Marc

These showa gloves are very thin yet long lasting the rubber coating wears well and doesn't peel off and get stuck in your hitch. http://www.protecdirect.co.uk/Nitrile-Coated-Gloves/Showa-370-Assembly-Grip.htm These are supposed to be good to, a little thicker and warmer, not tried them myself though.http://www.protecdirect.co.uk/Builders-Grip-Gloves/Showa-350R-Nitrile-Grip-Glove.htm

After Tims last post i'm thinking the same thing, Thujas can regenerate if you turn em into sticks.

that may be your problem, leather sucks for rope grip try some "decent" sticky gloves, they keep your hands warm and improve grip hugely

Telephone masts?

A lockjack is what it is. A knot can be configured and fine tuned in so many ways to suit your climbing style. To me its a no brainer, the cockjack is a great idea but falls short in some major areas i'e panic descents, not much scope for tuning, costly to buy and use some climbers i know go through a cam a month. I'll wait till something better than a well set-up friction hitch is availible before i give up using my knot.

I have a certificate in the safe use of a ladder! I **** you not!

Does Polyporus sqamosa effect a trees vigour and health? I know its not ideal to remove a tree energy reserve or energy producing foliage when it is invaded by a pathogeon, sometimes needs must. The reduction looks fine to me as a safety prune and retains the tree for a few more years to come. Not to criticise those who post opinions on certain reductions, but you have to consider the type of tree being reduced, Ash can be a bugger to get right out/up there and make the most ideal pruning targets, you sometime have to do what is practically possible as best you can.

What hurts me the most is shopping with the wife, walking slow, standing around waiting whilst she tries on some clothes all make my feet, knees and back begin to ache all i want to do is move quicker,,,,, maybe this is some kind of allergic reaction? I find myself making excuses to take stuff back to the car, that way I can move fast and i feel better, i must look like a man possesd with bags in his hand stomping through the city streets. I agree with Skyhuck keep active, this is a great job yes in can be harsh on the body at times, but so can sitting in an office chair getting overweight. Although i'm always looking for easier ways of doing my job, not just to reduce stress on my body, more so that i can climb more be quicker and more productive.

Always on top for me it serves the same purpose, but with zero chance of snagging your saw with as far as i know no effect in hinge either as wether its above or below make no differrence what so ever your still making a side cut it just safer. Its horses for course anyway.

The thing is with Inonotus his. is the Ash tree wwill often look healthy and vigourous, so you'd need a very good reason to sugest a fell, also i think i'm right in saying its position is also key as if its on one limb then only that limb will be prone to failiure, i've reduced affected limbs befo9re and retained the tree. Only in certain situations, like lots of high risk targets, fruiting bodies on main trunk or bifurcation points multiple brackets etc. have i done fells The fruiting bodies should be evident, i've seen one today on a Juglans near me, if its not present in the tree then the fallen brackets should be on the ground and a tell tale sign on the trunk in the form of a black roughly diamond shaped stain. Off topic a bit but can anyone tell my the significance of Ino. his on Walnut? as i can't find any details in the few books i have, I know Ino. is not considered a serious risk on London Plane due to its high levels of lignum.

Wise words indeed, personally i like to use my knee under the handle to force it through that leaves my other hand free to smoke a fag or pour water into the cut as the smoke burns my nostrils.

Barcham trees tend to be very drawn up skiny nursery grown trees, so its possible.

I think i know the ones your on about now i'd say they are closer to 8-10ft. i've planted a few 20-30ft trees that sort of size is nearly as high as a house with a considerable root ball. Forget tree work, tree planting is where its at, good money to be made with the added bonus of adding to the landscape. Some of the trees i've planted were over 2k each without planting and aftercare costs

We all need to know about the limitations of the kit we use and how to avoid such nasty accidents, i'm not 100% sure if i'm using or setting up my equipment properly, I just try to keep myself educated and thoughtfull of all the negatives and pitfalls of any equipment i use or how i go about setting it up, in the hope of avoiding such accidents. I'm based in Oxford, and mainly work for Heritage

I've seen them maintained as small ornamental pollards, they look good like that and respond well. If its a mature tree thats not been worked on before like samwise seems to imply, then high pollarding/topping is the wrong way to go. If there is nothing wrong with the tree then leave em alone, if its an asthetics thing then just do some formative pruning and dead wooding.

They can be pollarded but i would advise against that as the trees are mature now. If all you want to do is tidy them up then give tem a crown clean. They do respond well to proper pruning, but only do it if they need it.

Always put your side cuts above the hinge, best bit of advice i have ever been given.

Not immune just the most resistant, http://www.barcham.co.uk/node/521 He did well to source 12 large trees for 2.5k. Heritage have planted a fair few in 2008, be good to see Elms re-introduced into the countryside

Nice vid, the problem with straight fellinf is the 10 minutes of glory, followed by a days clearing up. Now lets see the real nasty evil tricky stuff ! Not that i can talk I always go all sloppy shoulders and find something else to do.

Near Blandford Forum or something like that, although i thought it was around 140ft? still huge though.

What he said, best advice here. TC chains do not really have any use in arb other than a few special circumstances and nails ain't one of them.

Show me a machine that is perfect and without flaws?

Mechnisation, big kit even bigger chippers ,,,,, Vermeer BC2000xl 20" 250hp cat engine, hand fed chippers don't get much better or bigger than this one. Thankfully it has a grab as I wouldn't want to hand feed this machine to much!