Felicitations from Pat and Sam

[Patandsam]

A big Hello to all you lovely woody folk from us, here in the beautiful Lake District.

We are probably in a minority here as we didn't intend to buy a wood but ended up with a large one almost by accident and don't know a beech from a birch, I hope you will be patient with us and offer us advice. When we bought our guesthouse we were very excited by the wonderful building, the lawns, the breathtaking views across the lake and our private beach and jetty, but we didn't know it came with all the surrounding woods too ! Its been very hard work building up the business, relandscaping the grounds and finding our specialist niche, but we are now fully booked most of the year and having a great time, so we have the time to turn our attention to the bits we forgot- namely the woods. We may put in a couple of lodges, a pilates/gym room and a sauna chalet as our establishment has a sort of pampering and 'health' theme.

Several of the trees look a bit poorly, but there are also some crackers. We are very fond of the Rhododendrons, they add a splash of colour and provide great screening from the outside world, as our guests value privacy. Our main problem is free time, we work up to 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, so a bit of lumberjilling might be a bit of recreation.

Best for now, got to change a barrel in the bar

Pat and Sam

[Patandsam]

I think our first question is what is a reasonable Chainsaw, we've lots of fallen branches to clear. We get most stuff from Tesco as we are rolling in Clubcard vouchers. The best they do is a McCulloch CS 380 for £194. Is that a good one? It seems quite a lot to pay and I don't think they'd sell it if it was a bad one. Does anyone else have one of these or is there a better one for the same sort of money please. Thanks.

[Dexter's Shed]

you can get a nice chinese import for less than a £100

[SimonFisher]

Several of the trees look a bit poorly, but there are also some crackers. We are very fond of the Rhododendrons, they add a splash of colour and provide great screening from the outside world, as our guests value privacy.

You're almost certainly in a small minority with regard to the Rhododendron. They're an introduced plant and very invasive, spreading in woodland areas replacing the natural understory and very difficult to eradicate.

[SimonFisher]

I think our first question is what is a reasonable Chainsaw, we've lots of fallen branches to clear. We get most stuff from Tesco as we are rolling in Clubcard vouchers. The best they do is a McCulloch CS 380 for £194. Is that a good one? It seems quite a lot to pay and I don't think they'd sell it if it was a bad one. Does anyone else have one of these or is there a better one for the same sort of money please. Thanks.

Well Tesco's not the first name I'd think of when looking for a chainsaw, and how quaint a notion that they wouldn't sell it if it was a bad one! I was of the impression that Tesco's driving argument for selling things was that people buy them rather than any well-grounded endorsement of the product.

I can't comment specifically on the McCulloch brand as I have no knowledge of it. I'd be concerned that it may have been built to a price rather than to a reasonable minimum level of quality and be fully serviceable. I use a Stihl brand chainsaw. Many others here will do so also, Husqvarna is a comparable and well-liked brand. I know that my Stihl has been designed, tested and built for the sort of work I put it to and that every part down to the last nut and bolt can be replaced if necessary and there are service centres nationwide. That McCulloch is probably meant for a bit of light garden work. I'd look elsewhere.

Please stay away from the imports/copies alluded to by Dexter's Shed. They're very poorly made imitations of reputable brands and have shown on many occasions to be extremely dangerous to use.

I'd also strongly suggest that a chainsaw isn't the type of tool you pick up and have a go without some proper training and correct safety kit. That sharp chain going at full speed driven by a highly tuned engine which can cut so easily through dense wood won't be troubled by your own flesh and arteries. Seriously, have a search on Google (other search engines are also availble) and look at some of the chainsaw injury photographs. My protective trousers costing almost as much as your chainsaw has fibres which will jam the chain and bring it to a halt before it makes too much mess of my legs. My left glove has padding to protect the back of my hand in case of kickback (do you know what that is?). My training means I do know what kickback is and how to use the chainsaw so it doesn't happen. Anyone who uses a chainsaw without training and safety kit is an idiot.

Getting someone in who already has the kit and knowhow might be an alternative to doing it yourself.

