mrstumpy

Advertise it on the internet as it is, let someone else have the hard work! Do what you do best - earn money by cutting the trees!

Mark is a very good choice but, I would guess, Wales may be a little too far for him .

I have always been oil dependent. There are no problems whatsoever. However there are a few pointers. The oil tank must be in good order (clean inside) if it is near a watercourse it must be double bunded. The boiler should be serviced annually, there will be service people in your area - it is only a two day course to get qualified so ensure you have a reputable/time served engineer! talk to the locals. Grant and Wooster are the rolls royce of boilers others are ok too. All boilers should be run occasionally so condensation does not build up on the inside surfaces (they rot from the inside outward). Group purchasing of oil is cheaper BUT they buy the cheapest oil. Our cheapest oil has algae suspended in it. This is from the supplier not cleaning the sides of their tanks where it grows. The algae will clog your filter and will build up in the pump - new pump will be required (£100 + fitting). If finances allow in the future - add a H2 panel (or equivalent) and supplement the heating using a back boiler on your wood burner. I did 5 years ago its been fantastic, I have burned only a couple of gallons of oil in that time! I have burned a lot of wood though. Good luck and lucky you for having current cheap oil prices!

Which fuel are you wishing to buy? Petrol requires a LOT of certification (and underground storage). Red/White diesel just buy a tank and install it (it must be double bunded if near a watercourse). Make it thief resistant!! Pricing is not amazingly different from the pump, I would suggest around 4p/l less. The larger your order the more you could possibly save.

The engine oil is 10W-30, the inline filter should be around £1 from a sensible filter supplier! if not up to £4 from any motor parts supplier or hire shops.

I know little about arborCAD or tree surveys but I know a little of AutoCAD. Is it possible to output your drawing from your preferred CAD package in a drawing exchange format (DXF) or Windows Metafile (WMF) or perhaps in ANSII (?).

Hi Mike I would like to try and answer your original question with the benefit of my experience. I'm assuming your billets are not of substantial diameter as they are 1m lengths and you have not mentioned mechanical handling. How would a 50 - 60cc saw sound? This would allow a 16 - 18" bar length. You do not appear to be climbing, and your emphasis was on 'good equipment'. How about a Husqy 550XP (£515) or 560XP (£620)? All saws have "issues" as do most other machines. The known faults with these are: a required technique to start when they are hot, a weakness in the brake band and they are computer controlled. I own one. If you are looking for a larger girth of firewood. How about a Husqvarna 372XP? 70cc, £680 and easily pulls a 24" bar and chain (I own two) and is ultra reliable, no computers!! this is good for reliability. I have had no faults in 12 years of running the eldest of my two and no faults with my two year old. The Husqvarna 395XP was an excellent recommendation but I feel a little heavy if swinging it all day and £194 more than a 372XP. My experiences of large Stihls was just that - they were still! I had massive oiling problems from new, carb problems, melting casings and poor starting (ms660 and ms250). Stihl are excellent if you happen to be in a tree or can afford to replace them every few years. I know that statement will offend some (I apologise). As I wrote earlier, these are MY experiences. I hope you may find this of some use. Whatever make or model you choose the only sound advice which anyone may offer is: buy a pro saw, which YOU feel comfortable handling. There is no need to buy the 'biggest and best' (there are no prizes for going to A&E with open wounds or muscular/skeletal trauma). (The prices shown are just listed on an internet search and are probably list price, they are only shown for comparative reasons).

From my dim and distant memory the tank size (ideally) should be 3 x the pump flow rate where possible. Obviously the physical tank size restrictions will need factoring. If the tank is too small overheating will be an issue and there is a significant chance of pumping air bubbles (where the fluid has returned) back into the pump causing cavitation therefore pump damage. I think (just my thought) if space is an issue or there is a significant environmental consideration, I would try a 120-150l tank (still very small for your system) and fit a flow diffuser to the tank return and some oil cooling. The actual size tank you require is around 250l and if it is working hard would function more reliably with oil cooling. It looks like its going to be an impressive project!!

I had the same with the granberg precision grinder. Perhaps look at your depth gauges and only sharpen with a file. I only keep my grinder with the hope I may save a really blunt chain in the future.

I'd second that. Good luck with your repairs.

Have you tried operating the feed rollers backward? Is there sufficient hydraulic fluid in the tank? It would appear the hydraulic valve is operating, is the oil pump driving? I.e. has the rubber drive coupling expired/shaft stripped of teeth?

The long very straight stems are used to make some sail masts. The larger diameters can decay in the middle (as I'm sure you are aware) rendering them u/s.

It is a good county. But as, what seems, the retirement capital of the UK watch out for THOSE OAP's on the road. I had 3 turn out in front of me today, 3 x sets of black tracks down the road! No I wasn't going fast, max speed was as always 40Mph (usually due to some Micra type car up front). I'm certainly not ageist but some of the residents here really should hang up their driving gloves! There is plenty of tree work about but it does not command the money you enjoyed in Slurry. The local college pushes out dozens of new recruits each year, so competition is fierce. It really depends on which area of the county/city you intend to move to.

