Witterings

Hadn't thought about a roller 1st, if I'm honest though I'd probably rather change the mower than create the extra work. Though about a meadow for part of it but it'd only cover a small part of the problem area and would make it even harder to clear up after the dogs, wouldn't want to just let it accumulate, it'd be a nighmare with flies in the summer.

I have a Hayter 56 with a roller and whilst it's brilliant in the summer we get a lot of worm casts in the winter and it's totally useless as one length of the lawn and the roller completely clogs up with mud, I'm sure it can't be doing it any goof either as it's constantly trying to drive with heavy resistance. My choices are either sell it and get one with wheels instead or buy a cheap mower for either side of the summer that works reasonably well, I try and keep the lawn fairly short and use it to pick up leaves in the winter as we have 2 dogs and it's really hard to find their poop if the grass is long or covered in leaves. If anybody's got any recommendations for something relatively "cheap'ish" that ,may be OK appreciated.

Guess this is a typo ... the D is next to the F on a keyboard ... As the Mrs really doesn't like the slugs as they eat her plants, I'll let her know what you recommend ... what sort of ferquency's required?

Cheers for everyone's replies, think it's made my mind up as I have quite a lot of wood and would have to pay for coal I'll probably stick with wood although I did fancy not having to top it up quite so frequently hence why the coal appealed. That said, if coal ash is a slug killer I could be awfully tempted to have a change of heart as we're plagued with the bloomin critters 😄

I've got a multifuel stove but believed you should either burn logs OR coal but not mix them. From memory I think part of the reason was your meant to use the vent underneath if it's logs and the vent in the door if it's coal. Anybody know if you should / shouldn't and the reasoning behind it?

Brilliant .... cheers guys 👍

I've used Stihl SynthPlus recently and am running low, is there any real difference between that and something like the Silerhook linked here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverhook-SHCR5-Chainsaw-4-54-Litres/dp/B00YTPOAKS/ref=sr_1_4?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Gcxuld6Xth1IbAmW56AaweTdLVKqEPBkFtuccDxqJjh_rDqezrR0kooIix705HSYGl4LmMxm4SDyLP-MkKRKtNDLKTHmnOyyO5kuYarrSDShvuIFPwwrnRdX1S5bL7JgURyon25WNA-RrshFPFFH-2AAk-4x3vI1NJXah2K7fOPe2Rv8VN6ANDRpLBvNGpaUVL9oZ799mRQ9bkGGfqxwFZbsAjX5lSlcwMSZ1uiR8uc.MEJWde8FiVstavG0juq2oE1Q2F1_doRVvm4Wd8relBU&dib_tag=se&keywords=chainsaw%2Boil&qid=1719048446&rdc=1&sr=8-4&th=1 One of the reviews the guy was saying this is "thin" and getting thrown off the chain meaning he used about double the amount so was a false economy buying it. What's people thoughts on the best budget oil / bang for the buck which gives decent protection?

It wasn't disbelief .. it was just the 1st time I'd seen a comment along those lines and you often get people in forums who don't really know what they're talking about making a comment for the sake of it so thought I'd check it out. Now this is where I have egg on my face ... I missed your sign off of 22 years+ Garden Machinery Main Dealer ... So I look like the numpty now 😄 Seriously though, a BIG thank you for mentioning, could save me from an expensive mistake and really appreciated 👍

I was sceptical as to why this would happen and just spoke to a dealership who do extensive servicing as well and they confirmed it. Guess it comes down to a trade off of how much work there is to do and if it's worth the saving in fuel as chances are it'll need a service / replacement parts if I then revert to Aspen which'd cost about £60. There's also the hassle / time element of taking it there / picking up it up which equates to lost income as not working. The alternative of running it just on normal fuel and then leaving it for long periods unused is likely to cause more extensive problems with a much bigger repair bill. Think I'm going to take the view I got a sh1t load of Oak for next to nothing and paying a bit more for Aspen vs what the wood will save me in gas bills is absolutely huge. Cheers to everyone for their help though and will use the Esso fuel for lawn mower and any other garden tools in the future.

That's what I was thinking, run it till it's dry, put a small amout of Aspen in and run it a bit more when I know there's then going to be a gap in between uses. Does anybody know what teh difference is then between Aspen and Ethanol free and does the latter last / safe to leave in a machine any longer than normal fuel?

Cheers to all for the responses ... didn't mean to pick out one reply (and sorry for the ignorance I'm about to display) but when you say Esso fuel .... I'm guessing it means from an Esso garage and they're the only ones that sell it???? Sods law we have every other garage apart from Esso near here .... any idea if it's just the same as some of the higher RON ones at other garages?

