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When did ratchet straps come on the scene? I love it when people tell me they can secure a load with ropes better than with ratchet straps. Ratchet straps pull a tonne. Hang off that trucker’s hitch as much as you like. You don’t weigh 333 kilos plus the friction.

I was called young man the other day, doesn't happen so often now I'm over 50. I do remember weekend tree working as a teenager, everything was shifted by flatbed trailer back to the nursery bonfire so the game was stack 8-10 foot high and then rope it down to half the size.

I like quoting and enjoy selling our services. Upon first contact with clients, I try to win them over with some flattery. Compliment them on their garden, house, always pet the dog, trying to present a friendly front. I give the tree a quick review and say "lovely form that birch but I can see the seeds might bother the neighbour because he has Velux windows, if it was mine I'd..." I'll then take a closer look at the tree and either reassure the client or condemn it with a tatty tap of my boot or by putting my entire arm inside the trunk and sucking my teeth whilst looking serious. I'll say "I'm no carpet salesman* but if the wind blows, I'd sleep in the back bedroom until it's removed" * French expression I might ask "Do you have a fireplace?" As we lend clients a complimentary wood splitter if they wish to both keep the wood and make an economy. Tell them how useful woodchip is around the garden in case they want to keep it. This doesn't change the price though as my tip sites are local and free. Tell them the stump is always an option priced separately. If it's to be a decent pruning job, I'll send before and after images of similar jobs This is a useful tactic as I don't believe many competitors do the same. Stuart

If you've been out 3.5 years does that mean you are beyond the ELCAS scope? Shame if so, if not then seek out a trainer who understands the system, there are a few around. The one near me does, but it's too far for you probably. It would help you if you could do basic CS30/31 chainsaw yourself, which is one week. It makes you much more useful on site and more likely someone to take you on, I think. This is the basic ticket, you then need time being shown how to work efficiently in a job, which is the real training. Otherwise, there's the route of larger companies - utility sector seems to be constantly short of staff and they have training budgets. I wouldn't want to stay there myself, but at least you get a wage and get some experience while you work out what you do want to do. On the other hand tramping across fields in the rain might really suit you and remind you of good times in the army. It takes all sorts.

😳 Few here seem to be somewhat naive in regards deals/ business . No deal at all is far better than agreeing a deal where you are getting shafted day in day out. But never miss an opportunity. Mark I’ll be calling you for some tree work after that little blow we just had in Scotland I’ll offer you 50% of your day rate 👍👍it’s a good deal much better than nothing at all.

I'm in a similar situation, though only about 2 acres in total. I ended up with an ancient Yanmar YM1600 tractor and a topper - does a good job keeping the paddock under control and will cut most things (long grass, scrub, bracken higher than the tractor) if you don't try to go too fast. It doesn't leave a neat, lawn like finish though. (Might do if I cut more regularly, but probably not even then). I have a Honda petrol mower to cut and collect the lawn. Tractor also carries things, tows things, harrows things... (Harrowing helps keep grass healthy). And it could do more - log splitters, little digger attachments etc. The only issues with the tractor are that it's quite brutal, tricky to maneouvre in confined spaces and is a bit hairy on steep slopes, which I have lots of. The front wheels came off the ground once as I was carrying a load of logs up a narrow slope, and I had to eject - that was scary, and I was lucky. I now unlatch the rear wheel breaks and use them to steer in this situation. If you get a tractor I'd suggest a more modern one with roll cage.

The bloke in Hartlepool comes across well (been to his workshop) and has a fair amount of stock throughput, suggesting competence. But he’s in Hartlepool. I’ve never found anything else good in Hartlepool. It’s a place of quite extreme indifference.

The petrol Hondas on the 125 and 160 are great. The bigger ones (makes escape me) less proven. A couple of clients with the petrol 280 have had hot starting problems, some vapour locky kind of thing I think. The Briggs EFI gets a pasting from one guy in particular on here but I have heard of others with the same problem. The Kubota diesel that goes in everything is well proven. Mick said the engine code. 1505?

Dunno but are there any petrol ones that don't use the B&S EFI engine that lots report problems with?

You youngsters don't remember the days before chippers were ubiquitous, climbing into the back of the truck to rasher down lop ad top, several times . Probably achieved a 3 or 4 to 1 reduction, compared to the 15:1 I saw quoted for a chipper. Actually rashing was a reasonably dangerous activity , often involving remounting saw chains. Doubly dangerous if done in the back of a luton body.

hi all thanks for the replies some useful info .. Im still on the fence which way to go, but going to have to make a decision soon .. been thinking .. if the prices of a TW150 was cheaper then id be happy with that, but seems like a lot of money for an old machine , tho I have found someone who sells them fully refurbished , Have seen a fair few Forsts now, some scruffy looking ones, but cheaper than the TW230 about the same price as TW150 .. I have been looking at some TW230 and I prob could stretch to around 10k Something id like to ask is there much init between petrol and diesel ? what would you pick and why ..? thanks ..

There are a couple of ex-solders on here, maybe they might chip in with any advice using your background that might make you more employable - perhaps give general hints and tips about transitioning from soldiering to tree work.

Duh. Perhaps we should need ID for arbtalk. You need it for all the other websites.

I think that's the thing, no one setup is ideal for every job. I have a 12 foot trailer and mini chipper, I can take chipper and either muck truck or mini loader in a bit less than half the space. Perfect for 1-2 man jobs, can do reductions or take down small-medium tree and fit everything on, or run off and tip chip before taking logs home. Take the chipper to the tree saves a lot of dragging if there's any distance involved. Bigger trees with 3 or 4 people, having only one muck truck starts to be the bottleneck, but at that point I'm getting mates in - they bring a tipper and chipper and we now have a 12 foot trailer as well as the tipper, which can shift 2.5 tons of wood per load legally. But - I'm mostly around the villages nearby. Landrover and trailer is a bit of a nightmare when heading in to the city. Then you want a nice Nissan with 2p turning circle. One more thing - trailer is the ideal setup if you live anywhere near a vosa weighbridge, transit has almost no legal payload.

Hanged.

I was wondering exactly the same thing Mick….

I burn a reasonable amount of euc that I grow and coppice myself. I leave it lying sometimes for 3 months or more after felling and don't find it hard to split with an axe. Though I don't tend to let it get much bigger than 25cm dia or so before I coppice it. I also find it seasons quickly in a polytunnel, once split. The bark is thick & quite watertight, though.

That's because there was no deal before. Starmer had to swallow the Brexit pride and talk to the French, should be hung for that I reckon.

There’s something that doesn’t add up with you. That post is the post of someone who doesn’t really know much about or has even used a chipper. My bet is you’re a certain banned member on about his 5th attempt to pass.

Lifted from the insufferable morning people thread. What are the business pros and cons?

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Good morning Arbtalkers 😊

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Thank you. Really appreciate the advice