Billhook

I once left my Bosch battery drill out in a light shower and it never went again. How do electric saws fare if you happen to leave on out in a rain shower?

Next door neighbour, young lad who comes and helps on occasion, borrowed my short handled Stihl Pickaroon. (500g 35cm) and was very impressed but he looked at Arbtalk and saw this post by Vedhogger. Vedhoggar Senior Member Member 102 posts Report post Posted October 8, 2020 Bought the Ochenkoff 1100mm Sappie 2 years ago and very strong/well made piece of kit, have also Stihl 400mm (50g) and 800mm hookaroom which aren't very well made, the point on the longer one snapped off first winter when moving frozen logs. Ochenkopf do a 380mm hand sappie as well which is just as well made. Clarkforest.com in Dumfries stock Ochenkopf (search under forest and garden then sappies & log picks), costs are 1100mm £75 ex vat and 380mm £28.50 ex vat, they also do a holder for the hand sappie. So he went off and bought the Ochsenkopf but came around to show me how disappointed he was with it. I have three Stihl versions and they are perfect in weight and balance and I have never sharpened them but they grip the logs well, even with a light tap so they may be more suitable for a lady. Side by side the two look identical, both appear to be well made but the Ochsenkopf just will not hang on to the log and he has lost confidence in it fearing it will drop a log on his foot or worse. He has played about with a grinder to reshape the tip but it has made no difference. He is going to buy a Stihl which is about £10 cheaper. Actually holding the Ochsenkopf it feels heavier and less well balanced in the hand, This also is strange as it says it weighs 450 grams and the handle is shorter at 32cm. This obviously is the opposite experience of Vedhogger and I do not know how to account for this I also have the long handled Stihl but rarely use it except for dragging big logs. Not a tool for ladies I would suggest.

I was able to do a slightly different survey on the farm thanks to my dear old father. Back in maybe 1978 we had a very cold Winter with difficult conditions for the birds Father sat outside in the cold on a shooting stick and held out his hand with peanuts. It took ages but once he managed to have one blue tit land there he had the lot! It was interesting that although Robins come close to where you are working, it was impossible to make them take it out of your hand. The postman had to be given a pocket full of nuts to fend off the swarm that descended on him each morning and it was priceless to see the expression on a Tractor reps face when he was earnestly discussing the features when I stuck out my hand and a bird landed on it while I kept a poker face! But going back to the survey, the farm is a single unit and a couple of miles across and I was surprised to find that these birds had followed me wherever I went, in the woods or fields and would demand nuts. I never thought that they had that kind of range Unfortunately a series of mild Winters meant that we lost the memory in the new generations .

How to alienate the Church, increase racialism, increase homophobia and totally disrespect a fine human being in one easy tweet The Reverend Jared Robinson Brown who is black and gay responded the the death of Sir Tom by tweeting ”The cult of Captain Tom is a cult of White British Nationalism. I will offer prayers for the repose of his kind and generous soul, but I will not be joining the “National Clap”

He was young and fit and I am old and tired! I was actually operating the winch and you can just see the cable and I had to give the order to stop when the winch snagged, so a very important person I was in a very important role! (he is still speaking to me!)

How on earth did you fit the hydraulic towing hook to the Mule? Anyway, not as impressive as my Arb Trolley as you have not put any logs in the back of the Mule!

Now no need to get personal, Leave Billhooks out of it!

Just been down to the woods where my colleague was working and we heard the call again, completely non directional and we looked and looked but could see no bird Just turned around to start work again when the Mistle Thrush flew straight over a tree near us singing the whole way in mid flight! As if to say “I wos just ‘avin a larf , gotcha fooled though didn’t I!“

Agree with you there Stubby. Same with Woodcock coming over. I was surprised to see Dunnock/ Hedge Sparrow on the red list as we have several here on the bird feeder. But what do we do about it? I can imagine the uproar if we started to shoot Sparrow Hawks, Jays, Carrions, Magpies, Stoats, Weasels, Squirrels cats, but just think what a poor garden bird has to go through to produce enough young to survive. I suspect domestic cats have a role as well as rats , oh I left out Jackdaws and of course the dreaded Humans!

