GardenKit

Lets hope he does not actually fall down the well when drunk then:biggrin: is this forum admissable evidence of intent?

So 'hobby users' only use 181's? Many 'hobby users' are owners of large gardens and/or small woods and it surprising how many have 45 or 50cc saws. Would it be fair to stop them having a reasonable size saw? They cut down small trees, tidy up stray limbs and cut up logs left for them by tree surgeons who have taken down their large trees They pose no threat to the income the professional tree people, and as most of them have a reasonable IQ, they pose very little threat to their own health. Using a saw is not exactly the highly skilled task that some would have us believe, sure, it can be dangerous in the wrong hands, but our Sabatier carving knife in the kitchen could be lethal too. The chef in the local restaurant must hate it that we can carve our own joint and eat at home.

The distributors of Ethanol Shield in the UK are themselves a very large garden machinery dealer and, just like the rest of us, they suffer from the effects of stale fuel. So they wanted an answer. We know them well so they came to see me a few years ago and we had a long chat about Aspen, but because of complications with storage, and onward distribution costs they decided to search for an alternative product to combat the effects of degrading fuel. At that time it was well known that the Briggs Fuel Fit was no longer doing its job and was in the process of being reformulated. This video explains the benefits of the new improved Fuel Fit. [ame] [/ame] Their search led them to B3C products in America and after prolonged testing they decided to market the product range as in this link. B3C Fuel Solutions | The Total Fuel Solution The issue of fuel degrading is very real and I would stongly suggest that all users of pump fuel should use products like this to counter the effects of ethanol, they do work. But let us not confuse additives such as this with Aspen, they are not a substitute for Aspen. Additive merely try to tame the rather crap fuel by adding even more chemical into the already TOXIC cocktail that is petrol. It will extend the usable life of pump petrol up to a year. It still absorbs moisture, It still contains benzene, sulphur and solvents. It still carbons up your upper cylinder and exhaust. It still contaminates your oil in 4 stroke engines. It still has quite serious health issues to operators. It still has a stinky exhaust and gives you a headache. Aspen on the other hand is a complete fuel with only around 10 chemicals and absolutely no solvents, benzene or sulphur. It is chemically stable and will last indefinateley without going stale. It has no smell at all from the exhaust ( 4 stroke Aspen has no smell, but there is a slight smell from the oil content of the 2 stroke) It does no damage at all to fuel system components, ever. It does not cause any carbon build up. It keeps the oil clean on 4 stroke engines

Ok, so here are some photos of some of this weeks 'in piles', all washed and waiting to be serviced.

Haha, I do get my share of rough ones, its just that I seldom feel the photo opportunity of a load of junk! This weeks intake of ride ons is a pretty mixed batch and no matter how I look at them I just cant see a photo! Last weeks bunch mostly cleaned up OK though, but that little Hayter did not make it into the 'after' photo.

A guy once phoned me up for instructions on how to fit the belts on a deck like this. I am quite good at describing things, but .........! There are 13 pulleys on this JD deck, Its a lovely bit of engineering and weighs a ton.

Machines still need to be cleaned, sharpened, have cables adjusted, have air filters cleaned or replaced, bolts tightened, Av rubbers checked, chain brakes inspected, recoils serviced etc. etc. Its just the fuel systems that need much less work, so of course the reliability of the machines is much much greater too resulting in happy owners. Its just a win, win situation. No brainer to me.

Aspen is gaining in popularity all the time. 3 years ago none of the machines I had in for service or repair were run on Aspen. Nowadays I get dozens in each week that run on Aspen and they are a joy to service. There is seldom any need to do anything to the fuel system, even the tank filter needs no cleaning. Although we always change the plug on a service, there is really no need when on Aspen, and the exhaust ports never coke up. Its just the right stuff to be using.

Tanaka seldom get a mention on here, but its the only one I have ever sold. I have found them to be the most reliable of any, and believe me I see many different makes on my bench. I have sold many hundreds of them over the years since around 1990 and had very few problems. The only drawback is that the head only has 135 degrees of movement, which is perfectly adequate for hedgecutting but as it does not fold down against the shaft its not as good for transportation.

It seems you are getting the visitors to your site, its just that they are not finding it interesting enough, or easy enough to use. So they cannot be bothered to stay. In that case SEO is not your prime concern, but the CONTENT is.

