Muddy42

Looks ideal, I will look into a Cub Cadet Zero turn Sorry I really don't need another tractor! Sorry I really don't need another tractor! True, I am turning as much of it as possible into wild flowers which can be used for hay.

Not sure of budget yet, I'm just trying to find out what type of mower to go for. Then I'll look at new versus second hand etc. Do you mean a compact tractor? I'm not that keen on diesel as I do not know how to work on diesel engines. Diesel would be a new fuel to collect and keep track of (ontop of pure unleaded and mix). Fuel cost not that important in terms of the total cost. sorry life is too short, I just want a mower thanks.

As above, I mow about 2.5 acres and the lawn is very mossy. I think the lawn is too big for scarification and moss treatment. I currently use an ancient 24 hp petrol ride on Honda with a 50 inch deck with collection bags. There is nothing wrong with it (just a bit slow) so I would probably keep it as a spare. The lawn is fairly square, uniform and without lots of obstacles, so I'm not obsessed with maneuverability/zero turn etc. I just find the current mower too slow - it can take 4 hours to do the whole thing. I have this vison of being able to drive around the lawn with a powerful and fast side-eject non-collecting mower. But I have no experience of these. What type of mower would you recommend? Thanks,

Awesome, you learn something everyday. I'll try and find and Oregon 3/8ths chain once this one is used up. I'm trying really hard to get everything onto .325 or .404 to reduce the number of files I need to carry. Its mostly .325 but I just like .404 for milling. So if I can get the 3/8ths to use the same file as .404 this would be great. Isn't the terminology baffling - a total mix of metric and imperial, decimal and fractions ?

My Stihl guide tells me to use 5.2mm files on 3/8ths and 5.5mm files on .404? I appreciate you can get away with slightly oversize or undersize files at a pinch. I'm genuinely interested as I currently stock both, it would be great if I could simplify things !

If you read the manual for your 881, it does give options for 3/8 chain - you'll need a new bar tip (unless its a hard nosed tip) and drive sprocket. The bar mount is still specific to the large saws, but I guess you are simplifying the range of files you need to keep in stock. For me that benefit would be pretty marginal, I find .404 chain really easy to sharpen. A 120 cc saw should feel like a motorbike with a chain attached. Try cutting without the mill, new chain etc. Post a video here maybe? Something not right.

Thanks everyone. The new clutch springs arrived and I've fitted them using the piece of string trick to pull the ends of the springs into position. This has settled the chain down at idle perfectly. The tuning's maybe still a bit rich, but I quite like that for the strain of chainsaw milling and I can refine it over time.

Also pour any remaining fuel out at the end of the day. I don't know whether its rain water or ethanol in fuel, but I often find a dirty milky watery substance at the bottom of the fuel tank. It settles to the bottom so you can pour off and re-use the good fuel. Clean the tank out with a bit of pure petrol if its really bad.

Sorry I can't really tell from your picture, when you look at the inside roof of the stove, a baffle plate should be sloping and almost completely block off the chimney, leaving a narrow slit of say 1.5 inches. Highlighted green in the picture below: This baffle plate reflects heat and unburn gases so they can reburn again. They can be iron, steel or vermiculite, indeed the whole of the inside of the stove can be lined with any of these materials. Vermiculite is a fibrous heatproof material that can be cut with a saw or an angle grinder. Any decent stove guy, or even a DIY-er could design and cut five pieces of vermiculite to line that stove (floor, rear wall, 2x sides (five sided with an apex for the new baffle piece to rest on) and a top baffle piece). As others have, this would properly "baffle" the gasses and raise the internal temperature of the stove. It would cost less than £40 in materials, so surely worth trying before doing anything else more drastic?

Of course. That is the problem, I'm annoyed I didn't think of the clutch. Springs ordered. I've cleaned out the brake areas whilst I was in there. The needle bearing was fine. I've removed the limiter caps as well. Thanks

Thank you. I’ll search for the thread.