I do my morning bike ride 3.6 mile circuit and in the first lockdown, when there was no traffic, aircraft or humans about it seemed as though the woods and hedge rows were alive with birdsong. This morning the traffic through the village is back to M25 levels and my wife says the town shops are similar to pre lockdown. The result is less birdsong is to be heard

I agree now and have been thinking that thrushes in general are rarely seen these days, unlike when I was growing up in the 1960s when they were often seen out in the middle of a lawn, head cocked over listening for worms, or picking up snails and taking them to their Thrushes anvil. I think that DDT in the 1950s had nailed many of the raptors, especially Sparrow Hawks but also there was a lot of game keeping controlling populations of Magpies, Jays, Carrion Crows as well as Stoats,, Weasels and Foxes. With DDT banned, he rise of all these predators has seen a decline in British small birds and the ones that have survived have developed Darwinian methods to avoid detection. The Mistle Thrush is no longer seen exposed and must be darting along through the insides of hedges. In the last few years I have witnessed several attacks on my bird feeder by Sparrow Hawks and also seen a cloud of feathers in the middle of the lawn. I opened the steel door of the tractor shed a few days ago and in the time it took me to drive to the workshop, a Sparrow Hawk had flown into the shed and nailed a feral pigeon which was still leaking fresh blood from its severed head on my return

I suppose it could be a furtive Mistle Thrush, but unlike any other I have heard and I would expect to have seen it. Two of us have been working in the woods in the last weeks and on three or four occasions we have stopped work to try and see it but never have. The man I work with is an ex game keeper and he is no wiser.

I have heard Mistle Thrushes all my life and yes they can be sometimes non melodic but at this time of year I would expect to see a relatively large bird in the tops of a tree or at least flying away from me. I tried to follow the sound and it keeps moving but I never see the bird Blackcap much more tuneful warble, white throat the same much more musical Nuthatch is loud enough and furtive enough but it is not quite right unless as I said they have different accents in different places

Forky it is then! Or when your thumb is hit by the spinning steering wheel it will be Forkit!

This bird has been following me around the woods. I never see it but it is as loud as a Thrush. I am not bad on my bird ID I suspect it is a Nuthatch since I never see it and it is very furtive. But it does not sound quite like the Nuthatch on the google recording. Perhaps it has a Lincolnshire accent! There are a pair on our bird feeder so I know they are about, but I have never heard them sing from there. IMG_0749.MOV

Brilliant last year of his life, what more could you wish . Made the century, knighted by the Queen, caused all that money to go to the NHS. Served his country many times over above the call of duty.

Another one using the Wiltecon a front loader

https://www.wiltec.de/professional-forestry-tongs-for-tree-trunks-up-to-720mm-pulling-force-1500kg.html Seems to have gone up a bit in price since I bought mine Thought of a name for the Tractor, ” Forky “. It has a muck fork on the loader It is the 4000 model or. 4K in shorthand It should be worth well over 4K when you fit the power steering!

It also pivots 360 degrees which is useful when trying to position on bearers for milling

I found these German made Wiltec tongs are excellent as generally you can pick up a big log without leaving the cab Here I am lifting a log which weighs 1.5 tons verified by my scales. But this is with an eight ton Matbro which can lift nearly three tons so do not try this with yours! I think the tongs were about £150

Another thought is that the £325 will easily be recovered by increasing the value of the tractor should you sell. It is important to give her a name! You may find plenty of suggestions from the helpful folk on Arbtalk!

Think you had better put in a compass and port and starboard navigation lights! You will be coming across the Irish sea to visit us I can see!

I also spent much of my working days on Ford 4600 which we bought new in 1978. It had power steering which was perfect and a nice tractor for lighter precise work like drilling sugar beet as well as being man enough to help pull a five ton trailer in bad conditions when we were harvesting. As Khriss says to save your twisted wrist or bruised fingers it may be worth spending £325 on a kit New Power Steering Kit for Ford / New Holland Tractor 4000 4600 WWW.EBAY.CO.UK Mounting Instruction inside. KIT CONTAINS: Mounting Flange, Power Steering Cylinder, Long Rod, Hydraulic Pump, Oil Tank, Pressure Tube, Inlet Hose, Emptying Tube, 2 Tie Rod Ends...