Paddy1000111

Don't get me wrong, I'm not on about spunking thousands on shiny kit. Just wash the van, give it a polish, do some paint touch ups, maybe touch up missing paint on the chipper, logo work shirts are about £7, maybe re-design your business cards, touch up your website etc. Maybe you broke the rear light on a trailer and it's been left, stick a new lens on. The old saying says you can't polish a turd but you can roll it in glitter for under £100. You don't need to spend loads to give a good first impression 🤷🏼‍♂️

I don't believe it... you're saying that the 10K machine will make me more money than the £45 interest? In all seriousness though, I completely agree. I don't think there will be a huge rush in little companies popping up mind. If you've been made redundant etc it's an expensive industry to get into and with no promise of work going from a well paid job to becoming self employed is a long process to becoming self sufficient financially. Obviously finance helps but with no job and no income getting a good finance deal and being able to make repayments on all the kit is a big overhead. I think money is also best put into company image, clean vans, nice looking equipment, smart uniforms and company reviews. I've been undercut on some jobs but the customer has gone with me through good kit, a professional look and good reviews. Suddenly a £30-£50+ difference in prices doesn't matter when they are getting a professional company compared to a "man with a van". One of the best things I did (from customer feedback) was invest £10 in carbon copy quote forms. Fill out the customer data bit, what needs doing, tick a load of boxes. Lets the customer see what they are paying for. Giving them a proper form full of info with a quote on it looks more professional than a DIY business card with a number written on it. In relation to the house sale stuff more of my work recently has been from new buyers wanting trees sorted first thing. Of course a lot of that is leylandii bashing but it is what it is. More house sales=more work!

That makes sense! Not had any experience with the D model so I wouldn't know! Would be interesting seeing them side by side with the same settings and same size branch but all the videos show people firing in brash of various sizes and it's impossible to see what the speed difference is 😂

Does it make much of a difference now? The engines are almost the same through all the makes and models so it's just down to the running gear really?

Out of interest, was that with the feed rollers set the same?

I've just bought an st6p after using someone elses. I really like it. The forst st6 has an adjustable infeed roller speed so when smashing big timber you can slow the feed down a bit and get more output in smaller chips than relying on the anti-stress to deal with it for you. Only reason I went with the p version is the sub 750. The grp panels are the front engine cover, everything from the motor mount back is the same as the bigger weight st6 models so unless you've regularly smashed engine covers it makes no difference

What is the fitting like? I can't help directly with the Posch S375 but if its a standard 6" extractor type then you should look at the Axminster tools extractors. They work very well for planer thicknessers which chuck out tonnes of wood. Your other more budget option is to look at cyclone separators. I use one for my woodworking equipment attached to a 110L blue barrel and it works very well running off a shop vac. I use one of these: Wood-Dust Separator Collector Connect Household Cyclone Vacuums Cleaners WWW.EBAY.CO.UK Separates 90-99% of material before it reaches your vacuum cleaner, keeping the filters clean. Part Type: Dust Extractor. Features: Laser Spirit Level, Dust Collection, Dust Extractor...

I find my chain is usually the best detector. 100% detection rate so far 🙄

I'd be interested too. Go for it @Chipperclown and I'll piggyback

I 100% agree and it's more of a mindset thing. I guess in my mind on a very bad day in my previous job I would make £160 so as long as I can make at least that in profit then it's okay but like you say, it's bad for me and it's bad for business and I will only be the destroyer of incomes for myself and other businesses. I need to get into the local parish Facebook pages and advertise on there. Someone posted up asking for someone and some clients recommended me which turned into 4 jobs from a couple of comments so it's obviously a good route. I get a few "organic" enquiries from my website, I'd estimate 3 a week. It looks smart but it also looks sterile. Because I work for myself I don't have people who are good with a camera to take nice photos so a lot of my photos are stock ones that look rather "industrial" I guess. I might get @Steve Bullman to look at it. I'm rather focused on not spending out money after buying a new van, chipper and new kit that was needed but you need to spend money to make it and I would like a more personal touch to it!

Anyone else find enquiries come in waves? I've only been "going it alone" properly for the last few months and I'm working on getting more enquiries. I've been winning 85-90% of quotes (probably because I quote too low wanting the jobs as I'm starting 🤦‍♂️) and all my feedback has been 5* across various platforms so I must be doing something right but I seem to go through waves of enquiries, I'll have a week of 1-2 enquiries a day then have nothing the next week. It seems like no-one is posting on bark or anything either so it can't be just me? I'm just trying to drum up "reliable" business. I know that there's no such thing as a consistent stream of clients (this isn't my first time being self employed) but I'll take any advice on advertisement etc as this is my first time being directly client facing as opposed to dealing with business contracts 👍

Self resolving issue that!

Make sure that's the +vat and shipping price. They're only £70 cheaper than my local dealer for an 881 which is my next toy and I would rather have the local support (although it's all a "dealer" network). You spend your money local and you get more care long term. I've taken stuff back out of warranty and they've checked/fixed it for free.

It's down to what you prefer. Realistically the husky and Stihl are pretty close. Personally I find the husky a little plasticy but it's almost like the whole timber wolf Vs greenmech thing. You like what you like!

Personally I love my ms261cm, great on the ground and if you can handle a saw then it will bury the full 18 bar. You can make good size cuts when up on spikes and fell good size stuff on the ground. I've had mine 3 years now and not had a single issue with it. I grease the sprocket bearing regularly and just look after it. I'd say the 362 is just heavy without gaining much in power. I would rather be nimble with a 261 than just power through things with a 362

Or you charge for consultancy? You can't always say to a customer to do all the leg work and you just do cutting. You could explain the situation and the cost and charge say £40/£50 for doing the land search etc with the agreement that it gets knocked off the final price if they go ahead? Sure as hell beats working for free

Who's paying? If it's the customer then I would do it. If the waterboard ask then say you're working for the council or vice versa 😂. In all honesty land search it but work out who's paying first. If either of them own it, it will/may be a solid no and then you're out of pocket for not just the search fee but more importantly your time and fuel arranging nothing and basically being a free surveyor

I like Ray Mears and his website was cheapest for gear recently when ordering new cooking gear. Whilst Bear Grylls runs about eating insects and jumping off cliffs before retiring to his 5* hotel, Ray goes out and does genuine bushcraft, stays in the forest and cooks bread. Plus his calm nature makes for good watching, Bear seems to be edgy for no reason!

I'll take your 125 and I will raise you a forst ST8

Ahh, that makes sense. I had it for 2 hours and took it back because it just wouldn't work!

Is it the 125 or the 160 with one infeed roller? I rented one before and it might as well have been gravity fed 😂

If you're trying to make an srt anchor for ascending you are much better off doing as you said. The benefits of srt are speed of ascent and redirects without friction so you're better off base tying, ascending as far as you can, ddrt to your final anchor and then install a cambium saver (I use alpine butterfly and a carabiner through the rope hoop so it's recoverable) then just redirect with a tape sling and a carabiner or you can carry a load of dmm rings and carabiners and use those for redirects. If I can isolate the limb then I just install the cambium saver with the throwline!

I'd suggest a pure sine if you're going to be loading it up more, less heat in both the grinder and the inverter. I think you are going to struggle on the grinder front. What grinder is it and do you know what the peak start and run wattages/amperages are?

Technically, a Maillon is an open system unless it's done up with a wrench and even then it's questionable. Personally I would rather climb on a ring and a triple or quad lock carabiner than a maillon but neither are "approved".

Any EP2 lithium grease will be fine for bearings/bushings/splines etc. I've always put it on drive splines super thin with a brush to prevent water sitting on them