Mick Dempsey

Is there a pond or permanent water source? Nothing entices animals to reside in cover like access to water especially in baking hot Southern France. If not could you dig one?

Wordle 1,293 2/6 ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Luck.

The chance of moving hassle free to California or wherever takes your fancy? Likely with a huge bribe/incentive from the US administration. I’d take it.

These are the result of previous (probably hard and repeated) pruning. You can have them Re-trimmed to previous points, they might do another few years, or take them out and replant.

The Greenland thing is a funny old story that pops up from time to time. I just checked, there are 57k people living there. I wonder if they had a referendum with the option to become American citizens instantly what the result would be?

I was wondering about that. I tend to use my ears to gauge noise. is it uncomfortably loud? Yes/no

Not feeling it today, but needs must when the devil drives.

Must be an 088 at that age.

The stock chain is unpleasant to sharpen, plus getting it nicely tight seems to be problematic.

Thanks Mark, that topknot is beyond the pale.

It’s (at least in my opinion) a bit better than a chipper saw, my groundy uses it for dismantling rigged tops and branches that are standing on their heads so they fall/tip the right way (towards the chipper) it’s light weight and quick stopping of the chain making it safer to operate at ‘unusual’ angles. We used to use 550s for this, that now seem ridiculously heavy and powerful for this task. Of course we take the 550s and other petrol saws for when the real cutting happens.

Thought I’d scribble a few thoughts on this saw for those curious about it. I have had the 536 for a good few years and have like and disliked some aspects of it, the relative lack of power in hard wood like acacia means you have to pick and choose when to use it, lime re-pollards and the like are it’s preferred territory, but it’s by no means first off the shelf on a daily basis. So the new offering. It’s got very useable power, a genuine dismantling saw, unlike the 536, and most importantly it has a clutch so you can gauge the pressure needed and back off the power a bit so it doesn’t just stop dead like a battery drill. It’s heavy, even with the smaller battery it’s heavier than a 201, don’t be fooled by just picking it up in the shop, the addition of the battery adds a lot. One handing at reach is a strain, especially if you’re in your twilight years climbing wise or are not especially strong. It does promote better saw handling, and you really have to be disciplined about stowing it between cuts on your harness to save energy. Battery life is good, three will see you through most days, even with a bit of chogging down which is the hardest work a topper will do. Safety wise the rundown on the chain is in line with other battery saws (it stops ‘quicker’ if that’s makes sense) so it feels less dangerous The big plus is the lack of noise and that you don’t have to start/stop it, so much so that I went out and bought the rear handled one for ground work, along with the helmet coms it means we can talk about weights, ‘letting it run’ and the minutiae of the work without confusion or shouting. So, should you buy one? Well it’s expensive, especially with the charger and spare batteries. In all honesty if you have a decent topper already and are happy with it I wouldn’t lust after it too much at that money. I am pleased with it however and it’s first off the shelf for takedowns.

Rollers are not an especially common problem, but all moving parts are prone to failure, in fact all mechanical things are to an extent. Do you have a particular chipper in mind?

Well, basically the thread went like this… there’s some as says there are big cats roaming the UK countryside, and there’s some who says there aren’t. I’m in the second camp.

Morning Doug et al. Hate all fireworks, should be banned. Woke up with the start of a head cold that’s been doing the rounds. Frosty with a freezing fog from what I could see on the dog walk this morning. Sharpen a few saws and watch some footy today. Have a good ‘25 everyone.

Top dead centre, the highest point of the piston in its stroke.

Not denying that. He did a little show with Tony Blackburn year or so back talking about their pirate radio days, check it out.

He was dying for a long while, he had to retire as he couldn’t continue.

These are still working well €300 all in.

Been on the cards for a while.

Drop starting will not cure it, but stop it being an issue.

They all secretly hate you and have a WhatsApp group to discuss it.

Well yes, not saying they’re a bad thing, just an unexpected side effect. Normally when your groundy starts talking to you about his erectile dysfunction or whatever there’s a natural cutoff point when you start ascending and flip your ear muffs down, now however, tales of his flaccid manhood follow you up the tree.

One issue is you tend to jibber jabber about nothing in particular which can distract the climber.

Hi Andrea, These people do a lot of utility work and private work in France. I know they also do apprenticeship stuff as they advertise it on FB and are always recruiting. Could be worth investigating..