wrsni

You're right it shouldn't, but it plainly is! He doesn't want to be representing a semi-autonomous region within the UK, he wants to be top dog of a country. The economics simply don't add up, the politics don't add up, so what's left,....................anti-English rhetoric.

Well that all depends on your arm doesn't it. There's always a trade off between weight and cutting ability as diameters increase and what one man finds ideal, another will find weighty and unmanageable, or light and ineffective. Strength wouldn't be an issue but it is very thin and very light, the handle is long and it keeps an excellent edge so it's more a cutter than a hacker but after a few minutes to get used to being different I love it. All the old billhooks/slashers have sat unused in the corner since I got the Fiskars

I company I dealt with a few years ago was European importer for these and we sold them by the box full. Kept one for myself which is used almost daily, have to look after it as I don't think they're in the UK any more.

This is one time when the issue is really very straightforward. If the Scots are stupid enough to go with a megalomaniac like Salmond then they deserve what they will undoubtably have coming to them as a result. His only trump card is anti-English bile and there's never any good comes out of doing something out of spite.

Have you used a Fiskars X3 for a day?

If anyone is interested, seen this outfit advertising new Dolmars from stock on Gumtree. Have to stress,I have no connection, don't know anything about them good or bad, just bringing it to peoples attention.

Don't be put off by the fact that it's a modern day "internet sensation" with townies hacking up tin cans, twigs in their garden (or someone elses!), and cutting the bark off trees, the Fiskars X3 is a serious tool. Was in my local B&Q last Autumn and seen they had a couple of them in, checked that they were the genuine Finnish ones, had a wee feel at one of them, gave it a swing or two, and decided to purchase. Obviously it'll take many many years for it to show it's durability but it is very good, very light, takes an edge and keeps it longer than anything I've used since I was a young fella. If you want to be able to walk in to a shop and buy something new, good, and usable I doubt there's anything else out there to compare, it's certainly way above the Bulldog stuff (sadly!).

I reckon there's piles of stuff in there that the legal profession could pull to shreds, or at very least obfuscate sufficiently to help someone avoid prosecution. They never seem to twig on that clearer simpler rules would not only help people know what's permissible and what isn't, but would also make prosecution so much easier when people decide to blatantly ride rough-shod over the regulations that most of us try to abide by.

It's really that simple then is it then? I've a diesel lawnmower, according to you I should be running it on clear to cut my own lawn (I don't have to, I checked!) All the other lawnmowers working all over the country cutting grass on estates, golf courses, playing fields, parks, etc, etc, should be running on clear. Any that I know of aren't, they running red and I'm quite sure if there was a problem with it they'd have been pulled by now. Construction machinery, site dumpers, diggers, shovels, telescopics, wackers, etc, etc, should all be running clear. They most certainly do not on any sites I'm ever on. It WAS suggested a while ago but the Quarrying associations soon pointed out that the cost of using clear would simply be passed on in any contracts or product and as the government themselves is far and away the largest customer of such, net gain would be minimal. In short, it's not at all simple.

You see that statement alone could keep some very well paid QC's disputing finer points of the regulations for a long time. What actually is the premise here?, is it that clear diesel is taxed for the road with everything else using red, or is it that red has only a few specific uses with everything else using clear, because there's a big difference. So many government departments get by on the basis of most ordinary people not having the nerve, or more often, the financial capability to challenge them and as a result we end up conforming to rules and regulations which frequently are just nonsense. I applaud anyone prepared to face up to them and dispute something they considered to be wrong.

That's actually quite good. My boy is doing a degree in horticulture but specialising in sports turf. Done 400hrs work experience this summer at a golf course working full time for £90 per 40hr week and he was well pleased with that. Some of the others on his course got squat!

It's going on a swb Shogun, Bosal towing bracket with two or four bolt fitting. Seems like any of the coaxial stuff is limited to 1.5t on the ball no matter what the load rating of the pin, which is a pity as that would be the handiest way of doing it, regulations presumably! Looks like a visit to a couple of the local motor factors will be in order to sort it out.

Seen a Dixon Bates on t'interweb but it's not co-axial, possibly something else on your mind??? Judging by the recommendations the Dixon Bates is plainly a quality bit of kit, however.... Yes I do, not to pull a big load but may have an empty trailer, water tanker, or some other bit of machinery to shift occasionally and that's the main thing I'm buying it for, so pretty much defeats the object if it can't take it. Very good to know however, thank you. Same would probably go for the Bradley.

