ecolojim

fracturing I have little problem with, but only within the bounds of location, specific interest, etc etc. I think youve done a good job there. It looks like a lot of thought went into it and it is mostly fit for purpose, but to my mind there was little point in fracturing this job when it looked far from natural at the time of work (it does look somewhat more natural now). I believe if we 'must' interfere and mimic nature, which btw I believe we cant ever hope to do completely, then it's my opinion that such techniques must be done as per nature. as said earlier. retrenchment achieved with much larger pieces winched off, no regular shapes and patterns. I believe that it would work just perfectly in this setting. I think people are surely taking in the trees in their collective magnificence. If we want them to have perfect shapes, why pretend work hasnt been done... trees dont have perfect shapes. It's part of their wonder IMO There are/were some trees at Harewood house in Leeds (while since ive been) that had limbs winched off them. Now they DO look natural in their parkland setting, and look great to boot. the line for me, is drawn at coronetting... not coronetting in its entirity, but coronetting for coronetting's sake if you will. Where a large flushed cut can genuinely be improved from a habitat point of view, but making a flush cut just to coronet it, where a fracture could be made instead, boggles my mind. in terms of natural form, the coronet is far inferior to the fracture. Ive also heard people saying coronetting for the good of the birds of prey, insect habitat i can go for, but do we not bolt spikes here there and everywhere to keep birds away? anyway, I fear I have digressed and ended up ranting. As you were

lower trent, Gainsborough depot mate. thanks for the advice. hope it all comes good!

well... half 3 tomorrow afternoon ive got my interview for the Environment Agency for a job in operations delivery. Even though ive just had a pay rise from the guys I do work for, when theyre nominally working 3 day weeks, it just aint enough. If im good enough to get the job, Im gonna try and keep a hand in with tree stuff and keep up with my climbing though. I enjoy it so much, but right now, I need to think practically for once in my life, and broadening one's horizons certainly isnt a bad thing is it. Of course you shant be getting rid of me one way or the other, Jim

discovery's ready to go. lightbars are back on, genny's in the back, ropes are in, pump and sandbags in the sankey. could be a busy weekend if this rain keeps up!

whats the part number and specs off the side Mike? looks like a fairly standard denso part that is probably used for a million things and could be picked up hella cheaper at a motor factors than a jensen dealer. Jim

a 98 300tdi from an auto will have the EDC fuel pump, which IIRC has a load of extra electrical gubbins with it that goes wrong just for fun, and interfaced with the gearbox ecu and cruise control etc. the interesting thing here is discoverys only had more power than defenders in 200tdi trim and only a few hp difference. Im fairly sure the 300tdi's are the same engine (one manifold configuration vs 2 on the 200tdi), except the EDC auto version had even more horsepower than the stock 111 or whatever, to compensate for the inefficiencies of the ZF auto box's viscous coupling Does the engine still have the EDC gear on it? or... more likely has it had a mechanical injection pump fitted to it before fitting to your defender? If so, there are a number of things that can be at fault, primarily timing, worn pump and so on. other considerations being the EGR might be stuck open which is VERY common, simple... remove it. check hoses for delamination etc, but in short, Im with dean, im leaning towards the fuel pump lack of power, and lack of revs can also be lift pump knackered.

must be one of the very last S3s that then chris, mate of mine has a 90 on a B plate. Always knew my discovery was one of the last 200tdis (has everything) but found out the other day that it's within the last 5 or so

seconded!

well ive got my EA interview on the 10th, so the story may or may not end there. Ive got to live havent I

I only sound bitter because I am lol!

I think tbh, making the box out of ali is only half the battle. those steel dropsides are so flipping heavy in the first place. a bloke round here has a tarp top, in fact a number of them do. they have a piece of ply in the end of it to protect it from over zealous chipping, it looks quite smart too.

trouble is, he/they arent supervised, because the only other guy on site is the boss who is climbing at the time!