I have many tonnes to dispose of in Brandon (part of Thetford forest)- You are welcome to have as much as you like.

I learned the entire package, 2D, 3D, from solid modelling to mesh construction. Any package is better then AutoCad for most things but it does provide a really good foundation to understand how CAD systems work and how other packages are likely to operate. It is completely unforgiving to learn and will teach you how to be more resourceful in learning techniques. £4000 a licence sounds a lot better than 10 years ago. As I recall it was in the region of £15k!! If you do end up going to formal training to learn it (a very good idea) you will most likely find a free, fully operational, corporate copy floating about from one of your colleagues....

I learned AutoCad during various engineering courses. I would suggest looking toward your local higher education college (tech). Back in the day, they would have dedicated CAD courses in the evening. Obviously it would be engineering/civil engineering based but it is the package you would be learning. I would not recommend AutoCad for arb use, it is not very versatile away from smooth curves and straight lines. I do not know which is the best package but AutoCad would provide a great grounding for all the other CAD packages.

With this, I would expect to cut the wire side of the stump with a hydraulic stump grinder (no damage to grinder or teeth). When the wire fence has been cut away, cut the the remaining stump with a chainsaw as low as possible, carry on grinding to the desired depth.

I have found over the years stumpy contractors have a whole array of pricing, from cost/inch, per stump or per day. Of course it depends how much profit you feel you wish to make, I have seen 'contractors' offer a day rate from £150 to £450. It appears you have a straightforward job which (whatever machine you use) will ruin a whole day, so perhaps charge your usual day rate + machine hire. The 362 you were considering would tackle it with ease in a day as would with any other hydraulic machine with sharp teeth. If you are hiring, how about considering a PTO stumper? They do tend to be cheaper and your site seems open enough to get a tractor in. Regards

It's all good advertising. I hope their Mog comes back to life. The chipper should be ok it is a PTO job . Their website gallery shows it in all its former glory: Experienced Tree Surgeon in the Wokingham and Berkshire | Bennetts Tree Care All the best for the recovery guys...

I have one!!! They are a good machine, they are very reliable, reasonably fast and do not create much damage to peoples lawns (with dual wheels). The cutter wheel drive is fine, some have reported lower gearbox failure but in 700 hours of use and abuse I have had no issues there. There are two reduction gearboxes the first is belt driven directly from the engine pulley, this gearbox is directly connected to the second gearbox by a drive shaft and the cutting head attached to this. They do have some electrical connectors come loose i.e. fall off (mostly on the heater relay). With a better relay mounting connector they are fine. I would recommend a 4x4 version, the two wheel drive do get stuck easily and they are a little top heavy so dual wheels are essential. They are a good strong machine and I would happily have another.

I love alder! Through the back boiler on the wood burner, it has been exclusively heating my house for the past two years, very hot water and hot radiators. It burns wet or dry, it is better dry and will last for a max of three years outside before it starts to significantly decay. The wood currently on my fire is 4 years old and burning perfectly.

Congratulations on planting a community orchard. As you are involved in community projects there are people willing to help. Locally (Norfolk) the wildlife trust are very helpful with funding and sharing local skills/equipment. To manage our sites one of the conservation trusts has invested in reciprocating cutters, followed by a band rake to dry it and turn it into rows for a mini baler. The mini baler produces approx 1ft round bales. It may be worth contacting your local conservation groups for ideas/assistance or for funding options i.e. lottery grants.

I have the same solid fuel burner as you, it is linked to my oil fired boiler using an H2 panel. I have hot water from the immersion and central heating both powered by the wood burner. The H2 panel has heat leak build in for power cuts and turns off the oil boiler when the solid burner is lit it can also incorporate solar heater if you wish. I have no problems with it and there are several more installations locally which have very warm and happy owners!! The system can be found here: H2 control system

Like GTR said - It sounds like the ignition switch or the solenoid. Place a live wire to the small wire of the solenoid first (to check function) and then work back to the ignition switch. MAKE SURE IT IS OUT OF GEAR! and the stop pulled out. The Ipad: Like me, you do not hold it in its preferred upright state. Go to photos > select photos from top tabs. Open photo and select edit. rotate is at the bottom of the screen. I hope this is what you wished to know

I recently popped a BT cable in a clients property. I was asked to do a surface level grind on stumps. Scanned the area (as always) found the cable thought no more of it.... until those tell tail pieces of shredded armoured cable appeared The cable had been repaired in the past and not sufficiently buried. During many conversations the response from the minimum depth requirements was 'It should be a minimum depth of 4 inches!' As I was at surface level I refused to pay the £120 they required for applying a few connectors.