Hornbeam

I know this is an old thread, but back pain doesn't go away! I've used a cheap and cheerful Stihl double shoulder harness for years (FS55 strimmer) ... and suffered lower back pain for years! Decided action was needed and bought an (expensive!) Husqvarna Balance X full body harness ... - brilliant! Very comfortable; back pain much reduced... lf only I'd bought one 30 odd years ago... 😞 The Stihl breast plate release button soon broke (it's now a turned oak button!) so it'll be interesting to see how long the Husky lasts! They probably come out of the same Chinese factory!... Stihl for strimmers; Husqvarna for chain-saws... and harnesses!

Settled on a Barnel B88T telescopic... so far so good... but my geriatric Spearwell does the job more easily, quicker and it's much lighter. Progress, eh?!

Thanks lads, as ever. The ARS looks ideal as I much prefer a steel rod to string! (I have a Marvin on my pole-set but am scared of losing it when the string snags/snaps... been there!... besides, the Marvin's single pulley has poor mechanical advantage).

Does anyone still make long-reach, lever-action tree-branch loppers? By this I mean a 9" lever at the bottom connected to the 5ft-6ft distant cutter head by a stout steel rod - much like a squeezable floor mop sponge! The great advantage of this type over the useless standard nylon cord type is that one can easily wiggle oneself free if the branch traps the cutter head. Not seen them for many years. My 1960s example is, like me, getting old and decrepit!

Ah ha! I see that Westwood now do an open fronted 'high grass mulching deck' (as opposed to prissy manicured lawn-deck) for their T60 and T80 garden tractor-mowers which sounds ideal: - it has a towing hook for scarifiers/chain harrow... shopping trolley! - local agents and readily available… unlike commercial Grillos, AS, etc - is affordable! - well £4000 ouch! but.. - how durable are they? at 3-4 cuts p/a over 10 years it should outlive me! - does the front axle have enough articulation for mole-hills/rabbit holes? Anyone?

Thanks again lads. The tow-behind flail option is not really practical... I need a 'compact' all in one mower. I've looked at Stiga Parks/Husqvarna types but I have my doubts about their ability, durability and concerns over the low deck design in cutting tall vegetation. The Grillo/AS type is certainly the best option (I'll have to rattle my piggy bank harder!)… any other makes to consider/reject: Ausa, Etesia... ? From an arthritic perspective a self-propelled walk-behind Hayter Condor/Ferris is little different to a strimmer albeit I'd be walking as opposed to shuffling/stumbling! Don't get old!

Thanks lads: I appreciate my price-range is a bind (I still use a 1960s Clifford-Howard 500cc diesel rotavator power unit ... but they don't make things to last these days)… and ride on garden mowers are an expensive rip off! I'm slowly returning the old orchard to its natural heath/meadow, preserving self-sown (squirrel/jay sown!) Sussex oaks... but local farmers/contractors would simply top the lot and not worry about pesky oak saplings standing in their way! What realistic budget should I be looking at? The major issue is flattening the tall vegetation by the cutting deck skirt preventing its proper cutting; reciprocating scythes don't like rough ground!... and nylon strimmer cords are forever breaking! Perhaps I just need a new air of legs….

I'm getting old and arthritic (70 as near as damnit!) and now need - nay deserve! - a ride-on mower for 2-1/2 acres of 'rough' meadow/old orchard plus a small bit of informal lawn. I long used a walk-behind powered rotary and a Stihl strimmer/brush-cutter... but my joints are aching badly. I usually 'top' at 3" about 3 times a year from mid-June to preserve the wild flowers and habitat for reptiles/insects, but the docks/nettles/grass/bracken is about 12" tall... and what with the rabbit holes/mole hills, that rules out a standard Mountfield/Westwood type ride-on mower's floating deck.... or does it? Are they worth a punt and do they have enough beam axle articulation? It needs a towing eye for a small harrow/leaf rake etc (I usually use a Fordson Major). The other major problem with arthritis is seating position! Ride-on mowers seem to be designed for dwarfs and contortionists! I need an adjustable, sit-up and beg seating position! Any recommendations (l'm pensioner so £2,000 is about my limit!) - l've tried geese... and Biddenden cider! I'm in sunny Sussex. Barry

Thanks, Just seen your reply which came after I popped up to Honey Bros and brought a 3-pole Marvin set plus a spare head which takes Silky Hayabusha blades. First impressions... well made, but expensive! At least I can now fit a decent blade as I'm not impressed with Marvin blade, though it might get better with use... but what happened to a decent kerf? The pole saw is rigid with 2 x 6ft poles (my Hazel rod is lighter and far more rigid!) but with the 3 x 6ft pole is certainly noticeably wobbly and a tad too bendable at that length. I did buy a spare 6ft pole but I'm dubious about trying to cut a branch with 4 poles! Me thinks I'll have to train a friendly squirrel to gnaw through top branches... Meanwhile I'll grow some more, much longer hazel rods... TTFN

