JonnoR

Fair points - hence the post. I have 'enough' saws, but maybe needed more of a nudge away, than a nudge towards. I find myself in some heinous shit holes from time to time, and invariably most of the luggage I arrive with is nicked, so I thought I'd explore filling the suitcase up with stuff!

Yeah, seems to be somewhere in between the 661 and 880

More as a bit of fun than anything else, but if I happened to be travelling to locations where Stihl market older, 'simpler' saws, would they be worth bringing back? Some of these saws seem to have an attractive retail price when you take into consideration exchange rates, and I could probably bring back a bunch of service items. Are these 'old school' type saws, such as the MS 780 I refer to in the title, worth bringing home? More importantly, are they fun to run?! https://www.stihl.co.za/en/p/chainsaws-ms-780-2115#ms-780-2115

As you might already know Mick, around my area there are quite a few ex-pats who bought portable mills, thinking they'd corner the market. Them and three hundred others. . . There might therefore be plenty of people who might be grateful to sell one, if you went on Facebook and left a post, or maybe those who are now so cheap on a day rate that you can just chuck em a bit of money every few weeks and have at it for a weekend.

Can you take on an apprentice? It is more of a contractual arrangement I'd imagine, and provides some conditions to the training you're providing vs the qualifications they walk away with.

Will do - thanks again!

Many thanks for the tips! I've just ordered a square chain ( Tauern Skidding Chain (square link) | GRUBE.EU WWW.GRUBE.EU Boost your productivity with our Tauern Skidding Chain with robust 90kN strength and compact, lightweight design. Buy now for faster, safer logging! ). I'll swap the winch hook out for a swivel one I found. I probably won't immediately cut the cable as I can live with it this season,

That's good to know thanks! The issue might be made worse by the very smooth bark texture of the hornbeam. The smaller stuff I tend to bunch together for winching. Grube in germany sell suitable hardware and also offers a choke chain with an eye on one end: https://www.grube.eu/p/choker-cable-ftf-55-with-loop/P42-133/?q=Choke#itemId=42-133-2,0 https://www.grube.eu/p/nordforest-skidding-chain-with-split-j-hook-and-ring/P41-183/?q=Choke#itemId=41-183-3,0

Lesson learnt! Thank you all for the tips. I'll post pics when I get the new hardware!

That's what I figured. The capstan winch I've had for a few years fits the chain choker it came with, but with the one above I could hook it in to the winch hook on my Lennartsfors, as well as using it with the three links of chain on my capstan. Couple of them and I choke up the next set of logs while my missus winches in the last load.

Would this be appropriate do you think for my needs? J1 New England Style Choker WWW.CHRISFORESTRY.CO.UK Wallingford's Golden Bell Chokers. Made in New Hampton USA. Light and durable. J1 chokers are made with a ferrule on one end and a turnback eye with 3 links of chain on the other... It seem that I could use this for both my cable winch and my capstan winch, which would use the chain links.

I've only got 900kgs tow capacity (I think - it may have been updated when I bought the thing) and 20 metres of cable as standard, so a 6mm choker should be fine.

Thanks for the tip with the keyhole slider. I'll definitely order one of those, thanks!

Many thanks Doug!

Thanks mate - I'll get a better choke option. With just that one full length pull it was noticeably better so fingers-crossed it'll get a little better. Bit of a pain in the arse at the moment, because it pulls back if I let go of it!