lux

46 minutes ago, doobin said:

It’s the cost. They are silly expensive. 
 

I went down the route of purchasing mini loaders rather than tiltrotators for my diggers and I reckon that’s made me a lot more profit. If I only did excavations it might be a different story. 
 

tilty prices have gone mad in the last few years. At the end of 2019 I had a quote from engcon for an ec02 and top hitches to share between a 2.7t and 1.7t- see pic. Nearly 9k for the unit, two top hitches and three buckets. That would now cost you around £15k. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. 
 

after three years of waiting, I’ve finally picked one up second hand. £3k. Great you say. But adding three buckets and a two top hitches is another £4k, and then I’ve got to spend a bit more and a lot of sweat and workshop time converting any ‘standard’ buckets I want to use in the future, as everything needs to be s30 hitch, even if direct mounted to the top hitch. Should have just bought it in 2019! Easy to say that, but 9k in machinery in 2019 seemed a lot more expensive than it does now post covid and inflation. 
 

plus that price was for an ‘ss1’ control system, whatever that is. This secondhand tilty I’ve bought is a ‘dumb’ tilty just with four pipes- although it does have the ports through its slew ring for a grab plus it has a hydraulic hitch which is good. 
 

I can see why people just buy a new digger on finance with engcon fitted and a bucket set on the finance too! This had better be worth it. 
 

I specced both my e27 and e19 to be optimised for both a grab and rotator and possible future tiltrotator when I bought them. Twin auxiliaries with joystick rollers, extra counterweight each and a short dipper on the e19. If anyone is thinking about a new digger but not wanting to commit to a tiltrotator just yet, think about how you spec it would be my advice. At the very least start off with an s-type hitch and buckets. Wish i had! I share an oddball pin centre between all three diggers, if it has been s30 I’d have saved a few k in time and hassle now. 

 

 

You’re really stretching the excuses for not taking your missus on holiday for another year mate 😉 

I can't get my head around the little 1.9 engine. It must be working so hard I would have doubts on its longevity.. Get the 2.5 if you can

Check the chassis well on the age you are buying, they are prone to some rot especially if an ex farm vehicle or such. 

I don't think you can get a d-max of that age with a diff lock either so one to BIM if its going to be working in the sticky stuff. Little low slung but that's a cheap fix with peddars suspension. 

I put the 2 inch lift on my hilux and its been very good. 

A 572 on 24” bar is £1k new at honey brothers.   I’d say £600 would be what you’d expect for a used one.  

1 hour ago, Crocky said:

Simons a good guy. I’ve only seen his 572 run. Looks a strong saw. 
 

Artur does good work. He’s the only person I advise people go to if they can’t wait. He’s doing things right. 
 

If anyone is looking to get a saw ported, make sure you’re getting what you pay for. Not just some port widening and a gasket delete. Lots of guys out there charging fortunes and doing half a job. 

Yeah I’ve only seen his own saws running on his insta videos. 

id like one of the 372 you get hold of and port as my next saw purchase.  I don’t actually need any more saws atm which bugs me 😂

@Crocky has done my MS 200t 

Cuts a treat, definite gain and it just sits ticking over perfectly on my harness nicely, never cuts out which is lovely when making multiple cuts and stowing in-between to chuck stuff out of the tree. 

The best top handle got better after he had it. 

Currently got a local guy porting a saw for me ( Simon Trantor in Hampshire ) look forward to seeing how that one goes. 

Artur Rodaks work also looks nice 

Ported saws are def gaining popularity this side of the big blue pond and in my opinion well worth doing, for one thing you can go 1 or 2 sizes down on a saw to do the same job.  less tiring if you are climbing with them or snedding up all day long. 

Got any softwood saw log coming out of the site Tom ? 

4 minutes ago, swinny said:

I don't need one either tbh.... come April before tax return maybe 😆 

 

I'm still using a 2012 201tcm daily and a 2016

 

One thing I was glad of with the 201 was it got shut of the 200t carb issues!

luck of the draw I guess. my ported 200t has been pretty solid with very few issues. 201 is in kit form in a box and will never get rebuilt. Can of worms. 

Arbpro Gamma for me. 

Down to fit , best to go somewhere you can try on different brands.  Comfort is key , vents on the backs of the legs help in summer. Cant remember the last time I bought any type C boil in the bag trousers, hate them. 

17 hours ago, swinny said:

That's shite then. I just thought they were made out of cheese and that put me off...

 

I'm a stihl man tbh. I say a video recently.... can't remember if August hunicke or guilty of treeson..... but they were using a mk3 and it sounded absolute awesome! Thought to myself might have a punt at one of them!

 

 

As always with these things, let some bugger else be the unfortunate ones first 😉 find the flaws

They are getting good initial reviews. Some I have seen suggest the hot start issue has been resolved along with a few other flaws. 

Sometimes its the hype of it being new that gets people singing its praises. 6 months use climbing could see some flaws so I'll hold out like yourself. 

That said I don't need another topper atm and am looking forward to my 2511 returning which is away for porting atm. 

Thanks Gents, 

They / He has a rather nice looking website which says they are based in Redhill (East Surrey), so not a million miles away from the potential job

I'll get in touch with them for a quote. 

Have to say id be keen at looking into buying one of those air spades myself. 

Cheers 

Anybody in the Surrey / Sussex / Hants area got an Air Spade for decompaction work?

Or is anyone selling an air spade?

Thanks in advance 

1 hour ago, Mark Bolam said:

@Joe Newton can you help?

