David Cropper

I assume that nobody has heard of this bloke then?

Just received a message on my Face Book page from someone called David Moody of ABC Stumpgrinding offering grinder teeth for sale. Anybody know him as I have Googled him but no results? I was going to post a thread asking where I could buy Yellow jacket teeth in the UK who would deliver to France. I ordered a couple of sets from Vermeer France and it took 10 days to get here. Vermeer UK aren't allowed to sell kit abroad; you have to buy from the Vermeer franchise in the country where you live. it only took MultiTip 4 days from ordering to the teeth arriving here, brilliant service.

It means Mardi, French for Tuesday.

I've just had another look at the weather forecast for my region of France, 39degrees on Tuesday! Sod that! A reading day I think. Wednesday I am grinding out 60 stumps so I think the idea of a parasol will be a good one; only going to be 34degrees.

Hello sailor! If you are ex matelot then surely you mean "fit blokes wearing very little"?

Good for you mate and good luck. One thing about ex squaddies is that we will have a go at anything!

Hi Jon. I haven't a clue about carp fishing but our daughter has a 42 acre carp lake over here in France. If you want to see some monster carp and maybe get onto their Facebook page then you should look on their website. Chateau Moulin | Carp fishing holidays | fishing France | Limoges, Limousin, France They would be pleased to give you advice on what kit you need. My son in law speaks the same language as you, he's from Dorset so you should be able to understand him! They have lots of fishermen from there and in the West Country so you may get a bit of local fishing by you.

Hi Laurie. I have sent you a private message.

I use a DR Brushcutter and agree about saving the legs. I am picking mine up tomorrow after an engineer friend of mine has fitted a footplate to stand on, it will have two wheels and be flexible to adjust to the terrain. I tried to get a sulky from Ebay to fit but all the other major brands are suitable for fitting, apparently not DR. I have cut a hectare of waist high rough grass in a day with it but your legs don't half feel it when you've finished, especially in temperatures in the high 30's! I also have bought the finishing mower attachment which gives a 42inch cut leaving a good finish. I intend using the brushcutter with footplate this week on a small paddock, first cut of the year. I also use for brambles an old Turner pedestrian flail mower which knocks them down and shreds them to almost nothing.

I used to hunt a pack of beagles when I was a in the Army and one time near Dorchester one of the hounds wandered off chasing a roe. I found him eventually next morning and took him back to kennels where I left him in the office so the other hounds wouldn't have a go at him. Went back down two hours later to find he had vomited, I bagged it up as he was looking rough and took him to the vet. It turned out that someone had been laying paraquat laced rabbit guts around the farmer's field, he later informed me. He also said that he had lost two dogs and a cat to the poisoning and never said a word the day we were hunting on his land. We eventually lost five hounds in total. Nothing could be done, we dosed them with Vitamin B but that was it. That was 30 years ago but I still remember it as it was yesterday.

All of the above and then some Dr Lee. It didn't help when the client who I haven't seen for 4 years remarked that I had a bit more weight on me now, the bitch. Jesse, you were right ref the poor work position, it's not ideal. The chip containment is excellent, I save so much time not having to move crap out of the way every 5 minutes as with the 450. All the lads who advised me to sweep across slower and higher than before were spot on, a big difference today. Also I changed the teeth 180 degrees and that with the slower, higher position the grinding went well. The stumps were leylandi up to 60 centimetres diameter,cut down 2 years ago and were as hard as hell, again not an ideal trial after the first willow stump. The same again today but a different customer. Tomorrow is hazel clumps. Onwards and upwards.

Stu, not at all, you have given me good, honest advice in the past for which I am grateful and will accept it in the future. Besides if you had upset me I would have told you. Must be my time of the month.

Stu. I don't rely just on Darren, there are another 4 Brit tree surgeons and one French one who passes all their grinding jobs on to me. Don't forget that I am a one man band, with my advertising which is roughly €1500 per year I get more than enough work for my grinder plus the brushcutting, I don't have to worry about staff, business premises or the like. I tried the commune route but one French gang as it sewn up in my area. No mortgage and no debt, a very nice position to be in. Mick, a bit of a sweeping statement about you wouldn't touch a machine with a hydraulically driven head. Sounds to me like you have an opinion and that's the right one take it or leave it. For myself I will listen to other folks' advice, I wouldn't have asked the question in the first place, but you seem to go for the throat with your, shall we say forthright manner, to be kind. Your reputation precedes you. I had a decent day today having changed the teeth round and found the machine more to my liking. I'm a bloody minded sod and reading what you wrote makes me say I like the machine. I can take constructive comments but not patronising ones.

Good point well put Darren. Jesse, as to the poor working position I had the same problem when I bought the Predator. I couldn't in the first few minutes get used to the length of the machine. I was with Darren Shepherd on it's first job, I got him to spot for me so I could weigh up the position of the cutting wheel. After a while it was second nature to know exactly where to grind. I expect that after today's jobs, first one is small apple stumps then on to the next which is conifer hedge stumps, I should get more of an idea. That willow stump was a bugger as all the roots had to be taken out as well so may be starting with a new machine on a hard grind did give me a false impression. Saturday's work is two large hazel clumps on a steepish slope, this is where the Predator would have knackered me. Jo Beau are in Belgium, but as I said in a previous thread, the small chipper club, I bought a used M200 off a Brit, the prices here are more than I would pay from Dean. It's not an option in moving the Vermeer on, too costly. This has to be my last machine that I buy, I have already sold any of my body parts that I don't need to buy the Vermeer. Plus the local tree surgeons are waiting in the wings for me to snuff it to get their greasy hands on my kit.