You mention clearing up fallen branches - what sort of work are you looking to do in your woods? A woodland isn't necessarily like a garden where you might feel the need to keep it clear and tidy. Those fallen braches form a valuable part of the woodland and can be valuable habitat for many creatures. You don't have to clear up all the fallen branches.

Can you tell us a bit more about the wood? How big is it? What types of trees and of what maturity? What do you want to do with the woodland?

[SimonFisher]

A big Hello to all you lovely woody folk from us, here in the beautiful Lake District...

Of course I should have started with hello and welcome. It sounds to be a very nice place you have and I imagine you've put a lot of hard work and long hours in. Where in the Lake District are you?

Despite my earlier posts (no apologies for the content though!), we are in the main a friendly bunch and will offer help and advice where we can.

Hello and Welcome,

Simon

[Patandsam]

Thankyou for the welcome Simon, I'll now forgive you for the comments about our Rhodos. I think if you saw them you'd realsie why we like them, they are one of the features most loved by the guests, we would never even think about eradicating them. There must be lots of different Rhodos, I think ours are more the ornamental ones than common wild ones. Ours must have been planted maybe 60 years or more ago, they are huge and have double flowers in a range of wonderful colours; deep carmine, white, yellow and pink.

The woodland area is quite big, but its a bit ill defined. There are parts I think you'd call parkland with grass under a few big trees and other wilder bits more like hillside which have trees like Rowan. The dense proper wood is about half the site, so I guess about 30 acres. I'm not very good with trees but I think we have quite alot of Yew, Birch and a few Oaks, with a lovely understorey of your favourite colourful shrub.

Not much has been done with the wood for long time- its a bit of a jungle. We want to make some paths and clearings so the guests can take walks through it and we want to create some parts for contemplation if they want 'time out'. We also want to make some feeding areas for the squirrels and birds. We will leave dead wood piles because we like Lichen and Moss.We thought we'd start with a small chainsaw just to clear some branches and see how we go. Sam is the equipment part of the team so will chose the one we want. Tesco don't sell Stehl.

We value our privacy but will say we are on one of the big well known lakes.

[Dexter's Shed]

Hi Pat & Sam, welcome to the forum,

if you search old posts you'll find lots of useful information, there is one old post of chinese copies/chainsaws, but half the posts are missing so it gets a little muddled trying to read it
I bought one such beast back in january, and being a complete newcomer thought it was a good buy, but of course after around 100 replies to my post, I saw the error of my ways, and bought a smaller "husky" instead, and vowed never the use the chinese "widow maker", but then.... I'm not called Dexter for nothing, I thought I would run both chainsaw's side by side and do a review a year later, if I still had all my limbs intact, ok, it's only been months not years, but I'm still 100% complete, I had up until that point recieved all my training via youtube, so we called in the professionals to help out fell a large dead oak, and took on site training at the same time, of course I had both chainsaws present and asked this person who has 20yrs plus experience as a tree surgeon, if both were in good order etc, after a good look at them, he couldn't find a bad word to say about my widowmaker, the kickback can happen on any saw, its that little 45 degree section of the tip, and yes, make sure you buy full PPE.

like everything in this world, you get what you pay for, but don't think that because you pay £300 plus for a chainsaw, your less likely to have an accident, they can happen whatever the cost, wearing PPE and being trained will reduce that risk, irrelevant of what make saw you have.

here's a piccy of my widowmaker in use, please note, I'm NOT wearing the correct ppe, but I do have boots on

[Patandsam]

I guess if you ask boys about their toys they all have their own preferences. Sorry Dexter but if the Chinese ones are unsafe I think we'll pass on those. We really just wanted a basic one to start with using Tesco vouchers which makes it effectively free. If nobody has anything definite to say against the McCulloch I think we'll risk it, I can't believe Tesco would risk their reputation by selling unsafe or second rate ones. Stihl and Husqvana sound good, but we can't get one for free. I think Sam will be safer with a Chainsaw than an Axe, that would be really scary!

[Dexter's Shed]

and you really think that tesco one ain't made in china