The oil mix for your saw was specified when oils were of a lower quality. Its the quality of oil that determines the mix, not the engine. Aspen 2t will be absolutely fine, as the oil is a very high grade.

No, it will just make it illegal to use in vehicles on the road. Just like cherry in the landy.

Bet you can guess what I would say to do with it Mike! Otherwise what Amfell says sounds about right.

Haha, the trouble is finding something to tweet about that could be of interest. This video is a reminder to be careful. (you may need to have been around in the70's to appreciate it)

Facebook pages are often discussed here, but seldom do I see Twitter mentioned, do any of you use it? Social media correctly linked to websites increases the SEO. So who uses Twitter? I have been trying for the last week or so to think of tweets but its difficult to keep them interesting. @GardenKit

Heck, only 5.5. Although we now try to use social media it is not linked to the website correctly yet. It will be interesting to see how much better my new site is when it goes live later in the spring.

I have very many customers who do use it in their mowers and they absolutely love it. The mowers always start better, run smoother and with no smell at all from the exhaust, so no clothes smelling of exhaust fumes. The oil stays clean and the plug does not get dirty with carbon. The upper cylinder stays perfectly clear of carbon. Engines which started life on pump petrol will have built up carbon deposits, but these will clean up if used on Aspen for a while. But to be fair, most of these are domestic users. I only have one commercial user who uses it continually in his mower, although I have many commercial users using Aspen2 for their 2 stroke kit.

Another reason to use Aspen came to my attention yesterday. A customer was talking about his inability to use his machines as the smell of the solvents in petrol triggered severe Asthma attacks. He was delighted to learn about Aspen and its absence of aromatic hydrocarbons (solvents) as it may mean he can do his own gardening again.

The wheeled Kaaz (cobra, lawnflite etc are made by Kaaz) mowers are much easier on gearboxes than the roller versions, but even the rollers are not as bad as is made out. The 21" Pro roller now has an upgraded gearbox with a faster forward speed, but it is only this model that has this upgrade. IMO the Kaaz, (or badged Kaaz) are still by far the most robust machines on the market.

Its just a cable joiner Mike. The idea is to twist the two wires together and screw them into the cap to insulate them. You can use a crimp instead.

Sounds like you have tested it pretty well. Spark to earth is quite easy, even for a duff coil. Giving you a shock is easy too, even with a duff coil. But if the spark cant jump the plug gap then there is not enough voltage, so I reckon you need a new coil!

For anyone without their own website Yell.com could work quite well. It puts your name out there on the web. But for those who have a website of their own its a total waste, its much better to just spend a little time optimising your site. When Yell phoned me a few weeks ago they used dirty tactics, although very nicely put across by a lovely sounding lady. The usual "your website is not being found" came first. But we do in fact very often rank on the first page of google. She said Yell always comes top, and to prove it she said "for example, if you search for such and such in so and so, Yell is top, try it". and of course she is correct, but only with the words she has chosen. Try a few other searches and Yell does not even appear on the first page. She also said " more people use Yell than Google. They go to Google to find Yell, then search on Yell for their chosen item or service" I thought this was utter nonsense and told her so in different words (as it was not on a forum). I have since asked many customers how they search and seldom do they mention Yell. Most use Google and consider Yell to be spam, so skip past any Yell results. I would advise taking everything they say with a pinch of salt, as one thing Yell excels in is sales training for their staff. These lovely sounding ladies can easily suck you in.

Our van driver, Rob, had a busy day collecting this lot for service from across east devon. My task now is to wash it, service it and polish it for return next wednesday. As well as 20 or so 2 stroke machines. May be working Sunday again:001_rolleyes:

Slim has explained the timed deck, but I will add that the belts often break under impact and on some machines they cost around £100 just for the belt. Sure, your type of work will dull the blades, but you can sharpen them several times before replacement. Its the bearing housings I would worry about more. The shock loads of trying to cut 1" branches will stress the aluminium flange of the housing and the lighter duty ones will simply break away from the deck after time. Blade mounting flanges may also fail. Some of the single blade versions will suffer from distortion of the deck itself under impact, resulting in the blade cutting low on one side. This Grillo will cut up anything it will push over and will deal with your work easily.

A friend of mine was using steel toecap work boots, but they did not save his foot. The chain skidded around the toecap until it got a good bite into the soft boot (and foot) behind the cap, then cut across the foot rather than down between the toes. He was off work for several months Chainsaw boots with kevlar would have prevented this.