Mike Hill

I worked up in Alaska for three seasons,the pay for climbers is absolute pants compared to what other skilled trades make.The work is twice as hard as Europe (long long days)and the groundies half as skilled.Most trades there make $25 to $45 bucks an hour,you'll be lucky to get $25.No benefits,no insurance except workmans comp.The state is stunning but you're better off in Europe saving your money for a holiday there.imo

No Buy Sthil End of

Yes,no more Cricket bats,kitchen knives or broken bottles either.Those "weapons" account for far more crimes than firearms do. Cricket is out dated anyway,you don't really need a knife as you can buy everything pre prepared and plastic means you'd never break a bottle thus making a weapon. Only then could the citizens of the Brittish Isles sleep soundly.

No,there you really are reinforcing negitive sterotypes Tokmal.Gun ownership,like dog,cat and homosexuality runs accross all social boundries.A firearm is relitivly inexpensive compared to a motorbike or even a quality stereo. Antigunners all also share a common thread,ignorance and inexperiance using and handling firearms. Have you ever fired a rifle or shotgun Tokmal? A firearm is a tool,like any tool it can be misused,you seem competent with chainsaws and chippers through training and use.Firearms are no different,in the right hands they do no wrong. As to you point of no classrooms full of todlers being shot after the Dunblane tradgedy,how many were killed in the five hundred years of handgun ownership prior? The social problems that exisit in the UK are the root cause of crime and violence we see today.Post second world war the British isles were awash with firearms and people who were trained to kill,the crime statistics were not a candle on what they are today. Banning anything never makes it harder to obtain,it just places the banned items beyond the reach of the law abiding. "WHEN GUNS ARE OUTLAWED,ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE GUNS"

Fair enough,banning handguns in 1988 didn't help any did it? Banning the sale of military style semi automatics after the Hungerford massacre hasn't stopped Yardies getting AK47's,so by your own admission if criminals won't abide by the rules.And if only the politically controlled forces,Army,Police (actually private citizens like you and me) are the only holders of firearms,then you and me will live in a dictatorship. No one should be barred from excercising self defence with the same threat that is brandished. " A fear of weapons is a sign of emmotional immaturity" "Sigmund Freuid"

Jeasus guided me into a profession that would serve the living God. Actually I got expelled from school and was to young to join the Army.

ISA here.I like the magazines and you have to be certified by either the ISA or ETW to do any council work here in Bergen. Also the ISA gave me some stickers and I like stickers:wave:

Nice going steve! I went to the pistol range this eveing with a mate,join for six months here and you can own a pistol.I still have a couple over in the states so I'm sure the locals here will be wrapt when I start banging away with my 454 Cashul.

I'll come! Bob See if you can get some 30/06 tracer,if you hit his 020,chances are it'll catch fire. I get first shot,its my Rifle after all

Ed That splitting device does look pretty good,have you seen one run on hardwood? '

I'm thinking about building one to mount on the bucket attachment of the digger.One that you could lay over a log thats on the ground and split it or turn it to standing and use it for shorter rounder chunks.I was thinking of using a section of RSJ to mount the ram on. And the ramt pushes a knife onto a foot plate? The little hoses that run to the thumb on the bucket might be too small,so Ed could I extend the lines that run to the blade ram with solid pipes along the main boom and dipper arm?I'd have to use flexable hydralic hose at the knuckles but it might save on cost?I'm going to be doing a fair bit of welding shortly to make a chip box,so any ideas would be appreciated.

So he threw in a pto shaft,bushes for the linkage,and a stabiliser. I reckon the machine will do for the short term as the price was right and a 260 is deffinatly in the plans for mid year.I just have to get rolling and am sick of the delays. I'll let you know how it goes,we are back at work on the 4th. Cheers

I know,but there are no propper Farmi dealers locally. There is a TP200 for 5K over the Oslo side,the TP150 is about the same price. The poor thing is,the guy selling the Farmi won't let me trial it for a DAY,bloody strange bunch these Nogs somtimes. I thought that might be because they jamb alot,that distance between the roller and cutting disk seems too great. But you reckon they are ok ED?

No after you've subtracted the 61% tax you pay,no.

