Dean Lofthouse

...and wait till a very windy day blowing in the right direction

I need to take a photo, when I passed at the weekend two of the stems were laid over uphill on the 45 degree slope, to stop them sliding down the slope they were tied off with 10mm blue polyprop rope with the butts protuding over the footpath

My risk assessment said it was too warm for helmets Bob

Not even luke could carry it The technical bit The holding line needs to be as high as possible and anchored to a tree ideally in direct line with the gob, then the line hinges down with the gob and the tree falls exactly inline of the hinge. If you want the tree to swing in towards the holding line, you raise the anchor point of the holding line higher which shortens the line and pulls it in on an arc. Same effect can be acheived by moving the anchor to a tree slightly behind the hinge face. If you want the tree to fall slightly away towards lean or away fromthe holding line, you simply do a high gob, so you can have a holding line anchor that can be positioned below the gob line or move the holding line anchor point to a tree slightly forward of the hinge face. Or you could simply leave a bit of slack in the line I use mini traxion on a 2:1 pull for the holding line You dont always have anchor trees available but this technique is a godsend on woodland edge trees.

Thats the idea Mark, to get people thinking outside the box, but you are "special" mate, you think too far outside the box sometimes

The books "To Fell a Tree" by Jeff Jepson, good book but quite basic for the first half. The idea isn't from this book BTW The ideas been around for a long time I just can't find reference to it on the net ??

Good man Tommy your on the right track Nice to see people thinking Here's a basic drawing from a book which gives a basic idea but there are ways to adjust the amount of deflection either side of line of fall I'll explain when people have had chance to study the drawing What you are basically doing is taking the weight of the lean off the hinge, but whatever happens the tree cant go the way of the lean

I used a standard hinge

I apologise for the appauling quality of this vid, luke who was helping me took it and he's useless. It shows what I need it to show. Silver Birch with a heavy lean over a panelled fence and gardens within fall distance of some expensive conservatories etc, we had about 10 to come out with leans They were around 50ft and if felled in the normal fashion the hinge would have gone and they'd have just crashed sideways into the gardens. There was no actual room to fell, to clear the canopy of the adjacent trees I would have to put the gob in aiming directly at the fence, which you can see down the right side, this I did and aimed straight for the fence. If you watch the fell you will see the tree start toward the fence then via of and pull hard left. We also had to contend with a gusty wind blowing towards the lean. The pull line did nothing except start the fall The technique is not new but one I use often, what was the technique and how do we get the tree to pull in the last half of it's arc of fell ? [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtC7MMsen0A]YouTube - 90 degree to lean fell[/ame]

It's the pointy plastic top off a fireworks rocket Katie, I found it in my yard and decided to try and be a little naughty with the fungy guys I was more interested in finding out what made the hole in my oak log

One little tip that will pull in your groups If you are grouping off a bipod push forward lightly on the bipod

Spot on

It has an association with Gunpowder

I'll spill the beans tomorrow Katie

Always time to play David Looking at the top photo at 4 oclock from the hole, tha grub perhaps ??

Took this picture a while ago from the logpile in the yard, think it was a piece of decayed oak. Also had a bit of trouble id'ing the bracket in the second pic on oak

I'll still be topping connies at 95, cant afford to give up

No worries Jon, will do

I'm going to start a thicko's club, want to join ? Stevies Chairman, I'm treasurer I must remember, I before E except after C

I am not talking about the acheivment, I am talking about the effort someone puts in. A thicko that acheives an hard qualification(to him ) GCSE A highly intelligent chap that acheives a hard qualification (to him)BSc Hon Is either one of them less deserving of recognition for their acheivement ?

I'm about as common as daffodils, does it mean if I study and acheive a doctorate I can be upper class. That would be fun I think the class system is way outdated

But why should those of lower ranking quals be less respected ? If you have three brain cells and spend the time and effort studying to attain tech cert then the effort involved to that individual should just as respected as that attained by a braniac who found a degree easy ?? They are after all only a level of achievement badge and one shouldn't be less deserving of the other

I've read it and I've read it but it still comes out the same to me because I know how I meant it, the second line is meant to be sarcastic (5-8 years and you get to put 2 or 3 letters after your name. I can see if read quickly though it could have come across wrong, especailly with that smiley, so I am more than willing to back down and apologise if it was taken wrongly ? Jon, ignoring my posts is not in the spirit of Arbtalk mate, it's a forum for like minded individuals to share information for the better of the industry, so if I have somehow offended you please accept my apologies and lets start over I was in Wetherby today, I could've called for a brew Back to the subject: Using the letters after your name can be seen as a bit anal to some for the simple reason that degrees and diplomas are simply another educational marker simply saying you have done the study and passed, otherwise I could have Dean lofthouse GCSE Our lass spent 8 years obtaining her degree and never uses the letters after her name because it would be anal, she is a nurse. I dont think degrees now have wow factor as much as they did because every man and his dog are getting them and they are now making it so people who are struggling can get 2 or 3 bites at the cherry on certain modules and with pass marks as low as 50 and 60 % its hardly awe inspiring. With reference to putting the letters after your name: If you are advertising it is perfect such as on business cards, yellow pages or sign writing, you want your prospective clients to know you have spent time and effort studying your chosen subject or advertised service, it's only like our lass taking her CV to a job interview listing her qualifications, each client being a new job in our case. I got a cheque the other day off a Dr ###### I said to him, oh I didnt know you were a doctor ? Turns out he had a doctorate in science, he wasn't even in a job with called for a science doctorate, so why have it written on your cheques If you have the quals flaunt them in your advertising

Thats not an observation Peter, thats statistical facts

I would be arguing which makes a better all round arborist. IMO it doesn't matter whether you have 10 years experience and are 30 or 10 years experience and are 50 you will still have the same qualities as an arb. If it is not in your make up to push, have stamina, a tendency to take in information, a natural eye for shape and form and an ability to adapt create or improvise then you will never make an outstanding arb It seems to me this thread is revolving around fitness and not ability to be an arborist