Couldyajust

Haix Alpin (class 3), the forst grip system (spikes on the bottom) makes branchwalking in wet conditions a lot more comfortable as long as you remember to clear the leaves & twigs out of them before going up the tree. Test report on them here with some of the pros & cons. http://www.kwf-online.de/deutsch/pruef/pruefergebnisse/aasa/sicherheitsschuhe/6104_12e.pdf

I have a couple of concrete saws/disc cutters which are regularly loaned out but only to one specific company. They go with a couple of conditions, any damage (or loss/theft) of the saws must be paid for & it is preferred that one specific employee does not use them as he is clearly not safe doing so. They wouldn't go out at all but this company does put an awful lot of work my way as well as employing me as a subby fairly regularly so I have to make some compromises. They did once borrow a chainsaw but it was run over with a 23 ton digger . I was told to buy a new saw & send them the bill (which was paid immediately) they haven't asked for a chainsaw since they just get me in as a subby instead, it's cheaper.

No legal obligation to control either although in the case of the rhododendron (which is a schedule 9 invasive plant) if you do nothing & it spreads to a neighbours land then they can take legal action against you & ultimately force you to control it. Unless it is on farmland & you receive a single farm payment in which case allowing an infestation of invasive non-native species results in financial penalties or possibly even the complete loss of the single farm payment.

I'm curious as to why the ladder is up against the Euc. Are you climbing the tree or are you planning on working from the ladder? Do you have any experience of arb work at all or is this literally your first arb job? As for the timber both burn well although Euc can be a pain to split & is better suited to stoves rather than open fires.

On ebay a ridiculously high figure for a saw of that age of around £250 is not unusual for a fully serviced 020 if described properly with details of exactly what has been replaced like this one. STIHL 020T TOP HANDLE CHAINSAW ms200T ms200 | eBay If you are unable/unwilling to post it then £70-£100 is more common (less than a lot of the non runners with postage go for).

The DIYers round here usually come out with.... "I've cut halfway through my tree & the saw got stuck. Can you sort it out for me?" Viewing the job more often than not reveals some additional problem such as house, road, powerline etc... in the drop zone but they still grumble when given a quote for sorting out the mess they made.

Clearly we haven't caught up with modern technology in Wales yet, I know several people who use them. Mind you I once used a Homelite 8-29 to dismantle a large beech, nearly any saw is a lightweight & easy to use alternative by comparison.

Owning the fence on the left is more common but not a fixed rule some people own the fence on the right, some own all, some own none. The property deeds are the only way to confirm it. In a council or housing association owned property maintenance of fences, walls or any other form of boundary are almost always the landlords responsibility not the tenants (the exception being hedges which are always the tenants responsibility) although the tenant does usually have the right to maintain & replace them at their own expense if they are inclined to do so.

Spares or repair but hard to go wrong at that price, if it was closer I would buy it myself. STIHL 020 Petrol Chainsaw | eBay

The heaviest fire wood user that I know gets through at least 2 wheelie bins full of logs per day in winter. He came to an arrangement with a local forester where he pays £150 (incl delivery) for 8 tons of oversized logs & off cuts of either hard or softwood depending what the company is processing at the time. When each load is delivered he pays me for a days work with a chainsaw & a Fiskars X27 to cut & split it then he just has to finish stacking whatever I haven't finished stacking tidy himself. Works out cheap & does not require much effort on his part.

The Echo CS8002 is my primary saw & I have always been impressed with it particularly for bigger trees.

My nearest blacksmith doesn't look very manly. http://www.gothicblacksmiths.co.uk/index.htm

Used the chainsaw. Still not entirely sure what happened I knew something was very wrong & autopilot kicked in a bit like when dealing with kickback on a saw you make a decision on how to deal with it & you are either ok in for a visit to A&E. You don't have time to think things through you just act. Did have to go for a pint or 6 last night though once the adrenaline wore off & it sunk in what could of happened, 12" diameter branches snapped like twigs when they hit the rock on the bottom of the river so my chances would not of been good if I had fallen.