I normally use Aspen 2 as there's often breaks in between me using the saw but I've got a shed load to do in a short space of time and and have been going through loads of Aspen and still got lots to do. I was going to just mix normal fuel as it's cheaper, is 97/98 RON "better" for the saw or should I just use the now standard E10. It's a Stihl MS 261. Anyody know if one's better than the other for lawn mowers as well?

I thought wood was generally easier to spilt when fresh, I was doing some over the weekend with a mate and he said he thought it was easier dry and just before we do loads more thought I'd check in case we were making hard work for ourselves. Cheers for the help 👍

Is Oak easier to split when it's fresh cut or been left to dry out a bit for a few months and how long does it take to season ... obviously less time if it's split but is a year long enough or not really?

Must admit I wondered if that may be the problem from the size of chip, I'm using one of the Stihl 2 in 1's to sharpen. I've used them on other saws / chains before and they've been great, I checked what size I needed when I bought this saw. Sure I've got a gauge somewhere so can dig it out and check 👍

Cheers for everyone's input, it's freshly cut Oak and isn't dirty ... The bits I was cutting were much larger than normal and extremely knotty I'm wondering if I'm just not used to cutting bits like that. That said it didn't seem to want to start the cut and there was a smell I've not experienced before ... unless there was something embedded in the trunk I didn't see. I went back to doing some much thinner branches and it was a lot better but also paid attention to if it was chips or dust and it was a half way house. GIven it a quick sharpen and it was back to how it was, I'll just see how it goes but maybe I've never cut anything that hard knotted before. Thank again!

How often do you sharpen your chain and does it vary in whether you're cutting softwood or say Oak? Asking as I noticed quite a difference after 1/2 a tank cutting all Oak but to do it it that regularly you'de hardly get anything done.

I bought a Forest Master 7 ton electric splitter and tried it for the 1st time today. Initial impressions it seems pretty good apart from the spot welding on the guide rails and it's already broken / pushed away on each side, surely would have been much better to have welded the whole length so nothing could get between the deck and guide rail. I've taken some pics, may ask them to send me a replacement deck and get it welded properly before using it. My wrists are feeling a lot better tonight than the last time I split a load of logs so overall happy 🙂

I was having a look at the Kinetics again and watched a video of the one you had, whar about it aggravated your wrists do you think, certainly that model they seem to "slam" the levers back / forward reasonable hard do you think it was that? There are others that don't seem to requite the "slamming" action which I would have thought would be easier on teh wrists if so?

Wish I knew that before I went ass over tit on the ice covered pathway at the weekend 😆

Where do you dump your stove ash? I've seen quite a few comments about spreading it in your flowerbeds as it's good for the plants but we don't have any flowerbeds to speak of. I've been piling it in one corner in the garden and it just keeps growing and is a pile of horrible mush when it rains. I was thinking the easiest is chuck it in the green - garden waste bin as it's not being filled with grass in the winter .... unless anybody knows of any reasons I shouldn't?

Cheers for that, it's exactly what I'm trying to avoid 👍

Cheers for that, I was looking at the 7 ton and 8 ton version lasty night ... they also do a Kinetic which is super quick. The kinetic's out of stock at the moment and not due back in until feb / march next year, they stopped production to make some modifications to the design after they found a couple of small issues they felt needed improving. I've got enough split wood for this year and 1/2 of next, I may limp on with the manual splitting until I've got the whole of next done and seasoning and grab a kinetic one then.

Cheers for everyone's input .... replying to a couple of the comments / suggestions I do split at knee height and use a tyre, sometimes the rounds when I start are too big to fit in the tyre so will split them before putting them in. I do have an X27 as well, I'll give that a try and see if it makes a difference but before I do will try the old axe again for a while. Has anybody suggestions for a not too expensive splitter, I'm thinking I'd probably prefer electric simply because of the noise, ideally something that'll do decent size rounds although only 9" deep.

I haven't split logs for a while as I had bad wrists that took ages (months) to get fully better and did about 1/2 hr last night and my wrists are absolutely killing me today. I've recently been using a Fiskars X25, before I bought this just used to use a standard wooden handle axe and can't remember having a problem but I'm also getting older. Has anyone else experienced anything like this since using a Fiskars, I'm wondering if maybe the type of handle gives off some sort of vibration. I'm not here looking to bash a product but simply asking of anyone's experienced similar and whether it could be the cause, it may just be I'm getting more prone to arthritis although if it was that I don't think it would have completely got better.