Marc

We are all so different, different heights, weights, lengths of legs/arms thickness of bones etc etc. I know climbers who've switched to a treemotion and think their backs are worse for it as it gives no/little back support, it seems maybe there is some truth here i don't know for sure as i'm no biomechanics expert. Some support has to be a good thing to help keep the spine properly aligned after all we are not always in natural positions so leaving it all upto our back muscles is that really a good thing?? I've had some problems using my treemotion, there is such a wealth of adjustment when i first adjusted it was comfortable and gave freedom of movement with little restriction i left it at that and didn't bother trying to adjust it more, then my back started playing up again I adjusted it slightly and this seemed to make a big improvement i then noticed that it creeped back and whilst it was still comfortable keeping it adjusted correctly to give a little more support to my back seems!! to make a differrence. Just thought it was worth mentioning as it now seems that low slung harness are all the rage they certainly are more comfortable but i do feel a properly adjusted and fitting harness to your body is more important. The treeflex is a good example its a good harness thats been designed to be more "ergonomic" but if your not wearing it correctly have it adjusted right nd in the correct size its no more ergonomic than a willans t22.

If you've climbed on a bosun seat type harness then you'd probably prefer the Skylotec deffinetly one to put on your list.

The only thing i can think of is that in industrial rope access your backed up by another system, where as the snap hook is usually found on lanyards so doesn't really constitute another seperate system, and if your using it to transition or advance up a tree rope over rope it could be "is" a weak link in the chain and your only life support with no back up during these situations. I'm not sure on this just my thoughts about screw gates being used in other rope access work and being deemed acceptable is probably because once they are on their rope systems they will not disconnect till after the job is finished, where as in tree work potentially we unclip ourselves from the system multiple times during a climb so 3 way auto-locking karabiners are best suited.

I like the idea of being able to lock it into position, not convinced a rotator would make a huge difference though as you need to be able to lift pieces clear off the ground rotators rarely have the omph to twist material resting on the ground so only use would be to get the grab lined up for grabing, after your used to it its not a big deal not having one, a lock would be the simplest solution only then your losing the advantage of its articulated movement when dragging material out backwards.

Thats cause your using a distel which will bind tight, you really need a VT or Knute so it will break and advance easy with some self tending. The real benefit is more precise and smoother control over a lockjack, you can kick out and swing accuratly onto limbs or drop and smoothly go out on limbs with more precise control, amongst other advantages. You only have to watch the climbers on the competition circuits throughout Europe, America and Australia who 95% climb on a hitch to see the benefit. Although comp climbing and work climbing are different if the lockjack works for you then it works, its a great tool I know this just in my opinion not superior to a hitch. Did you get to use your 880 on the reduction today?

I'd go with Peter the Sequoia SRT I have a Treemotion to its still good and i love it i just also want the Sequoia. The Skylotec harness look good to, only they don't really grab my attention.

I have an Acer aspire one good little netbook, mines a year old now but still works well, the new model looks just as good.

I like this safety notice that you posted on treebuzz and think it gives a clear picture of how and why a snaphook may be deemed not compatable or fit for purpose, the scenario shown even though probably unlikly to happen the use of appropiate well maintained 3 way karabiner would almost be impossible to open accidentally.

Surely a 3 way snap hook would then make it not a snap hook. From the few i know who use them like them because its simple to open then and close them.

I'm only ribbing ya mate:001_tt2: personally i hate chainsaws, there just a means to cut wood for me a nessecity of the job and nothing else, as for an 88/84 no matter what size bar i'll go to great lengths not to use one god awfull saws especilly for ringing up big timber. Then again i'ld do anything to avoid ringing up big timber it just sucks.

I swear your obsessed with ms880 it seems nearly every post you make your harping on about it, hats of to you though i've done some fairly big trees yet the 880 is hardly used apart from the real biggies prefering to go for a 660 with 35" bar on most large trees. Gerry was knocking out tops on big Seqouias with an 090 before most of us even started our careers in arb he had no such problems with chains falling off can't remember what his technique was. What i do and a climber i work with does when in the tree is use a smaller saw first to create a lip this is good for 2 reasons first you can accuratly line up your back cut with a small bar easier, and safer as you have something to rest the bar in to begin your cut.

Errrr yes the lanyard was not a problem tying of the piece to what he was stood on was, not through a pulley simply tied off, the force snapped the rope causing such a violent reaction catapulting him, i think he was lanyard in!

Matty your either completly insane or incredibly good, i suddenly feel very indadequate.

How much help? you do appreciate to ring a stem like that up would produce a 3.5t truck load of saw dust if not more amongst the rest of the dross. You'd have to put bearers down for the whole length of the stem otherwise it'll just bury the few into the ground. Ringing up that Elm on your own would be one long hard slog. I'd go with Ed do everything you can to avoid ringing that stem up or any of it. Unless they want to pay extra.

True i've done my fair share of National Trust work where we'd just smash them down and go, you'd probably get that elm down in a day that way, as soon as you have to start processing and chipping the outer crown and possibly stacking timber it'll eat up your time. On estates where we'd do this it would take a day maybe a half to deal with trees that size. So put 2 day on it to be on the safe side

Even with a cabstar and 6 inch chipper and 3 man team 2 days minimum price round here would be £1500 not including vat. Thats a lot of tree to deal with.

Pictures never do a tree justice, if your having to rig it will slow you down some, i'd put 2 days on it minimum, as it does look a bit of a beast.

Lavazza qaulity rosso is my prefered choice its cheap and better tasting than some of the more expensive stuff. Seceond pet hate at work, i don't really have one o.k one pet hate is not being able to get the chipper right by the tree, and draging down passageways you know the ones with a tap and gate latch that seems to grab every branch:mad1:. I work with good teams so can't grumble.

I try to limit myself to the number of coffees i buy at work too expensive, usually just get a double esspresso as its a cheap shot of caffeine. Hence why i hate it when my coffee machine at home breaks down, my last one was in bits, I had the water tank taped and glued as i dropped it once, the steam spout broke off years ago, and so did the pump switch i had to use a combi spanner to turn it on. So i splashed out on an expensive coffee maker, which was rubbish and stopped working within 2 weeks, took it back and got a different one which so far is good, i'm now enjoying a nice double esspresso machiato in the mornings with my ready brek and banana.

Heathen:coffee: It'll do in the most dire of coffee emergencies i usually send the groundy in to fetch it..

... your coffee machine breaks down in the morning and there is no coffee shop on route to the next job then the client offers you some inspid instant coffee. About as bad as it gets for me, unless you count a day where you forget your chainsaw trousers having to borrow some 3 times to big, crushing your finger going to hospital to get it stiched up go back to finish the job and then put a piece of chip through the clients neighbours window.

I like smash and crash jobs when i can leave it there, otherwise I hate the clear up involved so prefer a more methodical approach, nothing worse than dropping cord on top of branches it just sucks and make the job a bitch fight to tidy afterwards.

just thought it may be somebody i know is all.

He doesn't have Ginger hair does he?

660 its a great saw, it'll do most big trees i prefer to reach for a 66 over an 880 most of the time using the 880 is a macho thing a 66 with big bar will tackle most stuff in the U.K. Who was it on here that crown lifted some Holm Oaks with an 880 that made me chuckle