Dismantling a smallish (20" butt) oak on a riverbank today everything rigged to get it across the river & landing it straight into the trailer. My mainline was fixed in the tree next to it to save time repositioning it as I dismantled the tree. All going to plan well over halfway through so thought I would be knocking off early. Then I felt the earth move..... Bloody glad my mainline was in another tree as I made a split second decision to cut through my grillon just in time to avoid going down with it. Just sustained a few scratches & bruises. Anyway finished that tree albeit not quite as planned bar the stump which I will need the Hymac to pull out/tidy up but I think the rest will just be dropped in the river & winched up the bank on the other side as I don't fancy dismantling any more of these. Photo's (not the best pics) courtesy of my groundies mobile phone.

The Cutting Edge Stallion saw can be used with the Silky Hayauchi blades (no adaptor needed) & the Silky Sintung lopper head if desired. If you bend or break one of the sections of the saw you only need to replace the damaged section not the whole pole. Cutting edge have full spares backup if needed right down to screws, washers etc... I just got a replacement middle section for mine, all sorted in a couple of days for a very reasonable price.

Think I will stick to the fenn traps, they give rats something a bit more serious than a sore rectum. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1030&context=vpc14 Plaster/Cement and Rats Boelter (1909) states that plaster of paris (calcium sulfate) mixed with sugar has long been recommended as a rat poison. This bait is placed near water. When the thirsty rat drinks, the plaster hardens in his intestinal tract and "literally stiffens him." Fitzwater (1990) fed caged rats (Rattus norvegicus) plaster of paris mixed 50% with their dry feed. He also fed a mixture of portland cement in the same ratio to a second set of rats. After 14 days on these diets, there was no mortality in either test and the animals appeared perfectly healthy except for sore rectums due to their large bowel movements. It is probably safe to assume the digestive fluids in the alimentary tract prevent these substances from hardening. Other suggestions along this line, such as dehydrated potatoes and bath sponge or cork pieces soaked in butter or bacon fat, can be presumed to be equally ineffective.

Description of it's use here. RRCPC Newsletter Vol.38 No.2 Article 1

It would make more sense to have cheap basic safety & maintenance courses as domestic chainsaw users would be more likely to get a bit of basic training if it was considered affordable. Joe Bloggs who has the chainsaw out for 2-3 days a year to cut a bit of firewood is not going to pay out for a CS30 but if there was a cheaper course available they may actually do it then they may even invest in some PPE afterwards. When I replace my PPE my old stuff (subject to condition) is given free to domestic chainsaw users who cut the odd bit of firewood & you do actually see them using it.

Shame they were not in stock yesterday when I put an order in with you & had to settle for a Stihl one. Definitely would of gone for the Husky combi can over the Stihl.

Managed to break my stallion the other day. I had barely scratched an 8" horse chestnut limb when it decided to drop snagging the saw as it did so which resulted in the middle pole section of the saw snapping in half. Sent a quick email to Cutting Edge explaining what happened & got a prompt reply saying they have full spares backup for all their products & a very reasonable price for a replacement part which I can purchase via Jonesie as I have dealt with him in the past. Thought this was worth adding to this thread as after sale support/spare part availability is always worth taking into consideration when buying tools.

Ginko burns very quickly it makes better kindling than it does firewood. Wood carvers are always very keen to have it even if it is fairly small diameter pieces. Wood turners are not usually interested as even when dried it is still easily deeply marked with just a fingernail. Some millers like it as it dries without warping or splitting but the fact it is so soft limits its uses.

That little saw looks much safer than your big one. Where can I buy one? Referring to my climbing saw.

For reliability I would be looking at an Echo saw instead. A 261 would cost double your budget or are you considering secondhand saws too? What do you intend to use the saw for? firewood, felling, are you working as a groundy? different saws are suited to different purposes an indication of the intended use will make it easier to advise you.

Could you just...... or it will only take you 5 minutes! are the 2 lines I hear the most.

The phone number in that listing is for Acorn tree services Acorn Tree Services - Windermere, Cumbria, Lancashire, CHeshire, North England, Tree Surgery, Stump Grinding and Removal Unhappy customer trying to get them a few crank calls?