Careful Mark you might regret giving him options.  Joe might decide to be the Pimp and put you on faggot duty ….. 🤔😂

2 hours ago, Stubby said:

I watched Allan Waters making pimps using a clamp .  He is about 80 years old now and given up the charcoal retort . 

I couldn’t remember his name. That photo was from last years Wests Wood fair Near East Dean. 

1 hour ago, Acerforestry said:

Has anyone seen at any point an instructional video for making the above, the general purpose of which is to start bread ovens. I saw a bloke at the Kent Woodfair last year and he had a little bench clamp / vice setup to assist in the making of, I'd like to see that or something similar in use. A dying craft it seems, and I get quite a lot of birch top

Pimp clamp is what is used to make them. Probably some regional variations on that name. Have a look on the Woodlands TV channel on Youtube. They have a video of the chap who owns this sign. He is local to me and is well known for the old woodland crafts and ways. They really are superb fire lighters

14 minutes ago, doobin said:

Just to cheer you up further....that absoloute monster that we looked at? A relative is going to rent a cherry picker and take off the worst bits apparently. You couldn't make it up.

 

I'll post the news article when it happens...

😂😂😂.  Let me know the date.  I’d like to come and watch that.   😂 what’s the odds you’ll be doing a little fencing repair down there.  It’ll be interesting if the new replacement oil tank takes a whack too 😂

On 12/08/2017 at 17:43, Mick Dempsey said:

Now, I'm a big boy, been paddling my own canoe for more than two decades now, I know that when you price work there are no guarantees, and you have to take the rough with the smooth.

 

Today though, the literal biscuit was taken, I was out all day, and the first appointment was 30 minutes away, arranged by email, so I pull up, look at the abandoned cars and neglected garden and instantly think "probably not" but I'm here now so put on my game face.

 

It was a dying thuja hedge and a couple of small lombardies, all about logistics so I give it some ol' chat and price it.

 

The lady then told me that they are doing it themselves and wanted to know what it would have cost!

 

Luckily the rest of the day was more successful but that really riled me.

 

Any outrageous time wasting client stories?

Went to look at Beech tree last week. Customer said a branch had dropped off but she wanted to save the tree. 

Arrived at a very lovely old house that is now split into apartments. lovely building and very well kept so I was thinking this was a positive as I waited at the impressive front door. 

Got taken to the rear garden to find a very large Beech with  a failed leader from an included union. Big lump to clear up and a very large Beech remaining that could do with some reduction work and perhaps some cobra bracing in places. Spent some time going through it and gave a price on the spot for the clear up and suggested tree work to then be told the tree no longer belongs to them and that the owner has arranged a contractor to do the clear up and that until they buy the tree back they wouldn't carry out any work on it but just wanted to know what it would cost.  

She then asks what would I charge to do maintenance.  Maintenance on what ? She says they would like to buy the woods back but would like to know what it costs to maintain. 

I gave her some advice about getting a woodland survey done prior to buying it and any maintenance costs could be forecast from that. 

Waste of time visit to look at trees they don't own and someone else is supposedly already instructed on. 

Probably wouldn't of minded so much if that had been made clear on the initial phone call rather than halfway through looking at it all. I grumbled all the way to getting a take away cappuccino down the rd. 

Last day of holiday for me.  Back to graft next week.  No more morning coffee by the sea next week  sadly

On holiday this week , checking in whilst everyone faffs about getting ready to go out. 
I find I use this forum a lot less these days now it’s browser based rather than an App 

anyone find the same. ?? 

Stick with what you’ve got.  I can’t imagine you’d notice any real world difference 

9 hours ago, Joe Newton said:

Within this thread lies a pretty good argument for using your local retailer...

Yes and no I think.  
 

if I just need a couple of small items , let’s say a couple of sprockets as mentioned for instance. I’d rather pay 4.95 postage than take an hour out of my day going to honey brothers and back when i can just click and have them delivered.  
 

bigger items , yeah I’m off to the shop to get hands on before I buy. 
 

Yes I did underestimate that. I’ve only put deer wire up twice so was trying to think back. 
 

wire £250 per 100m from mcveigh Parker so that’s quite reasonable 

I get a nice price on chestnut direct from a local coppicer so I’m probably getting a decent deal there. 
 

knocker wise I sub in a friend with a tracked knocker. 300kg Weight. . He’s charging me £500 a day on that.  It always seems a fair price when I use him so never shopped around. Plus he’s a decent hard worker and flies along. I take it from those of you that own them I’m getting good value there ??
 

120 metres for posts and wire would be done by lunch. 
 

buy yeah maybe more around 2 k inc vat. 
 

Pic of him on the knocker from last autumn subbed in near Chichester. 
Removed half the width of the hedge , put the deer wire in then the remainder was traditionally laid on the other side.  Looked great this summer 


 

Lots of variables.   I’d go for peeled Chestnut stakes and strainers 

Decide what type of mesh 

Clear the run of the fence line in advance for the contractor. It’ll make it swift and easy.  
 

It’ll take no time to put that length of fence In using a decent machine. 

approx £1200. 

It’s possible you ( unfortunately for you in this instance) highlighted that some form of tree protection on the neighbouring development was missed whenever it was built 

it’s very common that when building , certain trees will have orders placed on them to prevent over development and maintain amenity values etc. 

you mentioned it’s housing association next door so I figure at least several dwellings.  You may have inadvertently highlighted something the council missed when they were built .. 

In your case the pruning required would be quite acceptable and reasonable to ask for. I really wouldn’t anticipate it being refused.  Nothing else to be done accept apply and wait your 8 weeks to see …. It’s a very simple on line application. 

Buy a blank of Ash and make a handle.   Easy to make.