Peter 1955

Well I finished the job designated as " Tomorrow's ", the severe garden trimming. I reckoned I deserved a drink, and headed off to a local off licence which has a lot of cans you don't see on the shelves at your average supermarket. He also has a couple of keg lines, and while perusing the shelves, I was enjoying a pint. While chatting to a couple of other customers, I landed a fencing job! Blimey, it's not even safe to go to the offie now!

So if I read it correctly, customers should only employ Professional Arborists, who are highly principled folk with the highest ethical standards, rather than using mere Tree Surgeons, who are nothing but bounders, with few scruples and a debatable moral code? Fortunately, they don't seem to have a problem with enthusiastic amateurs like me. 😂😂

I know absolutely nothing about Husky. 400 is always my first suggestion. Don't know about the 400.1 Second suggestion is 261. I'm curious to know what the 400 died of.

Not quite as impressive a picture as some of you post, but my back thinks it’s very impressive! That’s a ten tonne farm trailer three quarters full of chippings. The house now has loads more natural light, doesn’t seem hemmed in, and hopefully will sell better.

Still no piccies, sorry. I promise I will do one day. A house in woodland which is for sale, and client wants it to look more saleable. Cue him hiring a chipper, and me turning up with a van full of pruning gear, and ladders on top. Even with one of his staff feeding the chipper, and one of my mates helping me, there's still a gentle day's work left for tomorrow. There was a lot of walking, and a lot of thin brash to clear, and lots of ivy. We had a Greenmech Quadchip 160, which seemed very happy with branches up to four inch or so, but not so much with anything bigger, or the leafy stuff we gathered up, unless we could run a nice branch through at the same time.

Henchman Professional tripod ladder. Best I've ever used.

Neither are 023 and 038, which I loved to bits. I never had a 391, but my son did for a short time, and then he swapped it for a Husky. He still borrows my 400 for bigger jobs though. 😁

Every chainsaw mistake I have made has been the same one. Not upgrading far enough. When my beloved, and well used 023 needed replacing, I went for a 251. A more horrible, gutless machine I have never picked up. After many years of use, either it's bedded in, or I've got used to it, but the upgrade from that one, my 261 is a delight. And a cause of sorrow. Sorrow? Upgrade from an 038, also beloved. I was rapidly steered away from the like-for-like 391, thank you all. That left 400 ( old model ) 462, and 500i. The 500i was immediately discounted, because it's far more saw than I could ever justify, isn't it? The 400 was a 20% power increase, and far lighter, no brainer, eh? I should have got either of the big ones, no question at all. Man who never made a mistake, never made anything.

And Today's Job begat Tomorrow's job. And Tomorrow's Job begat Next Week's Job. Still no piccies, sorry. Wouldn't have looked like much anyway, cos most of it was hiding in the ditch. I met someone at a funeral who I hadn't seen for years. Must have jogged his memory, as he rang me with a fallen oak tree to clear. Piece of cake thinks I when I arrive, as we've got a teleporter, and I've got my big strap back. The blighter's just bought a log burner, and wants it all logging! The good news is that the customer had estimated the job as a whole day, and with help from a teleporter, and a young lad clearing brash/logs, my part of the jobs was done in half a day. The bad news? The begatting. I'm trying to make headway on the work in front of me, and this job has already spawned some hedge clearance, tree trimming at a house for sale, and a pound to a penny, more cutting and splitting of today's wood. It was ever thus.

If it's really light pruning, Makita 18v could be an option, it's certainly weight saving. Personally, I find my 36V Makita light enough for me. Can't fault the logic. Might prefer convenience over physical effort myself, but I'm just lazy.

And you may well have been right. 😉 I'm coping. It may have helped that I came to it from a Makita battery saw, which instilled a Pavlovian reaction every time I picked it up, ie press the button to wake it up. My son is unimpressed with the system too. There was a cunning plan behind the MSA300 purchase, and if a couple of ducks had been in the right row a while back I'd have had a short hedgetrimmer on the AP system now, instead of petrol. The next step in the cunning plan was the KMA200 Kombi, and the switching on that is excellent. The machine itself is marvellous, love it to bits.

Six months. I was advised on here not to buy it, and I can fully understand why. However, I got two spare batteries free under the BOGOF scheme, which means that with five, the run time can be reasonable. The saw? Numbest piece of kit I have ever picked up. I can understand why one chap said he had one sitting near the chipper, and nobody ever used it! It does however have two saving graces. When using it in the yard at home for firewood, I'm often on my own, and I now don't have a cable to trip over. Secondly, it has in my very humble opinion, comparable power to a petrol. It is serving my purposes well, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone. The funniest part of the handbook is where it recommends using the lowest power setting for light pruning. I'd pick up either a bow saw or my 36v Makita before I attempted to prune anything with the 300. Now here we may disagree. I love .325 on my 261, and think it turns the saw into an absolute animal. Others may disagree.

