Steven P

My bad, sorry, I meant torx

I just took the exhaust off my MS181, slightly bigger model, slightly older, no gasket in that one either, but I guess exhaust / muffler side it isn't so important. (the hedge trimmers work OK with very worn gaskets on the carb side too, a tear here and there, but that's on the to do list)

and as an update for reference, I took the exhaust off, as you both said, popped off the cover with a crew driver (had to use the shape of the exhaust to get a bit of leverage). Hex bolt the same size as all the others, no problem. Turns out there is no spark arrester in there (UK version anyway). Just to wait for a new air filter to be delivered, realised I haven't changed it for a couple of years now.

Perfect, I'll try that shortly. Thanks

Good evening and sorry if this has been asked before, I didn't see anything though My MS181 is loosing a bit of power, the internet says to check the spark arrester, but on this machine the bolts for the exhaust are a weird 3 slot head on the circumference arrangement if that makes sense. So the question is... what do I need to open it up? new tool or is there a trick with a different tool? Thanks

My problem with that is in the winter, when I use smokeless, the ashes don't get chance to cool down, I suspect that an ash vacuum has plastic parts which might not like hot ashes going past them?

Arn't they splitting a bit anyway? My thought that if you are loading them into the van / trailer to take away is it much of a detour to go home and try to split some? Splitting some this evening that have been lying about 2 years and they are OK, only 18" diameter though so not massive. Might be they go rock hard but they would also depend on if they have been stored left in full sunshine, or in the wettest part of the garden

We're always gonna need a bigger log store

Just a complete offshoot for the pricing here... took the car for a few jobs, service, MOT and so on, 1 mechanic and a bill of about £600 including parts. I reckon the job took half a day at the most. So multiply that by 2 for a full days work, and by 3 for 3 guys working on a job, less few of hundred for parts, 300 x 2 x 3, or about £2000, 3 workers for a full day, in a dry garage, all kit to hand, no heavy lifting. Have to cover all the overheads with that and we are all happy to pay that sort of rate, Myself, in my nice warm office, the company charges about £60 an hour for my time, including all overheads, about £1350 a day for 3 people to do my job, but no expensive kit £2k for a team of 3 to take out a tree that might take a day and based on a photo - stump grinding, clear the site and so on, doesn't sound so bad. Now this post... just cost my company about £15 for my time to write it.

Rocks? Knock it down?

My 'spare' saw, the battery one, has an Oregon blade, the other has Stihl and I have noticed, probably the same as you that the Oregon blade sharpens a lot quicker with a better edge. I've yet to get them both sharpened at the same time to compare but my gut feeling is the Oregon will blunt a bit quicker too.

Bird feeder, hate to say it but depends how much you put out for them, bit of a PITA putting out just enough each morning so that 'Basil' has nothing to eat at night. 'Dave the Fat' pigeon polishes off any left overs at mine, suspect I'll get the odd night visitor but I've never noticed them yet. My bird table has been pecked clean today. I have a cat scarer thing - makes a noise that he cat doesn't like (it works, so far no cat mess in the garden since Christmas, down from every other day before), can you get the same for rats? Might work or will they just get used to it or gnaw through the leg to disable it? Pest controller was around yesterday (dropping off rather than collecting), his Lurcher is doing well, he doesn't rate terriers and Jack Russels though.

Dust... so try dusting the stove next time? use a damp cloth and wipe it down and see. Not something I have encountered even with the first fire of the season. I know I will get it from the storage heaters if I ever use them again (6 years of dust in them now) or ghosts - Billhook might be onto something, ectoplasm maybe?

.. If you can use this advice and identify the stove... before you install the bricks (well, put them in first and check the are right), before you put a fire in, measure the dimensions then say, Alycidon can make them up next time or you can cut your own from that pattern

so my thoughts for what they are worth... If you recently moved in my first thought would be the paint, old owner paints it up, it looks nice, you fall in love buy the house. They don't care about the paint type so long as it is black... however since October I would expect a stove paint to have cured and stop smelling and a not-stove paint to have burnt off and also to stop smelling, I'd be tempted to consider something else. Noting that when my stove was curing you could see smoke coming off the top of it. Likewise your fuels should be OK, if you use them regularly you'd expect the smell regularly Lets assume that a stove installed 2 years ago also has a carbon monoxide monitor fitted as the rules say it should (and if note, you should consider fitting one, CO the silent killer)... again might rule that comment out then. The flue and the movement, that looks like quite a bit of movement. might be worth considering that for a moment. Has the scraped paint always been there? Did it happen once and there is was or has it appeared over time. If it has always been there it's possible when it was installed stove pipe was pushed too far in then taken out a touch scraping the paint. A one off occurrence while you had the house and something might have disturbed it, moved it maybe if you were in the loft or something, and if it happened over time, then it regularly moves. Second 2 things are worth checking out that it is all connected together properly. If it moves regularly then might be an issue with the install and to get it checked. Now onto the smell..... there was a post a while ago somewhere made me think of this... is the smell from the stove itself, from near the stove or from the chimney? can you work that out? The chimney heats up quickly, might be something too close to that somewhere? Just have a check along it and see that there is nothing in the loft too close perhaps. The only thing I can think of that might be happening is that a cold stove and the metal work shrinks opening a gap in a joint (stove to chimney perhaps?) - different metal types, different expansions. If you use it for a few days, it all warms up enough for the metals to expand and seal the joints, could try come high temperature silicone to seal around the joints? Try to work out what causes the chimney movement first though else any seal will come undone. Wonder if your local friendly sweep can take a look for you also? They might be able to rule out leaking joints, and thatt he chimney is installed correctly Note.. I am not an expert at these things, just my thoughts on what you say