Hi Jesse. I always my homework before I buy anything major and the only real moan about the Vermeer on an American forum was that it was a blatant copy of the Toro. Plus being made by Vermeer I assumed that I couldn't go wrong with a big name brand. I know that whatever brand is used you will have it's supporters and opponents, this is a bit of a downer I must admit. I didn't use it today, I was brushcutting, but will do tomorrow and give my opinions then. Skyhook ,yes it does have auto sweep, I saw on a previous thread from 2011, I think that you say disconnect it. I will keep going as it is now but will try your idea if it is still underpowered. I think that seeing as this is the first hydraulic grinder I have used, I will have to adjust my way of using it. I still think that I am trying it as I would the 450, sheer brute force. The Predator has nearly crippled me in the knee joints, I am not exaggerating. Darren Shepherd met me yesterday and saw what a bad state my knees are in. That's why I went for a machine that would keep me going without putting me off the road.

Hi Stu and Mick. The French clients that I have worked for have all excepted my quotes, no problem, it's getting the clients in the first place. I get passed a few from Darren of VTS and a couple of other lads I work with, plus pick a few up from word of mouth but my main client base is Brits and Dutch. I speak decent French having hunted with a pack of Harriers for 6 years, being the only Brit in the pack made sure I had to learn and fast, so the language doesn't hold me back.

Hi Jesse. Too late mate ,I've committed myself to the new one, all available cash gone. I transferred money from UK at a good exchange rate over to France, got a part ex from the local dealer and a decent price to buy the Vermeer covering the VAT as well. I looked at Dean's selection especially the JO Beau but were just too expensive with VAT for me to get. Can't get credit from UK companies as resident in France. If I sent it over to UK to sell I would end up out of pocket plus having to wait without a working machine. It's a case of cracking on with it. Who knows it may suit me, it bleeding well better suit me!

Shep, you should have told me the miserable sod's didn't do a brew. Don't forget one is enough for me, not like you and your old man ,one every 30 minutes. Glad you liked the grinder today. That customer who wasn't in today when I went down, rang up so I go back Saturday but he has agreed to the same price as before but only for half the work.

Hi Mick, depends which info you look at. Some say 25, which I thought at first it was, but now looking at the paperwork with the machine I find it's the 27hp. Apparently the 25 has a few problems, one of which is the head gasket blowing. When I had it repaired the mechanic looked on the internet for info and found the gasket problem. It blew in the "usual" spot. The 27 is the better version I believe.

I thought about the 252 but they all had a few hours on the ones I saw for sale and I was a bit windy of buying an unknown machine. My Predator 450 was brand new and took a hammering in the 2 and a half years I had it, I think you take a chance if you don't know the history of the machine. The Vermeer I bought was at a local salesroom bought to use as a hire machine, but as I have said before, the local French won't pay to grind out stumps, so it sat there for 12 months not being used. I knew what I was buying in this case. It looks a nice bit of kit but will lit do the business is all I care about. I have had another 7 jobs come in since I got it so it has to do a good job.

I have a diamond disc which I used on the multi tip teeth, bit of a job to do but I found that if the teeth weren't too bad then I got a decent edge to them. I have never used the yellow jacket teeth before so can't really compare them.

Thirsty yes, sweaty no.

To make matters worse yesterday, no brew or drinks were offered and it was 28 degrees. My mate was there on his digger and I asked him if he had had one, never been asked in 4 days of being there. I saw the tree surgeon today who dropped the willow and when I asked him about brews, he said the same thing, a dry site. Pillock never thought to tell me beforehand.

Thanks for that Gray Git, I have done pops before and didn't have a problem, found them very easy. I found yesterday that boredom was setting in after a couple of hours only using one hand on the joystick instead of wrestling the 450 about. At least the 450 kept me fit, now I suspect I'm going to have one callused hand, no dirty comments please, and a bigger belly than before. I could almost have read a book yesterday to keep me interested, a very strange experience. Got a badly sunburned neck as I didn't really move about enough.

I finally got my new grinder yesterday, a Vermeer SC30TX, the tracked one. I'm undecided if I like it. After trading in my Predator 450 thinking it would be more efficient and obviously easier on my joints, I felt that I was taking twice as long to do a stump. Fair enough I only did one large willow which I had started with the 450 before the head gasket blew, but it seemed an entirely different experience. The good old 450 would eat most stumps when the multi tip teeth were in good nick but as this was my first willow in 5 years of pretty regular grinding, maybe up to 4 days a week, I found that both machines were finding it hard going. Is willow a difficult grind? I seem to remember someone on here remarking that the hydraulic grinders seemed underpowered compared to belt driven. I found that I had to take thin slivers at each pass rather than the hefty slices with the 450, it seemed to want to jump about as though I was trying to cut too deep or the teeth were too worn. The Vermeer is 1 year old with only 15.5 hours on the clock, the yellow jacket teeth have only been used on one edge, don't look too bad, maybe I'm too used to the multi tip system to compare. I will turn the teeth tomorrow on the next job to see if it makes a big difference. Anyone have anything to similar experiences?