Marc

With the usual power clearance works the clearance pruning is probably more detrimental than the spiking you are doing so personally see no issue with it, was recently working at one of the largest sub stations in the U.K. Plenty of spike marks observed all healed over these paled in comparison to the topping and heading back from targets. We to had to carry out work to provide clearance and I told the team to spike away if the so wish, the works we were doing was to spank them back giving 6m clearance spiking, tearing, wounding and shocking pruning cuts all good in that instance. Time and place and all that.

I have climbed many trees historically spiked and have never seen an issue caused by it, the wounds are small usually to bark and sapwood not heart wood and the tree deals with it. Personally I hate spikes and find it far easier to climb without them and that it's good professional practice to not use spikes during pruning operations or any works where the tree is to be retained. Does it damage the tree and cause long term issues I have never seen any evidence to support this.

I usually ascend the tree then put my spikes on, we are all different though and have our own way of tackling the trees we work with. Personally I feel in the UK spike ascenders are less of an issue perhaps if I lived in the states or Australia and had 60m trees to tackle they may be of more use. Having said though if you find it solves a problem that you find youself needing to ascend with spikes frequently then spike ascendors look a good investment.

Do our costs change with the season, other than site factors? I have 3 big jobs on the books that are being left for dry weather, sometimes they cannot wait as long as the client understands the price rarely changes we just get wetter and muddier and potentially stuck you just have to roll with that and hope the price factored these in.

Not really, I don't look at complexity of job other than factoring in potential risk of job running over, there is obviously extra reward/profit to be made if the job goes to plan or completed early, or enough in reserve to cover costs if it doesn't. I cannot compare our price to others around us, i know our operating costs and what we have to earn each week (this includes depreciation) and the work is priced accordingly always hoping to achieve a profit to re invest and grow.

My wife worked in the cash office at a local discount shop, alcohol theft by underage was the worst totalling £150 a week alone, one repeat offender even posted her haul for sale on Facebook it was only then the police paid a visit to give her a good old ticking off and tell her not to go back.

Would anyone be interested in helping us meet client demand in Oxfordshire. Established progressive company .Huge kit resource and ethical work approach within consultancy, arb contracting ,tree planting and tree relocation. Friendly really good existing team members with climbers or ex climbers within management ,(so we understand and get it!). We can offer individuals of different skill bases a variety of positions. Subcontracting either with our kit or possibly your outfit.Obviously high standards and certification needed. Who are we Heritage Tree Services: Arboriculturists in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire & Berkshire offering Tree Surgery, tree moving, maintenance and landscape design - Heritage Tree Services Henley on Thames near Reading, Berkshire. Be good to chat informally with anyone who might feel interested in this opportunity. I would add long term career opportunities a possibility too. Regards, Hugo Loudon Either PM me here or email [email protected] Copied and pasted from our Facebook page.

We are running 5 Unimogs at present all repairs and servicing are done in house, of all the kit we have they are fairly easy to work on when you know how, we have a mobile agricultural engineer who helps with the more complicated tasks. There is not much we haven't done, one engine rebuild, one complete engine replacement, clutches replaced, gearbox rebuilds, portal hubs rebuilt, air brakes installed amongst many other repairs and maintenance. Engine rebuilds or swaps take about a week in our yard. When it comes to parts though yes you can shop around but sometimes we need parts fast so go to main dealers and pay the premium everyday a Unimog is out of action is a massive loss as it impacts everything. Yes they can cost a bit to run like all things if you can utilise them what they cost to run will not be a factor. That's the point though, in my opinion they are not the ultimate vehicle, I'd rather not be running them or at least not 5 of them it's a headache to keep them mobilised and working making sure they earn their keep. If we started all over again knowing what I do now I wouldn't invest in Unimogs so heavily.

Just an Israeli bandage and tourniquet, Treekit do nice one.

Honestly Ben I'd be asking what crane company/driver is reccomended in the area, get the driver out to have a look at the site.

You have to have a balance, and an element of good genes, not all of us can be Usain Bolt and have explosive power or be Billy Bland and have massive endurance. Know your body and your limits, work each week pacing yourselves to make it to the weekend with energy to spare and with the knowing that you have another 48 weeks to come and hopefully 40 years of outdoor work if you so desire. I don't go out on the tools much because an opertunity presented itself, before that opertunity I had every intention of contract climbing full time until I was 50.

That's some serious rain man skills there, no way could I presling, beside I find chains quick and easy to set. That's the thing I have done 20 or so crane jobs, been involved in probably another 50 or so and everyone does it slightly different. I gave up sling and prefer chains quick efficient and easy to balance if required. I prefer to only use experienced crane operators, never specified an amount of lift just get a feel, like you say if you go 3/4 the way through you will know if you have enough or to much tension. A skilled crane operator is worth his weight on any tree job, had a few bad ones thankfully with our regular guy I don't even need to look at him or tell him what to do the chains will be where they are needed the tension will be right the hook in the perfect position he will even know if there is not enough tension because my saw is bogging and he always pulls the piece away carefully. It's like rigging if you have a good rope man it's a dream, so find a good crane operator who knows tree work and he will guide you. My first crane job 15 years ago was great some legend of a driver who told me where to place the slings and how and where to make my cuts, after a few picks it usually clicks.

