benedmonds

I did the bats in arb course last year, mostly because I'm into bats. It was interesting but basically warns you that bats can be almost any place.. which isn't that helpfull in the real world. Did tell us who to call if you disturb a roost etc. But with up to a 5K fine per bat if I did disturb one I'm not sure I'd want English nature to know..

It was not related to surveys however.

I brought one a year or so back and had some fun with it, but have yet to find a market for my fantastic burred oak, posts. Worked fine with a 064 and 36'. Simple to use, but takes a while. The drying of the timber seems to be the big issue.

bar.http://www.canopytrees.co.uk/sawmill.htm

I'm after a employee contract.. if anyone has one.

I can send anyone who wants the generic risk assesment which we use (its too big to post).. HSE blokes who visited liked it and has a simple A4 tick box to do for each job.

I'm looking for decent high viz orange water proofs for climbing in. It's got to be breathable gortex or the like..

Just thought I'd add a different take on partnerships. I went into partnership about 3 years ago. I was an experienced climber, he was a dairy farmer getting out of farming thinking about getting into tree work. He'd been doing the odd tree job and selling logs. I had the necessary tree skills he has a farm, space for truck, chipper, wood and a tractor..

We both brought different things to the business. Together we had enough kit and saws to get on with the job. We also both added about 6 grand, enough for a truck and chipper.

We can share quotes, paperwork, maintenance ect.. If one of us needs time we can trust the other to get on with it. Now as we are expanding with two trucks we always have one of us out working with the crew. The other can go out and do quotes in the day time and work can still get done.

So my advice would be find yourself a farmer, they work hard and don't expect much cash in return.

I would also add that untill recently I could have earnt more money working for someone else. We paid ourselves a low wage keeping cash in backup so when sh*t happens like your chipper blowing up it's not game over.

In my old house which was built in the 1880s, I pulled out the 70's gas fire and stuck in a nice morso squirel wood stove, I didn't bother with the liner, I didn't even properly seal the flue in. Worked a treat.

The latest saw to go did have the s61D carb, the one before I couldn't find any numbers. My thoughts are a mix problem we generally mix 20 litres of fuel up at a time. We do shake it up but I guess that could be the problem..? Any one had similar issues?

This relates to my post on the equipment thread, as I'd like to know more about saws. Does any one know of a decent chainsaw maintenance course, more than CS30.

Should I be fitting the pump piston kit to my running MS200's if they have the S61D carb? How can I check if they have the S61D carb?

The pistons are all shot apparently. The latest one the Tool Shop have just taken it to bits and say it's not worth puttling back together.. So I'm collecting dead saws.

I'll try DM next time.

We have had 4 MS200's that after about 18 months (if they don't get nicked) seem to stop running properly and need huge amounts of cash spent on them to get them going again. Our ground saws seem to run and run. We've an 039 that we use loads which I've had for over 8 years and apart from replacing bits which wear out it's never missed a beat. I know the ms200's get alot of abuse in the tree, but I don't think after a year or two I should be needing to spend £150+ to repair them.

Do other people get Ms200's to run for a long time or is it best just selling them at a year old?

Ash takedown over houses and electric lines.. No damage..

Bracing a copper beech, which didn't need bracing...

We had to cut it up in to manageable bits then carry it 300m round a twisty path to the road (we used a bobcat). We also planked some with a chainsaw mill.