Ive been grounding for 3 years now. Not that long compared to some, but I think im pretty decent at it. Cant tow 'more than a pencil' but I can reverse anything, good with customers, good at lowering, always keep the climber's ropes clear and organised, got my climbing and aerial rescue ticket and keep myself in practice. Done some climbing jobs for the two companies, pruning etc, and done some take downs on trees round the farm to get my positioning up to scratch. Im currently getting £60 quid a day and lucky if i get one or two days a week from the two companies I work for. They both have a guy working full time for them, one has his basic chainsaw, the other guy has nothing. Technically this is against the law on any job involving climbing, but end of the day, I feel like im getting short changed, but theyre even cheaper. Last week I applied to the EA for operations delivery. Would be better off there now im trying to get a mortgage. It's a real shame, but if I cant progress through tree work then I have no choice

if for instance the arc passed through a space of air with saw chips in it or most likely even fine wood dust still held in suspension in the air, it is plausible that the arc exceeded the wood fibres' flash point creating the orange actual burning light in close proximity to the arc itself

yeah i fish the method on the local carp ponds. absolute frenzied activity as soon as it hits the bottom. thing is you have to ignore all the attacks on the feeder and line bites and hold out for that full take on the hook bait. I generally use a bag of sonubaits ready mixed bait and just add water on site. hook bait i use red maggots or actually sweetcorn seems to give me the best results over the method mix

when i started cutting and holding with my silky, the main thing i was worried about was not always being able to gauge whether id be able to hold it with my left hand securely enough. The instructor on my cs38 told me to girth hitch one of my webbing slings round the branches if they were borderline weight wise. then i can transfer the branch to my right hand and remove the sling before dropping the branch from the tree. works wonders and only takes a couple more seconds on the odd branch Ive used it on. perhaps on the occasion where space is at a premium, and cut and hold is necessary, it would afford the climber some more space between soft fleshy bits and sharp whizzy bits? Probably a stupid suggestion

im afraid guys, due to a monumental catastrophe, I'm going to be late at best. The combine's snapped a belt and blown two bearings so it's all hands on deck to try and get her fixed before the weather turns and the next few days harvesting become a write off anyway. Particular apologies to 18 stoner, since he was meant to be trying on my harness. I'll be there if I humanly can.

evidently the irony was lost I couldnt give a flying fark so long as everyone went home at the end of the day safe and sound

also not keen on the guy on the ground not wearing a lid but that really is a personal pet hate!

can you not get the sling between the cheeks of the pulley anyway? I just tried with my isc pulley and i can get mine in. it pulls in tight towards the closed up bit, but it does go in.

noticed when i was playing with a hitch climber last week, that the eye of the rope at the top biner would be almost touching the friction hitch, just as in this case the bottom of the biner is. Perhaps where a shorter knot is desireable from an efficiency point of view, a longer sling is the way. Might give this a go with my petzl quick draw sling, but not at work, as I keep that seperate for aerial rescue

is there anything that can be done to protect a tree from this? Im not that far from Kev in the grand scheme of things, and I have a particularly magnificent HC at the end of our farm driveway that would just be unthinkable to lose

haha quality!

never heard of impact and shock based knee injuries then? not to mention extra leg strain from having to pull the spikes out when youve got them jammed well on in there and how the hell you got that i dont believe in learning from experience from what I said, I'll never know. Id rather learn from other people's experience than have to have something like that happen to me, regardless... It's not happened to me yet, but I dont doubt for a minute that it will at some point. Yes I'll probably do something different afterwards, but what if making my movements less natural in reaction makes me more susceptible? and here's another thought. what if that was the first time it had ever happened to him? what Im also not saying, is that you were wrong to highlight a possible cause of injury that the arborist faces, but you do seem to see everything as very black and white. One little slip condemns a person indefinitely, but accidents by their very nature, cannot be eradicated.

well it aint ideal and it aint fun but isnt it why we double wrap our strops? and has it not happened to nearly everyone? theres a fair argument that stomping your spikes in repeatedly does more damage to you over time than a few brown boxers moments. not saying it 'should' happen, but ive never heard anyone say it happened to them followed by 'if i did this it wouldnt have'