Vedhoggar

Pulling trees/branches out of ponds - wire rope hand winches are slow, if you can get a 4 x 4 vehicle near the lake it would be much quicker with a length of cable or rope (direct pull or offset with snatch block) but portable capstan make job easier if affordable. On lightweight portable capstan winches depending on needs the Docma VF 105 Red Iron and the more powerful but lot more expensive Eder 1800 seem to be the best out there for forestry/arb use. These are both 2 stoke winches with pulling power at 1050 kg single pull VF 105 and 900-1800 kg single pull Eder 1800, speeds are 20m/min VF 105 and 12-24m/min Eder 1800. The rope needs to be kept tight on capstan winches and in my experience tend to work best on flat ground or pulling up a slope, when pulling downhill if the log slides the rope can slacken off and get tangle up on the capstan, cones can be useful in places but logs/trees winch in often fine without cone. Treadlight Forestry have a good range of portable winches on offer as well as accessories.

Balfor circular saw for firewood - we have the 700 SB 2014 model, it's well designed/solid piece of kit, apart from service to engine, two springs have been replaced, plus a belt and starter cord in last 5 years. The tungsten tipped saw blade which hasn't been sharpen yet is still cutting but due a service. It is used mainly for converting split billets into logs but also cutting cordwood (can handle up to 2m lengths with log support), the max cut is 295mm but struggles with some species of dry hardwood at that dia. It has a Chinese Rato engine which looks like a Honda copy (Honda engine was an option but more expensive). It can be moved manually over a solid surface if not too rough (new yard tow version would be easier to move) and has a hook point to lift the machine - it is very noisy if that is a consideration. The version we have has a log grip which is useful/safe with blade offset to right of operator. Logs drop off the end of tilting table when cut and sawdust is blow away downward/away from operator. The Rock 700 saw bench mention in previous post by Mowtown NI - machine has a good engine, a good blade and tow hitch useful for moving around yard but machine doesn't appear to be able to measure multiple long lengths, doesn't have a log support either for cutting cordwood and sawdust is blown towards operator which is a really bad design.

Might be ethanol which can block passages in small engines if you are not using ethanol free petrol or using an ethanol inhibitor, particularly if not using the saw often, some 2-stroke oils have an inhibitor added to them or it can be added to the petrol. Someone working with me had this problem with his saw and it cost £50 to sort out the carb.

£100/m3 loose for delivered seasoned firewood (<20% MC) AH/OK mix sounds a fair price but will depend upon what part of the country and size of load. In my experience based on a load size of 1.5m3/loose mixed seasoned hardwood in range of £75-£100/m3 loose, seasoned mixed softwood £50-80/m3 loose and mixed hardwood/softwood priced on percentage of hardwood/softwood in load but often 50/50. Prices likely to be higher in some areas but probably not less than these prices for decent logs.

New L200 (series 6) "3.5t towing capacity is possible with a 3 axle braked trailer, 3.1t towing capacity is possible with 1 or 2 axle braked trailer" ref Mitsubishi L200 brochure 08/19. Same towing capacity with series 5 L200.

The latest L200 (series 6) has a 2268 cc engine (all models), series 5 has a 2442 cc engine. We tow a 2T Ifor Williams trailer with a series 5 single cab 4life pickup fully loaded weight wise no problem plus often with gear/part load in pickup). Series 6 come with tachometer (all models) the series 5 does not. Series 6 no single cab 4Life version. Series 5 single cab come with ladder rack and outer lashing hooks which is very useful.