lux

If he still wants one and has land does he have a small or compact tractor. The pto offerings would be better value and more powerful at that size.

Be more useful than a 4” chipper.

Is the 881 not on sale over there. ?

Can’t stand that little Jimmy Cranky look-a-like.

Another vote for the echo. Brilliant blower. Got a very neutral position when blowing so if you are using if for prolonged jobs it’s very comfy. Got the stihl as well. Barely take it out since getting the echo , save for bigger jobs when an extra blower speeds clearing up.

 
As the lads have pointed out you need to find a decent supplier, if your location was known I am pretty sure someone on here will know of one on your patch.
As far as estimating goes you really do need to look hard at what you are pricing.If the ground is made up, full of roots or services, if the fence is supporting tons of crap piled up on the neighbours side , ground conditions and levels can all affect progress. Its certainly not a generic rate per panel. Think about terms and conditions on your quote that will cover the unforeseen.
 
Our lads on our landscape work get roped into a fair bit of fencing . The one below looked innocent enough when we priced it, what we didn't know was it was supporting next doors garden/jungle which was considerably higher. Ended up with 3mtr posts ,double concrete gravel boards all dug through heavy roots. Terms and conditions stopped it becoming a costly blamefest.
 
Bob
 

 

 

I agree. We do a reasonable amount of fencing, generally for existing tree customers although a fair few stand alone fencing jobs. All domestic style stuff.

I always price each site according to its conditions. If I went to cost per metre or bay I think id be underpricing some jobs by a fair margin.

The other way to look at it it is that it’s lulling him into a false sense of security. If the tech fails, he dies. If he didn’t have the tech in the first place, he’d learn to ride within his limits (or die anyway; he is a motorcyclist after all).

Thems the risks as they say.

I agree here . Its a bit like 2 ropes and a strop then a mewp . The skill in " feeling " what the rubber is doing , what the suspension is doing etc etc will eventually be lost .  I have never had electronic help , traction control , wheely control etc etc . If I fcuk up its down to me so I make sure I learn from the bike . I think ( and its just my opinion ) that most riders reach their limit before they reach the limit of the bike . If this happens they can create a situation that does not need to happen .  I am an old git of 68 now but was always at the front of the " fast group " at the track day . Old Stubby back in 2005 .

Must be more knee replacement than knee down these days Stubby [emoji13]

Nice picture. Hope it’s up on a wall somewhere at home. [emoji106]

I know a lad who pins his S1000rr in bends and lets the electronics sort it all out for him. 
After a ride he spools through his onboard data-logger and points proudly to the number of times the TC kicked in during the ride. He thinks he's demonstrating what a mighty powerful beast his bike is, when in fact it's showing how many times he lost control and was bailed out by a box with wires sticking out of it.
I did point out once after one of these rides that I had been right on his tail the whole time on my SDR and my TC is turned off. He didn't see the significance at all..

It’s an interesting one. On one hand he’s demonstrating the bikes technology which is mind blowing for sure.
On the flip side he’s showing a lack of skill as a rider in comparison to his riding buddies.

If you were to hop on his bike and ride with the aids no doubt you would leave him for dust if you keep up without the technology and rely on skill. Combine the two and he’d be blown into the weeds .....

What it importantly does is keeps him alive by the sound of things. Without those aids it sounds like he would have been over the tank or wrapped around a tree ages ago. I guess for him it’s good though. He can ride his bike and feel like Rossi when he gets off and he enjoys it.

Those of us with a little more talent can smile inwardly knowing the truth of it. Never pays to rub it in too much though.

The thing is it keeps you all riding together and enjoying it. Bikes are a bit of escapism from life aren’t they. If you can do it with your mates all the better.

I'm looking for a tray to fit into my storage space within my tipper (see picture). There's no barrier to stop water sitting on the bed passing into the area of storage. I know I could use sealant to seal up the gap but I feel like a tray is deffo still needed.
 
Does anybody have any advice? I guess I'm looking for a bespoke tray business of some kind???🥴
 
Cheers!

