cornish wood burner

Obviously learnt from my guy

Better than the option tho. You spend a good percentage of your life working so if it something you enjoy I would go for it. From a very very old git who enjoys his job.

This was exactly my point in the brake press operator story. If he had been thinking rather than blindly following instructions he would still have a full set of knuckles on his fingers. Guards and PPE etc are no substitute for thought.

Great wrapping.Probably worried about the dust in the lorry. Some of the replies reminded me when I used to work for a high tech company that used to have a lot of government contracts, was big on heath and safety,accountability etc etc. A brake press operator managed to bypass the guard and cut the ends of his figures off. He was off work for about 6 weeks and when he returned there was a big enquiry as to how he did it. Present at the investigation were, his foreman, the safety officer, the engineering director and the managing director.He was asked how he managed to do it, so he showed all present. However this time he trimmed his figures down to the second knuckle. Be carefull out there!

I'm intreged. Do they uprate suspension,brakes and chassis. Do you then need type approval. I know of down rating but I never known anyone who has had truck/pickup up rated. What's involved?

As you say good small tractors are hard to find. I like to think we know what we are looking at, but still pot luck. Cracked blocks on the fords, dropped liners on the Massey's, heads and clutches on the DBs. Minefield Buy cheap buy twice is what springs to mind. We spent more than we setout to do and ended up with new. If you can it is probably the best long term. Service it and it should last.

Youngster with ambition then. Sorry at my age you're all young Do you need transport of some kind around the wood to carry tools,wood etc.Small four wheel drive wood carrier might be an interesting project. Go cart sounds good, not with saxo power I presume. Save the saxo for the road going version

A winch just needs low gearing, little power unless you intend to drag trees across a field. Not something I would recommend building as a learning experience. Very stringent checks on winches and lifting for good reason. Don't get me wrong I approve of what you set out to do but rather than build something that does not work or worse hurts you, why not improve your knowledge and skills FIRST. The internet is full of information or you might join an evening class if any near you. If you can weld you might consider improving your skill. Much more to it than sticking two pieces of metal together on a bench. Positional welding, different materials/rods strenghts of materials/welds, distortion and how to avoid it etc. Sorry if I am wrong but you sound as if you are early in your career, little experience but keen to learn. Presumably you make your living from wood and engineering would be a hobby. I am the opposite but with 40 years plus in engineering I am still learning. Have you a workshop? What skills do you have? What tools do you have? All these things will determine what project you can undertake. This might not be the answer you were looking for but I hope it helps. Good luck

Not a BT fan either, charged us twice for looking for an intermittent fault. Problem is it IS intermittent and is not there when they investigate.One engineer phoned up to say they checked the line and could find no problem, line started cracking and he could hardly hear us. Still no joy though.

Cheap enough but thanks for the heads up on the pebble dash. I think I will stick with my sthil blade even though it is more expensive.

Mulcher on my toro is good. It is the pick up and coping with long grass I have a problem with. For you info it is a 21inch super bagger alloy deck and honda engine. (which starts very easily by the way)

Cannot comment on the mowers you mentioned, but one thing I have learnt from the 21 inch toro I have just bought is that a mulch facility limits cutting and pickup of long grass. I knew it would to some extent but I was not prepared for just how rubbish it would be in heavy work. Might be ok if you use side eject, but I havent tried it. I do like the mulch though, no bag to empty but it means cutting every week. Probably not suitable for contract use as I expect you will get all the rough work.

Its not what I would call a compact but we have recently bougt a Taffe which is an Indian copy of a massey. Comes from the same factory apparently with most bits interchangable. Old technology MF240 so easy to work on. Seems fine so far. We did a bit of investigation before we bought one and only heard good reports. Cheaper than a Kubota like for like. No worries of cracked blocks like the Fords. If you are thinking 40 hp ish and can carry a couple of ton then it might be worth a look.

In spite of the toaster/fan jokes (made a lot of us smile anyway)you would have a reasonable amount of torque through the gearbox and diff. You could use an extra gearbox for more torque or power something direct from the engine. However governing engine speed might be a problem. Petrol power would make it expensive to run as well. To be quite honest I think it would be much more trouble than its worth. I would have thought you would be better off selling for spares if you can. Do they still do banger racing, might be a bit scary in a saxo especially if rusty.Interesting to watch though.

And the climber that uses it. Don't upset him tho!!

Rubber cone sounds like one we used to measure combine drum speed in the 60's Counter and stop watch or more modern with a proper dial? Of course I was VERY young then.

Silly question I expect but I presume you have checked for a grub screw on top of the key. Sometimes they are at 180 deg or even two of them

1Can you drill the wheel centre two or three places near the centre boss, make up/adapt a puller using bolts thru the holes you have drilled and pull it off that way? 2If no joy a tap on the end of the puller (not if hydraulic of course) 3 would be oxyacetlene or propane cutting or welding torch with pressure on the puller. Apply heat quickly to minimize heat transfer to the shaft. It will come then

The Avant would be better at ploughing as well. You can track across my lawn any time you wish to with your mini digger but I would only allow an Avant on it in the few dry summer months. Not familiar with the bobcat mini but they have made a few skid steers so I would think they must make good gear. Transport via tractor and trailer presumably. I think you have made the right choice congrats. Hope you enjoy it.

You've had some good advice on page 6 of this post. I would just like to add that all things being equal you will find a larger machine easier to drive.

A very wise old owner of an excavation company once said to me "If you have a job to do and you need a 30 tonne swinger but think a 15 tonner might do, always go for the right machine. A 30 tonne might be more to hire but it will save you money because it will do the job in a 1/3 of the time. I have always thought of a 1to 1.5 ton machine as an easy alternative to a pick and shovel nothing more. As been said previously a big jump in performance when you are over 2.5 ton. I dont think a flail is a good idea at all on a swinger especially the sizes you are considering. I think you need to decide what you want to do with the machine and pick one to suit. Using the wrong / too small a machine will damage your machine, patience, and reputation. Wheels or tracks get the right weight for what you are going to use it for.

It would have a lot less ground pressure than anything on wheels.The only problem you might have is when it turns but if you are carefull and do not slew it on the spot then I reckon you should be fine. If you or the homeowner are worried if the ground is wet/ soft then put something on his lawn. Matting,ply etc. We do a lot of digging in confined spaces with small diggers and it is suprising what a 3 ton machine will do.

Brillant Matt Can't compare to yours but here's a few more The socket set wilh the one you want missing. Normally found in the resident muppets toolbox I quote "Its only one what's the problem" The cross head screw that needs to come out but has been put in too deep and has had a neat countersink machined in the head. Again the resident muppet probably had an input in this. Welding gloves with a hole you did not know about, but you do now!!! New brake pads fitted but discovering whoever did it did not pump them to take up the slack. Workers who ask you to move a car they suposedly have finished then laugh when it does not stop and runs over something valuable

I was working in a workshop (Cornwall) with a heavy steel door at the time and vividly remember seeing this door bending as if there was a dozer outside trying to get in. Sounded like it as well. We only lost a few slates from the leading edge of our house roof so we were luckier than most. The village was without power for a week and almost all the garden sheds were flat packed either by trees or the wind. Most houses lost some slates or worse. Roofers made a killing that month. Only helped with the clear up on my old mans farm but it certainly thinned out the weak rooted trees.Kept us in firewood for a year or so.