Tom D

Found some... I went in to Redpaths today and asked about snow / mud tyres for transits, they showed me some, good tread depth and will be way better than my current set in the snow. You can stick 4x4 tyres on a transit but they will fail an mot, these are rated for commercials... MPC : Newlife Tyres Online, new life to your tyres

Solicitor, simples. They don't have a leg to stand on.

I would like some off road tyres for mine, not for mud but for the snow. Its an uphill drive up to my yard, with a load of chip the van would be ok if it had some decent tyres on.

I saw a panel transit with some very chunky re-moulds on it the other day, I don't remember the size and make but they were this pattern... Puma : Newlife Tyres Online, new life to your tyres

I have wondered about this issue for years, and my opinion has changed totally, I used to believe that we needed a strong voice in the industry to help standardise the skills and qualifications required by all tree contractors. I also thought that having a strong lobby group would help improve the legislation that we are expected to comply with day to day. I now believe that we would be better off if the organisations who purport to represent our industry were weaker than they currently are, It is not the ethos of these bodies that is wrong, more the fact that so many of their members seem to be either from a non contracting background or disgruntled former contractors who want to make life as difficult as possible for the smaller firms who perhaps they see as unfair competition because they spend their time working instead of attending seminars on soils and the latest H&S regs. I consider myself to be a "good arborist", I have done the AATech and PTI as well as numerous NPTC's but I no longer believe that we should all be forcing every one else to do the same in the belief that it would make them easier to compete with. It won't, there will always be guys doing tree work on the cheap. End of. Just as there will always be guys selling cheap logs. Its far better to worry about where you and your business are going than keep looking over your shoulder at everyone else. There is a very high proportion of trainers involved at a high level in the AA etc, they will be present in disproportionate numbers at AA events and seminars, their influence on AA thinking is not necessarily in the interests of the average contractor, more NPTC's, pointless refresher courses, constantly changing NPTC definitions and qualifications etc. We need this like a hole in the head, because those of us who do commercial as well as domestic work will eventually find that as LA and commercial clients keep asking for more and more qualifications and we keep spending money putting our staff through them, there will come a time when we are so expensive that we will no longer be able to do any domestic work. Many others have reached the same conclusion and decided the the answer is to make everyone do all the tests to create a level playing field, hence my points above, however as the domestic tree market is totally unregulated there will always be those who won't bother. And therefore this utopian dream where we all have hundreds of letters after our names and no one gets to work on a 10 foot leylandii without producing a 2"file of paperwork for the little old lady who owns it is exactly that, a dream, and it always will be. Far better to keep things as they are, there will be those like me who have invested heavily in training and those who haven't and as things stand just now I am able to compete in all sectors of the market, I like being able to do that, and I fear that a stronger trade body would force me to choose between a low cost, low level of training domestic market ethos and a high cost, high level of training commercial market. The only way I would support an stronger trade body or association is if ONLY contractors could join. No trainers allowed (by order of the management)

For me apart from all the usual stuff i think ability with a saw is much overlooked. being ace round the tree dancing from one limb to another is great but IMO being able to get the cuts right and confidently drop the top out from halfway up, saving the need for all that fancy climbing, is the more cost effective option. Good saw skills allow for all sorts of labour saving, cutting down on the need for time consuming limb walks and making 10 cuts where one will do. A good climber will have all the climbing skill, he will also be able to make his saw work for him, and he will have the knowledge and experience to know where and when to use the different skills in his arsenal.

I find that so long as your teeth are of a reasonably even length then you only need to use a depth gauge on the rakers once on the first one, count the number of strokes required and then repeat that for the rest without the guide. Its fairly quick then. I let Big J do some of the teeth on my 385 with his electric sharpener, TBH I wasn't impressed, they were no where near as sharp as you can get with a file. This tool looks ok, but until you have had a go with one its hard to say. I watched your bar dressing video, and thought it was good, I have recently bought the oregon bar dressing file and am very pleased with it, makes a really nice job and sooo much quicker than a flat file. In fact previously I used to put the bard on the bench grinder to save time, no need for that now.

Yes Daddy.

Just googled this up..... there's a lot of chemicals in wood! http://burningissues.org/pdfs/tablewoodsmokeweightnov02%20.pdf

Sorry.... they're not on the swear filter tho, so we can be forgiven for thinking them acceptable...:blushing:

I was going to say the same thing as garden kit , magnesium is important I believe.

and that was very intellectual. Perhaps thats why it bothered him, he doesn't know what it is..

The tar isn't soluble in water Dean, it will readily burn though if there is enough air,hence stoves recommending that they are burned full bore after each re-fuelling,to burn off all the tar. It is vaporised tar that gives the flames, once the tar is gone you're left with carbon which glows rather than flames. Water can not pass 100 degrees until all of it has been turned into a gas, so a wet log will stay at 100 deg until all the moisture is gone. The boiling point of tar is much higher and theoretically won't be reached until all the water is gone, (in reality the edge of the log will be burning while the centre is still cold) and so as the wet log burns the moisture and tar is slowly released and the flue stays cold, with a dry log the log gets hot quickly boiling the tar more quickly too. The flue needs to be above the condensation point of the tar for its full length in order for all the tar vapour to pass right out of the top, dry wood will make this easier to achieve.

We had a few flakes this morning, they then froze, I would have thought it would have warmed up as the day went on, but there is a raw wind blowing, makes it feel much colder than it actually is.

does it not have diff locks?

I think there is a lot of guff talked n this subject, as big j says the flue temperature is the important factor, dry logs contain MORE tar by weight than wet ones, so smouldering dry logs will gum up a flue just the same as wet ones. Dry timber burns hotter and therefore warms up the flue quicker allowing tar vapour to escape the top of the chimney, also it gives out more heat to the room as less heat is wasted boiling off the moisture in the wood. i think you will struggle to get lower than 20%mc drying outside and another factor is species, split pop will dry much quicker than split cherry, so if they are both in the same pile some logs will be dryer than others, I don't bother to measure the mc of my logs any more, lives too short. There are loads of guys selling green wood out there.... and very few selling sub 20%mc stuff. Mine will easily pass the pepsi challenge with most of the stuff around here. And thats all that matters, its about making money after all.

:lol: It was:001_smile:

the power has gone to his head Mark.... was it

Ditto. Your groundie should know a marlin spike?

small tractors struggle to load logs out of a pile, I find if you can stack your logs on a reasonably hard surface then you can get the bucket underneath the pile and scoop them up no problem.

lets see some pics or her then...

I don't pay class 2 either, total waste of money. This series is very good.... There was an interesting part where he asked people where they thought NI went... most has no idea it was just income tax. BBC iPlayer - Your Money and How They Spend It: Episode 2

thats the problem with NI contributions, the government would have us believe that they all go into a pot somewhere to earn interest for our retirement.... however in reality they are just another income tax, all the money goes straight out in government spending. If the system really worked as people imagined then we would all have accrued a healthy government pension pot by the time we retire. In fact the state will have already spent all that money and our state pension (if there is one) will be paid for by the taxpayers of the day....our children.

so you're not going to chip into her?

you getting a tow behind chipper stevie? gis a shout if you want to come over when I have that bandit on demo, or get him to bring it to you after me.