Dan Maynard

And then at 12.5k didn't sell well so they got discontinued?

You need my box of Echo oil.

I think to be honest most people probably start using something and then don't change because they have no problems. I've been given a load of Echo 2 stroke oil by a neighbour, don't know what to do with it as I don't really want to risk it in my saws. I'm also working on assumptions, some of the Stihl literature is contradictory but the ultra is fully synthetic and stated to be lower ash than the super which is semi synthetic. It doesn't make sense to me that the super would have stabiliser but not the ultra, but like I said I've found it hard to get details. I think I've read somewhere to not mix more than you'll use in a month but I haven't found it to be too critical, some of my bigger saws sit longer than that between uses. I keep all saw tanks full because it reduces the chance of evaporation from the fuel, and any moisture being absorbed (it does say to do this in the Stihl saw manuals). I also buy super petrol because the E10 is more likely to absorb water and separate. So far my saws are all good, so I carry on like that but I can't really tell you which of the things I do are essential. If you are going to be regularly leaving petrol longer and going stale is a worry then maybe you should just start on Motomix, this has ultra oil and shelf life measured in years.

I can tip logs free, they get chipped up in bulk for biomass.

HP ultra is higher spec than the super, it also has the stabiliser in so I don't think there's any advantage to super apart from price. Personally I run the ultra, performance and lifetime of the saws is better in theory although it's not easy to get any details behind that from Stihl literature. Given that a litre of oil mixes with 50 of petrol and I've just paid £1.60 a litre for super I don't think the ultra is that much more expensive to run.

Thanks for the replies, Jones reckon they have a pair of Trekker Mountain in 13 so I think I'll give them a punt. Stock very patchy in all boots when you really start looking.

Bit of a thread bump but I have been looking at these Haix boots and I can't work out which ones are better for climbing - they all seem to say protection for forestry and outdoor workers?

Put it in a Hillman Hunter. More seriously I've got a Triumph Spitfire which burns plenty of oil anyway so a bit of 2 stroke mix does it no harm at all.

If you make a disc and the slice it in half to two semicircles, then let them dry you will see the shrinkage as the cut faces will not match up any more. I guess at that point you could plane them and stick back together. This is the reason through sawn planks warp and quarter sawn timber is more stable.

Your problem is that wood shrinks more circumferentially (around the rings) than radially (straight in to centre). This means that as it dries it puts stress into the wood, which will crack unless held together until it gradually stretches to relieve the stress. Usually the answer to that is not to make pieces which include the central pith, that way the wood can move as it shrinks. I think the only way to make bigger rings which are not split is to dry slowly in longer pieces, then saw off and discard the split parts from each end.

When I was a teenager we had loads of big elm rings, axe would just bounce so we used to bang in a line of three or four steel wedges to split off a chunk about 10 inches wide. Splitting the whole thing straight down the middle was just never going to happen. It depends on the wood, and also personal preference but I would suggest a maul is good for splitting stubborn wood that needs several blows in a line to grow a split. An axe can get stuck in this situation, I find the axe better when you're going to go through in one hit. I also find the axe kinder to my elbow. Nowadays I would saw into blocks rather than split with wedges, did some 40" beech rounds like this recently. I didn't make much of a dent with maul until they were sawn down, at which point splitting with an axe became quite easy (although I put them on my log splitter). I like a 25" bar for this and use the nose end, so the chips clear between the log and the saw otherwise bit prone to clogging.

I think a lot of firewood is currently sold for cash and will continue to be There is no way they can monitor all these small sales.

I think they're a bit cheaper, but having used a 291 and 261 I'd pay the extra and take a 261 if it was my money. More power, less weight, less vibe.

I'm tall and I hated the Treehogs, but I get on just fine with Stein X2 which a lot of ordinary sized folk hate. I'd maybe recommend waiting till you've done the course and try as many different pairs as you can, whether you like velcro or leather straps is another personal choice which could have you wasting money. If you're desperate to spend, I'd think hard about some steel Buckinghams, you'll always be able to get spares.

The helmet manual does usually say no stickers, how much that is rear end covering we can never know. Most people don't read the manual of course but I am strange like that.

It looks like the soil has been raised and covered the natural root flare.

Yes, there's a procedure in the manual to follow, with a tacho.

They also don't say how many handbooks they will actually send, maybe one or two? Similar form to the fire service, education service etc scams.

That's brilliant Alec, thank you. The third pruning strategy which I see in gardens is what I call "hedge" pruning. The method is to keep cutting off any growth outside the desired size of tree, which results in sprouting at the edge of the tree that gets denser and denser and gradually shades out the growth inside the tree. The end result is a strange hollow ball shaped tree which has no fruit. This is to me the danger of making just the red cuts.

Yes, probably - don't know exactly the capacity of the Solis but when I worked on a tomato nursery as a teenager they had a little compact Yanmar. That could lift basically until the front wheels got light on the ground, you obviously have a lot more capacity on any tractor putting the weight down through the rear wheels than on the front through the steering.

I would say you've got to factor in the type of stump too, how hard wood is, cherry roots are a bugger, etc. Also, it's easier if you can get round to attack from different sides rather than having to follow all the way across through the hole you are making. Personally as I hire in I would definitely go up to Predator 460 size for half metre but have done them. As said above, sharp teeth.

Maybe could put pallet forks on the rear arms? Need a loading ramp to put IBC onto a trailer though, but that is possible.

Stayed in a holiday cottage recently with a small burner, surprised how frugal it was. Maybe 6 logs in an evening, something like that.

Muntjac is the thing people worry about round here nibbling the regen.

Muntjac is the thing people worry about round here nibbling the regen.