Mr. Squirrel

Had them since November and so far really rate them. Far comfier than any other chainsaw boots I’ve had in the past 15 years. Great for long days in cutting boots and on spikes. No issues with spikes either. They’re still no alternative to a light pruning boot for silky jobs, but they are really nice, for a chainsaw boot. They are odd to put on, but you only put your boots on once a day and the tabs seem solid on mine at least.

Yeah that’s what I’m talking about too. The first side is easy. The second, if it’s possible, is witchcraft.

For a single eye, I can understand it. You could just pull the whole tail out of the cover, locking brummel using both ends and then pull it back through with a long wire fid. The second eye would be a different kettle of fish.

Just saw this. How did you locking brummel the core + cover? Or did you do an exposed core locking brummel? Good results though, was it practical in use?

To splice commercially isn't, to my knowledge, financially feasible unless you're working for a shop basically. However that's not to say it isn't a very useful skill to learn. 'the splice rack' on facebook has loads of info and files you can download. There's a bit of dick waving too but there's some good info there. A lot of books and downloads reference fid lengths rather than lengths, which can be a bit confusing as you don't really need the fids they're talking about. You're better off using a wire fid. The wooden hand splicing booklet is a nice, reasonably straight forward instruction guide for double braid splices. The first few will probably be a nightmare, but be meticulous and tidy with your measurements, and pretty much everything you do, and it should all come together fairly easily. A splicing course is also really helpful for picking up pointers. And be precise. I can't stress enough how important that is. The Wooden Hand - SPLICING BOOKLET | The Wooden Hand TREEKIT.COM THE WOODEN HAND | SPLICING BOOKLET Beautifully produced hand illustrated Splicing booklet. Hand illustrated...

You're comparing it to a device which most certainly was poorly designed, and presumably went through woefully inadequate testing before being released to the market. The zigzag hardly took much of a concerted effort to develop critical faults. I've not had my hands on a RRP, but I've seen quite a number of people having issues with them. From what I've seen I'm not convinced by it being purely a maintenance issue. If it is, then it seems quite a sensitive device for an industrial environment. Just my 2p. It does look like a really cool device and I'd love to pick one up, but the jury is still out as far as I'm concerned.

Yeah I remember reading about two guys business types over there who had a bet on for who could fell the tallest tree. You can bet it wasn't any use felling a 100m+ tree in the middle of the woods. Plonkers.

From what I saw of the issue it appeared that some fairly minimal internal wear was the culprit. Not sure how cleaning would help that? Seems as though it's a fairly small, but significant design issue with the steel spring wearing on the aluminium body.

I told the client that if they can sell it for that, please give me the buyers number. I look forward to retiring 😂

Some varying opinions then. I’ve told them I can do something with it anyway, would be a fun project. Unfortunately some pesky joiner has told them the stem is worth £7k though, so they’re now planning to get rich off it 🤦🏻 Funnily enough he isn’t offering them that…

Hey folks. what are your collective thoughts on making outdoor furniture, benches and the likes, from freshly milled oak? I have a client with an oak down that wants something done with it; but can’t really be bothered waiting years. I thought milling 2-3” thick and building it green would probably be passable. Interested in others opinions.

Ditto what others have said about just cracking on. Sometimes all of the sudden panning and kit in the world won’t help, and you just need to get on with it. If you can’t get out of it, get into it.

Interesting idea to use coffee as a filler. Never come across that before. Do you use it just for the dark colour, (it certainly looks good), or is there some other benefit as well? Aye it's all about aesthetics really. Personally I really don't like the look of resins with dye/sparkle in them. The coffee soaks up but also stains the resin, so the resin doesn't stand out. It sands down really nicely and for a natural looking texture/finish and is spot on for what I look for in a bit of furniture. Tried it out years ago on a bit of cherry which would otherwise have been for the log pile and loved it. Been doing it ever since. Not wildly different to using some sanding dust mixed with glue, but sometimes trying to hide obvious flaws just makes them look 10x worse. Use the finest ground coffee you can find, espresso spec as a minimum. I went to a friendly wee coffee shop and asked for any old unusable beans ground as fine as humanly possible. Work fast 🤙

I’ve always found going too fine with the sanding has, in my opinion, a negative effect on the finish. It depends what you’re looking for though. I’ve chased a ‘perfect’ finish up to 600 but then it’s hard a really polished look, which I’ve not actually liked 😂 Stopping at 240 seems optimal to me. I tried various oils and waxes before using Osmo top oil which is spot on. Our coffee table is finished with that and it’s so hard wearing and easy to clean. Brings out the grain just enough without darkening too much either. Cracks I fill in using epoxy mixed with really finely ground coffee. It seems a subtle option which doesn’t try to hide the fact there are imperfections, but doesn’t scream about them either. Edit: realise now you don’t need/want any further recommend on finishing as you’re pretty well done with it! Looks good!

Second time 😬 I suspect that’s why they got a bit of a spanking.

Never trust someone dressed head to toe in hiflex is all I'll say... 😂

Nothing wrong with a portawrap in the right place. Light and easy to setup, they’re a bit more flexible too in terms of the angle the rope’s coming from. For big stuff, fixed bollard, no brainier. For small/occasional rigging, a portawrap will probably do just fine.

I think the intended purpose of these is purely on the lifting and lowering front, ie not snatching/dynamic rigging. I know a couple of people who have them and use them as a secondary winch, eg for tensioning the top line of an english reeve, with a grcs for the 'running rope'. It look like a much smaller bollard than on the grcs/smart winch, and the whole thing is probably a bit more compact. I get your concern though, it's a bit odd just being flat metal with holes in it...

Damn straight. Sooner people get back on Amazon and help fund Bezos’ spaceship empire the better.

Total opposite. I feel like the day flies by and it’s dark before I know it. I’d rather be out working till sunset than clocking off at 5 and not seeing any natural light all day 🤷🏻

That's the corner I'm in. It's an utter balls up. I had my test booked for the week before they stopped it as well, but it was cancelled as all the assessors walked out. Now booked a load of stuff in based on the change coming into play on the 15th. Now what...? Total incompetence coming out of Westminster as usual...

Just a wee lift to help even out that transition? That might be the most useful thing I’ve ever read on here.

Sounds lovely 😂 I’ve not found any issues with getting it off in the rain, but have found it slipping getting it on. Perhaps not standing on the chipper when unloading would help. I guess it would mean it reached the tipping point slightly earlier and so have a shorter drop? Going slow is essential.

Little bump to this one. I have a 3.5t Brian James tipping trailer which I got with the intention of cutting about with a tracked chipper on. It drives great, and is obviously pretty versatile. My only issue is unloading the chipper seems a bit… bold. When the centre of balance shifts it basically drops onto the ramps, which I’m not really happy with. Obviously unloading uphill is a bit of a benefit/preferable to downhill, but I wonder if anyone else has any pointers? Longer ramps would help I but I’m sure the built in ones are about as long as I can do.

See I didn't even know about any strength reductions due to the absorbers. I was just highly dubious that they came anywhere near turning a static system into a dynamic one! Rubbish...