Trailoftears

From what I've seen-all good stuff.My' unde the radar' stuff.Band-The national,album,'the first 2 pages of Frankenstein', particularly the alcott/Alien/your mind is not your friend.

Mein Gott! This is like masterchef on steroids.Call me a lowlife,But homemade coronation chicken does for me-sniff!

I agree,there does seem to be a bit of sniffiness about rotatech chains,in my experience -its absolutely fine.Bloody hell,its getting to the stage where occasionall users just 'dump'their chains when blunt!Tiz wasteful tho,when you get say,10 odd resharpens out of a chain? If I MUST put 25" chains thru 20 plus big tree stumps,I feel far happier using cheaper chains. Heck, I'm telling porkies (again),the performance kit was 1 bar,1 rim sprocket and 3 chains-I forgot,they were such good value,I bought 2,1@£80 then 1@£60-it seemed silly not to at those prices.But perhaps the interesting point that EVEN on a 16" bar the unspoken admission from Stihl was that the the torquey ms261 could be better.The gauge was still 1.3mm but the bars were q.narrow nosed and light,the chains were picco super rapid,so fairly aggressive with a pitch of 3/8 l.p.,with I think,a lower tooth number than the usual setup.So I think that qualifies as a gentle semi-skip setup to maximise performance? 🤔

Everyone's favourite hooligan?

As an afterthought-olearia will 'flower',but if you are familiar with the horror that is ragwort-you will get a hedge with a horrid white flower akin to ragwort.If you want a coastal flowering hedge with (generally)coastal hardiness-go escallonia Macrantha-quick growing too and 'proper' flowers.

Griselinia is a GREAT choice,a lovely granny smith rounded leaved hedging subject.A 2 ft spaced single row is generous,or go a 3ft spaced double row.That gives you insurance,in that the outer line will take the 'hit' should you get a really proper salty or severe winter.These are known as 'New Zealand privets'hardy on the coast generally,but no guarantee of surviving say,-5 over 2 weeks of severe winter conditions.Yes,Olearia would work,and arguably 'tougher'-again,a N.Zealand 'shelter belt' plant-but see Griselina as Cinderella compared to the ugly sister!Go Griselinia for sure.I would say 5 ft is the minimum to keep Griselinia happy at-if thats your TOP acceptable height-increase your plant spacing-to be kind.

I think this has been the 'informal' rule in uk Gardens for the last 2 seasons now.1st of March-31st July inc.Regarding both routine hedgetrimming and particularly heavy hedge topping-conifer reduction etc.Whilst its inconvenient and costs some work,at the end of the day,most people who work outside and enjoy the privilege of enjoying our desperately troubled landscape and enjoying other people's private outdoor landscapes too have learned to live with it plus have the wit to understand the reasoning behind it? Also,it falls to us 'professional' landscapers/Arborists etc, to educate the general public too.Its a pain from a monetary sense,but its needed tbh.However, there's a certain amount of issues too.I would traditionally cut back a privet hedge twice per season-the first biggish cut,say mid June,followed by a minor cut mid/end of Sept.The unfortunate truth is that now-you are making a massive cut-say first week of Aug now.Its a hedge's worst nightmare and will both stress/weaken them. Its akin to shaving your lawn down to 1cm from 15cms-it aint gonna end well tbh.

Heck, I'm telling porkies (again),the performance kit was 1 bar,1 rim sprocket and 3 chains-I forgot,they were such good value,I bought 2,1@£80 then 1@£60-it seemed silly not to at those prices.But perhaps the interesting point that EVEN on a 16" bar the unspoken admission from Stihl was that the the torquey ms261 could be better.The gauge was still 1.3mm but the bars were q.narrow nosed and light,the chains were picco super rapid,so fairly aggressive with a pitch of 3/8 l.p.,with I think,a lower tooth number than the usual setup.So I think that qualifies as a gentle semi-skip setup to maximise performance? 🤔

Indeed,and I do take your points on board.I derive a lot of enjoyment from following Donny Walker who services plus ports 'proper loggers' saws.,leaving aside his obvious skillsets and a lifetime of experience on all brands of saws,also points out each brands issues/problems without fear or favour.Also, he's philosophical and f.a.f. tbh.Worth a watch for anyone who hasn't come across his words of wisdom.

They are old stock now,but if you can find one-Stihl used to offer a kit,only in 16" for the 260/261.2 picco 3/8 bars/2 rims plus 3 picco super chains as a performance kit,they were sub £80 when I bought one,so really good value.Tho the bar was a standard rollomatic bar it was the same weight as the light 04 bar.

