pycoed

Hmmm, some people are easily pleased: I've always want to be a Guinness taster & brassiere fitter myself

I've used that Clarke one for a couple of years now with no problems. I bought it on a VAT free offer, too. The cross splitter is only useful for short, straight grained stuff, there's not enough oomph if there's any cross grain stuff, but if you stick to the standard single wedge it's pretty good IMHO. I also bought a Titan electric chainsaw from Screwfix on a daily offer (£50-60 IIRC) & despite my scepticism that has been a revelation - it's really good. Reason I've gone electric back at base is, of course, SOLAR PANELS! Why pay the chancellor to buy petrol & oil when I can get paid for using my own electricity?

Stuff Michael Clarke! Making a game of it indeed!: he was trying to win for Australia & when it all went tits up he started whining to the umpires. Typical whingeing Aussie "sportsman".

Update from earlier posts: Spoke to son & decided to go for new carb. Whilst waiting for this I compared the spark with an old ( Echo? ) strimmer & the spark was weaker on the Stihl. Dug out my old Danarm with a Kawasaki engine (bought new in 1979 & still works OK) & the Stihl spark was much weaker than that old banger. Hmmm, removed ring terminal & found enough slack in the plug lead to JUST manage to get a proper plug cap fitted. Spark now stronger, carb arrived, fitted & Bingo, starts first pull. Job's a good 'un - well - for son anyway. Me? I'm just perplexed because I STILL can't find anything wrong with the old carb... maybe I'll look for an old FS200 or MS181/018/017 just to see! Many thanks for the info down the line.

Here's mine, mostly hedge thinnings from March/April: Starting to build a permanent log store shortly, but that lot will stay where they are.

Right - feeling like a tit now- I'm back at square 1! Checked compression - OK at 140 psi after 4 pulls. Pulse hole is clear, pulled all fuel lines & rechecked - all OK. Stripped carb & gave it an hour in US cleaner with water at 60 deg & detergent. It is now clean with a capital C. All passages & jets are clear. Reassembled carb after reinspecting pumping & metering diaphragms. Also rechecked metering arm - just level with carb body. Primed it & exactly the same - it'll fire more often than not, but run only for a second, so I assume it's running only on the excess fuel the primer pulls up? Although the diaphragms & needle valve look fine to me - even under a magnifying glass, I've sent for a carb kit & I'll fit new needle, gaskets & diaphragms. Bad week for machinery last week - my diesel mixer (circa 1960 vintage) seized on the second mix of the week too & had to mix tons with a poxy little electric thing.

Ta for replies - 1. The plug boot is missing, but there is a ring terminal crimped to the plug lead & held to the plug top with a small nut - looks iffy but seems to work - there IS a spark. 2. Pulled the exhaust which was clear - the exhaust port had a bit of crap but not too bad & the piston looked lovely, with no visible scores at all. 3. I didn't check the metering arm height - I'll pull the carb & dismantle it again to do that. Diaphragms looked fine & carb seemed quite clean inside too, but I didn't use an airline, just looked & blew. 4. My missus has an ultrasonic cleaner which I reckon this carb would fit into - presumably its a complete stripdown then carb body in the US cleaner - what liquid should I use? 6. Assuming wife never finds out about the cleaner - I'll keep you posted.

Son just brought home a Stihl fs200 strimmer bought as a non runner. Spark OK Stripped carb & all looks fine diaphragms intact & look newish, needle valve OK, blew through jets, minimal fuel staining etc. Tank filter OK, fuel pipes fine, primer bulb good. End result : will fire & run for a second then stops. Carb is a Zama CQ with a single adjustment screw which has a left hand thread & a square end, rather than a tapered metering end. This was positioned 5 1/2 turns out from fully in. Does anyone know the correct setting for this? or does anyone know what the problem is likely to be?

I bought her slug pellets once too - she'll probably mention that to you if she meets you! This time I was safe though - it was on her Christmas list

Had recurrent neck trouble (old rugby injury - prop) for years until I was 43. Doctors useless, physio/chiropracter worked every time until the last. Nothing worked with that episode until I finally saw the right doctor & had an op. No painkillers had ever worked until finally quack prescribed Palfium (which apparently is bloody pure heroin!) THAT worked - for a while. Can't see how anti inflammatories could work if you have ruptured a disc - manipulation or a discectomy I reckon are the only possibilities. Had the two burst two discs out 20 years back & had bones fused & now have no problem at all except can't turn head very far! Nearly all my rugby mates who played up front have had disc trouble over the years

Is it one of these? http://www.goldengark.co.uk/ (Bought my missus one the other day)

If you can run pigs on the land where the knotweed is (known locally here as peashooters, 'cos kids can use the hollow stem for a peashooter) they will love it. They'll eat down the top growth, dig up & eat the rhizomes, & root out the woody basal growths. You can then collect & burn these woody bits. I eradicated a good patch in one of my fields in this way some years ago & I've never had any regrowth at all. Spraying with glyphosate will work but it's not a spray & forget process- you'll almost certainly have some regrowth, but over a few years you CAN completely clear it.

