Marc

Just a kind word of advice, be carefull what you say on open forum, I got in hot water with the company I work for, by asking a question about why an item of my kit was deemed not safe to use for a different purpose. The item in question was a climbing lanyard that I was using as a saw lanyard, apparently something that is safe to carry your weight is not safe enough to carry an MS200T. I suppose they'd have to buy another 200t, and if i'm dead then they don't have to pay me anymore and can get another climber,,,, makes perfect sense. Oh yes and apparently its only safe to use an original manafacturers bridge on your harness, if you use another alternative bridge, its not safe. Some days I want to cry.

I whole heartedly agree with Old Monkey. It will all come with the more time that you spend in the harness, and before you know you'll be climbing out level with your anchor point and wondering why you found it so hard. I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but I find for me when coming back in with an untended hitch its best to do it in smal bits, i'e go a few feet you'll feel the limb bend beneath your weight, pull yourself by tensioning your line, go a bit further feel the limb bend, and so on, till your far enough to just walk back to the trunk get comfy and tend the slack again. I found when I first tried to teach myself to climb I was always keeping my weight on the rope, which meant progress was slow, and hard work on my arms, now i'll climb the tree using my legs and arms.

Just had a look at New Englands web http://www.neropes.com/ClimbingLines.aspx Whats the differnence between the dragon/fire-fly and KMIII KMIII max??

Unbelievable!!!! I suppose after he knocked the top out he felt comfortable removing his tie in point, still its bloody hard to work out wether he is just stone cold crazy with no fear what so ever, it all looked like an average days work to him. He still seemed to be rigging stuff down after he removed his anchor, looked like he had a second rigging anchor in another tree. Be intresting to know details on how he went about that job. Plus how high the tree was, watching those bits being lowered down then disappearing in the tree tops some ft below him was amazing.

I've used a 13" by 10" pto driven machinfabrik/Ducker, I thought it was an awesome chipper, it grab'd limbs and pulled them through with ease and worked at a good pace. I'm not sure of the model number of the one i've used (i'll try to find a pic) it was not the same as a TP of similar size that I used before, but it did share similarities. For me it was much better than the TP but that one was a bit of a dog (sorry Matt!) I'm no chipper expert, maybe Ed will know more about techincal features. All I know is it was a good machine to use, and reliable in the year that I worked with one.

Dom i'll occasionally use a large pear type karabiner plus a micro pulley on a small biner and basket a sling this way if I want less friction, its as easy to retrieve and use as a normal friction/cambium saver. Its my poor mans version of a rope guide.

Thats easy a Garria elliptica or Tassle tree/bush thingy.

Well i'll have to give it a go and see, another usefull trick to know. I hear you about the barbar chairing, even small diameter limbs can barber chair badly. I'll still do a narrow face and nip the sides when in the tree so I can pop them off, this is where a very sharp chain and precise quick cutting seems best to me. Plus make sure you don't lanyard in to stem, or if you do isolate yourself from the loop by attaching to your bridge. Old Willow pollards are the worst you can have 20-30ft striaght limbs of only 8-10" diameter.

Meindl make good boots thats for sure, but if you want some new non chainsaw boots then you got to get a pair of these.

I always alternate between both ends of my rope, even if one end is spliced i'll still use the other end equally, I find it helps to stop rope twist, swell and equalises rope wear meaning your rope lasts longer.

They are cheaper because of less hand finishing, cheaper leather, no gor-tex liner and no vibram sole. If you look at Meindl Burmas which are closer to the Meindl chainsaw boots the average rrp is £140 ish. I just bought myself some AKU Croda's which are £150 rrp as they are mostly hand made. Yes I am that sad.

Does anyone reduce trees with bleeding canker? I always think it pointless unless the tree has die back in the crown, yet i've done quite a few reductions on infected trees this year, can't help but feel i'm doing more harm than good. Not that reductions are ever good. I've dismantled some pretty manky chesnuts, once the upper stems are girdled by the canker they seem to deterioate quickly.

Intresting, i'll have to look at treesypders website again, as i think i've been doing something else entirley. So what is the benefit of cutting in a further inch or so on the bottom of your hinge, over say a really narrow face cut with the sides of the hinge undermined? I always get reliable results pop'ing out the top that way.

Well i'm still not a 100% sure of what a dutchmans is, but i've been experimenting with mixed results. My understanding is, if a tree or limb, is leaning 90degrees say away from the direction you want to fell it, you can give it a little swing to make sure it goes where you want. I do this by doing a messed up hinge, basically in simplistic terms, you prep the face on the lean side to close earlier than on the none lean side. As I do my back cut I make the hinge thinner on lean side, and thicker on none lean side, as tree goes over the face closes on lean side pushing and twisting towards open face on none lean side, and the thicker hinge on none lean side helps to bring it down safely. I could be completly misunderstanding the concept, but in practice, with my way, i've had some intresting results and manages to twist trees away from lean and where I want 70% of the time. 70% is still to low to risk using this felling cut in critical situation though.

