Marc

What NFG said:biggrin:.

A pulley of 80kn, but why work on the limit with an item like that we usually go through 4-6 ropes per pulley.

The 5000kg ratchet strap is that WLL or break point? It will of course be set up in basket configuration around the tree doubling its strength. And the way the bollard is designed it will impart less force.... probably giving the RC3001 it's 3000kg WLL I ask as we have 30kn slings that we use on a 300kg SWL We also have 3ton slings which are 3000kg SWL So it's important to know.

There are so many variables in rigging it's hard to judge, you have factors such as shock absorbtion in your rigging line - so when snatching as you get closer to the ground and the bits get fatter you will have less absorbtion in your line because there is less of it being loaded.

Yes it is stressful, and in the busy times you just want guys who can crack on and do the job efficiently and safely without supervision as it's hard to plan every job down to the finest detail and I cannot be everywhere making sure everything goes to plan. I hope my comments do not get taken out of context, having someone run a site and coordinate a team is a positive thing also having a group of individuals who can come together as a team is also great. In my ideal world I'd have more full timers and consistent teams and have one person in charge of each team, and yes a yard man. Alas it's not an ideal world. So we just use good individuals to work together to get the job done and it's my experience if you have motivated and talented individuals they can all work as a team without supervision.

We do not have site supervisors or anyone in charge, a person will be assigned team leader for the job and be given the job card it is their responsibility is to ensure the paperwork is filled in and the job is completed to specification. No one is the boss of anyone and we are all climbers there are no ground crew on our teams. It's not always an ideal way of doing things, we of course have staff that have only a few years on the job but they are backed up by those with "good" experience and we try to ensure every job has the experience required to complete the job safely. We discuss how jobs went and look to improve all the time. Going by our accident record we have in the last 10 years had 3 on site what I'd call significant near misses, one requiring a few stitches to a toe, the others required no medical and were just that, near misses. Accidents at our yard however are probably twice as high, interestingly 2 blows to the head requiring stitches whilst maintaining machinery. Reviewing these accidents and looking at how they could/can be avoided maybe we should stipulate wearing a hard hat when carrying out maintenance or walking around the yard? Or maybe stay away from our yard as it's the most dangerous place to be. Anyway my main point is other than when new people are introduced to the team we should not need to constantly supervise the team, once a site is going with chainsaws chippers plant and machinery you cannot orchestrate that every team member has to slot into their role and be mindful of others. I struggle myself to manage this, we have had people join the team who are extremely competent but the do not gel with the team it makes for difficult decisions particularly when you have a high work load and need staff desperately but I cannot put pressure on my core team by introducing someone that needs supervision. A unified team is a happy, productive and safe team...... but my god dealing with all the personalities and prima donnas is hard work.

I think you hit the nail on the head, current training is not adequate but it is probably the most appropriate we can aim for at present. We have trainees one currently has most of the relevant tickets although it will be a few years of careful supervision and good guidance before he is in my opinion competent to carry out tree work without supervision or at least another experienced hand on site. The other issue I have seen over the years is for want of a better word inbreeding where by you only ever as good as the best you have meaning bad practice becomes the norm. Perhaps there should be further levels, such as having your basic tree climbing and aerial rescue but look to further this with level 2 and 3 with 3 being the highest. How to implement this I do not know but would aim at years experience and being able to demonstrate this.

Never used an 8 myself, personally and it's just my opinion they are not fit for tree work in general particularly as PPE. Foot locking is also a poor technique to be championing as an access method in this day and age, still a good skill to know.

Don't burst my bubble John:biggrin: as far as I am concerned a precedent has been set vindicating a knot set up as fit for purpose which is my understanding of the CE climb, you have to remember those guys like Beddes and Mark Bridge were climbing on Hitches for years and probably still do i doubt any of them ever set out with the intention of forcing people to use their CE Climb/lanyard.

There is nothing convenient about it, it is what it is. And along with the CE climb there are the various ART products and the Petzl ZigZag. It's important to note that the CE climb is important it has proven that a friction hitch and pulley combo used together forms a complete system, I don't think anyone is forced to use an off the shelf CE climb we can still configure our own and confidently say the system has been proven fit for purpose and refer them to the CE climb so big thanks to those guys for doing that.

It's a common Line, and like Paul has said questionable tree protection fencing and looks like someone's had a go cleaving the epicormic off. To be honest as for best practice I'd say nothing and get stuck in, get a feel of things first.

Jensons have always been pretty solid chippers, just some are god awful to use and rely on a good maintenance regime to keep tip top.

