Log-ologist

£50 for two guys sick, holiday and employers NI . You obviously have never been an employer. I'm sure Mr Ed will confirm your figures are a little on the down side. Try these. basic pay. = £ 400 pw = £ 20800 pa. 20 days paid holiday = £ 1600 pa sick , say 5 days = £ 400. pa Employers NIC approx £ 1664. pa Total £ 24464 pa That is 70 pounds a week over the wages for one bloke. Thats before a full set of kit , saws and breakage or loss of kit. Then employees turn up each day thinking they are the dogs... and want wads of dosh for sweet f.a. Some are good I'm sure but most would faint if they knew what was really happening in the bosses bank account. Unfortunately I live where there are 70 plus firms in the yellow pages and probably as many skanky outfits who trawl the doorsteps for work. I live near the sea too so my work area is limited. I would love 600+vat a day but nobody gets that due to oversupply of firms.

Found this by accident. http://www.the-tree.org.uk/ The site seems to have lots of tree based info both of the scientific and folk lore varieties The british tree gallery could be a useful rescource.

Yep Guy is a good bloke and he drives a battered landrover. I found it to be challenging , especially learning 20 or so fungi and their attributes in under 48 hours. It was great and I learnt a huge ammount from the others on the course too.

The tree is in a line of at least a dozen trees surely they should all be massacred or all left alone. The work is too perfect for nature. Usually only a few small branches or one large limb tends to fail so the look overall is not natural. If the trees health is in decline then let it decline, birth, life, death, re-use, the laws of nature. Ted Green (whos name is used to help justify this method ) certainly advocates non intervention so fence the tree if safety is a problem, and allow nature to take its course. To me this practice is surely snake medicine sold direct from the back of the waggon of ecoarborconservationism. The public have little or no idea how to tell professionals from pikeys and to start the professionals down the route of torn cuts and breaks clouds the distinction for the public. But... It may well be that in 20 years we are all leaving 20cm stubbs on every cut to allow for gradual dieback , internal compartmentalisation and natural pruning of branches. It looks untidy but leaving the branch collar on looked untidy to those who advocated the flush cutting of branches 20 years ago. So.. My view is that nature will cope well without man but non intervention pays no bills.

I think that the prunning of whole trees in fracture type cuts is tosh and so are the reasons for pruning one tree out of dozens or hundreds in the locality. BUT If someone wants to pay me for 4 days when 1 used to be sufficient I want a piece of that action . I want their money spent on me.

Pikeys have been making insect havens in every gate way and layby round here for years.

I did Lantra Pro Tree Insp. (level 3) It was done at .... somewhere near reading. I cant remember. I come from a silviculture background with 12 years of arbwork behind me, I've read lots of books and I still found it challenging. I remember Guy Watson of the AA led the course.

Still my favourite toy.

My golden rule is to never charge for dumping "waste" on the recipients land. Why earn 30 quid for a load and pay to get rid of the next 4 . When if its free they will take all 5 and you are up on the deal.

As a trained competent person I have been asked to back date certs for cash inentives and have declined the offer. I have failed my own kit and failed or declined to inspect other persons equipment. I know that some firms only bring in the newest kit for inspection and leave the cruddy stuff at home. That is their problem not mine. Any cert is better than no cert you may think, till you have a problem.

I'm no brown ricer but I do garden using organic principals

I tried copperease but no success. I think that silicone sealant would work. It should all come out in one lump, or not at all. Dont but dentistry tools when you can grind a point on an old round chainfile

Thanks for the id. We get a lot of lizzards near here too and last year I found 7 stag beetles in the garden. I cant say where I live or I will never be allowed to get me veggie plot dug this year.

...and after almost 14 years I think ruddy hell I have got to pay that much tax when shown the bottom line by the accountant. stick with it OM. Oh yeah and the hours.... ... enough to make any junior doctor feel faint.

Newts . In ponds, riparian zones ,woods , I find them in the veg patch at home. This one is on a house brick for scale.

Yes if I can find a crane to get my boat in the sea

That first pic is a modern version of a saw I saw on a video of Russian/ Eastern Europeans crosscutting timber that had been dragged out of the forest by tractor.

apache teritory...

Welcome there cordwood. I would say that almost any question is acceptable, but remember that usually a good question = a good answer and a stupid question = a stupid answer

The more training units you give someone the greater the false sense of security you give them that they are suited to the occupation. Despite all the training newcommers to the work get injured as they find more elaborate ways to cause themselves harm. This is a dangerous occupation. If you cant accept that some risk is involved however minimised it is nowadays get out. Personally I think I will give up tree work to go Alaskan King Crab fishing as all the thrills and spills of this job are in decline these days.

I have an original Butterfly with a seat I like the comfort. I don't find it restricting compared to how uncomfortable and unsupported using leg loops alone can be. Sitting on yer @rse is more natural than hanging on yer thighs.

Try to grind out that. I was down your way yester day N F C. Mashed a HC in sway.

Me too. I was under weight , had road tent and MOT. They gave me a full check and weighed every axle including the chipper axle. They found one problem, an underinflated tyre on the inner wheel of a twin wheel. The van was off the road and had to get a new MOT presented at the copshop before I could go on the road again. I think I got off lightly. ( PS the inspection centre is 5 miles from home on a busy junction of the A31, I avoid it like the plague but hundreds of waggons get tugged yearly there)

Well actually I come to think of it my first car was a VW. A lemon yellow VW Derby ( polo with a boot) T reg from the 1970's .

one for describing a loose woman. " shes been banged more times than a salvation army drum"