Peter 1955

Good news, bad news! ( depending on how you look at it ). The hedgetrimmers now need both types of grease, so the good news is, you will need the one you already have. You also you need to buy the other one as well, tee hee! The type you already have for the gears, and the other type for the cutters. ?

When dealing with Leylandii, either use gloves, or leave it for a long time before touching it. ( And wear gloves. It's filthy stuff ). Best when really well seasoned.

Which is effectively what happens with the " toothpaste tube " anyway, as you don't get a lot of pressure on it. Good idea. ?

Hence my use of " ludicrously expensive". Anything in smaller packages seems to incur higher unit charges. Ah well.

I see what you mean. Not a very elegant solution, but it may easily be the only one. I will look further into it. ?

Must look to see if it's a standard size/thread. I have a selection in the shed.

Hmmm. We had some tractors with non greasable four wheel drive housings, guaranteed not to fail. They failed. Glad to hear the Stihl units are faring better. I'll keep putting ludicrously expensive grease in my Stihl Kombi hedgecutters and strimmers, as they have the facility. I've seen what happens when you don't.

I shall have to place it on a long term loan to my son then, who has all necessary certificates, and buy a rear handle one.

I'm not a climber, but I got a top handle 36v Makita, with a 12" bar. As a pruning saw, it's brilliant, in my opinion. It's not meant for burying the bar full depth and expecting to cut all day on one charge, but on a job I did trimming a fallen tree, it removed all the light stuff easily, with battery to spare. I don't think it's meant to be a main saw, but it's a damn fine extra.

Ah well, at least the idea was good if logistics was tricky. Good luck.

Have you contacted Morton Training Limited? Land-based training courses, chainsaw training courses, Morton Training WWW.MORTONTRAINING.CO.UK Land-based training courses in chainsaw training, pesticide training, groundcare training, tractor training, health and... Holme On Spalding Moor. If Andrew and the team can't do it, I'm sure they will know someone who can.

Never mind if it works, I'm just in awe of any machine that has a beer barrel, and an ammunition box! ?

We used to have the chain flying off the Kombi pole saw regularly when trimming hedges like this, particularly thorn hedges. Since swapping bar and chain to a longer one for a Stihl 023, the problem has all but disappeared.

I installed a machine into a factory in Bavaria that had a beer machine next to the soft drink machine in the hallway. When we pointed out that drinking and operating machinery seemed a bit odd to us the answer was indeed "Well it's only beer". When we visited our daughter in Berlin, a couple of things amazed and disgusted me. Firstly, we were on the U Bahn, and I pointed to a lad drinking a can of beer, asking if he would get into trouble for openly drinking. I was informed that it's virtually de rigeur to have a drink on such journeys, and that there are drink outlets everywhere for this purpose. Secondly, in what we can call a Kebab Shop, I came across a beer fridge that would have been the envy of many an offie in the UK. Probably also, the start of WW3! At times, I'm ashamed to be British, when I see how other countries deal with alcohol.

Leylandii are the most unpredictable and awkward plants ever. Cut them and throw them on a bonfire, they will stay green for months. Leave them growing in the ground, they'll go brown and fall over. We had a hedge we lowered a lot ( five or six foot, at least ) at the first cut, after being untouched for a while. No problem. We then cut it annually for over ten years, with no issues at all. Customer then decided it needed to be 2ft lower, which we did. The bloody thing sulked for a full twelve months, refusing to grow at all. Yours looks reasonable from the pictures, they are very thirsty blighters though, building control officers can get a bit precious if they see them near new builds/extensions.

My old Clarke one chewed up the drive flange between motor and pump. Very poor coupling, I wouldn't be surprised if yours has done the same. Local engineer made a very good " bodge" mend, but I couldn't trust it, so replaced it with a Sheppach.

I've just got a Makita 306Z, as I've got loads of Makita kit already, and thus loads of compatible batteries. I've had the scenario of multiple types of battery before, and won't go back to that again! I'm not a climber ( as my climber son pointed out ) but I got it mainly due to a change in working practice on one job, due to this blasted virus. As a piece of kit, I reckon it's awesome, and if you decide to cut big diameter wood, pressing the boost button makes it hard to stall. HOWEVER: There's no such thing as a free lunch. I saw a video on Youtube of a fella who said he was running his with six big batteries, and two double chargers permanently charging four of them! I think that's a bit extreme, but I can see where he's coming from. It flattens 6Ah batteries really, really quickly ( they're brand new, don't know if they will improve after a few cycles of charge/discharge) so as much as I love it for what I need it for, I wouldn't recommend it as a Pro saw.

I use a customer's Husqvarna ride on mower, which has interchangeable flail and cutter decks. I have to say that with the flail on, I haven't found anything it can't cope with. From memory there's about twenty petrol horsepower behind me, and as long as you drive it sensibly, belt life is very good. One word of warning though, if you wish to change between flail and deck, although it can be a one man task, it's way easier with two people, especially if one of them is strong and fit. Second word of warning is that with the flail fitted, because it's so heavy, power steering, and hydraulic lift are virtually essential.

Private house, but have room to tip off road. Any firewood accepted gratefully, can cut and split. Please ring in advance

Not on my bench, but my machine. Should raise a smile. I have a year old small Cobra lawn mower, with a Briggs and Stratton on board. Out of the blue the other day, after it had been stood for a week, I started it up, and it was revving its nuts off, no matter what I did with the lever. So, I took it back to the dealer, and got it back yesterday. On asking what the fault was, the chap broke into a wide grin, and said it was funny. Turns out that a snail had crawled up the engine casing, and jammed the throttle wide open! ?

I rarely have a vast expanse of greenery without trees, gravestones, electric posts or buildings in front of me. Sadly, I can't often use the Genghis Khan approach to my cutting/clearance. ?

Not sure how it will stack up against Stihl/Husqvarna ( I think a colleague has a Husky ) but as I've already got lots of Makita battery tools, I've gone for a Makita battery chainsaw. Should be arriving within a week, I hope, I'll let you know how I get on with it.

So it's only me who puts one arm in my pocket, and the other between my teeth? I thought it seemed unnecessarily tricky. Let me elucidate, with cow horns, as far as I can see, you can only move the cutter head laterally. For backwards and forwards movement, you have to use your feet. With the loop handle, without moving your feet, you can cut round obstructions and sensitive items merely by using the movement of your arms laterally and backwards and forwards. In my humble opinion, a much easier and more controlled process. Others may disagree, all I can say is it works for me.

I think I may be bucking the trend here ( and my son certainly disagrees ) but I prefer loop handles for strimming, as rather than waltz round obstacles, you move your arms, which seems easier to me. Granted if you were let loose in a five acre paddock, with no obstacles, a bike handle machine might seem a better bet. You've reminded me that when I got my first 4-mix, I was convinced that it ran slower than the 2-stroke, and thus didn't run lines as well as 2-strokes. I must have got used to that.

Every now and again, I decide I need a Brushcutter, and then I return to Planet Sensible and realise that with three 4-mix Kombi power units in the shed, it's a pointless idea. I don't do enough clearing work to justify a dedicated machine. I wasn't the biggest fan of the 4-mix engines initially, the fact that they seem to run on fresh air, and with a bit of servicing, keep running, I've got no issues with them.