'll buy one that is

Just by way of illustration of the problem we had two poplars done earlier in the year - they were easily accesssible, with perfect vehicle access and in excess of 5ft girth, and we still had to pay £700 (2 climbers for 2 days - our staff doing the ground work). I asked the contractor if he wanted some of the wood - free , gratis, for nada , on top of the payment - and he said basically "WTF for ?" ( We've got it drying under tarps round the back of the office - i'm hoping it will season enough to burn in a log burner before it rots) So ergo if you cant even give it away when its felled and logged , no one in their right mind is going to buy it standing

Been racking my brains over what to review , as 99% of our kit is out of production - theres not much point in reviewing an 023 for example, the only arb thing we've got recently was a B&Q felling/splitting axe - but " an utter pile of cack, good for neither of its described purposes" isnt much of a review and i'm not sure i can stretch it to a page of A4.

arent they basically just a landcruiser with bigger than average wheels - I dont see any reason why you couldnt get a landcruiser in the Uk and mod it, but why would you bother when you could just get an similar year model hilux for less wedge?

quite - but the refresher is a damn site easier and cheaper than the full NPTC certificate , so it isnt true to say that the qucalifiation has to be retaken every x years (as per the OP) . also if you work for yourself its between you and your insurers whether you refresh , and that may depend on the work you are doing and the types of insurance you have On the other point , I know that lantra provide training towards the NPTC ticket (although they are far from being the only training provider), my point was that it is preferable to take the NPTC certification not Lantras own ITA (intergrated training and assessment) "qualification" because the latter is barely worth the paper its printed on

update to this , our local dealer is quoting £669 ex vat for a MS362 - is that reasonable or is he having our keks off ?

I'm aware of that - i'm also aware that poplar soaks up rain like a sponge- however the logs in the B&poo nets in question were'nt polar (and trust me i know we've got poplar logs coming out of our ears after taking down a 5ft girther earlier this year) it looked to me like larch - probably some of the masses thats come down locally as a p.ramorum precaution i agree - mind you the little bit of info thing is common in shed's a little while back they had chainsaws on special offer in our local focus (this was before they went tits up) so with devilment aforethought I asked the guy if he could explain how to use on safely " yeah mate its easy , its just like a nomal saw innit , but remember to move it backwards and forwards when you're cutting cause that clears the saw dust out of the cut " And did i need any special equipment ? " nah mate, you might want some ear defenders and safety specs an that but thats it " and i'd got this big tree in my garden that was wider than the length of the 'bladey bit' (that'll be the guide bar, but i was projecting ignorance here) could i use the saw to fell it or would i be better calling a tree surgeon ? " You dont want to waste money on tree surgeons mate, you just cut from one side , then go round the other side and cut from there as well" (Course I know you can fell a tree thats wider than the bar, but does anyone think it would be a good idea to recomend that someone with no previous experience and a corded chainsaw try it )

The original one was an 02 plate - that was crap then we got a brava - which was worse that got nicked so we unwisely replaced it with another l200 which was a 04 plate eventually after about 3ks expenditure on repairs we auctioned bothof them and got a ranger and a transit van

I havent read the whole thread , but i'd just note that we are still pollarding - both to preserve trees that would otherwise have to come down (somewhat in the face of my signature ) and also creating new ones where appropriate to the landscape. For example one of my sites has an HLS which requires the creation of 8 new pollards to continue an ancient line - currently the trees are little more than sappling, but they have been earmarked for pollardisation when they get a bit bigger. Incidentally have you ever been to knighthayes near tiverton (which isnt one of mine , but i was there for a tree risk assesment course recently) they have the most amazing pollard oaks which are a hybrid between cork oak and english, and are absolutely vast

I had two a few years ago (at the same time) - as ive said on other threads the clutches appeared to be made from gorgonzola - we replaced 5 (between the two vehicles) in a three year period, before finally going for the HiTach lifetime warrant clutch instead of the mitsi parts we also had problems with the gear box, drives, you name it - pile of poop the only good thing i can say about them is that they were nice to drive on road - except when they broke down unexpectedly. Its possible we just had two bad examples , but IMO - dont touch with a barge pole - get a ranger, navara, or a hilux instead

nope, i'm happy to say that that is utter and complete cobblers , and whoever told you that is talking out of their fundamental orrifice. The NPTC certificates are a lifetime qualification ( The Lantra ITE ones last for five years , but you are better off doing an NPTC anyway) That said some employers require a refresher - for example our staff are required to refresh ever 5 years - but thats just an employer policy , not a sign that the original cert has expired

that'll be HP22 - my old dear lives in wendover.

knotty and extremly dead elm - we've got some that was standing dead for about 4 years before it was felled and it defies all possiblity of splitting it mechanically (though i did , for a laugh, give some of it to our season to split with an axe , and he eventually managed it)

I had to go into B&Q today (something i usually try to avoid) and i took the opportunity to ask a sub manager how they got off with selling what is blatantly softwood (and wet softwood at that) as seasoned hardwood. He looked at me like i was an idiot and said in a patronising tone of voice " Sir, all wood is both soft and hard wood, it is soft on the outside and hard in the middle ! " so i then asked him how come it was wet when it was supposedly seasoned and his reply was (still in the 'dont you know anything' tone) " seasoned doesnt have anything to do with how wet it is, it means that it is cut and split into logs ready to burn " so thats clarified that then I thought about unzipping my jacket so he could see my chip covered rangers fleece and showing him my NPTC card, before explaining a thing or two- but then I decided I had better things to do with my time than reason with a moron.