Conor Wright

Type c pants are a requirement to conduct the practical part of the course, so is using both hands on the top handled saw at all times, just saying... My partner occasionally comes along with me on jobs, she found it hard to get size 4 chainsaw boots, settled for a pair of oregons in the end. Not a climbing boot, just to say if you're of a smaller build your options may be limited. From memory aborted and pfanner had a selection of smaller sizes. Fwiw I find sawboots very snug, especially on rough ground. Heavy, yes but reassuringly solid.

Out of interest, any idea what weight it was carrying?

A nearby seasonal lake (turlough) almost froze over. All thawed out again now but it looked nice while it lasted. The flock of swans that migrate to it annually were particularly raucous about it all. Lowest we recorded at home was -4.7

Icy drive to work this morning. Very nearly lost the trailer and digger. Can feel a chesty cough coming on. Gonna be a short one today. Countryside looks stunning in the frost though. Dogs love it too!

Sher go on, it's too complex to be a "do it for the wood" job but I can price it. You have my number?

Where is that? Looks like leitrim soil! (Or lack of) I had a client looking for big lumps of softwood to carve large seats. 100 cm is just about big enough. 3 of them 4 meters long. Thought I'd have come across something by now but it's been all garden work for me this last while.

Dreams aside, given your rescue and climbing skills you could hitch a free ride on oosterschelde, the Dutch tall ship. She's due to go north again after she's finished her Darwin trip. Seriously cool guys and a magnificent vessel. always on the lookout for competent, chilled out crew. They have the best contacts too! Alternatively there's safehaven marine in Cork, frank has been known to take the odd guest up that way on trials, probably not your type of vessel though! They hold the Iceland to Ireland by sea record.

Lumag are at best assembled in Germany. If you read their blurbs carefully you'll see they say something along the lines of "100% engineered in Germany" "built to exacting German standards" etc they are most likely built as component parts in China and or India and some minimal assembly in Germany allows them to stick a German sticker on them. A bit like expensive Italian shoes, made in China but the sticker is sewn on in Italy. Just enough "production" to stick handmade Italian on the box. It all stinks really. This outsourcing will come back around to bite us.

To process over 450mm you'll need a big machine. Most of the entry level commercial machines are about 350 to 400mm and the timber must be arrow straight to utilise the full throat width of any processor. The recognised brands hold their value well so you'll still have most of your investment back a decade later if you decide to sell. This is not the case with the cheapo models. They're a hard sell out of warranty. I've been reasonably happy with my palax machine, however there are other/ better brands out there. Duun, tajfun, hakki pilke, farmi and posch are the first to come to mind. Posch are the best of the lot but it's reflected in the price and is probably overkill for the odd load of wood! Some form of log deck or log lifter is a must to make any processor viable. Anyone I've spoken to that has a farmi is very happy with it. Having had a farmi chipper I can confirm build quality is good. Most of the above machines will cut and split from 20cm to 50cm long or more so 35cm shouldn't be an issue with any of them. See who's near you that sells any of the above brands and go see one in the flesh, look out for forest/woodland/agri shows in the summer, there's often demos of processing equipment. Be careful of high usage secondhand processors. If they go out of sync they can be tricky to fix as adding one new part into a system of worn parts doesn't always help. It would be nice if you let us know what you do chose to get, a lot of folk seem to just disappear after asking a question these days, either way, happy splitting!

Wasn't one of those sightings of a "large black cat" actually some dude that got a jolly from dressing up in latex and creeping around the woods on all fours? Personally I'd rather take my chances with the cat.

I'm all for people taking their chances, I know I do, but hand fed pto cone splitters with no means to stop without disengaging the pto or stopping the engine are a machine that I feel should be banned outright. Haven't seen one for sale in a while, new or used. Pretty sure they can't be ce marked and as such no retailers can stock them, here at least. The cones have their place on a digger now. Much safer. I'm assuming it failed entirely in it's attempt to remove your arm, thankfully. They do pale in comparison to some of the homemade deathtrap log splitters I've seen over the years!

More of an index finger that resembles a beavers tail.

Approved hydraulics sell the cone tips i think, they're probably all the same splitter cone regardless of make. Hycrak were popular in their day. I think ce marking issues ended them. Nasty little machines, if it's the type I'm thinking of.

If you are interested in moving to Ireland I may be able to help. I am currently looking to expand my small business and require someone willing to take up a multi skilled role. Our work is a mix of arb, landscaping, grounds maintenance, horticulture and firewood production. Your previous plant nursery experience may come in useful here. We are based in co. Galway, on the western side of the country. Training can be provided as part of the job if necessary. Feel free to message me directly on here for further information.

Avoid those briggs vanguards. They're barely capable of making it to 1k hours without major work. Wanks of things to work on. There's more of them lying in skips behind dealerships than out working on sites. Possibly the worst engine fitted to any piece of plant since the tecumseh "formula" anyone remember them?! Terrible things. Briggs has lost their way badly. They have a lot to do to regain consumer confidence. Its Honda or loncin now, for me at least. There may well be people out there with good experiences of newer briggs engines. They're just very quiet about it!