Peter 1955

As someone whose son is earning a living by going round the country teaching people how to safely and competently use all manner of equipment, I applaud the need for training and certification. As a crotchety Old Git who has been waving a chainsaw about for forty odd years, and has operated lots of other equipment which could be life threatening to himself and others with only a driving licence, shotgun certificate and firearms licence as evidence of his skill and qualification.......................................................................................... 🤐 You can't square this circle. My son was recently instructing at a venue who seemed to need nothing more than a simple maintenance course on the strimmers/mowers they were using, but he felt they actually needed a far more in depth course. Compare and contrast with a friend who ran a haulage yard. Only one member of staff had a forklift certificate to say he was competent to use it, the rest were on what we might call " grandfather rights ". Three guesses who my friend reckoned would be the most likely to seriously harm someone. When I left agriculture, I had " grandfather rights " on huge self propelled sprayers, capable of covering many hundreds of acres a day, but I couldn't legally use a knapsack sprayer to put Glyphosate on a garden. Now that my rights have lapsed, I'm no longer qualified to do the job I did for thirty years. Sorry not to be able to give advice on how to solve the problem outlined originally, it's just that I believe it's actually the tip of an iceberg really.

My Father's car insurance just renewed with the same percentage increase as you quoted. I used Go Confuse a Meerkat with a Wombat as we had before, and guess what? Damn good quote! Whereas before, we had cut his premium and increased his cover by using them, we couldn't improve on the renewal quote from RAC. Wife's is due in a fortnight. Same percentage. Seems 50% is an across the board rise in policies. Agree with recommending NFU where possible, service is just better than other companies. Dealing with my Father's home insurers after a flood was a nightmare.

I'll just go and sit quietly in the corner, then eh? 🤐 I remember helping a very experienced mechanic on a 5000 with a water leak. Head off, pistons out, fill it up with warm water, and watch the fountain of water go into number 3 cylinder. Fortunately, a new block cured it. Really annoying when the amount of work done on yours didn't cure the problem.

If I remember right, they were wet liners, with seals at the bottom. Often a cause of fluids mixing.

No claims, no changes. He is in his mid/late eighties, and as I said, the comparison site basically found prices starting at that figure, and rising. Couple of years ago, we had a choice of a dozen lower than his renewal quote. My wife is a named driver on his policy, I'd hope that helps a bit.

Just renewed my Father's car insurance. Renewal quote with RAC went from £600 to £1,000. We've always got his from comparison sites, and have been known to save serious money this way. Best quote obtained? £950. Sticking with RAC.

“Murder was in fact a fairly uncommon event in Ankh-Morpork, but there were a lot of suicides. Walking in the night-time alleyways of The Shades was suicide. Asking for a short in a dwarf bar was suicide. Saying 'Got rocks in your head?' to a troll was suicide. You could commit suicide very easily, if you weren't careful.”

We once put up posts and 6ft gravel boards for a client to fit his own deluxe panels later. Turns out the deluxe panels were 1.8m wide, not 6ft! Client had to fit a piece of roof lath at each end of each panel.

I'd agree about the 261, it's a manageable saw, but it thinks it's a 400. I have a 251, and a bit of trimming for the chipper is about its limit. That's why I now have a 261, should never have bought the 251, which replaced a 25 year old 023. It was supposed to be an upgrade, but it certainly wasn't. I have an ear to ear grin when using the 400. Re your remark about weight, my 400 replaced an 038, which is definitely not light.

Indeed. We had a customer, nice bloke to work for, lovely fella. We went to trim some shrubbery for him, and remove some dead stumps. Long story short, seems he didn't get on with most of his neighbours for whatever reason. The last part of the job was to trim some ivy and crap from his side that was invading on one neighbours garden. It wasn't easy to do, hanging upside down from his garden shed roof! As we were leaving, we noticed signs of life next door, so politely knocked on the door, explained why, and said that we would like access from her side, it would benefit her immensely, and we could do the job easily, and be gone in minutes. Her reply? Verbatim: " I wouldn't p**s on him if he were on fire". We took that as a refusal, and went home. 😉

My understanding is that it's the agitation of the chain that does it, not the pump. My son uses Synthplus as well, his boss prefers something else. As far as I'm concerned, it works in every saw I own, so " if it ain't broke, don't fix it". 😂

I have a 36v DUC makita, and have had no problems whatsoever with Synthplus. I'm led to believe that it thickens up with agitation. ( There's a word for that, I've seen someone use it on here ). It certainly pours much more nicely than the stuff we used to get years ago that seemed to be like glue!

