MattyF

Look at the 4srt Chester this is what I would recommend from my experience with the hitch hiker. I personally found it too heavy and too much drag to work with the neck tether, also I could not tie the climbing knot loose enough for my liking. Not sure why the RW was hitting you in the face

Hitch hiker was to heavy for a neck loop from my experience, definitely a chest harness or something ... that is why I went back to a wrench.

Beech , as long as it is bone dry is a great climbing tree.

Yes , used with a hitch like a vt on a double rope you will climb pulling the rope down arm over arm say 4-5 times locking off with one arm and pull the slack through with the other until you get high enough for the weight of the rope to pull it self through by itself. Or climb srt ... possibilities are endless with a hitch climber! unless you do lots of one handing in which case your still leaving your self open to tennis elbow and hand tendon damage.

Any where but Sainsbury's or tesco.

I'd run it on normal pump fuel and the highest quality husky 2 stroke you can get. My girlfriend runs her 550 on aspen and it has still needed a rebuild also she has recently ran it on pump fuel because it was impossible to get aspen on that day and had no choice and it made it run very badly not to mention the cost. I've ran saws/ hedge cutters myself from new on aspen and personally don't think it made a difference to longevity and if any thing they don't like been chopped and changed between alkylate and pump fuel which unless you have a dealer on your door step for it will happen !although it is more pleasant for working in tight spaces or hedges with no breeze but actually found just using a high quality two stroke nearly as beneficial.

40hp should be easy and fairly cheap. The clearance is not too great with the a 40hp agt though very easy to hang up on stumps.

That's just spikes, I have tried most and would say the importance is your boots and spending some time making sure they are tight... not so tight they cut off circulation!

Sticker groms all of you ! .... can I have some Steve ?

Agree , rock hard and bark getting stuck on your spikes ..usually in huge plates that won't come off with foot swinging! Actually any tree that is that dead that the bark gets stuck in the gaffs. One ash tree I spiked my foot through the trunk to reveal that the bottom section to about 9ft was complete mush apart from a small 6" outer strip in one corner was keeping a few twigs alive, all fun Tys that monkey puzzle sounded no fun at all!

They did that when they broke in to my mates barn , luckily some one had clocked a notorious thief hanging around around 4 days earlier so he had moved all his saws and decent tools out but upon taking a dump in the middle of the floor one of them had trod in it on the way out you can only hope they smeared it all over there own motor before noticing. Also the site they where from was notorious for nicking cars in the 80's and early 90's there calling card was leaving a **** under the sun visor and slashing up the interior ... how do you do you take a **** under the sun visor ? I alway had bizarre images of a ***** trying to curl one out!

Some shockers from this week, hat rack reconstructions.. sort of Beech from today slimiest slippery tree I've done in a while about 3-4 Meter due to some one cutting it in half many years ago and the regrowth all on big cavities ..had been lions tailed badly so no decent growth /reduction targets to hit. Half way though and after

There is that but the customer like you say is thinking they are getting value for money , but explaining the consequences of doing such work that it ends up with a larger denser more unstable weak crown and more costly future management I've found most folks don't .. If they want more light surely a removal is better. consequently have found that most people if they have nothing wrong with there trees are prepared to pay for minor reductions to reduce wind sail on ageing trees improve aesthetics. Customers like talking, if they are dead set on one thing then fine but find them very few and far between from experience.

Easy , people want what's best for there trees.

Glad it got you there !

Looking at them the little clip is 4kn ! that's like 3 very overweight people it could carry , can't say I would want to try climbing on one on my main line though!

The Xrse is an amazing little clip , really surprised me using on the haas that it does not blow them straight out, have had the same one on for over a year .. I've blown one out but it was not on the haas and I'm convinced there was something wrong from the start as it was brand new so gustharts replaced no questions.

Aye mate no bothers at all with the haas mod and been using it daily.

As above , I would not even look at a boxer with the reports of after market sales and care I've heard. Vermeer on the other hand will go out there way to help you and from past experiences with spares they were fast.

Nice little enjoyable clips.

Good post tim.

That's a fair point reg , ive had a few apprentices now and I've completely lost my rag with them when I've seen them cut and hold, especially leaning over the bar with there forearms to hold a branch with there left hand whilst cutting one handed. One lad thanked me when he came back a few years later as a free lancer after doing a stint production climbing after he left working for me that he never cut him self and always as he felt the urge to do that manover had me in the back of his mind yelling at him WTF are you doing? One lad was not so lucky but you could not of told him anything to begin with, when I gave him the chance to dismantle a storm blown tree when my back was turned he got bitten badly cutting and holding in the way described above , he would not come out the tree at first because minutes before hand I had told him not to do so, either way I think both of us learnt whilst waiting for the ambulance... I feel lucky as I had a long stint as an apprentice climber before being allowed to climb lead and watched some horrible one handed accidents happen in that time... saws kick back to the face chogging down to the branch dragging forearm or a saw skidding down a branch in to hands .. you only get one chance.

It's worked out pretty good I would say ,it could of escalated far nastier, as tree workers tend to be in groups and certain groups won't entertain this forum as they feel they are above it , too many key board warriors maybe ..working Arb's need more respected working tree guys like reg to make and give us a voice higher up the chain than being dictated too by people who end up making the rules who have been fortunate enough to come from a back ground where traveling the world and playing trees with there mates and having no real pressure or worries is there reality whilst the rest of us will have to have that 020 taken from are dead arthritic one hand that we have used to keep a roof over our head and family... oh and pay for all the new stupid nptcs we needed to carry on doing so.

The best feature for me with the pfanners is the tick guards on the bottom legs with boot hooks, amazes me other makers never followed suit.

70% on a silver fir from last Friday that had lost one primary stem and the middle was starting to crack out as well, kind of left the old snag from the lost stem for habitat as it probably won't stand a chance now any way. Would say any reduction over 15% is crap