green heart

Another thing that properly boils my pith: When householders/gardeners historically tip their garden waste into the neighbouring woodland... it's blatantly and obviously fly-tipping (therefore illegal), but impossible to prosecute, without trip-cam evidence, or similar, I'd guess.. One Cheshire woodland I worked in has several hook-loaders worth of garden debris, from just five large houses (£1m+).. But two successive land agents haven't exactly done much about it, despite my questions.. 🤔 Gurr..

@kram I'm always impressed to see practical harnessing of 3D printers -and have a question/job for you: Is it possible you might be able to flex your entreprenurial skills, to make up an 'adaptor piece', to allow the handy 'flip-out' harness hook, from a dcs2500 to be fitted/screwed onto a top-handled 2511 saw ?? If it works OK, I would be happy to pay/buy one -possibly along with quite a few others on here, I suspect ? At, say, £20- each x a few hundred sales(?), it might be a little incentive to consider ? No apology for the Thread-derail -I would plead there is a strong shared common interest here, your Honour..

Motorway matrix signs... slowing all road traffic down to 40mph, for an accident, that was cleared the previous day.... ?! Motorways restricted to 50mph and 2 lanes, for several miles, due to road works, where the only person present is the Traffic Management employee -asleep in the truck.. Yes, I think that's the smell of heated urine..

That's actually a very good question! ⭐️ It would work best with the more expensive 90/120cm high Hawthorn whips, or tall Pyracantha (in an urban setting).. Blackthorn is good too, but unless you include a root barrier along-side the planted hedge-line, then you'll tend to find a huge thicket soon forms from the root suckers, that spread everywhere.. I don't think I've ever seen or heard of anyone doing this.. We'll have to call that the ADD+ planting technique then, Alex?

After encountering a series of nocturnal 'unwanted yard visitors' we layed our 5yr old Hawthorn hedge that we had planted, along the vulnerable gateway entrance. It was 25mm dia x 1.8m high big transplants, less than 20m length. Anticipating future incursions, we then added two strands of razor wire fencing, at 50cm and 100cm high. Worked a treat! No further problems (at that point, anyway!) 15 yrs since. 👍 We've also layed big overgrown gappy Hawthorn hedges (with saw and excavator) , in a something like a Midlands style, to successfully provide instant impenetrable boundaries, for LA's and FC. Again, worked brilliantly.

I remember buying my first 2511, I think, most of ten years ago now. As I picked up the saw, I remarked to the dealer: I'll be needing a replacement exhaust cover in a few months by the look of them. But just one, in all that time! I think that's the only part I've ever put on the saw, apart from chains !? Stunningly reliable

After a year's use with mine, I'd say you'll find that you get used to it, within a week or two. But do avoid/be extremely careful when cutting with the top-side of the bar... it does have really lethal kick back. Always use cut resistant gloves AND sleeves. No 'one handing ' ever ! The set-up on the equivalent 40v Makita pruning saw however, is much nicer to use. Tho the 18v Makita version is a bit underwhelming for professional use IMO. The Sthil AGT40 was OK, too.

Covex, the office at MDL POWER UP have printed their own (brief) paper manual, in English, if you need one. -I doubt you'd need it tho! I really can't see any chance of making clean, normal-sized chippings using this machine, sadly. I'm now looking at the more expensive G l & d chipper, with tracks -but no feed roller. 🙄

So yesterday I had a chipper demo over at MDL Power up, in Carlisle. Also present, was a well-known contributor to this site, and his hound.. From the demo -and subsequent discussions with MDL's office manager, it only now transpires that this 4'' tracked chipper is actually designed for the production of wood-pellet feedstock ! -No, NOT wood chipping!? So it's great at very slowly turning 1'' to 3'' diameter branches into saw dust-like particles -that do happily blow everywhere... We didn't bother trying to chip 4'' hawthorn or cypress, that would be just asking too much, I think. In an effort to produce some actual wood chippings, I swiftly removed the substantial main screen -but no real change, just as covex said above. We then proceeded to remove the 8 off swinging drum hammers, leaving just the two chipping blades. Surprisingly, there was still no change to the particular size output... It has many plus points -but is useless for my needs, unless I diversify into pellet production ! In defence of the unit, the engineer did insist on turning the hydraulic feed-speed down to a snails pace.. 😏

PeteB and Dan, I'd 100% agree with you, re: supporting UK/EU manufacturing, every time -I always detest/avoid buying Chinese goods or tools.. I'd actually spoken with the Greenmech designer/director about two potential improvements to the CS100, prior to likely buying one (-and he was already independently considering one of the mods, then ). But that was 2 years ago now, and sadly, it's evidently gone nowhere, in the light of recent sad takeover news there.. So, against all my principals, it's likely to be the Chinese/MDL chipper ( itself a copy of a Japanese machine !), the best replacement for my small chipper. It has the valuable addition (to me) of a feed roller and tracks, over the M500 JoBeau unit. 🤔😒

Oh yes -a 3D printed stiff-one, that sounds like a winner now, especially for those older climbers amongst us... Is anyone offering to model the prototype? Perhaps Kram or Alex might patent it: The Handy Stiffy Mk1 😆 Sorry, I'll get my coat now..