Well,the deal on the TP150 fell through!Can you beleive the bugger sold it out from under me,one minute its there the next he's offering me another from Oslo and I pay the freight!DREAMER! So there is a Farmi for sale locally,ex demo but it just looks too long and the distance from the feed roller to the cutting disk looks to great,I think it'll jamb alot of short lengths sideways.But the price is a steal. What do you guys reckon?The mog took longer to arrive and I really can't wait much longer

I bought a new Tree Magic harness and have been climbing on it for about a month.Its the first "sliding D" harness that I have owned. Good points:Light :Dries out fast :Plenty of gear loops :Easy to adjust and tune Bad points :A bit to much elastic,prefer webbing. :Uncomfortable when hanging a 066 off it for extended periods(I bought it for pruning anyway) To be honest its a very comfortable set up,time will tell how long it lasts.Because it lacks suspender attachments,its not my choice for extended big saw use.I'm interested to hear how other people are getting on with this.It also has been popular with the female climbers in the area.

One of my groundies wore one and it saved his life.I cut a branch off from about 80ft up,I called before I cut,he wasn't paying attention as he was putting his ear plugs in,the branch hit his helmet,torqued he head around and gave him a "standing eight count". We bought him a new helmet! I'm not sure if you can attach ear muffs to that helmet,he used ear plugs and safety glasses.

Thanks guys,I'll see how this one goes,took it for a spin around all but the very tightest streets in town to see if a bigger one would have been practical.Not really as it turns out as the old cobbled streets are often all lump and as you turn the truck cants to one side.This might mean a taller chip box might clip somones house,I had a look at a U1400's,1600's as I like the idea of more capacity,but that would have been at the expense of manoverability and thats why we got it in the first place. I reckon I might build the chipper mount and then trade the hydralics on a set of fast axels.As I am now imagining a camper box for the back,that I could lift off with the hi ab. If I ever get around to it that is!

So after a 1100km road trip and a 16hout ferry ride my unimog is now at its new home in Norway.At a top speed of 80kmph,I just managed to make minimum speed on the autobahn. Its a 1987 U1000 with 100 000km on the tach and 6000 work hours on the clock. All in all I`m pretty happy with it,just have to build a chip box with rear and side doors to take advantage of the three way tipping deck. I bought hydralic linkage and had that fitted,I`ll sell that after I have built a swing away mount for the rear. Tomorrow I collect a TP150 chipper for the back.Farmi would have been first choice but there is a TP agent down the road that gave us 12months interest free on a new one.Too good to turn down.Ill post some photos when I have the rig painted and boxed up. The current "retna burning" orange is just to much to stomach after a few pints.

I'm having a hard time following you on that sentence about the sling and the lowering pulley? I can't see why cranking up the speedline would cause problems,unless the tenison of the line plus the weight of the branch over loaded the system? I wish we had coconuts here in Norway.I get excited when I see them in the supermarket!

II'll lower my 020 down on the lowering rope when I've finnished with it and have the groundie attach the big saw to the lowering liint and pull it up. I have a harness with the suspender attachment,it works great for me and wouldn't go without it for sustained big saw use in a tree. If I've been blocking or snatchin down for ages and am knackered,I'll turn off the saw and just park it ontop of the stem and have a rest..

A thing of rare beauty!I'm sure the missus is wrapt with her new pressie!

I'd advise against using a vehicle as a means of holding one end of a zip line.Well,a vehicle with windows,headlights,or panels that could get damaged. You can use a pully to re-direct the zip-line and have it parked out of the way if possible.remember that the distance the pulley is off the ground will be roughly the distance the zipline will fall when the load is about mid point,plus ofcourse any stretch in the rope. When it comes to chunks,you might need a "Tail rope",this is usually attached to the block and provides breaking to the chunk on its desent down the zipline,it also is a means of returning the block back to the climber. Somitimes it is also nesesary to have additional breaking on the zipline,getting a lenght of old fire hose,cutting a hole through it and threadding it on the zipline before you tension it.attach bags of sand/earth to each end of the hose still on the ground and when the pulley hits the hose,it cannot "eat" the hose,ie get stuck in the pulley,so it draggs the bags of sand and takes it to a steady stop.if the bags are to light you can tie previous chunks of wood to the hose also.hanging bags off the zipline can also work for the smaller bits. I prefer using a tirfor winch to tightnen a steel cable and use blocks that are designed to run on cable,they are generally steel and have "swing cheeks so they can to attached on the cable while its tensioned. Somtimes hanging a block off a hi ab is a great way,as the peice approaches the truck,the opperator dips the arm and the peice "runs out of steam". Zip lines can be most efficient in the right circumstances,they can take a long time to set up.I really don't like snatching blocks onto a zipline,it ¨shockloads the system and can cause all sorts of problems.Best have the zipline into a tree or two,or three behind the one you are dismantling if possible.Thats my prefered method,but it dosn't always work that way.

That does look like a good set up tockmal!I've used pickups with side doors on the canopy,well handy.How do you rate the Nissan against say a Toyota hi-lux?