MattyF

Have you mounted the winch on the loader mike ?

You do what you gotta do dude, if your cut for it you will be hobbling around still going with two fuct hips and arthritic hands when your 70 and loving it. I would say though I have been in the industry since I was 16, I grew up in it too and at 42 now have seen many arbs come and go , many people seem to have some sort of mid life crises and decide they have a calling to work with trees, be a climber and be out side and I don’t recal many if any of the later cutting it at all and on average lasting around 5years before having enough and walking away regretting the day they spent 1000’s on training and giving up there cushty jobs. If you can get level 3 certs,great but it really sums up the industry in my view , folks with virtually zero experience in jobs on trees, dealing with trees and watching them for years getting the jobs for the boys because they couldn’t or can’t cut hard work and weather and that’s all this job is , a relentless battle against things that have full on potential to kill you in stupid heats , freezing or soaking weather, machines that break down and dealing with absolute dick heads in the general public , apart from that it’s mint and I would never do any thing else [emoji38] You see you kind of get institutionalised and addicted in some sadomasochistic way to it, im convinced also there is some kind of chemical imbalance in good climbers who need a fix of adrenaline to even lead a normal life... they can’t go on holiday , they can’t spend time out side of trees with out the urge to get up work hard , get stuck in and go for it ,basically it some kind of ptsd .....like Charlie sheen said in apocalypse now about getting back in the jungle and all you can think about when your there is coming home.. well any way , best of luck[emoji1303][emoji1303]

35 is way to late if you want to make a production/freelance climber .. by the time you have got any skill set worth paying you will be 40 and every sporting injury will come out or worse arthritis .. at this point you may have enough skill set to cope with most trees you still won’t have 10+ years that it takes in my view to even grasp the characteristics of different timber and it’s conditions, seriously I would give this a lot of thought as I’ve seen people come in at there mid 30’s and 40’s tired of office work and doing out door work has finished them , unless they have vast funds of family fortunes to squander.

I never had a pair fall apart just wore the leather away on the ones that where over two years old so no point getting them resoled ... would of been in them 6 days a week for work and worn for general walking /beating etc on a Sunday at that point so they would of taken a bashing !

Are not my findings with it ... even in beech cord or rings.

Fine , climbed in them for a good few years going through 3 pairs get about 2 years to a year and half out of them and they could be resoled easily .. before moving on to other boots like newer pfanners or Andrews found they are a good spike/felling boot... maybe not for you if your doing a lot of tip work and dead wooding though.

They do a short and long handled version , it’s not an Oregon design but rebadged.. It is though with out a doubt the best for handling timber I’ve used as it’s light and not harsh on your wrists so you can be accurate and fast and neither does it come out easily , unless you twist it and want it too unlike most the other makes out there that fall out with any weight on them ... I’ve moved big logs for the processor or big rings all day on many occasions and it would be my go too , in fact if you had to test four or five models any one who has had a play would choose it, even if they have dismissed log picks in the past I’m that confident In it.

Best I’ve found Oregon Log Lifting Pick 28″ WWW.RADMORETUCKER.CO.UK Could not get on with The ochenkopf or stihl ones.

I would give FMS an email and ask what they would run as they have enough of them in and out of there workshop to have an idea what would suit best . I know someone who had a conversion and head done but had no end of problems with the base machine he had picked up himself overheating!

Bit of a let down to have the same power as the 880 still though! They have been doing a good job on there other saws.

400 is there new flagship 60cc saw ... it’s not bad , feels like the power of a 440 but the lightness of a 60cc saw, typically it feels more torquey than its husky equivalent.. I do like my 560’s for working in soft wood still though, just force of habit and I’ve never got bored of them.

To be honest if your hauling timber all day on the road the novelty of a tractor driving very quickly goes ... noisy ,no suspension and idiot road users doing suicidal over taking manoeuvres soon takes its toll on your patience!

To go with that I would not want to pull more than 4-5 tonnes with a 100hp tractor on the road , especially if there is hills! From experience it’s not fun trying not to crawl up at 10 kph then go over 60kph and try and stop on the way down.

Looks like they bent the tree over so the top was in a better DZ or do they really grow like that?? Either way I would not of wanted that tree!