As per the title I am having problems tuning my Stihl 088 Chainsaw. I use this saw for milling with a 36 inch bar. I've owned it for a year and so far its worked great and I havn't needed to tune it. Just for the record, I have replaced the fuel filter (now with orange one), cleaned the air filter, checked the fuel lines and performed a basic carb clean (the diaphrams seemed fine, so I didn't replace them, just sprayed carb cleaner everywhere). Recently the chain has remained turning at idle. I would say that this issue has slowly developed, but I found I could ignore it when the chain only turns slowly in the mill. For the record the saw starts, accelerates and cuts well. Easy I think, just unscrew the idle (LA) counter clockwise, but this just causes the saw to stall. So I investigated the tuning, thinking the Low screw needs to be made leaner. The saw still has the limiter caps on. The manual tells me that the standard low setting is 1/4 turn out/counter clockwise and there is a 1/4 turn either side of this. Neither extreme seems to help the situation, nor alter the engine note much at all, but its hard to tell because so little movement is permitted by the limiter caps. Have others found the limiter caps need to be removed to tune properly? Or do I need to delve deeper into the carb - carb kit, specifically target the low jet areas etc.? My other saws don't have limiter caps so I have not had this issue before. Thanks,

Lucky you, my Esse one is aweful! I have to bring out all the tricks - shut door, open window, pray, small fire first to get the flue hot etc. I've had to modify the stove to widen the airflow holes and widen the size of its vermiculite baffle board. I also have a 10 year old clearview that shares the same chimney stack and its easy to light. You simply open up all the vents, one log/one kindling/one page of newspaper and its roaring like a train in minutes!

I agree with the posts above. Where the flue meets the stove looks really odd. I'd guess a lot of your heat is going up the chimney. The heat energy cannot simply be destroyed. My parents have an identical stove. Its great, if anything it can produce too much heat at times. Watch out for some of the modern 'more efficient' stoves. I have one and its a tricky customer to light without smoking into the room.

Agreed

Unscrew the muffler and see what that exhaust side of the piston looks like. Maybe post a pic here. You’ll soon know if its scored and damaged.

I already have four different files sizes and find that too many !

Yes as above, all three (bar, chain and sprocket) wear together so to get the most out of your new (expensive) bar its best to replace all three together. You could always keep the older part worm trio for rougher work and stumps.

No sprockets are specific to the pitch of the chain not the width of the chain. Within reason. Use the sprocket/bar/chain selector on chainsawbars.co.uk to be double sure of compatibility.

Yes its fine to cut it now. I wasn't clear what height you wanted the hedge to be? Assuming just head height, I'd start by cutting the high bits off, that should encourage sprouting lower down. You could create some gaps in the hazel and transplant 'impenetrable' and evergreen rhododendron? You can make a rhodo bush by simply placing a heavy log over a small rhodo branch, roots will sprout where the branch is in contact with wet ground.

Thanks for the additional confirmation of rust. I just need some dry weather now for treatment! Yes I agree, no need to persecute the non-ponticum varieties. I have also heard that many were grafted onto ponticum rootstock by the victorians. I understood that the ponticum simply takes over anyway without human intervention and sprouts from the roots, smothering the ornamental variety. Although I have never actually seen this happen. Here ponticum grows pretty strongly, so you can use whatever means possible to eradicate it with a clear conscious - chop, bonfire, pull up by the roots, glyphosate. Some people even use diggers, bulldozers, chippers or organic bailers. Its pretty tenacious though, if you leave a few roots or seedlings it will quickly come back. Its a non-native species that ultimately closes up the understory and prevents hardwoods regenerating.

yes I currently plan to feed, remove the fallen leaves and give it a few courses of various garden fungacides. Thanks

Well done. Now you need to make the gate! I often use oak immediately if its going to be used outside. On the third mystery cut where you got stuck, could you have maxed out the width of your mill and some part of the saw/mill come in contact with the bark or a branch? Its easy to do and I have done it a few times.

Yes here in west Scotland, I spend a fair bit of time burning and killing the common rhododendron ponticum (grows like crazy, purple flowers) but nurturing the less common garden varieties, with are much less invasive. Yes ponticum is poisonous and produces a mild narcotic smoke when burned I believed. But I'm not afraid of it, nor do worry about over shading of the garden varieties. Its taken 30+ years to grow 10 foot high!