RADS ahh that takes me back nothing like a good bit of thunder pumping to the top. And BenR he is always talking ****, can't throw for toffee either normally have to install his lines for him and roll his fags. White Noise you need to give the tree frog a go, game changer check this out for some interesting reading, I made my own tree frog system which was kind of like the micro frog in this link http://vtio.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Single-Rope-Technique-i.pdf

Rope wrenches are commonly sold to climbers as well:001_tongue: Have a look at this link https://www.kong.it/media/Component/CatalogProduct/p272-big-8-alu/attachments/C_KONG_BIG8.pdf https://shop.austrian-standards.at/Preview.action;jsessionid=FCAFC6462223F7D893A89D48C0AA280C?preview=&dokkey=443873&selectedLocale=en

Really ? The Timberwolf looks better engineered to me this comes from countless hours working on both.

I hated spiking when I started out but there is merit in persevering and learning to spike confidently without having to advance cambium savers, as Pete says sometimes over complicating things can actually lead to more fatigue and time spent on spikes. The simplest methods are usually best and a choked mainline with running bowline is simple and works you may not be able to bail in a hurry but usually you will not need to, and if you do there are quick ways around it - you have spikes on these can take the weight off the hitch to release it and descend bit by bit I have gaffed out a few times up thick and thin poles, the reality is after you rarely fall far.

If only it could be mounted on tracks..... not so subtle hint from me You will have to pop down and give us a demo sometime.

Sod that ram it! It's there to be worked, a good chipper should be able to take full capacity day in day out if well maintained without shortening its lifespan. Although having been like yourself starting with a 6"gravity fed you get into the mindset that little and often is better as going big just slows productivity. The reason we like the Forst st6 and TW230 is they will happily gulp the max diameter day in out, we even crane feed ours with an excavator. As for the larger chippers we ram them till they take no more kit is to be worked and factored into your price.

Hardly surprising they like true Bandit We have similar set-up with a TW230 and crane fed 250hp 20" we all prefer the 20" feeding hedge clippings into that is a dream. I can only go by what the team tells me, and they all love the TW230 we also have a Forst 6" everyone will always go for the 230. In all honesty we could happily do without the 20" chipper and if I had to have one it would be the TW230, of course the big chippers are nice, and we get big contracts to use those chippers on, but the little Timberwolf clocks more hours per year going out every day where as the bigger chippers 2-3 times a week.

SRT is no more than expensive than anything else out there, and can be used with a 13mm rope all you need is a rope wrench and tether and your there, no need for seperate rope and two sets of kits. I have one kit and can climb DdRT or SRT. You obviously have most of the parts you need

surprised at how many do not realise this, our 1250 with rear pto is at its legal limits empty by the time you factor in chip box and pto chipper hanging off rear axle. Still it took the weight well even when full but doesn't make it right. We have since sold the pto chipper and the mog is up for sale, it's a nice unit with a good at spec. The reason we are selling it is it's not ideal for us and our heavy tree work realistically you have to aim for 1600 and above. There is a place for the small mogs in arb but you have to carefully consider how you will use them. We mostly run 1850 L38's and above as these are 12000-14000kg depending on spec. Our next issue is towing our big mogs are kinda limited to either 9-13ton in the current set-up which is giving me a big headache.

I broke an old style Avant double arm boom, used to rip timber and shove the silage tines in and split lengths. We've also cracked and destroyed the roses/pivots from using a post rammer hammering in a fair few thousand stakes. The tabs that hook onto the attachments also break off, but have never had an issue with boom wheeze yet. Single sided off set books have been used for years in many applications by many manafacturers without issue. To be clear I am not an Avant fan it's just a tool and a tool we use, we would be just as happy with a multione as I see no convincing arguement in favour of either machine

Well that's the problem with this type of kit is the price online doesn't exist so it's hard to compare, we chased a few quotes and like for like the Avant was about £1.5k cheaper but you right on paper the multione lifts more but beware paper specs they can be a bit like mpg on new cars. We use a lot of 25-35ton excavators and on paper to what they do on site is different so I often take those stats with a pinch of salt. It was the tipping height I never compared, build quality I like the Avant and Kubota personally although having run both side by side can't say there is much in it, it's all down to the deal you get and after sales support. Some say the Avant offset boom can be an issue, even the twin box have there issues without maintenance and I've snapped a few!

I've not actually compared that, we had a 40yard rolo on site a while back and was disappointed we couldn't tip over the sides with our Avant. In my little experience with the multione I didn't like the coarse Yanmar, although I believe it is a good engine just sounds a little rougher other than that they do pretty much the same thing except the Avant was cheaper... slightly

Just going to put this here....