I used to make the chains for one outfit, one thing that I liked is they converted all the saws to 3/8, apart from the 260 which remained .325 and the 88's which stayed .404

No just better quality randy boots, i'm all for randyness and excess rubber, just not at work so much,,,, If you use a good leather a rand is not needed. Treebogan i've never had a problem spiking with the meindls, but it may be even more comfortable with a deeper cut out for spikes. I liked the look of those new Elten X spurts with cut out for using spikes, shame they are crap, comfy boots though.

I don't think Arbormaster is 12mm, it always feels thicker than XTC to me which is around 12.7mm. Elderid is the only 12mm rope I know of, and is a good rope in my opinion.

Its to hard to say what is the best climbing rope, New England HiVee is nice and supple plus hard wearing, but for some reason i'm not keen on it. Yale XTC is generally the most popular of the 13mm lines from my experience. But some like Burnham and Stumper like Arbormaster, but their Yanks and can be eccentric to us already eccentric Brits:D There are the 11mm ropes, Yale Blaze, Samson Velocity and New England Fly all seem popular. Then you have the 12mm Elderid, i've found this can get firm with age, but I hear the new stuff is woven better and keeps supple longer. Being 12mm its between 13 and 11mm and has benefits of both, i,e is lighter than 13mm, but still a nice size in the hand. Nod at Treeworker.co.uk stocks Elderid and will be able to advise you and generally stocks the best ropes availble, like all the ones I mention above. Wanna buy some Marlow?

Well i'd say your pretty bright, just because you came here to seek advice, so that you puts you above all others to start with Good luck in your search, my only other advice is try to get a few trials with different outfits if possible, you should be able to get a good idea on who will suit. Also will you look to go on the books? I know when I started it was more tempting for outfits to use me because I worked as a self employed labourer/groundie/guy with saw. I know it can feel less secure as a labourer but I don't think you should have to much problems finding work this way. Another benefit of being self employed is you WILL earn more, you can claim tax on everything you buy and your NI will be virtually nothing. meaning less reductions. There are pro's and con's to being p.a.y.e or self employed. If you need advice on the self-employed route just ask here. Again good luck mate.

Once you try Meindl you'll never go back to another pair of boots again. The only other boot that comes close is the Klima Airs. Meindl also make a tree climbers boot, they are a little more supple and flexible, but also less durable, the sole always come detached, especially if you foot lock. Maybe those new ones with the high rubber rand may also have durablilty problems, climbing is tough on rands I find.

Cools pics OM, good to see someone having fun at work.

Not really its actualy good value in my opinion, yes you could get boots at half the price. Lets face it you will wear your chainsaw boots more than any other boot/shoe you will ever own, and good boots are important. So price should not be a big issue, those Meindls are top end boots made by one of the best German boot makers around, and as such represent good value. Unlike Haix which I think are overpriced generally, the leather is inferior and so is build qaulity for price. Even the Eltens I can't stand worst boots ever, the fall apart quickly and are poorly made, comfy though. I can get 1 year out of my other Meindls on average, and they are like wearing slippers, they are warm very comfortable, and very waterproof if looked after.

Mendl sizing is about right for me, but they are a little high volume, in the winter its fine as I wear thick socks, in the summer I put in a high volume footbed so they still fit nice and tight.

Its a very difficult thing starting in tree work, its not a very big industry so getting a good start can be hard. The company I work for has just taken on 2 new guys, one has great aptitude and seems to pick things up almost instantly. It is difficult though as I try to give them time and show them how to use a saw, and do felling cuts, even try to get them in the tree, it just with commercial tree work time is of the esscense, so invariably 95% of the time they are just dragging the brash to the chipper or on the rake. They may only get a couple hours a week on the tools, so learning is hard. Also they don't get the chance to use the tools or climb because they have'nt done their nptc's, which I find extremely frustrating, when no one is looking I always give the new guys a saw and try to show them how to use it, I may lose a little time but how else are they going to learn. Its a catch 22 situation. Even after a 3 day course on using a saw you will still not be effcient and quick. So try to find a company that will be able to give you that time to practice. From my experience a small company was better for me in my 1st year, they don't have to do a big volume to make a profit so may put more time on a job.

I like the colour a lot, stands out real good. I've have a thing at the moment with stealthy arborist dressed in nothing but black, you just can't see em! Had one guy ground for me last week and with his black helmet and dark clothes I just could'nt see him, I was always paranoid I was going to take him out with a branch or chunk. Visability is a good thing sometimes. Beside I don't care to much what they look like as long as they are comfy and durable, and if my current Meindls of which i've gone through 3 pairs in 3 years are anything to go by they will be.