drinksloe

If ur down Dorset is fuelwood not semi near? I thought they were realatively close to the apf site. Have u tried googling farmi to see where the nearest dealership is?? I'm sure a decent agri engineer will have seen plenty thou, sometimes it can be finding a decent 1

I understand the concept/idea for some situations, esp delivery drivers taxis etc esp in rural locations where a postcode could cover literally miles. But say in a forestry setting, in fairly remote large forestry block. Ur told to meet on a forest track/turning circle, u find it at home before u travel, but say u get lost in a maze of forest tracks. How do u figure out where u are and how do u get where u need to be?? Esp if no phone signal in the wood With a grid reference ud know roughly which direction u needed to go.

Alright Just wonder if some on here can help. Simple question really just wondering is it possible to put a carving bar on a Stihl MS231. Not wanting to do any serious carving. But got a couple off wee projects on, mainly freebies for nieces primary schools woodland class room. As usual never got round to them yet and schools back this week, so could do wi getting finger out. Spoke to a couple of the big shops and with being a saturday hard to get any advice with staff off. They have said my saws too big thou?? Which is a bummer as it's the smallest saw I have, althou looking on sites find bars I thought were compatable It's a ms231 running 3/8s Pico chain. So I take out it needs the whole combo, sprocket bar and chain to get it onto 1/4 drive?? Really looking for a cheaper setup iif possible but still decent enough quality ( is not cheap rubbish) And something fine enough I could attempt to carve schools name in the bench back Cheers for any input/advice Not fussy on brands, althou tend to run all my forestry saws on Oregon bar and chains and have done for years, mainly as that's wot local shops sell.

It just seems to be mission creep from the insurers, if everyone agrees to it not long before it will become the norm. I would mibbee be looking for new insurers Don't get me wrong I'm all for mantianing machines properly ( and a pet hate is using somelses machine when not be looked after and simple lack off maintenance makes my job harder) Winches have been used in forestry for a long time long before loler was ever thought off. Common sense has to be more important than any ticket, as with climbing gear it could be lolered 1 day and damaged the next are u really going to wait 6 month to fix/replace cos ur ticket says it's OK??

It will most likely depend where u live. Is there a local farmi dealer? Or decent forestry or agri engineers near u? As others have said I've certainly never heard off much forestry gear being lolered, esp when u see some of the old counties and winches etc being used on many estates.

Cheers folks. I did think about the safety factor might be a problem The other thing I thought of was pulling stuff off known wieghts, but then u get into friction issues and even finding stuff u know the wieght off. Cheers doobin, so the answer is no then, no simple way ? Have to admit light was going by time I got down to it when I went to look at it after work, was a fair drive away. There was some numbers on the winch motor but was quite hard to make out. Hoping the other motor will be clearer as under covers, but could be a completely different motor capability anyway When I get it up road probably next wknd wil try to add some more info photos etc The machine is a Iwafuji T10 and imported so owner hasn't a clue about it. Can't really find much info on it (atleast in English) they seem to make a lot off big custom skidders, possibly even timber jack copies as model numbers seem similar. Needs a fair bit of TLC ( hopefully not much more) and a good lick of paint There is a winch/crane company up the road 40 miles guessing the easiest/best way will just to run it up to them and get them to test it. Would that be expensive?? Aye RH seen a few ropes snap some quite heavy, but most must have been modern ropes with rope cores as just laid flat.. But heard plenty stories from the old timers forestry ploughing back in 70s with shackles coming throu cab windows and out front. That's why I would of put it throu a few blocks to change direction. Cheers

Looks well for a 1st time gate esp on sloping ground Depending on the size of chapper, but sometimes in some ground conditions u are almost as quick digging them in, esp if u have a sharp pinch and shuvholers. I tend to be on a 200kg job he now and it really does struggle with biggr strainers and harder ground esp so a few weeks ago in the drier weather. Not wanting to be critical,and photos can make things look strange too. But personally i would probably have hung the gate on the face of the post, as looks like rises uphill behind it so gate will only swing 1 way anyway which would probably let it swing flush against the fence too. Also means tractors wont catch gate crooks too. Also did u se long posts for the gate? Strainers look quite high out of the ground in compaision to gate althou i realise thats to catch the fence beside it as both new/old strainers are same hieght, i bet strainers look around 41/2ft or even 5ft out of ground. It should be fine but also may go slack in time as lot of leverage, might need a pack now and again Are many fencers still using drive in bottom crooks nowadays??? Most in this area have went onto bolt throu for both nowadays, with most using the square flange? 1's for the bottom crook. i do think it is a better job

Alright Just wondering is there a general rule off thumb for estimating the size of a winch? Say u went to look at a 2nd hand 1 with little markings and it had no rope on it? And more specifically I've just bought a mini custom skidder with double hydraulic winches on it ( and very little info I can find on it) 1 has rope about 8 or 10mm dia, so I'm guessing a 3ish T capacity? The other top drum is empty but seems to turn slower in 1 direction could that be normal?? ie fast feed out and slower pull in? Can u estimate winch strength by measuring the winch motor? Not got it up road yet to really examine things fully Cheers for any pointers, not really been around hyd winches much Ps and is there any easy ways to confirm this before I buy new winch rope for it. Attaching heavier slings until it stops breaking them?? ( Obviously safely via a directional block etc)

They sort of need the shelter up there. And hedges/ trees don't really grow, u se these very stunted very wind shaped trees.