I can only go from my 5kw stove, fire bricks are 25mm thick, you might need thicker for a more powerful stove? Last few years I have cast mine from refractory - seams to last better - but what are the common thicknesses for vermiculite sheet I don't know? the back one is the width of the stove (less a bit so it fits in) with 45 degree uprights. The side walls have similar 45 degree chamfers and that locks the back and side in place. Side walls are held in at the front with a clip - if yours has the same you should be able to work out how long that needs to be, measure from the edge of the clip to the back wall and take off a bit. Since there is a 45 degree chamfer both back and edge corners can measure right into the corner. Height is about 6", yours might need to be more, but mine are about 2/3 of the height of the fire box. You might use that as guide, can't go far wrong so long as the walls have the right thickness of insulation on them the shape doesn't matter too much. Chimney.. insulated pretty much just means the flu gasses don't cool as much, there is less soot and a bit for the stove efficiency. Was temped to take out all the punctuation just for fun.

I saw the title and thought this was some sort of grudge match, Rat vs Bag and I would put my money on rat. Friendly pest controller for me. Mine was admiring the lock stacks yesterday and an off the cuff comment "great mouse nests then". I am not bothered by mice, they vanish by the time I burn the logs leaving their nests behind. Never thought about diseases though. Mrs P did meet a couple of mice face to face in the garage one day (literally, they were on a shelf at head height).

Reading this, was there ever a consensus of opinion as to the best chain oil? The way I read this thread is "I use this oil and it works for me"... but as to the best one? The reason I ask should be obvious that I ran out today. I use my saws to cut my firewood and so don't get through anywhere near needing 25, 50 or 100 litre barrels... thinking 5l for me is loads. Normally I would pass the Stihl dealer on my commute which is handy, but no commute now, so ordering online this weekend perhaps. Online order and I can get anything. Other option is B&Qs of course.....

Premium Bonds -should- give you in prizes just a bit less than their advertised interest rates, but only in £25 lumps... so if you have £100 chances are the kids will never see a prize before they are 18, £1000 and they might get some, and the larger amounts should get you a decent return with the chance to win the £1m. You can set up a regular direct debit for them can't you and reinvest the winnings so over time could build up nicely. My boys have a building society account - instant access - just in case, plus a junior ISA each which had a better interest rate. If I had enough spare each month I look at a small private pension - sounds odd but when they get to 60 their lives should be sorted and it might be enough to let them retire a year early (rather than blowing it all on fast cars and beer). Long term shares out perform bank accounts. I went easy - went to the bank with a couple of cheques and said "Account for the boys" rather than slightly trickier shares

Also got to make a law workable, no good making something illegal that is impossible to enforce. Commercial scale tyre burning is easy to enforce, a tyre in the odd garden is a lot harder, probably impossible

Not sure how much market there is for them, but I bet you could create one for the summer BBQ market, get some summer sales? Ask anyone who was a Scout, cooking over a wood fire all the time. Shorter thinner pieces will char quicker and be perfect to cook on, and cheaper than making them into charcoal?

I went through a few coal sacks of similar this winter, given the option of what comes my way, I can dump it or cut it up and burn small diameter stuff. On the upstairs open fire, it is great (it is only a small grate, 12" I think, can't get a full log on it), and on the stove on top of logs or coal, gives a near instant heat boost. I was intending to use them last summer for BBQs, but for some reason no one was visiting much (and it was colder last summer than usual). I wouldn't knock them back if I was given a few bags of them

I need to get more sense and put The Boys to work then, they have more money than me but it's all my money that I give them as pocket money!

I reckon with something as knot free as that, straight grain, the old Fiskars would go through it a lot quicker to get the first cuts done, after than B&Qs finest £7 blunt hatchet will do the kindling far faster. Might change my mind when I get older and more sensible but for now....

A powerful torch indeed. I suspect that the 12,000 lumen rating isn't quite right or comparable to say a 300 lumen headtorch from another brand...12,000 according to google would take about 180W of power, 3AA batteries would power it for about a minute if my mental arithmatic is right.. you might be right to susect it isn't quite right (think 3AA batteries powering 3 60W lightbulbs)