I guess that too, though I've never used one. I think they may be more attractive to those who haven't lived with one, perhaps.

Thank you, much appreciated.

Came up with a company from Facebook, recommended by someone I trust. In the hands of the client now. I would still be happy to know of anyone in the Goole area who offers stump grinding, as I do get asked for it.

A customer asked if I knew anyone for some stump grinding work, Goole area. Apparently there are a few stumps which aren't dying fast enough for her. I don't have a lot of details, it's my old place of work, the farm I worked on for twenty years before redundancy. The garden is big, access shouldn't be an issue. Message me, and I'll put you in contact with the client. Thanks.

Couple more spring to mind. We once had to build a fence between a Husky and an Akita! The Husky was soft as anything ( but like big bundle of bounciness ). The Akita not so. We only met the Akita with its female owner ( lovely lady, husband was grand too ). Never a problem at all, but we wouldn't have been prepared to cross her while the dog was there. We went back to fix guttering between the properties, and I'm clattering about with ladders, drills and hammers, not a peep from the house, we decide lady and dog are absent. Later she comes round and tells us the dog has been here all the time. I say it ever made a sound. " Ah yes" she says, " but I wasn't in the house, you see". My Dad once had a Rotty cross,Gyp, lovely dog, and when it was young, I had a day with it while he was away, and it always remembered me. He had a few acres of land, and I turned up one morning while he was walking Gyp, off the lead. My Dad saw me, but didn't recognise me at distance. Gyp did though, and when my Dad had clipped the lead on, I called Gyp. You've seen the cartoons, where the lead holder is dragged along, haven't you? If Dad had tripped, he'd have been going across the field nose first. 😂 He wasn't as amused at the time as I was.

Years ago, we had a few trips into a local scrap dealer. Two Rotties, one tethered, one free roaming. The free roaming one was nearly the size of a donkey! It's first trick when you arrived was to sit on your feet, and demand attention. The love its owner had for it was very evident, it was a beautiful animal, and well cared for. My Father remarked to the owner that it was sadly lacking as a guard dog. The owner suggested that he come back after five o'clock when the yard was shut! 😂

Sorry to swim against the tide, but unless it's boiling hot, or I have a need for fleetness of foot, my riggers are first choice. Many years ago, I bought some waterproof ones from Screwfix. I just checked, thought they were Wolf, and that's what there's a picture of on the side. First time I wore them, I crippled myself!! Had to wear them in slowly, but now I've done that, they're nicer than wellies or waders. Don't think they're available any more, a Google search shows an American company.

Don't know how it compares to Husky specs, but it's light, eager, and with the 20" bar it's beautiful. I love mine.

I don't know about the 500 ( although I suspect it could be awesome ) but the 400 and the 261 are both an absolute pleasure to use.

Our first saw was a massive Jonsereds, with no chain brake and a 20 or 22" bar. The compression on it was insane, starting procedure was to throw it away from you, and then pull the rope! H&S wasn't our main priority in those days, we were young and foolish. We asked the dealer for a saw that would cut anything we came across, and he was happy to sell us one! To attempt to answer the question, I'd say you need two saws minimum for any serious work. When I used the Stihl 038, it wasn't the first one I picked up, it was the 251 with a 13" bar. Now I have a 400, although it's so much lighter, I still pick up the 261 with a 14" bar first, unless of course the job dictates it.

Whereabouts are you? I know it's not a Husky, but I have a Stihl 251 surplus to requirements. I'm in God's County.

Sorry folks, can't post a piccy, as I drank it last night. A can of this, interesting stuff.

Answering the original question, Ash. Splits easily, dries fast, and burns well. Oak is so slow to dry, and Elm is such a pain to split. The sawbench was your friend when dealing with elm. Most of my wood nowadays is clearings from hedge trees, so they can get bigger machines round. Everyone round here is lopping branches off with circular saw blades, only problem is it's rarely straight.