Membrane,any cheap gravel you like,then a packet or 2 of mexican fleabane (erigeron).You'll not be able to even see the stone in 2 odd years that I can promise you!Also they'll laugh at log-splitting activities plus you'll be the most flying insect friendly garden in the street too!

The chanticleer is a pretty,shapely tree (orn.pear), several of the crab apples are worth a look too- Malus evereste.John downie gives both nice blossom and v.ornamental fruits. Agree with other comments re:the mountain Ash too.Tradidionally they were planted close to a dwelling to ward off witches and evil spirits.

Farm saw-farm saw! 😳

After using an ms 038 av for donkeys years,the 441 feels like a racehorse tbh,same weight as the 038,10cc more output,great a.v. performence and sips fuel with a decomp valve etc.Saying that,its universally hated as the bastard child of the 461.Its not light by today's standards,and indeed a tad bulbous in profile (tho I like a big gel),but its a.v. figures stand up pretty well with the current saws.And its plenty big enough for me tbh.Its just nice to be able to run a 25" bar when the odd big beech has to come down/ gets windblown.And looking around at the many,many mature Ash on various properties I visit it will be needed more and more I suspect.

Likewise, I've looked at that long and hard,great power to weight ratio,cutting edge mag. Piston tech etc.I stuck my ms441 on ebay for £750 and could have sold it for £700,but the 400 would still have cost me £250 more.And in truth would be about 5 odd cc's less in power,but no doubt,slimmer and lighter.Also-I DO like the v.3 mtronic saws.They work and rev beautifully in my limited experience.

I'm the other way-all stihls/a couple of small makitas for top-handled work.I had 8,but I'm quite proud of myself now having sold 2 (grudginly),but still fancying a ms 241.It never ends!Worse still,I also have mowers/blowers/hedgetrimmers rtc,etc.So the lust fest never ends tbh 😳

On the other hand,if you asked me about the 250....🙄😳😤

Really-there is,I kid thee not.Ive bought a couple of the budget stihls,and some are were effing shitty.But I just flogged a year 2003 180 which has done stupid work,and in some ways,in spite of getting most of my money back-I felt a tad wistful.😳

A good ms180 will do the job,but money no object-a ms241 would be one of those 'I'm making loads of money/I deserve it/it will pay for itself in the end' purchases!

Love it,rhubarb leaves are poisonous -if you ate say the amount a determined hungry elephant might eat.Equally,privet is technically poisonous to sheep-how many thousand's of sheep-infested fields abutt onto privet hedges?As to smoke from Prunus species-I suspect Cannabis smoke has done me more harm than disposing of prunus waste 😁

I was taught-many years ago now admittedly, the hierarchy is/was,there are engineers,then there are mechanics,and lowest of the low-the chuck the old bits away 'part fitters',however that shows my age and pertains to a golden age long gone in today's throw-away society.We are where we are now.No real mass car makers/shortly no real base steel producers.Our 'industries' now are mcdonalds/k.fried chicken/shitty service stuff.Once upon a time,we were pretty decent at MAKING stuff-now, we're just china-on sea with everything foreign owned-airports/utilities etc,etc 😬

👍

As an afterthought,the longer the bar length you put on this torquey little saw-the more it can find you out,I think its due to the relative lightweight power unit and monster acceleration- It will flip back at you pdq.I treat it with a lot more respect compared to my 441 thats for sure.

A good topic from the o.p. this. Its like this mate,most American chainsaw users who comment on forums are over 60,more pertinately,most of them are hugely fat and unfit-hence why they feel the need to stick (at least)a 25" bar on a 50cc rated pro chainsaw.Plus you have to add in their desire to fit 'big dawgs',port their saws,endlessly cookie cut bits off logs-you've no doubt watched the mind-numbingly boring vids where they show off their 'bark boxes',all v.tedious and predictable.Meanwhile,back in the real World-The Ms261 is a very flexible and forgiving saw-given its a 50cc saw-a 4hp output is really impressive.Its best place is a 16" bar,but-it will run a 18" bar happily too when broken it and keeping to Stihl's recommended .325 setup.However,and this shows Stihls rather cynical knowledge of the markets they sell to-in the uk-max bar length suggested=18".In the States=20".So make your own mind up...20" bar for this saw is beyond stupid-and will shorten its useful life significantly.If you need to run a 20" bar-go 362/400/441 etc.

How dare you refer to my testicle issues...