Dan Maynard

I have a friend who wears the £80 Oregon leather boots one or two days a week through winter, firewood and coppicing for wildlife trust. He's very pleased with them for the money.

FR Jones do Husky spares too. Handy if you're doing an order anyway.

Reviews I've seen show the 500i air filter blocks up quickly, would be a pain milling surely?

Ah maybe not. If you couldn't take a whole load before but can now then worth asking again, part loads are labour to unload so not likely to be free. Maybe they bulk up chip and sell it anyway in which case there's not much incentive to give it away below wholesale chip price.

I suggest making contact directly with Green Wood Tree Surgery, they're just up the road so must be driving past with chip.

I'm intrigued on your rating, what would you say for a 461? I think climbing a 461 takes 25" just fine but maybe a 20" would be more productive on the ground?

Nah they're rubbish. Don't even make 'em in proper sizes.

I can't really see changing spur to rim should make any difference to bar slot wearing wider. If the spur is so worn it is burring drivers I guess it will help but you need to change when worn either way. Throwing chains on the other hand can definitely burr drivers and wear the slot.

I think it would be the same Panther bar and chain I put on my Makita, not found a problem but then haven't tried forestry like Mr B in France. I have found the file guide doesn't guarantee the file height the same on a 3.2, ended up without any hook after a bit (I think because it can bend up) so periodically freehand out the bottom of the tooth. I haven't tried a 4mm file.

Doesn't look too steep though? Nice tracked machine straight up the slope. Have known grinder to roll so be wary across the slope.

I think you're in the region of £10k for an M500 unless you can find a secondhand one, they don't come up too often though unfortunately.

Or find someone who remembers it being planted and ask them? Think that's a Viz top tip but not sure.

The only one I've known about with more HP than CS100 is JoBeau M400 and M500, not heard of DR at all so will be interesting to find out.

Yeah, could be. Ok, change my guess to 60.

I would guess the fungus isn't just spreading randomly looking for victims rather it is consuming the roots of the old oak tree, which indeed go right across the garden. It will die back when the food is used but as others have said there are spores everywhere anyway so not really a special risk by having these fruiting bodies come up. I think at 12 years a bit of deadwood is normal, it should be just losing branches as it goes taller. If you want to do the best for the tree then maybe get someone properly knowledgeable to have a look if any formative pruning would be a benefit, I can't immediately see anything in the pictures but a few cuts at this age can sometimes a avoid a big problem later on.

Excellent. RS are very good, not always cheapest but very good at knowing what they have in stock and reliable delivery even when you order late in the day.

I've never seen it written down but there clearly is, you don't look at a 2ft poplar and think it's 300 years old. I can't tell the tree species in the picture, so much moss, so total guess from me. Very, very old indeed.

People are busy round here for sure. I have been thinking the lack of holiday and other spending opportunities meant people stayed at home and looked at their trees and garden. The job losses in the news are starting to mount up now though, I think we'll see how the next few months go but maybe everything will slow down. Then there's Christmas to think about.....

I think the sprays should be flatter for that, bit hard to see in these pics. It would help to have bark photos of branches and stem.

We have an exemption to the "That's going nowhere" law: "Ah that'll be all right, we're not going to London"

I also had an idea, put a lifting eye on top and it will be good for getting a lift up the tree on crane jobs. I'm kind of happy to mock whilst being slightly worried that these will become a requirement in future - "You know people used to laugh at chainsaw trousers" and all that......

It needs to be made of carbon fibre so it's nice and light, with a polystyrene layer - same as a helmet. Expect Pfanner to bring one out soon which is three times the price but people buy.

I would say if you're pushing stuff in against the vibrations the blades are blunt. CS100 should be self feeding, and a quick look at the DR all I'm seeing is gravity feed so the issue would be the same. I would suggest spend a bit of money on spare blades so you can swap over while some are being reground, rather than a new chipper. I use a diamond stone on mine to keep the edge razor sharp. I say it's a bit like chainsaw, if you are wondering whether it needs a sharpen then it already does.

Dr Ed Gilman, An Illustrated Guide To Pruning. It was recommended on here a while back, it's not a long list of species and timings but rather a thorough grounding in principles of pruning which you then carry forward to any tree or shrub really. I found it very readable even though 600 pages. He's made lectures available on Educated Climber website too if you'd rather watch than read: Dr. Ed Gilman Teaching Series - Educated Climber.com WWW.EDUCATEDCLIMBER.COM photo courtesy of University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Dr. Ed Gilman is the author of “An Illustrated Guide to Pruning“, arguably the most complete and accessible reference on tree pruning in our industry. This comprehensive text has helped to inform countless professional arborists and tree surgeons on the best practices of training, trimming and […] Maybe it fails as not quick reference but then I don't think quick reference is really that helpful.

Warping depends how wide the board is too, surely? Might not be that big if burr yew.