coppice cutter

I'm not a heavy user, strimmer is pretty busy through the summer, leafblower in the autumn, and at least one of the chainsaws through the winter. Everything else is picked up when needed, may run for 5mins, or an hour, and set down again until the next time. I'm pretty much sold on switching and am prepared for a wee bit of hassle with the older things initially if need be, just a matter of choosing what fuel to buy as I've such a mixed bag of equipment.

Are you using this in Stihl equipment or across a range of things?

Do you see any difference between them in practice? I've been reading a few older threads and they turned in to a bit of a bun-fight which is why I started a new topic. My only new piece of equipment is an Echo saw, everything else is older and a mixture of makes, but all owned from new and serving me very well. Therefore I've no potential brand affiliation with fuel.

I think it's time to make at least a partial switch to Alkylate so a couple of questions. Nearest Aspen dealer is a fair wee bit away, Husqvarna a good bit closer, Stihl 5 minutes. Do people just buy what's handiest and use it in everything or does it need to be Stihl fuel for Stihl, Husqvarna for Husqvarna, Aspen for do everything else, etc? On top of that then do people generally buy a 2-stroke mix for 2-strokes, or just buy straight and mix with oil of their choice as required? All advice/experiences welcome.

I was in a mans garage a few years ago and after many years of trying he'd eventually managed to buy a particular Manx Norton in "as last raced" condition, 1962 I think he said it had been, even still had the bugs splatted on the flyscreen. I asked him what way he was going to clean it up and he said he wasn't, it was staying exactly as he bought it.

Back to doing what he does best, tugging at the heart-strings to get his way!,

In less sombre mode,

You do realise that 'academic' is a euphemism for 'gormless twat'? If you make that substitution from now on you'll probably find that things make much more sense.

Considering the cesspool that most (anti)social media has developed in to I think Arbtalk is doing pretty well. Standing still is the new making progress.

Classic form for the faux "liberals". Sneer, pontificate, finger point, and castigate everyone else, yet when a situation erupts elsewhere which demonstrates just how irrelevant and skew-whiff their "worldly view"really is, then it's just totally ignored. Other classic examples are the EU migrant situation, South Africa post apartheid, and most recently the UK shaming the EU on it's vaccination programme and economic growth post-Brexit, and the mayhem currently playing out at the US/Mexican border under the watch of the Biden/Harris regime. To be fair, when you talk as much bollocks as they do, what else can you do except look the other way and whistle a merry tune!

I keep a large (120ft plus) extension lead permanently connected in one outbuilding, and put a couple of wall brackets beside it to make it easily trailed out and most importantly gathered up again. It's main job through the winter is keeping batteries topped up, I've two Kubota tractors and a Kubota digger, all 04/05 and still on their original batteries and working well. Failing that, shift something to where the power is and get it on the charger before the battery gets so low that it won't start it. You just have to discipline yourself to make the effort to hook something up for half a day when it hasn't been used for a while.

I can only repeat that our experience of them over many years is very different to that. Maybe you need to look at your battery maintenance a bit more, any battery left for any period of time in a state of discharge will be life limited as a result.

Have you tried Yuasa yet? For me they are the best battery on the market and by some margin. We use them in everything, tractors large and small, diggers, our own cars, and of-course bikes! Only issue with them is pricing. They seem to have a pretty disorganised supply chain with prices all over the place so you need to be especially careful where you buy and what you pay.

Especially given that the same two-faced hypocritical b@stards have been lampooning him for years just for speaking his mind.

And who is the single largest customer of the quarrying and construction industries?, .....................the government itself! So it'll be the same as the land fill tax, a huge percentage of the tax they get will just have to be paid out again in higher contract costs for social housing, roads, schools, hospitals, etc, etc. Only with a heap of pen-pushing and bureaucracy attached, all at considerable expense itself. Where's this 'light-touch' governance that the Tories are supposed to deliver?

