openspaceman

That is cold, lowest I remember seeing was -18 when working at Sandhurst when things down south kicked off. 63 was colder but we did fahrenheit then 🙂. The problem was exacerbated with HGVs as at the time many had their fuel filters on the chassis, so exposed to both the slipstream air and the slush thrown up. This slush was cold brine so already below 0C, couple this with unsaturated air whizzing past which evaporated the moisture driving the temperature further down. Kits of electric resistance tape had to be wrapped around the filters to keep them warm. I added a bit of petroil to the tractor tanks.

Diesel doesn't so much freeze but rather waxes dissolved in it precipitate out, this wax then blocks the fuel filters, so in the past the refineries produced a summer grade and a winter grade which had a lower waxing point. I think the same winter grade has been used year round since the 80s.

Don't earth wires have to be hard wired rather than spades that can pull part?

I wondered about this from comments I had seen elsewhere, I'm guessing because the larger diameter stems get gripped earlier but severed at the same spot that they are longer than thinner ones. Never having seen one working close up I also assume that the way one can pull a length back and the feed stops that it is the momentum that keeps the stem moving as the wood is severed before the next chunk is gripped. This is probably a safety feature?? Back in the mid 70s Hyatt Adams had the first chunker I saw working at an APF show. One held the length of wood and pushed it through a cutout in a rotating disc. The first thing that hit the wood was a spike that split it then the blade in the cutout severed the wood, one then rotated the wood and pushed it against a stop for the next cut, if you got it right each piece cut off was split in 4. It was faster than sawing but not as fast as this remet, length could be set by the stop and it was consistent. About the same time a friend in Wales had a stanley log processor which was a log shear and splitter combined but it was also relatively slow. I wish I had a more engineering bent as I would like to have a machine with the attributes of speed and no sawdust but consistent longer length. Bigger diameter drive wheels and a more positive feed would allow a branch stripper to sit in front. Safety would become an issue.

How consistent and what length?

Pictures would have been nice; taper lock pulleys can normally be screwed apart by inserting one of the holding bolts into a half-hole-half-thread between the inner and outer parts. I decided long ago that I would be happy to burn sticks between 1" and 4" diameter but I would like them a length between 7-12" long as long as the length was consistent.

Yes and they are different coils for mk1 and mk2. Watch the price mk2 used to be a lot more, about 80 quid, than the other and some dealers may still have stock at a higher price. See:

They eventually oxidise, which is the way old fashioned oil paints dry, so they start out thin then go gummy.

It has capacitor discharge ignition, the magnets in the flywheel charge up a capacitor and then as they pass the trigger pick up transistors dump the charge into the coil which generates the spark. The motor has to spin at more than 400rpm before this happens. All the electronics are embedded in the coil encapsulation and modern coils also advance the ignition as revs increase.

That sound is very nasty, look after yourself and don't mix booze with the antibiotics. At this time of year you may need to boost your vitamin D

Yes . I still have 3 bigger saws that seldom got used, I can barely heft the 084 above my waist, still comes out occasionally and well over 30 years old. It has probably run less than 100 hours whereas the 60cc saws probably did 1000 hours/annum

That's my view, waving 400g less about all day 250 days a year is worth replacing the saw every year. Mind I don't know how much motor manual timber harvesting is done nowadays, since harvesters crashed the price such that manual work is not competitive even if given wood.

A very long time ago on development sites we would dig and windrow them and pass over with a mulcher, the digger and rake then sorting out bigger stuff for another pass. Everything then put in a bund with topsoil for use landscaping at the end of building.

@Dan Maynard as an illustration of my point have a look at this photo I took today on a site where volunteers had done some control of laurel invading a woodland. The ring barking was done two years ago and you can see the tree has carried on increasing girth above the cuts but interestingly the tree above the cut is attempting to put down rootlets. There were no likely root grafts.

I saw that earlier thread and It's why I got my cheapy grinder, fair enough leaving laterals, you can pull them up later if they are in the way, but not much you can do if the main stump is just lurking 6" down in a planting spot.

It's still at half the rate of other IHT and as it is rate free it costs nothing to keep hold of. Round here it is so urbanised that very little land is producing food, the gain in value and "hope" make owning it worthwhile. It annoys me but both the farms I worked on in the 70s are gone.

I agree that reduction is pointless and won't achieve anything but the tree was topped long ago from the sight of the stub and I would not expect much rot at that point. If it gets felled a photo of the joint cross section would be interesting. What has happened is that two branches from below the cut have taken over and then fought for apical dominance. As such I would expect the union to be strong, not like a pollarded broadleaf where the union of adventitious shoots would be poor.

Hard decision but the right one, I feel for you too.

I very much doubt Jase had anything to do with the design but he does work for the firm that made it, if it is a Greenmech.

That's not the best way to ask @Jase hutch for help 🙂

MIG or TIG? Before and after photos would have been interesting.

It's the way of business isn't it; sole trader vet sells up to a company, gets money and continued employment, without worries of running practice or employing staff but the net result to the customer is increased costs as the company has to pay his wages and a return to shareholders. Our excellent vet ,who helped us with three consecutive dogs, did just this for the last 20 years and finally retired a year ago. Luckily we know a new vet that has just started a practice, he seems very good and old school. His set up costs are frightening though, the scanners and other fittings cost would have bought two new forwarders and a harvester.

Do you mean the drum has sheared from the shaft? I don't know how it was fixed but husky drums were brazed to the drive.

They fall over each other and the tiny rootball of some ends jacked up in the air, I wouldn't have thought the roots could be so rotten and support any leaves

@se7enthdevil