Acerforestry

The mention of the racket like a wardrobe falling over bought back a couple of memories - I've never seen anything physically out of the ordinary but on two occasions my wife has heard very loud bangs in unoccupied areas, one of those occasions when I was also present. She used to run a cleaning company and a client had passed away, though cleaning the large period house continued, for the remaining family. Until one occasion when my partner was downstairs in the kitchen, with a young friend / employee upstairs- with nobody else in the house....she was very startled by a very loud crash behind her in the kitchen / hallway area, the sound of which bought her friend running downstairs. No explanation, nothing had moved but the kitchen was noticeably colder...and they ceased working there after that event. The other time was in my mother's house, my father had sadly passed away some years prior. We were sat in the lounge talking when again, the volume of the bang we could hear downstairs could only be described as sounding like a wardrobe had been shoved over...we went upstairs to check - nothing, not a thing out of place. No doubt to my mind a lot of things occur that we can't explain.

We were driving through a rural town on the wine route the last time we were in SA, and went straight over (not intentionally) what was apparently (I described it later to an expert) a Cape cobra. I'm normally pretty inquisitive about wildlife, but that was one time it was wise to not get out of the 4x4

I guess you just have to keep an open mind here, if you can use a battery saw for half the day before you are out of whack and having to go back on the two stroke, it's a start in the right direction. Certainly the Wranglestar vids seem to indicate that the battery power saws are getting better

Interesting, I did have a quick browse at battery saws but ruled them out as probably lacking the power - but this is only paling wood stems, the biggest generally at the moment would be 8 inch. I think i need to look at a few comparison vids. I'm not a health nut but generally the forestry blokes are probably more at risk of side effects than most tree workers as the saws are running pretty much constantly

If this is pretty much a repeat of any recent post, let me know where to find any comments and we can abandon this thread - but I couldn't find any. I'm thinking of giving any alkalyte fuel a go as being in a nigh on constant cloud of benzene and wood dust 6 days a week I think is making me feel a bit ropey, and although coppicing doesn't really lend itself financially to paying what the alternative fuels cost I'd rather still be breathing normally for a few more years. I have a couple of 545's that have run only on usual unleaded mix, and a mate is desperate to shift a 550 so I may buy that and use the alkalyte just in that one. Is the shift from normal to alkaylte likely to cause any running issues, cheers

Ah that explains it, i did see an ad online from SA, price was six thousand Rand-odd, is that roughly what you paid? Should be a belting saw, you don't get the larger models over here. Only thing is spares tend to be relatively pricey

I've had a number of Tanaka saws, this model I've not seen anywhere in the UK - where did you get it? You're getting first or second pull Jap reliability, and if its a 70cc a fair amount of grunt suitable for larger diameter timber.

I have a Stein rain jacket, bearing in mind they are about 50 quid (ish) which these days is not a lot. mine's 3 years old, zip still fine and it does what it's supposed to. Unless you go Goretex I reckon these are fine

It seems if you have suitable soil / trees / location the aforementioned company may be able to assist, for sure

Yes, fair comment we have the North downs (chalk and sand) just a few miles from here where I cut chestnut. Maybe that's why the dog goes nuts whenever I let her out, someone's already started locally!

Lol, seems a small price to pay. i have looked at a load of blurb about this online, and it has to be said that if it were possible to introduce the black variety to the UK, i'd be mystified why some enterprising soul hasn't already done so, given their high value

Apparently there is (very secretive) woodland in the UK where truffles of some type are found, and harvested. I wasn't aware of the soil type being crucial, but very interested to hear further info. Since my terrier is randomly digging at tree roots in the woods whilst I'm working, I'm curious as to how refined her nose is...

I find sycamore one of the fastest seasoning hardwoods, forget ash in that respect. I'm burning sycamore felled this May / June and it's perfect

I would assist if distance wasn't an issue - I'm in mid Kent