Billhook

My experience for what it is worth. Started with a Bosky cooker in 1983. Ran it until 1996. Blacksmith built and state of the art in Britain at the time, not that efficient and very dirty. Messy carting wood into the kitchen and a thin layer of dust over everything every time you emptied the ash pan. Clearview 650 for my parents big old draughty farm house which seemed a revolution to the old open fire. I bought it as stoking the old open fire was like stoking the Bismark and took more wood in a day than I now use in a week. Father used to have a rug on one side to protect him from the radiation of the roaring fire and another rug on the other side to protect him from the draught that fed the fire! Father was very much anti the Clearview, so we put it on the slab in front of the old fire place and put a steel plate over the opening with a hole in it for the flue, telling him if he did not like it we could easily just take it away. Lit it and went out for the evening leaving father looking very unhappy. Crept back at about eleven and gingerly opened the door. Burst out laughing when I saw father in his vest and underpants. Told me he went to sleep with the fire full on and woke up thinking that he was in hell! He loved it after using it sensibly. Stove a giant leap inefficiency but not that easy to shut right down with the double doors which also burnt your arms when leading if you were not careful. Needed quite a lot of replacement door seals. Bought a Clearview Vision 500 which goes well in the office mainly on branch loggings. Very good stove. Built a conservatory to house the Aarrow Stratford water heating stove linked to a Dunsley neutraliser, probably similar to Commando's setup. Aarrow works very well and should we feel idle or be away the gas boiler (not been used for a year now) automatically senses the lack of heat in the Dunsley and will cut in I like the single door, the ease of ash emptying, the capacity, and the controls. Works well to have the wood and ash just outside so not having to cart either through the house as before. Wife just demanded an Aduro 9.5 from Denmark. Very modern looking and incredibly efficient. Nearly airtight when shut down and burns for ages on little wood So a huge progression from the Bosky!

£250 excess??

Free tuition fees together with a £10 an hour minimum wage, does all this come under the heading of "Populism" which was so sneered at by many at the Referendum?

Could be going downhill!

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Take down its genes!

Nice one Vespasian, not sure about Tony's contribution Peatff!

Just been trawling youtube and found these woodcutter songs. Some excellent others pretty moderate and I am very unsure about the final Oriental offering! Had to include the Python lumberjack song but if anyone has any more favourites you perhaps sing as you work, please post them. [ame] [/ame] [ame] [/ame] [ame] [/ame] [ame] [/ame] [ame] [/ame] [ame] [/ame] [ame] [/ame] [ame] [/ame] [ame] [/ame] [ame] [/ame] [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hylYLinF2vs[/ame]

Good thought, but I was short of both chain and drivers!

I applied a bit of Zen to the controls of the JCB and retracted the sliding boom. This together with the wet soil just tipped the balance and after a mighty struggle out it came. Picked it up with the Matbro rated at 2.7 tons and the red overload was flashing all the way down the track. The lads bought a beer to celebrate

I think that the digger, though past its sell by date like the owner is still capable of pulling its weight uphill with the boom. In the same way I can just about manage to do some pullups but not as many I as when I was younger! Also when I tried it sideways it easily pulled the digger over onto one track When I pulled length ways it pulled the digger up hill until it reached the bank of soil when it stopped and still would not move the thing! Yes I know the bucket has a bigger tear out force but the bucket may be too long being a trenching bucket, and therefore lose some geometric advantage. Unfortunately the shorter bucket I have is a ditching bucket and not so strong. I will dig deeper and try that, hope there are no water or gas mains down there............just joking, I have checked.

The soil is a heavy loam. As you say I cannot see any roots to cut through at the sides as I seem to have gone deep enough but I suspect a mighty tap root. Do sycamores ever create a tap root like oaks? It was very exposed to the West wind (coming from the angle of the digger) so I would expect there to be more root mass on the digger side of the stump. This should make pulling it in a Westerly direction easier, but so much for the theory as it has not worked in practice. I suppose I could chain together the D7, the County 1124, the Fastrac 2170 and the Matbro and see what happens! The neighbour has a 600 hp 25 ton Case Quadtrac.............

Wouldn't be too keen on using anything but chain with such forces involved. He did not even put a heavy blanket or sack over the line behind the tractor which was brave considering there was no cab. Yes, dig a bit deeper I suppose is the first option. It has been exceptionally dry and now we have just had a lot of rain and the hole has filled up with water. I may try one more yank with the JCB to see if the water has loosened anything.

One of these might do the job! [ame] [/ame]

Just had a look in the book and the JCB 806C with Powerslide in fact weighs 16.5 tons.

I have dug a pit around it and I cannot take any more soil from under it unless I do it by hand and spend ages messing about with a chainsaw and axe and spade making all three blunt. But mainly because if there is an easier way I will try and find it I have some more options without resorting to dynamite! It is right next to the road so I can only approach it from one side. 17 tons of Daisy Etta Caterpillar D7 with a strong chain working in harmony with the JC B should shift it. The JCB bucket is only 16 inches wide and the thing has a six cylinder Perkins and it is quite capable of pulling itself uphill with the boom. I gave the stump some welly thumping it with the bucket but it showed no signs of movement.

Well that certainly worked. The two inch diameter pin in the jib end snapped in half and the tree stump sat there laughing!

The distance between the two jib holes and the ram hole is the same.

I have a large Sycamore root to dig out with the 15 ton JCB swing shovel I have a strong 24" wide trenching bucket which has three pin holes. Two for the jib end and one for the ram and linkage, about 18 inches from the pair of jib holes Of the two jib pin holes,they are about six inches apart, which one would give the most tear out force, the one nearest the cab or the one away from the cab. Perhaps they give the same tear out force but just allow the bucket to have a different angle I have been trying to work it out but have come to the conclusion that I am too thick and need one of you brainy lot!

It has taken three more weeks for them to return to our car port and we still had the same welcome as above. Their arrival has finally brought an end to the terrible North wind and gave way to a glorious sunny day yesterday

Yes, I am always sharp, but in this case would use a hedge trimmer.

Cripes, I did not know I had to wait for the oaks to come out before I can have a slash! At my age.............

Makes you wonder about tomorrow! [ame] [/ame]

I gave up crisps some years ago as I thought they were bad for me, but I had a sudden feeling of intense hunger at the local garage and bought a packet of "Grab a Bag" Walkers cheese and onion. Half way home and busy munching while not looking at what I was eating I bit upon a foreign object and immediately spat it out. I thought at first it was a sachet of salt then thought it was an advertising promotion but on closer inspection discovered that it was a five pound note sealed in a plastic packet! Part of the Walkers promotion campaign, but I never believed that they actually did put these things in the bags. But it is true and made my day!

I sure am feelin' a little itchy in certain places!