Lancstree

Managed to get the lock barrel out with a hammer and chisel without damaging it! Got a replacement part on the way so it's a result. It's a bit easy to get them out but it serves it's job as a theft deterrant.

No joy. It's an old one hence the key snapping i suppose. Will try wiggling the clamp which is a good idea and not tried yet. There's no key debris stuck in there. This one doesn't pivot unfortunately. Tried using the half key to turn it back but no joy. Will try the locksmith before any drilling. A tow bar specialist said he can knock the barrel out without damaging it from underneath

it could be unbolted which would get me in the boot. doesn't help with the lock though

Aye. That's going to have to wait till after Easter but just wondered if there was a hack for it

Anybody know owt about locks? I've recently picked up a second hand Thule bike rack that fits onto my tow bar. It locks on with a key. It came with two keys, one was already broken in half (but no debris in the lock) and then I noticed the other one was bent after a few uses. Upon closer inspection it was cracked and no longer worked. At this point the lock was in the open position and for the sake of curiosity I tried to lock it with the half key and it worked. The problem is that it's stuck in the lock position now. I got a replacement key from halfords, which won't go in far enough to operate it. It has been blown out with an air line and lubricated but still no joy. It seems that when I turned it with the half key it has left the mechanism out of line. Is there a trick to get this back to working? I can't open the boot of my car and obviously I can't use my tow bar for anything else!

Tying bundles of bean poles from lime epicormic cuttings? I'm thinking of what would be easy for volunteers and not come loose. We'll perhaps just use large zip ties.

Need heated gloves too eh! Good idea getting a variety of battery sizes. I've heard that our husky batteries are not holding charge as well anymore. Any experience of this with the stihls?

I take it you got the bigger battery size?

Of course. Thanks very much

Can anyone ID this? Looks like on Ash. I didn't take the pictures. Putting up on behalf of someone from a Facebook group. Doesn't look to me like daldinia or perenniporia

The main advantage of the sun is that you can feed slack through with one hand without having to pull the rope away from yourself. This makes coming back from a limb walk very safe as you keep your weight on the rope

Agreed we definetely ought to have a different loler inspector as this one is non-arb. He's from an insurance company and has no idea how our tree kit is used. We've tried to get an arb specific loler examiner but the insurance company insist they do our inspection. It could be MBS the lad was telling me on the phone but I'm sure he said MDS. I'll clear that one up easily enough tomorrow. I agree with everything said there just never heard of this as I've been out of arb for a little while and in a different line of work.

I've had much to do with loler for quite a while now and I've just had a call from one of our arborists regarding a concern from a loler inspector about the rope markings. The issue is that the loler inspector has said that legislation came in, in 2015 that ropes should be marked as static or dynamic. I'll get more information but he is asking for markings stating MDS or UIAA - Falls. Also a mention of sdc's dynamic? Can anyone help clear this up? He is basically unwilling to categorize brand new ropes, from an arboricultural supplier, as climbing rope - therefore it would be 'not fit for purpose'. Thanks in advance

Actually just tried something and it slid down like a sleeve. Looks better. Will put some new fire cement around for good measure

Do you think this flue is set up correctly? It was fitted by a professional about 6 years ago. It looks to me like the ribbed bit should be pushed down into the top of the stove a bit more to get a better seal. My Dad has the smaller version and his looks to be pushed down into the top of the stove I don't want to tamper with it and mess it up!