NJ aluminium

Just had a custom top for my hilux done. Very good quality. They do heavy duty trays to size that are for farriers etc. I had a look whilst I was there. The sliders are very heavy duty for farriers tools. Perfect for putting heavy arb kit in. Seriously sturdy. If you give them the dimensions they will make it up and send it out of you aren’t near them.

You’ll just need someone very small to get in that locker to install them !

They are pretty busy though. I waited 3 months for my build. Worth it though.

Hi all,
 
Looking at a few saws at the moment.
Any input would be good from other foresters.
I dont really like all the modern tech on saws but i am willing to give it a go ie: husky 57
 
In the running are:
Echo cs-7310 
Dolmar 7910
Husqvarna 572xp
I already run a Dolmar Ps5105 and its pretty good no nonsense saw. The new saws for bigger felling.
 

Can’t go wrong with any of the above.

The echos get better with more use. They seem to need a fair few tanks of fuel to bed the engine in and reach their power potential. Comes with a Sugi bar rebranded as echo which is a nice feature.

The dolmar is more 80cc class and maybe a touch heavier. Very good price compared to the other saws.

The 572 seems to be reliable with not many publicised complaints on the forum.


The stihl 462 is a nice saw. Very comfortable. For me I feel that stihl build quality / durability has been reduced in pursuit of less weight. I refer my older stihl saws. Built to last.
The 500i feels flimsy to me , there are a lot of faults with it on the Facebook page. Latest grumbles are fuel tanks cracking when you apply pressure with quick fill cans.
No denying it’s cutting performance though !

As mentioned dealer support is important. Go for a brand you have a good back up network from locally.

Once you have narrowed it to that it’s names out of a hat. They are all good.

You have exactly the same problem as us.  No way could we work in the woods or the steep grassland in this weather without making the kind of mess that would take years to put right., So the Mule gives us the opportunity to carry on working rather than sitting in the kitchen drinking endless cups of tea and reading all about how many people have died today.

I think I’m actually getting annoyed enough with the wet ground to buy a new or nearly new one. Spent most of today fixing ground the tractor had messed up because I was getting frustrated and just used it anyway. ATV shopping here we come.

I know but I needed a replacement for the 130 quickly.
And at least if by unfortunate chance I do end up a whisper over weight, I know it's well within its capabilities.

Agreed. I’ve often thought about down plated vans. Basically it’s a bit of a naughty way of carrying more weight with a capable vehicle .... well from my perspective anyway. [emoji23]
I think the Iveco is a good waggon. The older ones were tough as old boots with not too many big problems. Pretty easy to work on too.
I’ve not any experience on the new shape but a tidy older one is a good buy in my opinion.

I’ve been thinking of getting one of these for a while. Glad to see so many positive comments. Just waiting for half nice used one to come up not a million miles away. Can’t really justify a new one as it’s just going to be used on our own land rather than paid work.
It can get pretty wet on our clay in winter and the hilux leaves big tyre tracks. Trailers out of the question as when you stop and lose momentum that’s it. Your stuck. Use the big tractor and it leaves a big old mess.

A mule or similar looks ideal not to mess the ground up and get around the woods . Nice to be able to carry tools on the back too.

Great kit.

Our yard been an ice rink since before Christmas, never thawed out completely, just refreezes. Forecast for tonight is -5 so can add 3 or 3 degrees to that.

I was thinking more Canada / Scandinavia cold. The husqvarna heated handles pack a punch.
Probably useful in Scotland , other than that a pair of gloves will do in the UK.
I find in this country the cold rainy days feel colder than a nice crisp frosty -5 morning.
Good for drying out gloves I suppose [emoji38]

No drawback to having them though, for the Arctic blast that the papers promise and never arrives !

More relevant to colder countries. I think I’ve used mine all of 2 times

If all the tree surgeons who do a few cube stop supplying logs because it's not worth the cost of complying, then this is not counter productive for woodsure - it will drive customers towards their club of members. Exactly what they want.

I'm hoping logs off a job can be sold as "arb waste" rather than firewood, on the basis customer needs to process it so it's clearly not wood for burning.