OK - the prologue: I'm in my 60s, no longer allowed up ladders... but need a long pole saw - ie: over 16ft/5m. I have for the last 40 years been using a 12ft/3.5m hazel rod with an old pruning saw clamped to the end. It works a treat, can happily cut through a 3" oak branch takes a lot of welly (and 3 Weetabix) without flexing or complaint. But stout, straight hazel rods don't come much longer! I am sorely tempted by the Marvin set - 3 x 6ft glass-fibre poles - but am wary of telescopic alloy sets such as the Silky etc because of potential buckling/jamming. 1: How rigid are these Marvin glass-fibre poles and how many poles can I fit before they flex too much and no longer cut? I am looking at 4x 6ft poles (5.2m) 2: Is there any advantage in the foam filled, more expensive Jameson or the hollow Honey Bros Park set - they all seem to be 1-1/4" dia poles now. 3: Any problems with cutting a 3" dia branch at full reach? They seem to suggest a capacity of only around 1-1/2" to 2" before fear of jamming? 4: How good is the Marvin saw blade? Any useful advice before I squander the £200 piggy-bank? Many thanks!

I have made traditional wheelbarrow wheels with shrunk-on tyres; they are easy to make. But larger wheels require a lot of careful thought and you need to allow a fractional gap between each felloe and make sure the spoke is fractionally shorter than the full radius to allow compression. All wheelwrights have a wheel collapse when tyring sometime in their career! It really is a case of practice makes perfect! The tyre circumference depends on whether it is hearth-welded or arc welded as one 'absorbs' metal and the other adds metal. Practice! As to the camber, it much depends on the load. Elm is usually used for hubs as it doesn't split with multiple mortices, but hornbeam is fine for small wheels/especially 2-spoke wheelbarrow wheels. Oak spokes and ash felloes are usual but much depends on the loads and road surface. There are many different county styles, which best suit local terrain, and or good reason. There is a brilliant book, 'The English Country Waggon' (I think) by Geraint Jenkins - I have a copy somewhere..... You really need to talk to wheelwright - as you may as well do the job methodically and properly! You will enjoy the experience, believe me! Good luck!

The most obvious first question is what are you going to use it for, and what type of finish: durable or pretty? If for storing water, and its oak, then no need to treat at all! It will automatically weather. If for plants, then no real need to treat either other than linseed oil/turnpentine. If dry goods, then why not again use linseed oil/turpentine. Teak oil is an expensive and unnecessary overkill, as is Danish oil. If indoors, then varnish.

They've been and almost gone in Sunny Sussex... autumn is on its way!

Further to Openspaceman's comment: ineffecient in energy losses in converting mechanical energy into electrical ouput via dynamo, transmission loss (DC vs AC), battery drainage and then the huge environmental damage in mining, transporting and processing rare earth minerals to make the most efficient of batteries... phew!.. and replacing same in 5 years time. Does anyone know how much a set of batteries for an electric car costs? A wind pump lifts water to a reservoir... even a local water tower... for 'free' on demand energy! We have a wind farm on Romney Marsh (and an active Romney Marsh Mountain Rescue Team too!) which will simulatanously boil 6,000 kettles in Ashford on a typical day. This is nowhere near the 30,000 'homes' it was planned to serve! So where do they build the shortfall farms and one for Rye, and its reserve farm for when the wind is not blowing here... the mind fair boggleth!

I've been a cyder drinker all my life (good old Bob Luck!). We engineers understand the problem, but politicians only understand how to protect their votes and pensions! As we all know, wind can produce free energy but only if the air pressure zones (high/low) and temperature diffentials (sea/land) are in the right place at the right time... which they rarely are, especially in mid-winter when we need on-demand energy the most and even then we need steady winds, which means the Jet-stream behaving itself!! But wind will never produce energy on demand - ask any 18thC/19thC flour miller! So, we have to rely on coal/nuclear/gas being burnt 24/7/365 regardless. The only way wind or solar comes into its own is in water irrigation systems and stored energy systems - pumping water to reservoirs for on-demand hydro-electricty, or inefficiently charging hugely expensive and environmentally damaging low voltage (24V) accumulators. End of story! Now try and explain that to a 'green' polictician! Right, who's nicked my cyder flaggon?