Nice fabrication work - I think the grab is tremendous. Just be very careful with that skidding set up because all the pulling force looks to be coming through the top link? And through a pretty good lever too... I'd definitely rig a choker chain from log to the lower arms or drawbar to take the pulling load, or there's a risk of a back flip especially if going up a steep bank. Be a risk of damaging the toplink housing on the tractor too if you shock load it with a heavy log.

Clean the faces of the points with some wet & dry or emery paper bent over a card. The faces suffer from oxidation in storage & often cause a problem on points systems. After you've done it, check the points for continuity when closed 'cos sometimes it takes a fair old rub to clean them up.

I had a Gypsy in the 70's, bought from a farmer who'd fitted a 2.2 BMC diesel. About 50mph flat out, but blood came out of your ears over 45mph 'cos of the noise. Much nicer gearbox than the Series Landrover of the day (Austin Cambridge I believe - felt like a car box anyway) & proper room to seat 3 abreast on the seats unlike 2 & a budgie in the Landies. Sold mine to a mate when I moved & he fitted a crane on the back & used it for donkey's years in his garage.

Heh! Heh! The shortest book in the world. Page 1: Set fire to the bloody thing & buy a Landcruiser. Page 2 The end.

Marko, Please keep us posted on progress. Sounds perfect in theory! I've been cutting my firewood the last couple of weeks & some of the brash fires really got me thinking what a waste of good heat it was.

How about Stokbord? Stokbord® - The number one brand for Recycled Plastic Board

RIP the only decent prime minister I can remember this country having. I wish to God we had one now. I'm 63 (& from the S Wales valleys BTW) & can remember the mess the Soviet inspired unions had got this country into during the 60's & 70's. She was just about the only politician I've ever had respect for: she spoke her mind & acted from conviction. These days no one does or says anything unless the party line OKs it. Tw*ts, the lot of them.

Update: Tank vent is fine - all rodded out & clear. Stumped now to be honest - the only thing I can think of is to renew the seal & the oil pick up either side of the pump. Part nos. 530019174 & 530014776, though both seem OK to me - they are both soft & would seem to seal OK but... something's up: the pump is new & turning OK; the tank is clean & the vent is clear; I've tried different bar oil of straight veg. oil , straight diesel, atf, SAE 30 & 20W50 & still nothing much seems to reach the bar.

Ta for replies - bar hole is fine, worm gear on crank is fine, plastic gear on the new pump is also fine. New pump is a yellowish white colour: old one was black. I'll have a look at the link posted & report back when/if I've fixed it.

Just had a problem with lack of bar oil to my Husky 136. Found that oil pump plastic gear gear had stripped, so cleaned out oil tank with diesel & renewed the oil pump. Still no bar oil , so dismantled it all again & this time took out the oil pickup & filter (spring type) Blew through all with airline cleaned everything again & reassembled. Rubber seals on pickup & oil pump cylinder are fine, pump shaft can be seen turning & will pop out oil if filled from an oilcan. Still no oil coming through. I'm thinking it has to be the oil tank vent? But where IS the vent? I can't find it on any parts diagrams online, if I can find it I can probably clean it or at worst make a new one (I have lathe & milling machine etc.) Any ideas? Son refuses to use my "real"saw (Homelite Super XL12 - not a hiccough apart from a bar & a few chains since bought in 1978) due to lack of chainbrake, noise & vibration (wimp!). However, I need his help to get in next couple of years firewood supplies from our top hedges - it's all manual extraction on a steep slope around 45 deg. & I'm too decrepit these days to do it all myself.

I cut bracken on a 1/2 acre paddock which is somewhere between 30 & 45 degrees, but it's bloody hard work turning on slopes like that. Its also hard work with bumps & big stones etc., but if the surface is reasonably flat (or "plane" if on a slope), it's easy. If you can get a digger onto the site then obviously that's the quickest though.

See if you can get a walk behind finger mower. I try never to use a brushcutter on my place when I can get a finger mower to do the job. I have an Allen Mayfield 8 (like an Allen scythe on steroids!) with twin wheels & hydrostatic drive & you wouldn't BELIEVE how well that deals with bramble & tree sucker up to about 30mm. With a walk behind like this you can bulldoze into a patch of bramble until the machine is stalling, or you are afraid you'll get scratched to death, then simply reverse & pull out a huge mass of bramble in one go. Cutting 3ft wide beats waving a little blade about any day. You'll need hedgecutting gloves, chaps, helmet & mask & preferably an old Barbour jacket too.

Shooting , dogs, hunting, fishing, the countryside generally, turning rusty metal into clean swarf , eating curries & drinking beer. Oh! yes, and being an attentive husband too!