Marc

I'd do the same, I often think that what we do to trees is pointless, trees have growing without mans help since before we could walk. There are quite a few similar Oaks in fields round here with massive historical defects, they have adapted and continued to grow fine without our help. Where we come in is trees in the urban enviroment thats a different kettle of fish, or preserving historical landscapes.

If they are quite new i'e less than 6 months work on them it may be worth sending them back to stihl and chance a warrenty repair, thats if you say you were using stihl oil at the reccomended rate. They may not fix them for free but they may fix it at parts cost only.

Not when i get paid for it no.

Probably not enough, I like the way they angled the cuts to help water run off the pruning wound there in stoping the rot. Top job!

An Arborist is someone who climbs trees? A climber can climb a ladder, building, mountain, hill etc

We are chipping the clients wood from his own woodland only our chippers do not produce a consistent chip, so how much for a screener and can you help? Good luck by the way Matt in your new direction.

Know anything about screening Matt, we have a biomass customer and the chip just need it screened as we've managed to block the burner a couple of times now?

I look at it a little different, where was i ten years ago! For me the lifestyle change has been dramatic. You never know what life will bring so just enjoy it. I hope in ten years i'll still be climbing trees.

I thought blue moon was poison ivy to, wasn't poison ivy and exclusive rope to sherrils for 2 years, and now the 2 years are up others are stocking it, only the poison ivy colour remains exclusive to sherrils. What you want Q is some tachyon

All the chip where i work is recycled for mulch even from dieseaed trees, we then sell or use the mulch in tree planting schemes or for mulching mature trees. It does not seem to spread any fungus as the mulch is applied as a top dressing it rarely transmits to the roots. What i said about grinding spreading it more i don't really believe only that it certainly will not help to get rid of it even if you did remove the grindings, fungi is ever present you can not steralise the enviroment. Even the fungi we class as health and safety risks to trees are an important part of the enviroment, they bring down the old and weak trees and help to break them down, its natures way you can't fight nature.

I work in the Chilterns which is chock full of Beech, i occasionally see the odd tree succumb to merrilipilus in the woods, yet it rarely transmits to the healthy trees close by. A lot of these fungi are always present especially Armilliaria in the enviroment, they only take hold in the right circumstances. Grinding will not help stop the spread, if anything i'd think it would spread it more. A neat little trick is to cut a limb off a healthy tree and place it in a polythene bag in a warm place, you'll be surprised at the fungi that can start to grow.

I just shove it in the bag, daisy chaining is to time consuming unless you want to dry your rope or wash it. When lowering tie a bow line on both ends of your rope and alternate between ends every now and then, also when your finished run the long end rope through the pulley this all helps to minimise kinks/hockles/twist.

Like the pics, wish i had some like that as i feel left out.

What do you mean by kinks? I would stow it in a bag

Hmmmmmmm can i get back to you on that:sneaky2: Leylandi suck and in restricted drop zones are difficult to do without hold n cut. In the hold n cut thread i did say i do it if there is no better way, just want to make it clear that we can often do things in an ineffceint unsafe manner because we feel it is quicker. I've been there in my early days cutting and holding thinking its quicker cause i'm actually doing something rather than having to call for a rope. Or cutting in a poor postion because i think i'll get the job done quicker when all i'm really saving is minutes and putting myself at risk. Now i have a little more experience I can predict how i'm going about a job and get myself into a better position, or call for that rope to be tied onto my line before i get to the piece i may of just hand held in small bits when i lacked experience. I think we sometimes get to set in our ways and think the only way to get the job done is to keep moving always be cutting. I now take a little time and evaluate what i do, measure up what i'm about to get to. By actually being slower and thinking more i've found i actually get the job done quicker and i'm not as tired.

Great pics Bob really makes me want to go the Lakes soon.

Please tell me you are joking? what is this about in the real world getting into a decent work position takes to long? If i've misunderstood you and your just being funny then fair enough. The quickest most effcient climbers i've ever worked with have impeccable work positioning, i'm thankfull that i've gotten to work with such class climbers as its shown that good positioning is ALWAYS quicker, admittedly occasionally i have to hold an uncomfortable position but this is usually so i don't have to use the saw in a dangerous position. Its like the old hand hold cut thing, saying that its easier and quicker to hand hold and cut several lighter pieces than it is to rope it down in one piece is rubbish, there is always a better way. The tools and equipment we have availible to us now means we can work easier and more effciently than before.

I think they look comfortable with spikes to:scared1: The Cristallos look like they have a much stiffer sole unit than the pro ascents I tried on some Scarpa Nepals they are half price at go outdoors at the moment, very similar to the Cristallos only much more rugged with one piece leather construction with stitching on the back, o.k the uppers are a little firmer with no lacing to the toe but, it looks a good trade off to me. I find the stitched sides of hiking boots get get trashed rapidily when foot locking.

Nicley put, the only problem is carrying round all the different protection, i often don't know what i'm doing, one day to the next. I have type C and some nice durable hiking trousers, if my work is most pruning saw stuff i'll where hiking trousers or even shorts. And hiking trousers/shorts are easier to carry in your kit bag.

Whay not just do 2 half hitchs proceding your termination if your overly worried about slip. There is also 2 different ways of arranging your half hitches i've obsereved, a C or Z way of loading the rope, hope someone understands what i mean and can explain the difference. As for using karabiners in place of a termination i don't see the huge time saving, it takes even me and i'm rubbish less than a minute to tie a running bowline, it just feels better for me.

I've seen and adminster'd 1st aid to those who have cut and held, its not pretty. Having said that i cut and hold sometimes usually spiking leylandie's its possible to do it safely imo, they tell you in college or on your nptc's never to cut and hold because its dangerous i kinda disagree and think it should be brought up that in the real world situations will possibly arise for cutting and holding. I don't want to dig at you colleague but it sounds as though he has a few habits, sometimes it hard to change old climbers ways. You know its wrong so don't fall into the trap of using bad practice just cause you see others doing it.

I've seen it a few times mainly in the Chilterns where big Beech grow on the chalky sub soil with only a thin layer for their already shallow roots to penetrate. Could maybe some of these apparently healthy trees that fall just be down to the (forget the appropiate name) soilscape? The fells look like a fair call.

I think Log-ologist hit the nail on the head, even though it looked crude to me, the years of handed down experience, physical strengths maybe you could say the evolution of only the strong and smart can survive and live to work another day. During my stay i meet several woodsmen of varying years on the job, none of them had any stories of really bad or fatal accidents, to me the way they worked looked crude none of the precision and seeming skill of the modern arborist in other countries. Although what at first looked basic to me I soon began to appreciate the simplicity of how they worked and that actually they have skills we have forgotten.

I'm liking the tachyon at the moment, as for breaking strains as far as i'm aware all modern ropes are strong as hell and fairly close to each other, it certainly would'nt be a factor in choosing a modern climbing line for me from a reputable brand. I go more for feel in the hand and colour.

I remember the first day with one of said companies the boss was on site with me and said to me "the most important thing when you work for me is to leave the site tidier than when you arrived, you can do the most shocking tree work in the world but as long as the site is tidy the client is happy and will pay" He was'nt implying that i do bad work just that appereance is everything, and it seems to work very well for him. To me though the tree's and the qaulity of skills we use is far more important than site tidyness, so i went back self employed. Unfortunatly most clients can not recognise good skills or appropiate tree care, so maybe we should all concentrate on looking good and being tidy rather than being good at what we do.