Paul in the woods

Interesting thread. I've run General Grabber AT2s on my small 4x4 for 7 years now and not really had a problem. New they were fine in the snow, although I tended to avoid driving in snow and ice as there were too many other people skidding all over the place. They've been fine on wet and very muddy/slurry covered roads and have only just started to struggle on very muddy tracks due to wear. They've don't do motorway miles and are narrow at 225/70 R15. Sorry, not much help for the original question.

Thank you both. It's not that cold here so I don't think it's the weather. It's the first time I've tached a saw so I'm learning what to do. So, tach after following the warm up procedure rather than taching a very hot saw after cutting a ton of logs? The other thing that surprises me is how uneven the revs are but I'm much more used to cars and mowers.

In Woodworks' case a pension might be better as he may not be saving a vast amount and with savings and state pension may not have much taxable income in retirement. It would be worth getting an estimate of his state pension and doing some sums.

You can shop around for an annuity and not all providers make huge profits on them. £5k a year from £100k sounds about right as your life expectancy at 65 will be around another 20 years (100 / 20 = 5). The problem at the moment, well for the last decade, has been low interest rates.

I've been checking the revs on my little Echo saw, I followed the carb adjustment procedure for bringing the saw up to temp which involves a couple of minutes of switching from idle to full throttle to idle etc. Then checked the max revs which were about 12,000, so under the max revs listed in the user guide of 12,500. So far so good. However, I decided to check them again after using the saw for a bit of logging and noted the max revs were over 12,500 although only by 100rpm. I assume this is to be expected, i.e. after a fair bit of use the revs may well be higher than when a saw is tuned at service? Also would a saw be able to cope better with revving slightly over maximum revs if a good quality 2-stroke oil is used?

Who was that with if you don't mind saying. First thing to know is the ISA is just a savings vehicle and so is a pension. Once your money is in there you can save it in various things which will have their own risks and rewards. So you could save £100 in each and invest them in very similar funds; some will be very low risk and low growth, others offer a chance of a much higher growth rate but there's a risk of losing what you put in.

Depends what you mean about financial advice, the government site I posted to explains what options there are to save, not what current share, bond, ETF or whatever to save in. As they wrote the laws they seem a reasonable place to start unless you know of somewhere better?

How much do you know? Although I bet there's loads of people in your situation I couldn't find any specific advice when I had a look. I expect the main decision is do you invest in a pension or ISA, both have their good and bad points. You could start off looking through the Governments advice service and get an estimate of what your pension will be. https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/categories/pensions-and-retirement Then decide how much you think you can save each month. Take care if you decide to pay for advice.

Have you tired lighting a small fire and then feeding it once it gets going? I tend to place a small log at the back and then build a small pile of thin kindling, get that going and then add some larger bits and then some small logs (only takes a couple of mins). Also have you tried just using dry shavings and very dry kindling, i.e. no paper? I sometimes find you get a fair bit of smoke with paper and when I have some wood shavings handy that works better.

Thanks for the link Sean, that'll be dinner time viewing over the next few weeks. Some interesting and useful films.

I suppose I would be regarded as a domestic user and I do like the convenience of Aspen 2 in 5l cans. However, I've been using a fair bit of Aspen 4 this year and the dealers that stock it are all tucked out of the way. It would be much easier for me if a larger shop, such as B&Q, or even a petrol station stocked it so I could pick it up when I'm out and about, rather than making a special trip. That wouldn't help independent dealers but I expect it would increase Aspen sales - a tricky one for you Mr Kit.

Which one is called hinge?

@Jamespepperpot , is that last stump Birch? Looks like a decorative timber or was it rotten?

They look like bay trees to me, the dead leaves on the ground are bay shaped rather than beech. I used to see quite a few good sized bay trees (10m at a guess) growing around London.

Thanks Bill, I think the appropriate workshop manual would be a wise investment when the times comes. I was after a more general book to start with, this one seems to be popular and well reviews so I'll take a punt on it: "Two-Stroke Engine Repair and Maintenance" by Paul Dempsey

A complete guess, Onion Cedar? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owenia_cepiodora

Can anyone recommend some books for someone new to repairing and maintaining chainsaws and brushcutters etc? I've done a fair bit of car maintenance with a suitable Haynes manual but Haynes do not seem to do one aimed specifically at chainsaws. I also know there's plenty of info online but prefer a reference book when I'm in the shed with the machine in parts! The plan will be to get something cheap and tatty to practice on. Thanks.

I was just going to say it is listed as used in carpentry and turning. It has been used for charcoal and firewood according to this: http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=hippophae+rhamnoides It would be good to hear how you get on with it if you do keep some for firewood.

Any signs of the adult vine, or other, weevils about?

Sounds a bit fishy.

It might be worth you looking through the management plan details on the Forestry Commission web site before you buy. When I did the management plan for my woodland it did help to focus your mind on what you want to do with the wood. Take a look here: https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-9bmjwe I actually did my plan using the myForest site: https://sylva.org.uk/myforest/ The pines look like Scots to me as well and I have a few of similar age on my woodland. I quite like them as part of a mixed woodland and as has been said I would have thought anything you get for them would be eaten up by the costs of replanting and protecting new trees. I don't know if there's a small scale forester near you who might be interested in taking some of the thinnings for firewood? I've not found it the easiest to process as my trees are fairly knotty but it seasons quickly. If you can afford to buy the wood I'd own it for a year before deciding to do too much to it.

Did you ask the owners if it has ever flowered? It looks like an Azara, possibly Azara microphylla which is also known as a Box-leaf azara. It grows into a small tree and has scented yellow flowers in the spring. Pictures of the bark also look similar.

Is it an axe or some form of agricultural implement? It looks like some sort of hand plough / hoe type thingy?

As part of the felling licence app you need to agree to safeguarding European Protected Species, or agree to obtaining a licence, both of which I would guess would have been refused in this case. Perhaps it's easier to convict someone for not obtaining a felling licence rather than damage done to EPSs?

They're often used by builders of multiple houses/estates etc so the area keeps up appearances until they've sold everything. I gather there are cases where builders have enforced them. In your case I expect your owners were being pragmatic and even if they thought they would win a case they would still incur costs. As for the original post, would business rates apply if you're doing more than parking a van and storing tools?