Andy Collins

Welcome back, John, and what a cracking selection of pictures

Cheers, forwarded that.

My lad is on a course up there and needs to know of any good pubs in the area. recommendations please

Very useful thanks

Don't mix feet and metres when talking to clients, use one or the other. How big was the tree originally, before reduction? Be a lot clearer with the client about what you are saying, even reading this post I'm not sure I would know what you proposed to do, maybe it's lost in the telling of the story. Use pictures with lines to describe what you mean, as Paul suggested.

I've never heard of a percentage of leaf volume being used as a measure for a reduction, saying that, mid December deciduous trees are already at 100% reduction of leaf volume....easy money

Ok what would have been even better is to get every child in the school to Plant an acorn from the original tree, and plant a woodland for the future. And fell the butt. It's butt ugly.

Finally!!! I can agree with that David leaving stupid sticks sticking up everywhere silly idea

I think it educates the kids about the circle of life, that even in death, it makes room for the young and new for future generations, as in a woodland or the rainforest. This is just an urban version. Cracking video Rich, excellent work

Ummm read back a couple of posts, I already said this I suppose that it's not their fault, they're just fitters these days, a part fails, replace it with another part, no preventative measures, as it doesn't generate sales of more parts.

It's the little leccy gizmo that activates the gears from the electrical system, on the front of the box. It's a clip on/unclip part. Moisture enters it and the computer flashes up a fault signal. The only way to reset it is to switch off and re start, some times it will clear, others it will just be a continual fault until its replaced. It's on the TRX500ES I've been straight through to Honda about it as its so frustrating, saying that the current one is doing really well. It's a good system as you say, when it works. PS the correct name for the part is Angle sensor, not sender unit, my son has just corrected me.

What an incredibly awesome man, that took so much will power to claw back his health. Truly humbling.

I'd never have an ES again, it's the Achilles heel of the bike. I've changed about six of the sender units so far, the first two under warranty, the rest at my expense, sometimes they will last abut ten hours, the current one is now up to about 100 hrs. It's got to the stage that I carry a spare sender unit, ridiculous. Next tme it would be a FA or FM for sure. The sender unit is in a very prone place to catch as much moisture as possible, whether driving through water or even wet grass it will flash the fault code. This time it's packed with waterproofing grease to try and protect it, and is why it still works IMO.

A keeper friend of mine has a really old Yamaha quad, about 20 years old, looks crap but that little (200cc) bike is awesome. He does nothing to it for years, had it serviced by my lad last year, which cost £140 for oil, filters, air filter and a few shots of OKO, it pulls a trailer filled with feed every day, which is around half a ton, the knackered carry racks are loaded with sacks of feed too, it's thrashed across fields after foxes and trespassers. If you can find a cheapy, get someone mechanical to check it out, sometimes they look worse than they are. And old bike parts are still available, we ordered the Yam parts in from Holland, even though Yam UK said they were obsolete.

If I were looking at a smaller model, it would definitely be a 420. It's the most popular atv Honda make, bags of oomph, I haven't heard anything bad about them, and both my brother and son work for a company that sells and maintains a lot of models. Check out http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/arb-trucks/7031-atvs-quads-7.html for some glorious piccies of my little beast.

Sam, I wish my son was home, he knows all the info on what's suited to what, but he's off on his Honda apprenticeship course this week, and he's specialising on atvs.i believe, though I may be wrong that the RT30 is the largest atv winch from Warn, it certainly does all I need and more.

I have the TRX500 FE and I tow a Jensen chipper across plough, wet grass and so on, never has it been a problem. The 350 I used to have was permanent 4x4 and it did struggle more. Get the biggest winch on you can afford, I have the RT30 and I've pulled some serious butts about, dragged my chipper out, pulled a ditched Landie out of a ditch (twice...woman driver doing three point turn on a country lane , two different occasions on same road ) it's how you use the tools. I've put the quad in places that are simply not accessible to vehicles including tractors. The winch plate from Warn in simply bolted on, u-clamps on the front down tubes and bolted in position underneath onto the chassis. I guess we fitted it, inc wiring in a couple of hours, though my brother is Honda trained fitter so it was easier. Switchable 4wd is a boon, if you bog down just switch it on and drive away, if you're crawling on slippy surface keep rolling as you engage. I have pulled a decent sized tree out of a lake just driving in to chain on and drive out onto lawn, no loss of traction. They are nt tractors, they do have limitations, but so does everything.

