hedgesparrow

get yourself a baffle to put on top of chimmney this should stop back drafts when wind is in a certain direction also helps with the draw from fire up chimney. also when you light it are all the vents open to make a draft. i use newspaper about 4 balls then put kindling wood on top and light it and let it roar. then put on logs. i have also found my logs are under cover but with so much damp they are not bone dry so bringing in more and dry them by woodburner.

only live about 5 miles from college and a lot of lads doing tree work around hear did there courses there. did a cracking job of a 80ft beech tree i had to cut down and all lowered by rope due to pipeline under tree. have some very good teachers. heard it is one of the top ones for arb courses

if you get a kettle learnt the hard way. i now have sweet bags with a small piece of fire lighter in with small dry kindly wood. just put in bottom light it and away it goes, then just feed it with twigs to keep going, also piece of tin to put at back of it if wind is blowing just stops it blowing it out. but it will boil 5 cups of drink in 2 mins faster than a normal kettle. so it does sometimes boil water before the bacon is cooked. i just use the burning pan to cook on. works just as well. worth buying one only £50. as for hedge laying looks like we have a hedge with a fried to lay 100mtrs. and laid 15mts for a council so bus stop could go in now wants some more laid so word of mouth is better than advertising. what do you pay for your stakes and binders. i was paying 50p each for them but as i have 20 acres of hazel cut my own. want to have a go at devon style looks good for on top of bank. but like the welsh style.

have not heard to good reports on the 4 mix machines was using aspen and saws and blower ran well on it no mixing but the cost of it now can not justifie spending £14 per can plus vat. so gone back to mixing my own. shame it was not cheaper so it was nearly the same as petrol and the 2 stroke mix. would use it all the time no fumes does not carbon up the saws. but its the price.

have to agree have a hedge i am trying to get to do by a top private school many farming types take daughters to school so do it cheap to get it may lead to more work. but there is loads of hedges in such poor state just need some TLC. i charge normally £10 per mtr including stakes and binders. but when you work it out getting the stakes and binders. have own wood then doing job its not much per hour. but its outside you keep warm and to see the hedge finished then see it the following year when it regrows is so therapeutic. plus i can get volcano stove going for a hot soup or fried lunch plus hot drinks. bliss

parish lengthman thought it get your think pads going. it dates back to the 1900,s and was then resurected after the second world war. a lengthman was a chap who lived by a length of road he was employed by the county council. his job was to walk the length of road he had with him a shovel,spade, rip hook and bill hook keeping the ditches clear and the hedges trimmed. then with the speed of traffic it was dropped as to dangerous. parish lengthman there is a lead council who have 10 parishes they get a budget from the county and it is split 11 ways. i do aprox 3 days every 3 months in each parish. doing ditching,hedge trimming.painting benches,bus shelters cleaning road signs and strimming field paths this year i have done 10 miles of paths. and old strimmer gave up due to the work i was giving it. now have a new 4 stroke honda 40cc and what a loverly strimmer will go through anything. tried sthil ok but honda was £200 cheaper. still do majority of work by hand if the ditches are very bad then in comes the digger to do job. but eats into budget. having worked in IT for 20 plus years and made redundant. needed a job and the tenders came up and i won two so have 22 villages to look after. with winter rural parishes have very little to do so has dropped to 14 until next spring then re tender for contract. but looking to see if i can get two more so make 44 villages to look after. like doing my hedgelaying. and do a bit with surrey hedgelaying group so busy every other Saturday. but since writing been asked to quote for a job to lay a hedge and ditch on the field side. and trying to get in with wildlife group. but chainsaw ticket is needed make it easier to cut the pleach and finish off with axe or yorkshire. looking at getting a cordless chain saw 44 volts with a little 10inch bar and self sharpening will run for two hours on full chat so should last all day laying. thanks for the reply's and the welcome

hi jump on thread as well i need a pair of boots without laces do afair bit in woods coppcing and trouble with laces is deer ticks like to climb the laces so need a smooth boot to stop them climbing. or something to go over top to stop them. but not get over hot in summer.

looking for a title for doing hedglaying my late dad loved his birds in back garden and one was the hedgesparrow or dunnock. so in his memory i wrote a poem for his funeral about a hedgesparrow and named the company after him. at present very quite for laying no money around. and lay mostly south of england

hi just joined the forum as hedgesparrow which is the name of my company. i am based in Hampshire as a hedge layer, ditcher and parish lengthman. saw a thread on cost of hedgelaying. looking to get my cs30 31 soon so i can use a chainsaw for laying in competion without hand tools only. cheers chris