Blah

I have used the Stihl MSA 160T , Stihl MSA 200 and Husqvarna 540iXP quite a bit. I like all of them because they are quieter, and don't produce fumes. The 160T is great for pruning but starts being a bit slow cutting anything over 6". The MSA 200 is more powerful than the 160T, I use it for firewood type chopping of anything up to 10 inches in order to not piss off the neighbours. The 540iXP is a different beast altogether. Mine is on a 14" bar and it pulls it. I genuinely prefer it to my 201T, I reckon it cuts faster. With two BLI300 batteries, I have not run out of battery yet. It is heavier than the 201, but it also cuts faster. Another thing worth noting is that he Husky chain is slightly wider and much easier to sharpen. I find the narrow chain on the Stihls fiddly. So in answer to your question: are cordless saws any good? Yes, they are. As long as your expectations are realistic. Which one is best? It depends what you're after. The 160 is light and quiet, but not as powerful as a 201. The 540 is louder than the 160, but not as loud as the 201. It is heavier than the 201 (with a 300 battery), but there are no fumes. It also cuts better than the 201. The only thing I don't like about the 540 is the chain tensioning mechanism; it's just not as good as on the Stihls. I can live with this being a bit fiddly though because apart from that I absolutely love the thing.

And me. On IM's recommendation. World of difference.

Thanks for the suggestions, but it's really not fuel related. I'm interested to find out what else could be causing this.

Connie bashing all week, this afternoon my 201 started blowing white smoke, really smelly as well. I run it on Aspen and have done for a while so can't be bad mix. Any help on what could be causing this and how to fix it? Other than the smoke, the saw seems to run and cut fine.

Do you decant from the drum into combi cans? Do you use a gizmo for this?

The tension it takes for the rope to pull through is in large part to do with ascender and rope combo. I use a CT foot ascender and Courant Squir, runs like a dream. Not quite so good with Drenaline, shit with Yale XTC.

I've got a ZZ plus in the affected serial no range and it's absolutely fine. There's a specific set of checks to go through in the Petzl press release. I did that, no probs.

I use an old pistol style soldering iron. It's slow, but it works.

We do everything with a 3.5 ton Ifor tipper trailer behind a Disco, a Shogun or a Defender and have been doing so for years. We don't have a tipper truck. It works for us.

Mine's a 2011, and did the same Pedders shocks and springs on IronMike's recommendation, and as he says, it makes towing a much nicer experience. I did it myself in the end, quite easy, just had the local garage check the tracking afterwards. Not had mine mapped (yet), but then I'm not driving long distances in it, just local towing, and I can't say it's not powerful enough as it is.

Mine's a 2011 3.2 auto Shogun LWB. Under 20mpg towing, but then it's hilly around here. Twice that on a motorway run. It's a heavy lump so stop/start and hills kill mpg.

Those Wood Owl bits are quality, you'll enjoy using it.

Just wondering why you want tight-grained? Ash, unlike other timbers, fast-grown is stronger, i.e. wider annual rings.

I can't picture what you mean, but Schultz demonstrates a number of retrievable redirects

Also, you don't have to climb solely SRT. I switch between the two quite often, even in the same tree. I use a ZZ and chicane, so piss easy to switch. Whatever works. For example, set up TIP with base anchor. Do some work on the way up. Get to TIP. DRT to other TIP, set up canopy anchor and SRT again. Do everything apart from TIP. Swap to DRT again for dismantling that. Not necessarily helpful for getting to grips with SRT as quickly as possible. Also +1 for Schultz effect. It needed multiple watches for me to let it all sink in and decide what I wanted to adopt.

Can you place the logs perpendicular to the slope?

I've got two and very happy with them.

That's exactly what we do.

May 2017. It seems that things are slightly different in real life, yes. That's from my own experience, and watching respected climbers like August Hunicke and Reg Coates. It's trying to simplify a really complicated calculation of dynamic forces to cover different tree species. When I looked into it properly after the rigging course, even the scientific papers concluded that basically, it's impossible to calculate the forces accurately.

I see. They changed how they want it explained. When I did the course there was a separate question on estimating the weight of the log, where a species correction factor and a safety factor (the 1.3) came into play. Then for the load at the rigging point it was 2x and 11x log weight. 14.3 is a much easier number to use. I'm really good at my 14.3 multiplication table.

Values might have changed but I'm pretty sure when I did my rigging course WLL is MBS/5, and the rule of thumb for negative rigging is divide by 11. So that leaves 200kg of your 11,000kg line. You can up that number by having more rope in the system, having a good groundie who can let it run etc.

I don't see that that will make it better. I want the connection to be as close my chest as possible, personally. The bat plate would put more distance between the ZZ and the chesty.

I used a little accessory type carabiner that I just clip into the carabiner between the zigzag and the chicane. Also use a 4srt chest harness. Works for me.

I also find that surprising. I use a 36" LP on a 661. It's OK, but I certainly wouldn't go up a bar size and if I did more milling, I'd be splashing out for an 881.

I mill with a 661 and a lo pro 36" bar. I would not go any bigger.