Dean Lofthouse

Thanks for that tip Charlie. I have used the alarm mine before and then decided that wasn't good enough so set about making MK2 "The squash ball Canon" The picture below shows one that takes a squash ball, used to have it in my van. I didn't have a squash ball one day so while I got one I stuffed a plastic bag into the barrel to keep the damp from getting to the cartridge. Van side door jammed one morning, forgetting about my MK2 I endend up pushing the jammed door open and shooting myself in the chest with a plastic bag. Four bruised ribs and a knackered t shirt. Imagine what a squash ball would have done, don't mind pikies getting it but had to get rid of my canon, firstly for my own safety :wave: and second because I would never have got it added to my firearms certificate.

Good Point. ...and I'm sure we have all seen the recent documentaries, comparing drunk drivers with drugged drivers. They perform just as bad. Drugs / alcohol do impair your reactions/ judgement and coordination and also reduce your adrenalin production, which is there to protect you. There's a place for drugs and alcohol and that place is not up a tree or around a ground crew or driving back home. As for random testing, its the old case of if you don't do it you don't need to worry about it.

LOL Nice one. Think I would need a bit of practice before doing anything extravogant. But it is a good idea through quiet periods to suggest to customers to make a feature out of their Stump (no quips please). The customer was chuffed to bits with the chair and more than happy to pay £150 on top for around 2 hours play with a chainsaw. One chain allowed in the price don't forget for all the metalwork found in the bottom 4ft, came across two or three nails.

They're nicking my split logs, I'm going to hide the cam elsewhere in a pile of unsplit rings. It comes with a bracket and security cable. You can attach and lock it to a large pice of 30" trunk and then stack smaller rings round it. Could disguise it as a nest or squirrel drey up a tree??

We were only discussing security the other day and I mentioned that I spread used shotgun cartridges infront of my two containers and that, touch wood, no one has had a go at them yet. I spoke too soon. Went down yesterday to find they have attached a chain to the locking bars and tried to rive the doors off both containers. They were on mud so haven't been able to do so although they came close. What pee's me off is there is nothing in apart from the tractor and some summer tyres and wheels for the landy, oh and a porta loo. The damage is horrendous, taken me half a day just straightening things so I can shut the doors. The problem with the doors is they could open all the locks bars from the outside and open the doors a couple of inch to get the hooks on the door. If I had had a bolt on the inside of the first door, something like a pad bolt that locks into a hole in the floor and ceiling, they wouldn't have got anywhere near opening the doors. Just a tip for you container owners. I have also ordered one of those Trail cams from america £150 inc Postage, you can hide them in a log pile to take pictures or short movie clips when activated by a sensor for upto a month at 5 Mega pixel and they do it on infra red so can't be seen. Picture or movie clips can be off loaded from the SD card to your computer. Really handy bit of kit, recommended to me by a friend who had some good results from one. Look on ebay for them as they are £399 over here Will be handy for finding out who is nicking my logs as well . http://www.pointerproducts.co.uk/trail-scout-nightvision-p-1526.html

Had a request the other day to leave the stump of a Tree we dismantled 7ft high as a feature. Told the customer we could go one better and do her an Alice in Wonderland chair if she was willing to pay a little extra. Pictures don't really do it justice, all edges were smoothed and rounded off which don't show in the picture. The saw is an MS660 with 30" bar, just for scale

Getting people to sign documents is ok on commercail works but sets alarms bells ringing for customers on domestic jobs. Unless it is a large domestic job. People, I have found, are becoming increasingly cagey about signing things. Hardly worth it unless the job is for a large amount

Rising sea levels and all that, it'll be worth shag all in a few years time

little giant ladder system, solid as they come and vesatile

Nice one, Was in Cardiff last sat, had to pay to get into Wales, told them they'd be better charging to get out, they'd get twice as much.

Your probably right Tockmal, I'm probably thinking that we would be working at the pace we do now. Whereas you would do the job at the pace that suits you. I do enjoy climbing, I would be a right fat B~@tard if I didn't do it, either that or I'd have to cut out the curries

Nothing beats experience. We did an Ash tree this week in which I set a lowering pulley up to share the load between two branches, because it was a previously severly topped tree and could rely on one good lowering point. Near the end I decided to put the lowering pulley in on one of the branches (4") to see what it would take and see if it would fail. I was absolutely sure the lump we sent off would fail the branch, we even tried to shock it a little mid lower. Opened my eyes a little, it nice to experiment a little, similar to the destructive tackle tests we have seen on here, sometimes things don't do what you would expect them to do.

I didn't pick up on that sentence, I'm sure McTree will.

Totally agree Ed. I have done some very technical take downs and some very challenging fells with inches to spare, laser measured to make sure they would fit the gap. WITHOUT the use of the mewp. Most satisfying, especailly when you have stopped traffic to do the fell and have an audience :wave: The risk however will never be eliminated, if it were we would be overwhelmed with Tree Surgeons. We have all been called out to that big Ash that has dropped a huge apparently healthy limb and stood there thinking, christ, I wouldn't have had a second thought about using it as an anchor point. ......and please don't anyone ask why I would use a dropped limb on the floor as an anchor point. The only point I am really trying to make ( to the die hards ) is that the MEWP does have a place in our armoury of available tackle and should be considered when pricing / risk assessing a dangerous tree. I find most dangerous tree owners, when told that a mewp will have to be priced in say, " absolutely"

That photo worries me! He looks as though he is being chased by the men in white coats, the sheer determination on his face to get away. Might be not too far from the truth. I think he might have just found out what a proper days works is.

Nah, I just use the mewp and get two days work done in a day

Please to hear that Skyhuck, see, you do have a soft side :wave:

There isn't a smiley for shaking ones head from side to side slowly, saying I can't believe he doesn't know what an arse twitcher is. In other words, you have scared yourself half to death climbing a tree which you know dambed well you should be climbing

Some of us pensioners have calculated days off into our daily rate

Normaly about 30mins in to the job you know you have under quoted.!!! How so very true

Might have to start subbying Mctree, little monkey

So no-one has had a tree fail under them that we know of, that means we can just climb as we please cos it'll never happen. A freind of mine was killed 8 years ago when a branch broke out of a tree whilst taking it down, he was doing groundie, it broke his neck and crushed several vertibrae, he died instantly. I'm sure if we did a google of tree related fatalities we could find something for you. Come on Skyhuck, give some ground, you can't tbe that stubborn to not admit you have not had an arse twitcher of a job.

Be careful, you'll have a pensioners revolt.

Unbelievable!!

That is exactly the point, this job shouldn't be. Maybe in days gone by, but with all the equipment we have at our disposal, there is now no need to risk your life, because it is your life we are talking about.