Sorry, just to add. I assume they're all designed with the pin far enough back to take a standard agricultural type towing eye, but the one I get will certainly have to.

Need to put one of these on the back of the jeep. Want a good quality one for obvious reasons but huge variations in price. Any horror stories out there with snapped ones or any that have performed way above and beyond what could be expected. I would suspect there'll be a few on here who've given them a decent test at some time! Thanks.

Everybody move along,............................nothing to see here! Just read something else instead, thank you!

Have to say that Northern Ireland is crying out for some decent alternatives to firewood. Sales of stoves have really taken off as people are looking an alternative to oil heating but there is a awful amount of shite being flogged to folk, and at ridiculous prices, to put in them. Due to burning more wood and less coal this year I'm going to be a few weeks short of our own properly seasoned stuff so I've been looking for something to eak it out a bit and would actually prefer a decent briquette to the over-priced crap available as so called "firewood". But whilst there is at least plenty over there to choose from, next to nothing here. So don't knock it!

Getting back to practicalities. The debate between the two oaks seems to border on being as cut and dried as the Stihl/Husqvarna debate. I have both (and some red around the borders) but with pedunculate in the majority. I've had equal comments both that this is correct and that it should have been the other way round. Probably the most encouraging comment was that it was just nice that there was a lot of oak in it irrespective of exactly which one as it's been overlooked in more recent plantings due to speed of growth. It's said that you plant trees for your children and oaks for your grandchildren! I'd tend to go with Norway Maple instead of Sycamore, to me it has all the benefits and drawbacks of the Sycamore but in a nicer tree when established. It's also strange how much more acceptable Sycamore has suddenly become since Ash dieback struck! I've a few blocks of Lime as well and they've done very well in their first year, one block as near to our house as possible as it's supposed to have a lovely scent which will hopefully drift around the place in early summer in a year or two. My biggest torture was getting supplied with the plants larger (60-90) so slit planting was impossible. Planting 6,000 trees is one thing, digging 6,000 holes first is something else!

Just remember that the day you plant your last tree is not the end of the process, it's only the start!. That's what ultimately attracted me to the entire thing. I'm in my early fifties, if I stay reasonably fit and well I can be working in it thinning, replanting, guiding it's development well in to retirement. Maybe some of my children will get involved and do the same, maybe there'll be grandchildren to do it and so on. Or maybe none of the above will happen in which case nature will then take over and it'll look after itself. I can't think of anything else you'll ever do whereby this is the case.

Whitebeam prefers free draining as well, even in our prime arable lowland location I still picked the driest areas of the site for the whitebeam. Although they are distinctly different, you could substitute it with Rowan which is related but a lot more robust. It's possibly something should have been there anyway unless there's some unapparent reason for it being missing.

I'm in my second winter after planting out about eight acres (just short of 6,000 plants) a year ago. Similar species list to yourself but a different mix and a few extra things. It looks so much worse than when I planted it but I planned a lot of pathways and access routes all through it and I content myself with keeping those nicely cut and tidy. Been told that I'll just have to grit my teeth and bear it for a year or two till they get up a bit. I have it planted at 2m across the board so should get a bit of shade to stiffle the undergrowth as soon as is possible but to be honest there is little pleasure from it at present.

I deal with a German company who do their own brand of many things, including oil. My interest is motorcycle related but while placing an order this morning noticed a specific lawnmower oil and it's unigrade. I've used a lot of their stuff and they know what they're at so there must be a reason. Are all lawnmower specific oils unigrade or what's the deal here?

I wouldn't disagree with your reasoning but I doubt very much that any aspect of modern government would actually be competent enough to formulate and then implement such a plan even if they did wish to do so. Never blame malice for that more easily explained by ineptitude.

If you use an oil suitable for mixing at 50:1 then that's what you mix it at irrespective of the machine. Oils have changed and ratios have changed, the laws of physics regarding lubricating pieces of metal rubbing against each other at high speed haven't so have no qualms about modern oils in an older machine.

Apologies, such stories usual involve putting a capfull in the tank of an FS1E or some such. Had a 350 Bullet in for a bit of work a year or so ago, lovely stuff, don't actually own a British bike but frequently get the feeling that I should. As for age, I wouldn't be so bold but no doubt you'll remember when there was no such thing as a "tree surgeon" or "arborist" and trees were cut down by "a bloke with a saw".