The avantgardener

I have had very good establishment success using Biochar with the backfill. I think the product I used was called ‘Carbon Gold’, it was a compost/biochar mix. If you can wait a bit you could get a larger field grown bare root specimen for a lot less than a container grown one, it is then all about the aftercare.

A book on basic grammar would be more useful.

YOU wrote this, you wrote it in the first person so the ‘We’ means YOU. YOU are saying that YOU will follow suit. If your not, that makes two of us then.

Yeah, I quite often leave a hard track and take a 10 minute drive to the cutting site along rides where a portaloo couldn’t be delivered or serviced, if the loo is a 10 minute drive away no one would use it so what’s the point. I suspect this idea will develop into a ‘recommended’ action if the site location/access was suitable and the length of job and gang was large, which doesn’t apply to the bulk of smaller operators, who would enforce this anyway if not on an F.C. site? If I have a 6 acre block of Chestnut to coppice for a private woodland owner and I decide to drop in and out on it over a couple of months with one or two cutters, who is going to make me get a welfare unit and who’s going to stop me cutting if I haven’t, or is the ‘portaloo clause’ going to be inspected on every felling license application?

I still think this is Horseshit and just because some guy on a HS day told you it was on the cards doesn’t mean you are able to predict the future and state this is fact, your entitled to believe what you want but show me some written info from HSE, for one, I don’t think there are enough portaloos in the country to supply every working forestry site, and who is going to police this? I already have water in my truck, the truck is clean and I eat my lunch in it, I generally shit before work and take a piss as need be, I don’t require hot and cold running water and a flushable loo and won’t be walking off any cutting site in the future because of the lack of it. I am also old enough to remember cutting with no tickets and minimal PPE, some things have changed for the better, things change, fact, and all change is not progression, but me and one cutter doing a four day job having to supply ourselves a welfare station isn’t going to happen and no one is going to stop the job, but as you put it ‘it is coming and we will have to follow suit’ over the top you go then son, I won’t be following you.

What a load of horseshit, HSE making compulsory requirements for hot and cold water and toilets, no one in the history of Forestry has ever stated that a toilet is required on any job lasting more than three days and what has this got to do with refresher training?

Like this do you mean?

Severing the hold with an angled cut from the top creates the ‘point’ from the which the dogs tooth cut gets its name, if the tree hangs on its way down and sheers the hinge it has a tendency to come backwards, the dogs tooth acts as a safety ‘stop’. Coming straight out of the bore with a back cut removes this and also can create other issues, the tree sometimes breaks the hold before being fully severed and the saw is pulled with the tree being still in the kerf.

Scott Fraser Training in North Kent does it, excellent Instructor with a wealth of experience and knowledge, a bit of a drive but definitely worth it.

Haydock

I run my 550xp’s on Sugi Hara narrow kerf bars from Rob D, they are excellent. I bought the 95 TXL Speedcut and Husqvarna SP33G X-Cut to compare, the Speedcut was great out of the box but went downhill from there, weird random hard cutters when sharpening and the steel seemed really soft on others, lost its edge quickly too (I tried more than one chain) the Husqvarna chain is better in every way.

Failing that, you could speak with English Woodlands Forestry, they have a JCB 325 Forestry Mulcher, not sure of its capabilities, but worth having a chat with them about it.

Hi Nick, contact Will Clarke at Direct Enviro Services, he can give you a good idea of coverage/timescale with a machine/ mulching head etc 07823 774096 I trained him and some of his guys. I saw one of Aspen Bobs jobs over at Westerham a while back, really impressed with the rate of rhododendron clearance and the finished result they managed to achieve.

Hi Tom, I managed to kick the top half of the trio brake handle off after a tumble, just works like a standard one now, you can remove the pin that the two parts pivot on. if you are intending to remove the whole lot let me know and I will take it off your hands, I’ve had a 550xp trio brake that I bought in Germany for three years now, no issues, I find it really useful when snedding conifer, I am Forestry based though. David

I bought a 562xpg this week at Haynes Agricultural, they had three 572xp’s in, all sold, one to Nick at Elmsdown Forestry apparently.

I never tighten mine up any more than usual and the oil cap is always stiff, using a Combi Spanner in the slot has worn it out, just thought it would be an idea to see if a tooless one was available before I replaced it with a standard one, tried the 540 too yesterday.

550xp does definitely not fit, I have two 550’s, the fuel cap will fit, the oil cap/entrance is smaller on the 346xp, some if the domestic stuff has smaller caps etc, just wondered if anyone actually knew a model, will call Skyland and see.

Thanks Darrin, I can get one that fits the fuel, the oil one is smaller, wondered if any of the domestic end saws may have a smaller filler cap?

Does anyone know if any of the newer tooless filler caps for Husqvarna models can be fitted to a 346xp, if so which ones?

Looks like Cupressus Sempervirens to me.

Contact Scott at www.scottfrasertraining.co.uk he runs LOLER Courses for instructors, he should be able to tailor something to suit.

I have a 346xp that was ported by Spud that runs 13” bar, 8 pin with Stihl micro chisel chain, it is fantastic. I run it alongside a 550xp with 15 bar when cutting Sweetchestnut coppice. The 346 has an insane pick up and bogs down less when lowering the stumps with the guidebar buried. Wanted the smallest saws I could that will deliver decent power due to the amount of movement required when cutting fencing products and working on inclines.

There is a brand new MS361 on eBay at the minute, will cost a days wages more than a 560xp, had mine in my hands for 90% of the time for 12 years, sold it to an Aussie guy I was Assessing when his saw packed up mid flow, regretted it straight away, saw him last week, it’s still rocking!

Hi Flarris, could you give me a few more details please? What volumes are you cutting, where, when, how much are you paying, tonnage rate or day rate?

There are a couple at Bedgebury Pinetum that have gone the same way, completely brown in a matter of weeks, can't be felled and inspected due to the proximity to HV cables, awaiting a shut down.