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Paul in the woods

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Everything posted by Paul in the woods

  1. Paul in the woods
    Can someone give me a rough idea about sizing a sawn plank of fresh wood if I know the planed dimensions I need when it's seasoned? From past experience I know if I order 20mm planks some might be about 18mm, then there's shrinkage and an allowance for warping. I'm after a finished size of 18mm x 225mm planks of western red cedar and possibly larch. Would ordering 25mm x 250mm sawn be sensible?
  2. Paul in the woods
    With my fruit trees I aimed to get the tops above deer browsing height and then tried to prune the tops down a little so I can stand some chance of picking the fruit (still need a ladder). Most of mine are planted in a clearing so they aren't forced up too much. My main problem is the wildlife (jays and squirrels) eating all the young fruit so I've never had a crop. I've got Wineberries, they do well and are spreading rapidly as the stems arch over and root. The fruit does escape the birds but I've not found it to be that tasty. Nice looking plants though. I expect the deer will love them as they've stripped all unprotected rubus in my wood.
  3. Paul in the woods
    The bark looks a bit like sumac but, like some of the other replies, the wood doesn't seem to match. What about privet?
  4. Paul in the woods
    Oven ready?
  5. Paul in the woods
    Because they can.
  6. Paul in the woods
    Crows foot socket on a torque wrench but I understand your point. I guessed hardly anyone would torque them but not having used hydraulic fittings when I googled tightening I came up with loads of comments about torquing them. I'll tighten them as suggested, finger tight and then a nip with a spanner. Thanks everyone.
  7. Paul in the woods
    This is probably a daft question but does anyone tighten their hydraulic fittings to a required torque or just 'tight enough'? I ask because I cannot get any details from the makers of the walking excavator I bought. I obviously don't want to spill oil about the place but I don't wish to damage the fittings. The fittings are steel coloured, with an approx 30° face, and probably M14 size (OD of the male thread is about 14mm). Female connector at the end of a hose and male on the cylinders. Can anyone suggest a sensible torque setting?
  8. Paul in the woods
    Apologies if I've worried you Wolfie, I've tried to find the place I read that but can't track it down. They may have confused 2-stroke oil which a number of people seem to have done. What puzzles me a little is I've not seen any motorbike oil that states it's also fine for machinery.
  9. Paul in the woods
    What oil do yo use? I read a comment that said don't use the bike 4-stroke oils but I can't find anything that's 10w-40 that's aimed at garden machinery.
  10. Paul in the woods
    You may have mentioned it once or twice. Thanks for your help.
  11. Paul in the woods
    I assume the police have contacted Echo UK to check? I registered mine for the warranty so if it's owner had registered theirs...
  12. Paul in the woods
    That's roughly what I thought, I just use Honda 10w30 oil in my Honda mower as it meets the API recommendation. I can't find 10w40 oil aimed at garden machinery which is why I was puzzled to see that recommended by the manufacturer and no mention of the API. As for the additives, any commonly found brand you'd recommend for a 4-stroke small engine?
  13. Paul in the woods
    Any particular brand of oil? Having done a bit of reading it would seem old 10w40 oil may have been prone to breaking down and 10w30 or sae30 was recommended. These days with part or full synthetic oil you often seem to find 10w40 used. I'm tempted to buy a few litres of decent semi-synth 4-stroke motorbike oil such as Castrol Power 1 as it's not much more expensive than cheap garden power tool oil. I assume it can't be bad for an engine as long as I keep an eye on the level? It meets the API SL standard the manual requires.
  14. Paul in the woods
    My little walking excavator has a small 4-stroke engine to power the hydraulics. It's a Jiang Dong 270 (I've never heard of them either). Now the makers of the digger tell me to use 10W40 or 15W40 oil but the engine instructions tell me to use 10W30 which I tend to normally use in my 4-stroke lawn mowers. Is there likely to be a reason for using 10W40 oil, it's more viscous at higher temps so does this suggest the digger manufacturers think the engine will be running hotter than other uses? Also is there any particular brand of oil that's better than others?
  15. Paul in the woods
    Are you a member of any countryside/shooting organisation you can ask? I'm not aware of anything other than the restriction of shooting within 50 foot of a highway (that doesn't mean there aren't any other restrictions). I'd also be cautious of shot bouncing out of your property as that is an offence, and shot can bounce a fair distance. I expect it would depend greatly on how well you get on with your neighbours.
  16. Paul in the woods
    Rat haunch or rat sausages doesn't have the same appeal as venison. I get your point though, makes you wonder if anyone could turn it into a paid for sport.
  17. Paul in the woods
    Yes. The machine is sort of flat packed, so the oil isn't in it. I think it would have made more sense to supply to oil but then there wasn't much choice for the price I paid. Anyway, I've picked up some Total AZOLLA ZS locally so panic over. Thanks for the other suggestions. Now, what's the lifespan of such oils? Nothing in the user guide and I expect many small diggers never have a change of oil in their life, but if I was being pedantic how many work hours/years would be sensible to change the oil on an average micro/mini-digger?
  18. Paul in the woods
    There's also lots of people running non-smokeless stoves in smoke controlled areas. Installed legally to burn smokeless fuel and people then burn any old coal and wood. Plenty of scope to crack down on the worst polluters whilst keeping firewood as an option.
  19. Paul in the woods
    Thanks, there's isn't in stock by the looks of it. I've found a few more companies online but it's been very hard to track down via google. To answer my own question I have found places selling heating oil often stock agricultural lubricants - I'll be phoning my local depots today as they don't list stuff online.
  20. Paul in the woods
    I've asked the manufacturer and they didn't recommend a brand. I want a known brand for the reason you state, to minimise any quibble if I have any problems.
  21. Paul in the woods
    I need 20l of hydraulic oil for my small digger that's on order and I've been told it needs to meet HLP46 classification. I can find places selling ISO 46 hydraulic oil locally but it doesn't seem to meet the HLP classification. I'd rather buy a brand of oil I recognise as the machine is new but I can't seem to find anywhere that sells stuff that meets HLP. A bit of research shows I need "DIN 51524, Part 2, Category HLP" but many places either don't list their specifications or just say "DIN 51524, Part 2" which I don't think is exactly right. Can anyone recommend an online store that sells a good range of hydraulic oils? Also, apart from agricultural merchants, can anyone suggest where I'm I likely to find the oil locally? Thanks.
  22. Paul in the woods
    I'm not sure it's that simple any more. I think some of the Honda's are the most reliable, but those made in the UK! When I googled first time MOT failures some of the brands were Japanese, but to be honest I've not idea where they are built. Going back to the original question, I would suggest more police on the roads pulling over obviously dodgy vehicles would be better than MOTind more cars. It's very rare to drive about without seeing various lights not working, dodgy plates or, dare I say, overloaded trucks. Up the fines to cover the police and it'll not cost the tax payer anything.
  23. Paul in the woods
    I'm talking about cars in the UK, although some of the least reliable are Japanese brands. If you follow your argument then scraping all cars after 6 months would be better but hardly sensible or practical.
  24. Paul in the woods
    What's the benefit of that in the UK? I gather here some brands are far more likely to fail than others so why treat a car that's badly made and likely to fail one of it's first few tests (or all!) the same as one that's well made and is very likely to be several years old before anything is going to fail?
  25. Paul in the woods
    I also wonder if they need to incorporate some form of 'user' test. Apparently almost 20% of fails are due to lights and I know some will check their vehicles fairly regularly whereas others never check a thing. I'm not sure the usefulness of an annual check to replace a light bulb.

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