I have a heart rate monitor which also calculates calories burned, climbing apparently uses the least calories of all the tasks I do, hedge cutting and ground work particularly dragging all burn nearly double the amount of calories than I do if I spend the day in a tree. But then again when I do hedge cut, I go all medieval on it.

http://www.kingwell-holdings.co.uk/burnboss-mobile-air-burner/ Not that I've give it any thought.

I'd disagree, the Timberwolf has a more practical 160x230mm opening where as the Jenson has a 190 square, the feedbox of the Timberwolf is better at dealing with forked material, it's hopper is better designed for feeding brash, the reversible system is better than the touch buttons for work on site, it's easier to carry out blade changes, the blades are reversible giving you 2 edges so with 2 sets of blades you have 4 edges, it's lighter to push around and it's cheaper. For the money the Timberwolf 230 is hard to beat it feels like a machine designed around the user rather than one designed by an engineer in the workshop. The Jenson is a quality piece of kit mind we have owned and run a few on hire, given a choice though I'd go Timberwolf 230 every time at this point in time.

Exactly Al, the problem with hand built machines like this you will get the occasional one that just goes wrong a bit more. I think we also had issues with reassembly and alignment with ours during one repair which lead to another, just an unfortunate human error we all make them. Overall we love it and I highly rate them, we also own a Forst which has been faultless over 3 years. But we shall be replacing the Forst with another Timberwolf in time that's how much we like it even if it had given us a fair share of problems which have all been sorted under warranty without quibble.

I am not sure but would of thought around £16k I'd also like to point out our machine has been troublesome, but I am sure not everyone has had the same experience as us, and we will be looking to Timberwolf for future replacements.

First issue was bottom feed roller bearings, has been back for 4 repairs under warranty on that one with 3 revisions was told latest was final revision that blew apart in about 100 hours and has been repaired, whilst being repaired noticed the loan machine has an even more robust set-up currently chasing TimberWolf on that one. Fuel tank used to suck itself in due to vacuum first fix was to put a grease nipple on it to prevent the vacuum, that didn't work eventually got a replacement tank and has been fine since. Engine mounts sheared, we now have new revised engine mounts. Female spades on relays are too soft and not gripping relays securely enough so loosen causing poor contact and throwing up faults, we will replace these ourselves. In short the main teething problems were engine mounts, bottom feedroller and fuel tank.

It's the best chipper in the class in my opinion performance wise, we have an early build that has been plagued with problems when it's working it is an animal for something so small. The latest builds have addressed many of the issues we have had.

2300kg so I wasn't to far off then, to little safety margin then. Still your okay that's the most important thing and thanks for sharing your experience.

It's hard to judge but looking at the video and the size of the timber in relation to you and the length of it it could of weighed 3ton, that looks like a 3 ton maybe 5ton sling which is choked so lowering its strength, I presume you used it throughout the job it appeared to take a few shock loads potentially weakening the fibres, also did the crane driver load it up before pick? Had a crane driver once who liked to tension the hell out of everything I cut, bits were jumping everywhere - a few words at break and to crane company and we never had him again. All this just a guess on my part. To be fair most of the time when craning we use 2 slings to be on the safe side. I have only ever once used a single soft sling on a big pick and that was with a driver I know well and trusted.

It feels like a long time but the Wrench is still fairly new at around 5 years and maybe 3 in popular use. Problem with climbing events in Europe is it will be the insurance, maybe they are spoked as technically how can it get past gear inspection without a CE mark. Hopefully this will all be resolved soon and be for the better for all of us, after all how many compete on a CE climb? I think once the configuration has been certified none of this will be an issue.

Climbed with a rescue line in the tree for nearly a decade never found it got in the way apart from take downs, now we all climb SRTwp we now use the access line as the work line also.

Why do you have to be UA certified? We have felled lots of trees near LV and HV Lines, a quick call to them with some pics and a map and they are usually happy to carry out a shutdown so we can remove the tree. Have even removed trees near mini local supermarkets and they have provided generators for them and usually about 50 guys who then spend the rest of the day sat in trucks watching us. To the original poster, unfortunately I doubt you will have much luck pursuing the power company, we have tried many times on the customers behalf and it's a no go, in fact sometimes they even mention it's the owners responsabilty to ensure their tree is safe. As for your tree it would be a shame to lose it, the light issue is unfortunate but I doubt (obviously not knowing the full circumstances) any other damage would be caused to your property, at the end of the day though if it's your property your free to do as you please (and if your local I'd be happy to provide a quote but don't tell anyone here as they will think I am a ruthless assassin)

The rope wrench? Like I said I couldn't care I climb on a wrench and have no issue with it, but it's the world we are in now, I couldn't specify the use brush cutters on site the other day to cut down nettles as we didn't have the ticket, so I specified hedge-cutters....