Yeah, I'll agree with that, pretty strongly actually. But it proves my point, the guy who wants to play by the book will have hassle and expense whatever way you cut it to be in a position to change over entirely on the 1st April. Alternately, there will be those who'll just work away totally ignoring the rules and most likely get away with it. They really should introduce legislation in such a way that it's easy for the law-abidding guy to comply, and difficult for the law-breaker not to. This is just another classic example of the exact opposite. Oh, and FWIW, this isn't sour grapes as I'm agricultural (genuinely) so won't be affected. However, that doesn't preclude me from being exasperated knowing that yet again a whole sector of those who wish to be decent and law-abidding will be put at a disadvantage to those who couldn't care less.

"The government said this week that not only will those losing the rebate not be allowed to buy red diesel on or after 1st April 2022, they will not be able to use any. Storage tanks must be emptied and flushed out ahead of the deadline so that enforcement inspectors can clearly tell the difference between illegal red diesel and standard ‘white’ diesel." This is the sort of idiotic nonsense consistently spawned by politicians/civil servants that really, really, boils my piss. So what do you do with your red diesel that you are emptying from your tank on 31st March 2022. Totally impractical idiotic bullshit, formulated by people who couldn't change a wheel on their car if they got a feckin puncture. I thought leaving the EU was supposed to help get us away from this sort of crap.

New Zealand do it quite sensibly. All diesel is taxed at a much lower rate, probably the equivalent of our red diesel, but users of diesel vehicles on the public roads then pay a "road user charge" to compensate for their cheaper fuel. Therefore there is no market for, or benefit of, diesel laundering or any such sheenanigans as it's all sold at the reduced rate.

There is actually an organisation called the Pasture Fed Livestock Association (which I happen to be a member of) striving to steer people in that direction. PFLA You may find that much of their philosophy strikes a chord with you, unfortunately though, the majority of farmers not so much.

After much, much, deliberation I've just recently bought a new Echo 390esx, 39cc, 15in bar, would probably be classed as a "pro" type saw rather than "homeowner". Plainly I can't yet vouch for it's durability, although feedback from owners on here and the 5yr warranty would suggest it won't be an issue, but I've cut a fair bit with it already and it is a delight to use. Been using chainsaws for well over 40yrs and never had a small saw before so was slightly apprehensive about using one but those fears were totally unfounded as regards this small saw anyway as it absolutely flies through anything put in front of it. Then add in the small size, light weight, and effortless starting and it's just been brilliant. As a footnote, I would have traditionally been a Husqvarna user. First decent saw I used 40 odd years ago was Husqvarna and up until recently my do everything saw was a 266xp, which I will now put in to semi-retirement unless for something huge that needs cutting. But I was recently in my local Husqvarna shop, ironically getting a file to sharpen my new Echo!, and who I would probably have ended up buying a new Husqvarna from if they hadn't been shut, and looking at the 435/440/445 range, I certainly have no regrets about buying the Echo instead! A wee bit dearer (but not much!), but the Echo actually seems more in keeping with what I would traditionally have consider Husqvarna to be, than the new Husqvarnas!

A tenth seems a bit OTT, I think with correct use of the earths genuinely renewable resources we could probably sustain a bit more than that but being such a taboo subject it's never examined properly to be more precise. However, I've no doubt that you are entirely correct in referring to it as where the true solution lays.

You'd probably need to elaborate on that a bit.

Any Nightwish fans in the house?

What sort of lift capacity are you after? Smaller horticultural type tractor and loader will probably be more affortable than agricultural. On top of that you simply won't beat Kubota for manoeuvrability in a 4wd tractor due to the design of their front axle. I've a ME5700 with loader and it turns as tight as any 2wd, but you probably wouldn't even be buying as big as that so something smaller would be nimbler again. Don't rule out turf tyres either, although if you're going to be ploughing through a lot of clabber you probably need agris, but then they frequently create the clabber in the first place! Agricultural tractor prices are absolutely nuts at the minute, even for old knackered stuff.