It’s counter productive as the take up on the scheme will be tiny in comparison to the amount of people selling logs. It’ll just be ignored because it’s not realistically achievable for air drying small producers. The cost of registration itself is insignificant but the process is flawed.

Woodsure has no bearing on selling unprocessed rounds of wood as waste, but if you have a yard you can sell biomass loads from it will be far less hassle to do it in bulk at your convenience rather than delivering it for peanuts as it’s not seasoned.
If what was firewood gets diverted to biomass that’s questionable as it’s perhaps not quite as eco friendly a process as they make it out to be


If you split it and sell it green firewood as long as it’s over 2 cube and you tell them it needs seasoning you’re fine.

A lot of it is rubbish. Anyone selling unseasoned wet firewood won’t have sales for long. Every wood fire owner loves to tell how ‘expert’ they are at having fires and their firewood. Sell them something damp and they’ll be switching supplier pretty quick. Still can’t educate them on decent softwood or mixed loads though....
Sell them well seasoned thorn and they moan it doesn’t burn well 🤷‍♂️shows how expert they are ...

A nice sprinkle of snow this morning in the garden.

Good frost topped off with snow is making it ideal to move some stuff around without creating a muddy mess.

Dogs enjoying it too

 
Whereabouts are you and what would you want for it??

Haslemere. Surrey / W Sussex border

£200

Let me know if you want any pictures of it. Hardly used it.

Where are you based lux? N j alloy pretty local to here.
 
Also what size electricity point you have to run the welder when you say it's not big enough for the 250?

It’s bloody miles for me unfortunately. Sat nav says 4.5 hours each way. Fitting will be a long day.

Just standard domestic supply to my barn. If you run the 250 at full power it will just trip the fuse board so I went for the 180 and just weld two passes on thicker material. I don’t weld anything too hefty so not a problem for me.

Stein Trolley looks perfect but got to be honest didn't really want to spend that much but if I can't find anything else may have to.
 
Searched for sack trolley's as well and came across this .... although not sure it'd be wide enough
https://www.screwfix.com/p/3-in-1-hand-truck-350kg/4114p
 
 

I’ve got a stein trolley that never gets used so would part with it

Good shout.  250 or 180 amp?
 
I  have the spool gun attachment for them if you ever need to borrow it to weld some ally.

I got the 180. My electricity supply wouldn’t support the 250 as it is. Looking at what the 180 welds on a double pass it’s pretty thick anyway for what I do so went for that.

Spool gun sounds good. I need a new ally belly locker on the transit , you can knock one up for me [emoji38]

I’m taking the hilux double cab up to N J aluminium in a week to have a custom build canopy and liner fitted. Should be great.

There  big  hedge plants. Nice way to stake them like a vineyard.
 
They will  the require more  after care: i.e watering  in summer as ratio of tops to roots looks big compared to smaller bare root stuff?

Yeah it’s the most economical way for large plants. Easily removable after the roots have taken , I’ll nip the posts off with a chainsaw at ground level.

No bare root stock in there. Everything was large rootball or pot grown. It’s planted on a rotational pattern according to planting spec from the nursery to create the instant hedge look, it’s a damp spot too, that said it’s fairly Sandy so yes if there’s a prolonged hot spell a leaky pipe can be run along the base. Those plants were top dollar so nobody wants to see them whither for sure.

I usually provide some typed advice to the customer when I invoice big planting jobs about aftercare. That’s the kind of handover point etc where they become their responsibility. I’m looking forward to seeing it flush in the spring , so nice to get away from planting evergreens !

Ready made hedge with those size plants

That’s the idea , it’s to stop the nosey neighbours peering at the new pool but stay in keeping with the field. Some top quality plants but what a bugger they are to get hold of atm. Lost count of the emails and calls to source this season.

Various planting for a regular client over the last three days including this new field hedge. Native mix of field maple , beech , hawthorn and hornbeam planted in a alternating pattern that repeats every 4 metres. Plants mostly at 2 - 2.5 metres tall.
So nice to be planting a nice hedgerow instead of the usual conifers and laurels etc.
Didn’t escape that completely though. Had some sizeable laurels to plant elsewhere on the property. Messy field is the dig out from the new swimming pool that’s nearly done.