I just bought a tool station clarke 1, not that impressed bent it pulling out the 1st strainer I used it on. Used and abused them for years lifting strainers out on hand ball fencing jobs, never bent 1 before thou. If the stakes are only 1" are u not easier just snapping them off?

M w plant in Carlisle ( near the agri market ) has some as well, I was in fairly recently and was surprised how much ARB stuff they had nowadays. Had been years since I was last in. Althou not sure how it compares to other big ARB shops. Not ARB but if just chainsaws stuff etc Dalgliesh' s agri at Lockerbie has just taken over husky/Stihl dealerships, chains are fairly cheap as old stock from the previous dealer ( all Oregon)

Must admit I'll be a bit out off touch with the latest models. But if ur ever on steep side slopes it's amazing the places a tracked 1 with tilting tracks will go. Working on the railways it saved us heaps off time being able to track along steep bankings where ud never take a normal tracked chipper. Esp with a winch on it Mibbee not an issue if ur only on flat gardens thou. But the tilted tracks are really handy if/when u need them.

Will that saw not be ancient??? I thought 0 , AV series were 20 or 30 years old + bar and chain u could be looking at 50 quid easy. Not that cheap really Wot size of saw is that?? Must admit despite having quite a few Stihl chainsaws ( think 4 plus strimmer hedge cutter and blower) still have absolulletly no idea how there model numbers work and with size of saw that is

Alright Just wondered if many subscribe to any of the forestry type mags?? Or are they just a waste of money. If so which is best or is there more than the 2 I've heard off ( Fmj and forestry machine mag) Cheers

Scottish power or SSE? used to sell there old 110 landy's which had pto winch fitted directly onto engine or gearbox Good bit off kit as a rescue winch and won't drain the battery the way an electric 1 would, more so for long pulls where it could over load the battery

Aye I've used hydraulic winches on factors etc and they generally are slow. But they are generally rescue winches and slow and steady is the way to go when debugging urself. Althou u must get faster winch motors if u have the flow/pressure as I'm sure ur 360 skyline conversions the drums work off additional hydraulics.

Cheers Chris, was more wondering wot I'll personal experiences are? Do they work ok or bad for over heating depending wot ur using it for. Was speaking to a salesman the other day and he reckoned the folk that had added them to his machines didn't rate them. Was just wondering if anyone else had any 1st hand experience off them. Chers

But surely it still takes the same amount off timber to put a cut in? Just ur gun is left on the stump rather than on ur produce, I dare say u should be cutting the hub off the end before measuring ur log. Althou they do seem to put a for narrower more closed gun in than most UK cutters would. Not sure all those programmes are really an example off good practice. I was told the programme axmen was stopped on request of proper logging companies as it was making them look like fools. Can hardly be best practice to use ur hand gun as a felling bar.

Just wondering if many folk have much exp of converting hydraulic flow into a pro drive?? Say like from a tracked dumper to power either a normal pro driven winch, which I guess is fairly low pressure, to a flail mower or even a mulcher which could be up to 1000rpm. I realise it will depend on up and flow rates etc, but is there a min? And wot sort of price do they cost? Also have folk found them to be successful or not? Or a bit off a waste off time. Cheers

I'd double check with ur trainer about ur tickets. I know many forestry companies never used to recognise lantra tickets I think u are correct not only do assesments but most trainers should put a course on to cover that not ticket. The lantra course will cover it all anyway, can u not ask for a nptc assesment instead of lantra?

Would the drill 'hammer' into wood?? I thought it had to be a proper hard surface to work right. I welded a 4" brick bolster to a pinch bar but an old boss used a spade bit on a pinch, just buff it off with a grinder when u need too. I found the brick bolster to be better as thinner metal than spade bit. It works really well in a tight hole, axe far better in a wide hole

There used to be very old fashioned tools for pulling out docks, thistles and ragwort, sort off 2 pronged pinch bar thing. The pock marking might not be as bad as u think, will create different micro niche's for different plants in the bare soil. Will soon have new plants growing out of the soils seed banks. How will the weed wiper work?? Are u weed wiping before u cut?? Otherwise the stumps will be to low and u'll end up costing all the vegetation with chemical. I'd mibee tie a wee container to belt and just cut and dab each individual stem as u cut them. I reckon a dish wash pad with the hollow handle ( in theory) would be the ideal tool, should we drip the way a paint brush does Secatuers might work better as 1 handed if trees small enough.

If shallow soil and small trees would it be possible just to brute force and pull them out with a set off welding gloves?? Althou sometimes decieving how firm a grip even small trees can have in good soil, be easier in thin soil Otherwise u could spot treat with a paint brush or even 1 off those dish washing brushes u can fill the handles up with soap ( weedkiller, be just like a mini weed wipe) and dab it on each stem as u cut I'd just use Glyco as the spot treatment

But 150 would buy u a lot off chains. It all depends how often u need it, but an axe/chopping pinch are easily stored and cheap for occasional use

Just keep that chain or any other old 1s specifically for jobs like that and save ur new chains for the stem. To be honest ur quicker with an old axe or a chopping pinch (welded a 4" brick bolster to pinch) both aren't too long even with big roots I had to cut 350 pieces from old 2nd hand used railway sleepers the other week, bloody horrible job. And not a lot u could do about it either, hard timber for an old chain. Ended up working 2 saws and just rotating them constantly sharpening them. Took a lot off the chains but still doing ok now