openspaceman

Are you drunk?

that was my first thought too but @Jake Andrews would have been told by the ecologist if it was a cannibalised one.

I'd like to hear the story, it's ringed so what was it?

Bay pond? I never worked on that one. We felled lots of chestnut at Nower Wood which would have been ideal for the top structure and alder for the lower structure would be traditional. I was always wanting to go a nail-less route for these types of structures. We built a number of raised paths by laying pine poles 6ft apart and laying reject pebbles and as dug material from the sides to infill. Forty years later the only sign of the construction is the raised path with 3/4" galvanised pipe which we used to peg the poles sticking out of the ground.

golden oriole I guess, never seen one myself.

I don't know but if the bog is deep sphagnum I would expect a pointed stick to continue to sink. Also glad to see you using wood and not recycled milk bottles which pose a disposal problem for the future. Good luck BTW Alder Carr is a tautology.

Generally 2t engines are lower compression pressures so low octane is no problem and no benefit in high octane, same with side valve engines. I think you need to have a vintage four stroke to need high octane or compression ratios higher than 10 or 11 to 1.

😉 it wasn't very likely to be you as I haven't seen you since you moved to Sussex.

You would still need environmental permits or exemptions and they are only valid if the site has the correct planning status. I went through due process and got permissions for 500 tonnes of arb waste several years ago and it was not straightforward (air quality reports were required because of aspergillus spores but that was a paper exercise for an environmental consultant) OTOH I see plenty of garden maintenance/arborist yards that have been in use to dump (and burn) arisings with no action being taken and just a mile from me is a permanent caravan site with an adjacent paddock owned by Surrey CC that is used as a dump site and any excess ends up in the adjacent river. A friend has been tipping all his arisings, chips, clippings and logs in a field on his farm for 25 years, the older stuff is completely degraded to a decent compost/leaf litter and doesn't even occupy an acre.

Yes where it gets forced in it stays and weeps over time (this is one reason creosoted posts were so expensive they absorbed so much) but when used as posts you always see the middle rotting out over time.

Whereas with the demise of high octane petrol there was the risk of burning out valve seats and pinking (sounds more like pinging but is premature detonation) doing damage quite quickly it looks like this ethanol content may be more problem-some over time. So far it has been alleged that it affects some rubber components and could cause leaks but also will attack aluminium and brass components over time. The more immediate problem is its hygroscopic nature the consequences of which I am unsure, rusting being one mentioned. Not many petrol stations seem to sell super unleaded near me and I suspect they will become fewer over the coming years.

The one @TuscanPhil posted seemed too cheap to be much good but I've taken a punt and ordered one just so I know when to change the oil.

Thanks, Have you tried one?

Yes and as the bark remains intact but sunken it looks like it may be another case of heat damage from a few years back

Did she? So masks would have saved one Pole?

True but the problem with cattle is they make good ground contact and if a tree nearby is struck there is a current spike that radiates from the tree, causing a considerable voltage difference over a few feet and there are not many ways the beast can stand without the voltage between two feet causing a current to run through the heart.

I presume it does AC and DC then? What powers the spool gun? I've been wondering if my inverter stick welder would work for mig with steel wire in a spool gun even though I realise they are meant for aluminium wire.

When I was 22 I applied for several jobs like this, got to one interview and they decided I was over qualified. That's why I became self employed and never had a problem with litter picking, elsan emptying or drain cleaning.

My understanding is that the leaves become more palatable as they wilt so an animal that wouldn't eat them off the tree will eat the cuttings and the toxic effect is the same. I've read the same is true of ragwort, farm animals generally will not eat it live, horses however.... When ragwort is in a hay meadow it is most dangerous because it will get eaten when dried and in the bale and again remains toxic. I think birds digest the aril of a yew fruit and pass the seed whole but with the coat slightly changed and this aids germination. My mother called this fleshy bit snotty gogs and was eaten as a sweet when sugar was rationed. As a post script of course yew remains toxic even if unpalatable and animals mustn't have access to it, one reason they are found in church yards.

@Billhook

These are teeth special to the grinder and only available in sets so I guess it will pay to sharpen them Yes I saw, I actually used the machine to clean some faces prior to sawing some lumps off I did do some but it means bigger chunks get thrown back Yes but not too bad, the machine suffered a few teething problems, handbrake parted at a ridiculously feeble weld and one kill switch failed on.

Yep The local hurdle maker always burned his tops despite my telling him it was bad practice, he often had a fire on a stool which wasn't very sustainable, he only survived a few years after though.

I would expect so at 1/2 inch, it's fine on holly, bay and hawthorn and I modified it to shatter bamboo successfully fed in one piece at a time. I posted a picture but cannot remember the thread, I have been given a couple of B&S engined push mowers and two Honda engined so if one breaks....

It's nearly 50 years since I did any stump grinding on my own account, then it was a Myers-Sherman or Opico on the back of a tractor. I have used the Dosko 10 years ago when working and the Carlton 7015 and Vermeer 252 around the yard doing bits and pierces at my last job. I helped @Dom and his merry men fell a largish cedar for my brother and elected to grind the stump myself. It was half on a bank, 52years old and 4ft through at the felling cut. Having seen @Ty Korrigan's preparations and knowing I would only have a small machine available I followed his lead, I spent a couple of days on the job as the weather was a bit too hot to want to do full days. It took 5 litres of fuel and I shall have to go back and deal with any roots that become exposed when the area is levelled off. I was surprised at how rounded the teeth became and as I had a couple of 4" tile cutting discs that had lost their edge but still had diamonds on the faces I ground the TCT back with those and by the time I had got round the 9 cutters they were both basically only fit for scrap. Moving the grindings out of the hole was a bind and I had never needed to with the bigger machines, It would have been nice to have a leaf collector with a 5hp blower.

I run over my hedge cuttings with a 16" lawn mower and a freshly sharpened blade, reduces the bulk no end for little cost.