brynseiri

The oxdale are Italian made, good quality, gwaza are polish, well made but basic if you get what I mean

I was tempted to buy a new saw from them online 2 years ago, but instead bought the same saw from my local john Deere dealership, who we’ve had the tractor etc from. They were a few quid dearer than fr Jones, not by much, however they are there if I need back up, and really, you can’t beat walking in to a shop, paying, and walking out with the saw in your hand. In my locality, there’s 6 shops you can walk in to and buy any Stihl equipment, and i think 4 for husqvarna. It must be a pretty cut throat business.

Yes, that’s what I was thinking, cherry bomb exhaust on a Nissan micra

Are there any advantages to fitting a bark box to a 500i? Do they run cooler, does it make any difference to longevity of the saw, or is it just a boy racer mod to make more sound? Are they detrimental to the saw?

I’ve had a 500i since late October, similar use to the OP. I use stihl 2 stroke oil, the original, with E5 petrol, always shell v power, and I put stabiliser in that as it runs the farm quad etc. not had any problems yet and I’ve just about worn out a 20” chain, so it’s had more use than I’d think. Ran a 441 before from new, and I just used the little single shot bottles by stihl to mix a 5 litre combi can. I don’t see dirty petrol as a problem for a 500i, as you can just tip it out, half fill with clean, and pump the bulb, and it flushes through back to the tank regardless. So you can flush out a couple of times with no fear of problems. It is a thirsty saw though, so managing fuel for long periods of storage shouldn’t be a problem- you’ll not have any stood as it’ll drink it all if you time it right

Thank you, I’ll try them

Who sells Krpan winches in the uk? I can’t find but only one dealer?

Don’t bother with a Honda for what you’re doing, too good for that, any Asian copy bought cheaply will do the job just as well, Quality pumps of high Wycombe do a good copy that’s 100% reliable

First off, I’m a John Deere man. But, don’t listen to the people bashing the new Holland. Both what you’re looking at are good machines, and if the 6635 is as you describe then that’s the one I’d lean to, simply on the basis of less hours, proven design, good engine, very good 4wd, I owned a 5635 from new for 5 years and it handled steep terrain incredibly. Traded in for a JD as 75hp wasn’t powerful enough. The 90hp 6635 will handle what you want to do just fine. New Holland dealers are ten a penny, no issues getting bits either.

I think if you can set them up to perform on the right machine then for the digger men it’s a no brainer, swipe and hedge cutter in one, with the right flails. Output probably fairly slower than a tractor and hedge cutter, but when you factor in purchase cost vs return the loss in output I think can be made up. Plus tracks are more attractive for this kind of work. As long as you’ve a machine with the right hydraulic capacity.

I did my NPORS 360 and 180 in 2005, via our local agricultural training board. At the time I was only very young, and the general opinion of NPORS was they were just a box ticking exrcise to make farmers health and safety compliant. It was a bit Mickey Mouse, to do the course I had to have a reference from my mother as she owned the family farm to say I'd been using such equipment for 2 years at least. At the time fencers and forestry type companies were happy with NPORS, but forget any construction companies. Then came the financial crash, digger drivers laid off all over, then a couple of years ago the construction got busy again and there's a shortage of 360 drivers, so I guess everyone including citb accepting NPORS nowadays is answering the operator shortage, as like I said, big names like laings, hansons, mcalpines carillion etc (all gone now anyway) used to laugh at NPORS and say no way, come back with citb if you want a job.

Looking at buying an arbocut 36" saw head to run on my PA5455, for whipping some pretty overgrown hedges back into shape, does anyone here run one? Are they any good?

I have a Fleming muck grab, it's very heavy duty, KV tines. Took the side plate tines off and it works great on brash, logs, old fencing etc. used it to get large boulders up after ploughing and no damage. £1400 new in 2012, on a JD 633 loader, wouldn't be without it now.

I'm of the opinion that all of these biomass schemes are a great big white elephant, a few people are fortunate enough to have drying kilns etc built and grant aid assigned to them to be paid for burning wood chip, so the more chip you burn, the more taxpayers £'s you earn. That is their good luck, and hats off to them for their business acumen. Where am I going with this? Basically, these operations will be those that kiln dry logs, so proposed regulations as regards to log moisture limits will undoubtedly give rise to their income, and then the price of firewood. Will firewood remain a cheaper and sustainable alternative to coal after all of this? I'm fortunate, brought up on a small farm with a fair few acres of woodland, and 4 generations of us have managed woods and hedgerows, and fuelled the hearth fire with air dried logs. Now I've come to the conclusion that even making my own logs isn't financially viable. It's a time consuming task that requires more money spent than you'd first think. Saw chains, oil, fuel, labour, time away from earning a living. then they need to be stored for two years. I might as well buy coal and not wear out my chainsaw and not clock hours on my tractor, and do a few shifts overtime in my job. It just doesn't add up to me, burn more wood to produce wood to burn. in the days when wood was a primary fuel, my grandfather would have had an advantage over other farmers, his household heating costs would have been unnoticeable. However in the 21st century where the place no longer can sustain a family on its own, making firewood to me is a pain, it's just too expensive. Crazy, but true.