Hi Matt and welcome to the forum. Cool first post there, and interesting to read a little about you. Hope you enjoy posting, stick some pics in when you can, post a thread of your adventure into Arboriculture, and most importantly join in the fun here.

Ok, so the initial query was whether using hand tools is deemed "unskilled" in the GLAs eyes. Now I'm not wishing to cover the ground already covered in this, but endeavour to continue a reasoned discussion. The exclusion from GLA licence mentioned on the GLA website is for the employment of "a skilled worker, eg a qualified slaughterman to work in an abattoir, or an individual skilled worker such as a shepherd or herdsmen" would not a qualified certificated self employed tree worker, be it forester or arborist, fall under this exclusion? Would it not also be totally irrelevant which tools the aforementioned skilled worker choose to use in the course of his duties, after all, he is a skilled worker and as such would choose the correct tool in any application, and use it in a correct manner?

I think that the answer is to join the FCA, get this moved forward, get an exemption for forestry, get at least some of the meddlesome beurocracy out of our jobs, get some common sense back in. Falling out amongst contractors and subbies over the issue is not the way forward, nor will it get it resolved.

I think a little discretion should be in order here. This is a sensible topic to be discussed in an open manner. If there is a grievance between subby and contractor then that is a matter that should not be aired in public, but in the privacy of an office. The facts (as i see them now) are that if you are using hand tools for a task, then Gangmaster licensing rules apply, if you are using power tools (chainsaws) to carry out the same task then Gangmaster licensing does not apply. If I have understood this correctly, then the contractor has little room for manoeuvre, and he is right to insist on the method used to carry out the job. As a subby, if you want the work , you are required under the terms of the laws of the licence to use a chainsaw, this is not the fault of the contractor., but a catch all system brought in by beurocrats. Hopefully this will eventually be changed for a more sensible system. I feel discussing this in a correct and proper manner may help eventually move this forward, hopefully the right people in the right places may even come across such a discussion on this forum? Who knows? We can live in hope.

I particularly like the little "yeehaaaa" right at the end. Is that to show that you're happy that Rich managed to get that fiddly little bit of dead from the tip as well

I have a Granddaughter already, and another grandchild (gender/species unknown) due in May, must have a look at some of these sites

It's lucky I don't have to work up there then The trouble is the fact that apparently the GLA still have some involvement, and the employer there is complying with their rules. You are complying with your employers wishes, and you expect those you hire to comply with your wishes, which is fair and understandable. No work no pay, and Xmas is around the corner. The GLA makes a catch all regulation, thus designating use of hand tools to "unskilled" level, wrongly IMO but there you go. Interestingly the formative pruning I have done down here has been on FC land, under FC supervision, and most was done with hand tools,(very nice, relaxing, quiet) with only one or two requiring chainsaw use to fell. An inch or So dia branch needs a single slice with a silky, two at most.

Interesting, and thanks Spruce Pirate and of course Big J for clarification. As a person who has made tree work my career, I would struggle to consider using a tool that I feel would not be the best for the job in each case. If I need a chainsaw for a task, then I will use it, and likewise for a handsaw. I agree that "back in the day" handsaws were a pig, I hated them with a passion, ie the Sandvik bowsaw. But modern Silky type saws are very efficient, precise near surgical in the right hands, and I would certainly challenge any man with a chainsaw to be as productive as someone experienced with a Silky saw, in this circumstance. Surely a risk assessment alone would prove that the handsaw is a more desirable tool, no need for chainsaw ppe, no need for CS ticketed staff, fatigue issues, fuel economy, and so on. To insist that to comply with the rules in order to meet GLA requirements is farcical to say the least, and makes a joke of risk assessments, and H&S in general. Big J is isn't a criticism of yourself, or those who you represent, but more a criticism of how the power of chasing paperwork has over ruled common sense in the workplace.