John Shutler

i think it’s hard to go back to not using comms when you’ve used them for a while. i think they are essential for some tasks, and i flatly refuse to do any of our roto stuff without them. on my AAAC audits i’ve had a number of comments about how calm the sites are which IMO is down to the comms as there’s no shouting we’ve used sena for years but i’m not convinced they are the best solution as can be temperamental

so did you shag her or not?

@aspenarb bob, can you provide any more info on your blade sharpener? i think you said it was a modified cylinder mower sharpener?

the visor works very well for the grcs. i’ve had mine for 13 years and never had any issues with it moving with or without the visor

pattern blades from HQ chipper parts are much cheaper, about half the price of heizo ones and just as good

Although any excavation within an RPA needs to be justified the reality is that the % of incursion will be so low that there won’t be a negative impact. that coupled with a bit of arb supervision during the works and you should be ok

i’ve just taken on a SSSI site and am in dialogue with Natural England about what they want to see in terms of management moving forward. We also had to get permission from NE for the tree safety works around the perimeter adjacent to the highway, this involved the he submission of a method statement for approval which detailed how the works would be carried without causing harm to the SSSI. we were also given a period for when the works must be completed, in our case it was an 8 week window.

bit of a mixed bag of work recently. Bit of mulching to finish off a little clearance job. a 30m dead scotspine which we took down with a 35m hoist and roto for the timber under 25m. sugar maple removal with the roto and a fair reach into a garden and a fiddly little oak reduction that we’ve done every 3 years since 2011ish

I generally tell people these days to do nothing till they can't stand the thing anymore then fell it.

we changed the sprocket and nose sprocket on the bar of my 88 so that it runs 3/8s. the only reason we did it is that all my other saws run 3/8s and we buy chain by the reel. i’d never make enough .404 chains to warrant buying a reel of the stuff so it works quite well

don’t stress about transport, having a can do attitude goes a long way. my first tree job i used to ride my bike to the station, get a train, then ride to the yard. don’t stress about having a car or moped, just work towards it. personally if you can manage without a moped then save up for a car and some lessons and you’ll be sorted. turning up on time and getting stuck in goes way further than having motorised transport at 16 imo

i agree josh, there’s definitely some Oak in there. value is a funny old thing, to a bunch of tree men the value paid is over the top, to the homeowner who now has a driveway full of timber maybe it seems more reasonable irrespective of the time and cost to process it.

the n174 is a great tractor. i’ve been running botex roof mounts for 10 years and wouldn’t look anywhere else but everyone has their own preferences yes feed the heizohack with the roof mount

n174 with roof mount for picking up timber, small enough that it’ll sneak in to collect timber or put the heizo or 8.5 tonne winch on the back. does 57k t234 is mostly used for pulling big trailers round or the roto which weighs 18 tonne plus the trailer and really needs the extra power

I must admit I'm not sure how it relates either