Rentachimp

I have one and it's bloody great. Had a husqy topper and that both in the tree a few weeks back as needed the speed on a few cuts. Hung them onto the tree when I wasn't using them; well it was Christmas time... Sent from my SM-N910F using Arbtalk mobile app

Customers who hang around. I had one today on a Leylandii takedown who I swear just kept popping out of the ground like a mole to watch, take videos, ask that everything over 6in gets cut into lengths for firewood, ask about every phase of the job. Do you think we were offered a cuppa? Kettle must have broken, I think. Sent from my SM-N910F using Arbtalk mobile app

I'm guessing the Hi-viz was orange. Against grass it would be positively camo! Sent from my SM-N910F using Arbtalk mobile app

I worked for Conifers From Hell, and yes; lots of Leylandii.

Thanks guys, and nice to see the forum is going so well after all these years, Steve!

Hi all, I'm an arb of 5 years eperience, and former regular to arbtalk.com but have been out of the game for a few years due to a shift to a different industry. I'm missing the work, and was wondering if there is any scope to get back into it part-time. A few ideas I'm toying with are: Becoming a gun for hire (although I'm a bit rusty); Getting work with an arb firm on weekends and when I can get leave from my day job; Setting up as a sole trader (Have Saws, PPE, Tickets, Climbing kit, but no van or chipper) and doing smaller domestic work, including some gardening if neccessary. Can anyone offer some advice, and whether setting up a business just to do 0-20 hours work a week is viable. Thanks in advance, Gareth

I am reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck, and very good it is, too.

Some cracking responses, particularly about the fat trousers: so comfy! I do also remember pulling Leylandii woodchip out of my belly button about 4 hours later. I'm thinking about striking out on my own, too, although this probably isn't the best time of year to do it. What are people's experiences of going self employed? What do you need to keep the law off your back?

UPDATE I can categorically say I am sick to the back teeth of my job, and am thinking of taking up the tools again. Money is the only thing holding me back, truthfully - my needs have expanded to match my earnings. What's the average rate for a climber in South Wales these days? I'm still regularly in the woods, but usually on my mountain bike these days. I have kept my hand in on the tools, too. Guess you can never leave the arb once you've started.

OK, gents.

I don't know 100%. It looks like an overgrown hedgerow, as it is a thin strip behind the house with a field on the other side. Sycamore and Willow, if that counts for anything...

Hello, Blanket TPO on land with unidentified ownership. Small trees (none more than 20ft). Branches encroaching on gardens. Can they be chopped back to fenceline (obeying CODIT, naturally) without permission?

I understand where you're coming from, my man. Am I right in thinking that the guy on the ground was older and more 'experienced' than you?

Undoing tight side nuts so that your palm slips off straight into the bottom of the returning chain. Cipping your landyard into your Petzl Caritool instead of your side D's

By the way, The spring being in backwards meant that the plastic bit that pivots out to engage the flywheel when the cord is pulled was pivoting out on the recoil, so, effectively, the recoil was pushing the flywheel. Just in case it happens to another puny mortal in future