Well yes, maybe its crap when compared to a bigger tracked 6'' Forst/Jensen/Timber wolf/Greenmech etc However -it's smaller, lighter, suitable for those awkward little 'back garden' type jobs -and significantly, it costs a fraction of the others listed.. I don't suppose it'll last 25 years like my current Cramer and Timber wolf, but hey, horses for courses !

So I tried a welded addition/modification to the metal ring that's supplied with the standard saw lanyard, to try and hold the ring at 90° to lanyard. I think it might work, with some more dabbling, but too busy to sort it, currently. I also noticed on Sorbus marketing photos a rigid alloy-looking ring, that fitted onto the rear attachment point of a top handled Sthil saw. However, I couldn't find this on their website anywhere ? It looked useful. I think the clip on your dcs2500 is the gold standard, tho. I've put a screen shot up of something like the Sorbus device.

Thanks for your correction -I didn't realise it was actually a 10cm thick branch . So, that's actually quite good productivity, for a machine powered only by a 13Hp engine.. When I quizzed the Carlisle agents, they were insistent that their bigger 25Hp engine unit made no discernable difference to chipping performance, only to tracking speed up an incline. Hence they would only now sell the 13Hp engined units. Perhaps I'd better get up to Carlisle, to test out the demonstration unit.

I've noticed these things only usually get stuck when: you're under pressure to crack on.. Or the clients talking to me about something/hanging around/being a pain Or when I'm looking forward to an early Friday afternoon finish... Pretending to be some patient Zen Master tree worker has no effect either! 🤦‍♂️

It looks fairly slow operating in the video, only chipping a 2/3'' diameter branch -can you not increase the feed-in speed any more? Also, I thought that the internal grill could be removed, to give a larger chip size? Not too impressed -I guess it's only powered by a 13hp engine tho. 🤷‍♂️

Hmm.. sounds worrying! I had been meaning to go and trial a Power-up unit, at MDL in Carlisle, in the absence of any useful user feedback on here.. I spoke to one Scottish landscaper who still liked his unit, after a year. So I travelled up to the Carlisle yard and saw their demo unit, but there wasn't any branches available for a working trial, that time. Whilst the tracking controls seemed rather counter intuitive, it actually otherwise appeared to be a fairly well thought out design(!), with the option of a Loncin engine instead of B&S powered version. I think a year of hard work is the only way to get a clue to it's performance. It makes a very good value for money offering, on paper only, perhaps!? Keep us posted with your progress, please?

Some people prefer tea-bagging. Allegedly..

For fast growing evergreen screening, I'd suggest Scots Pine, or maybe even Eucalyptus (if you're free to use non-natives ?), they grow like stink !

With the background knowledge, subtle questions and a name like Jimmy Jugerlugs, it has to be a wind-up.

I used a 2.2SVe X Trail for light off roading and towing up to 2.5 tons. Used daily, for family trips, including to France etc. It had heated seats, sunroof and all the extras (-which I was convinced would break, but we're actually really great!) Paid just £4k and had it for 10 years..! A superb reliable 'compromise' type 4x4 vehicle. Land-rover and Landcruiser are solid capable work horses, that always hold their value well.. not cheap to fuel or tax tho. Always thought a (high-spec) Skoda Yeti might make a more modern alternative to the X-Trail, who likes them on here?

Pardon my ignorance, but I've never heard of a 'soft shackle' before -is this basically meaning threading a rope through the centre eye ? Also: Kram, how much do they really weigh and cost -they look like light alloy components from the photo? 🤔

Well done. Pretty amazing value at that price -so just sew your own pocket etc on, for that money!? I think my Strauss (vented) Class A's around £130? measure up pretty well against my Pfanner Vents -around £300+, from memory..

Really sorry to hear about the loss of all this gear -you must be really gutted... Well done for listing out all the details of it too -if it's any consolation, you'll now have lots of Arbtalk's 'eyes' looking out for it. Also, a useful reminder for me -and all of us, to be mindful of our vehicle security/complacency!

And apparently they have now superceded Land-rover's, in the most stolen vehicle category ! -I'm not sure if this is really true, but you'd do well to consider vehicle security, if you buy one ?