Leylandii are a law unto themselves. They can turn their toes up on a whim, or return to greenery over a long, long period. I agree with you about those ones, I wouldn't rate their chances, and even if they did recover , they're not particularly impressive things anyway. I can think of a lot better replacements, Laurel would work if you just wanted evergreen cover that can be controlled.

Fairly sure it's the standard 3/8. Its little sister, the amazing 261 is running on 3/8, as is my MSA 300. I know there's a trend to fit smaller gauge chains, usually on the smaller saws.

Sorry, no piccies, but this wasn't a planned event. Storm damage. A whacking great tree fell down across the road about half a mile from me, stopping the dearly beloved and I from going shopping. Cue turning round, and throwing some kit in the van, and going off to help the neighbours deal with the damage. I expected a fairly quick job, but it ended up taking a couple of hours, we only had pallet forks on the teleporter, and I had left the ideal strap for the job out of the van. The more I cut, the more the scale of the job became apparent, luckily nobody was hurt by the falling tree, and no significant damage occurred. ( Metal gate, postbox, and Blue Bin ). Neighbour's weaponry was an MS 250, they were mightily impressed by a 400 with a 20" bar on, especially as the stem was nearer 30" in places. Road is now open again, so all good.

Many years ago, I used to do the same. We had a local saw mill, and I worked on a farm. I had access to tractors and forklifts, an storage area and unused shed, and a saw bench on an old trailer, driven by a combine engine. We used to collect ten or fifteen bundles, cut up the good stuff for logs to sell, and burn the rest ourselves. In my humble opinion, you need a chainsaw to make the pieces manageable enough to handle on the saw bench. Chainsaw and saw horse is no good for high throughput.

We're back to trust. Most of my new clients for the disco are happy to pay a deposit after signing a contract, but prefer to pay the balance in cash on the night, when they can see the whites of my eyes. Regular clients are allowed far more relaxed terms. Trust. When someone pees in the water supply ( such as the last minute christening passed on to me who stiffed me for £200 and the venue for £400 ) you tend to mistrust all customers for a while after.

Indeed yes. There are one or two folk with reputations lower than a snake's bottom, who have been known to ask for payment in advance, only for a catastrophe involving poorly relatives, poorly vans, and/or other terrible events to prevent them doing what they agreed to. I did a wedding where the singing waiters had stiffed the organisers ( groom's parents ) for a considerable sum and vanished, also the caterer ran off with as much cash as he could liquidate a week before the event, and was last seen heading for pastures new. Trust works both ways. Quite possibly. Understandable. It can take a while to build up trust, but a minute to lose it.

I strongly suspect an element of tongue-in-cheek with that remark. As log burners become the must have fashion, the stuff folk were happy to dispose of for free has become a valuable commodity. Round here, ready to burn logs are £165 per cubic metre, so the DIY version must now have a value.

In my ( usually ) night time occupation, as a Mobile DJ, because of events along the lines of those described above, it's becoming the norm among Professional DJ's to issue a contract stating that full payment will be made possibly a fortnight before the event, or they're not loading up the van to even set off. Every time someone posts on Facebook/Forums that they've been stiffed for their previously agreed wages, these folk point out that such terms and conditions preclude this possibility. Some things are paid for in advance, others not.

All good advice from everyone above. I too have a top handle Makita battery saw, and for certain jobs, it's great. When you don't cut continuously, and not more than about 4" diameter, batteries last well. Start logging 6" plus stems continually, and six 6Ah batteries won't keep you going, even with a twin charger. It's not designed for that. I love mine, for trimming up fallen branches into manageable lumps, or pruning small branches, it's great.

Which is why I thought the flail head was unnecessary. Until I used it. You are correct, without the mulch plate it's good, but with the flail head, I've cut stuff I couldn't see over from the seat.

I'm unfamiliar with the machines mentioned in the first post, but some of the larger Husqvarna riders can fit a flail head. One of my customers got one as well as the cutter deck, and I thought it was a bad idea. Until I used it. 😉

I was young when I started driving ( the beauty of farm living ) and I wouldn't be surprised if my son was even younger. His Mum used to let him drive our car to the school bus on a morning! 😀

Well Boys and Girls, the smoke has turned white, and I will shortly be nearly £500 poorer. 😒 My local dealer gave me a keen price on a KMA 200, and the decision was made. My son's place of work have got the FSA 200, and I can foresee a spot of comparative testing happening. He's a big fan of the cow horn handles, while I have never really got on with them, always getting the R version myself. I've got one or two petrol power units in the shed needing a good service, so the case for electric was reasonably strong. I may get them serviced, I may try to sell them to offset cost a little. Thanks for all advice given.