Ehh I.M.O both Stihl and Shindaiwa are neck & neck "hybrid-4 is just a fancy name like 4-mix is for Stihl" they both work exactly the same. Ohh yeah and a correction I have Br600 blowers not 500 it just says magnum on the cover I thot they were 500's this whole time.. Since we've been looking at some interesting engines lately that take the road less traveled, a comment by rafe03 on this story about this hybrid engine that needs no oil in the crankcase and no oil pump either, but it operates as a 4 stroke. The fuel mix lubricates the engine like a 2 stroke. The fuel mix is drawn in through the crankcase and, by a very roundabout way, makes its way to the intake port, lubricating everything along the way. There's an animation on the Stihl site. "Cue Link" (http://www.stihl.ca/4mix/english/stihl4mix/mixprinzip.htm) And now you have whats called a 4-mix engine. Which is just basically a hybrid 2-stroke engine posing as a 4-stroke and with the power 2 back it up. Life used to be so simple, 2 stroke, 4 stroke, diesel. Now we have 2 and 4 stroke hybrids, 6 strokes, external combustion engines ..., and turbines and electrics and hybrids.

reply by theodocus struck me as coming from the desk of the ad agency of MTD. No mention of the actual operation that involves rolling over uneven terrain and jarring action from bumps and uneven spots and the fragile fabricated axles that bend and crack easily. Oh, there is also the bushings used in place of ball bearings: bushing use requires higher horsepower to move the newer units. The Deere has points and condenser; cost $5.00 and 9.00 respectively and the sears is a solid state igntion. Newer technology is wonderful as long as it is coupled with quality assemblage in a product. I have a 1968 Sears GARDEN tractor with a 12HP Tecumseh Heavy duty cast iron engine with ball bearings and cut with a 42 inch deck and also have a 1976 John Deere GARDEN tractor with a cast iron 10 HP engine with ball bearings and cut with a 42" deck and use both alternately for mowing two acres and for tilling and moving earth, etc.. Each has cast iron axles and mutli-speed hi-lo transmissions and EACH is used for plowing, snowblowing, tilling earth, hauling 1100 lb loads in attached large carts. EACH will run circles around the new 20 plus HP light LAWN tractors made today. Spend 5,000.00 and you will have a comparable heavy duty GARDEN tractor. By the way, good luck on getting even 10 years of use with the new wonders.

Hi igloo, As a woman who started out not knowing pliers from a wrench, and has since done almost everything in our whole-house remodel, I'll give you my perspective. I think I remember you saying in the past that you're a small person? Even if not, these tools are made for men. They're heavy -- I've given myself wrist/thumb problems from using my drill a lot because of the torque when it stops. So check out any hand held tools for a while to make sure they're very manageable for you. Next, it doesn't seem to me that you need a table saw. That opens a whole can of worms: tools like TSs, jointers, planers, etc, need a very good dust collection system, and that gets complicated and controversial. It's the fine dust, the dust you can't even see, that is harmful to your lungs. You don't actually have to worry as much about the typical sawdust you generate, the stuff you're very aware of, because you kick it out of your lungs when you breathe. The fine stuff lodges in them. Given that, if you start wanting to build cabinets and/or furniture, you will need a TS, and I definitely recommend buying a cabinet saw (as opposed to a contractor's saw) that costs at least $2300 or so. The Sawstop is a very good saw, from what I've read. But you're paying $1000 extra for the stop feature. Losing fingers happens often enough to seasoned woodworkers, but danger from kickback is a lot more common, and it can't stop that. For $1K less you can get others of a similar quality (I have and like the Powermatic 2000.) The cheaper ones (contractor's saws) are inaccurate in any number of ways for cabinetmaking. I bought an $88 wet saw from HD a few years ago. I installed tile on three smallish rooms and it worked like a charm. Much better to buy than rent 'cuz they're not expensive, and you can take your time with them. I'm impressed by what I've seen of Festools, but I've worked with their vacuum and a Fein Turbo III vacuum, and I prefer the latter. (I encouraged my boss to buy the Festool vac and now I wish I hadn't, it's unwieldy.) The Fein, a little more expensive, with a HEPA filter, moves around easily and is less clunky. And its suction (see stats on website) is at least as good as on the Festool. You'd have to check out whether its hose will hook up to Festool tools. If you're doing only trim work, you don't need to worry about most of these things. I'd start with just the tools that are needed. If you find you need more, you can buy as you go. Buying tools never stops. Even tho I've got an 8" jointer, cabinet saw, etc, in my basement, that work very well for my household needs (building cabinets) they look like toys compared to the ones my boss uses. So spend your money selectively and try to resist buying all kinds of things you won't use much! Sombreuil said a very true thing: Great work can be done with a limited number and quality of tools, but it takes longer and requires more experience. Don't expect things like miter saws to work right out-of-the-box. They need to be tweaked and tuned. And for a beginner this will be even more potentially frustrating, but it is a wonderful way to learn. I'm far from a pro but I've found out that it takes a lot of skill to do good work! Crown moldings are among the most frustrating things I've ever done, because no angle in your house is 90 degrees. Best of luck and I hope you enjoy the work!

LunarSolarPower - Thanks for coming back to my questions, I appreciate your responses. As I'm probably overthinking the CEC impact in my intended use (vegetables in containers), but I do like to optimize systems for efficiency and highest performance, so it was a natural question for me to follow. I'm under the impression that by using CRF and a liquid solution, I'm in a good position to provide what the plants need with little regard for the CEC. My question about the zeolite was to raise the CEC, and in fact, you mentioned in an earlier post about ground basalt, so if I decided to go that route, I could always look more closely there as well. As to getting 10 years out of the media - I can always dream, can't I? :) It appears inefficient (on the convenience and labor sides) to mix new media every spring. It seems wasteful to the product as well - I have limited ground space, and who knows what I would do with the "old" mix. There is always the cost aspect as well. My primary thought was to go fully inorganic and have nothing that decomposes within 5-10 years. But, even if I ended up going with some organics as a fraction of the mix, I'm thinking that if I maintained a reasonable particle size with the inorganics (say Turface/DE/pumice/grit), AND as long as the combo of inorganics comprised the lion's share of the mix (say ~70%), then the organics would be free to decompose and disintegrate their structures without much harm overall. I could simply "top off" the organics (for instance pine mini fines) as needed to keep the overall volume of media to my liking. If CEC value is not critical in my specific scenario (vegetables in containers, using CRF and liquid fertilizers), and assuming I'm able to relatively easily adjust the pH as needed, then I would be able to design the mix primarily on water/air retentiveness. Do you see any faults in the logic so far, or glaring oversights with such a plan?