Tom D

Oak is nice but the epicormicky ones are a pain and the timber is heavy. Birches are too small and so are cherries, beech is good; smooth and strong. Syc is nice to climb but you can't do much with it.. I'll go for aspen, you dont get many but they're nice to climb, stringy and predictable and not too heavy.

I should add that I actually got that job since that post and best of all I saw it again in daylight (it was getting dark the first time) and the big fir is not quite as big as it looked. Just goes to show there's work out there for the right contractor for the job at the right price.

Hit the nail on the head there, if you sent a lad out who didn't have tickets and he had an accident maybe you'd be in trouble. If you can prove you have years of experience and have an accident yourself you should be fine, tickets or no tickets. Tickets are not a legal requirement in the same way as a driving liscence is, they are a cheap way for the employer to protect himself from litigation. Its far cheaper to put someone on a course for a week than to train them properly for 2-3 years, yet in court they would probably count for the same thing.

Duckodile gets my vote:thumbup:

Get well soon mate.

To be fair they don't taste foul, but no reason to fell the tree. We take measures to stop kids falling foul of other hazards around the home, this is no different. Just keep them away during the berry season.

Here's the fella Climbing Harnesses - Men's, Women's, Children/Kids Rock Climbing Harnesses - Tiso UK • Tiso.com I have one actually but its been sitting around at the bottom of the kit bag for about 6 years, not sure wether I'd trust it.. If we ever meet up at a show or whatever I can let you decide.

Another great job as usual, Its so nice to see a difficult job being done in such a relaxed manner.

The arbwives will be p****** themselves as various hubbies up and down the country dissappear off to the bathroom and start puffing and panting. Although maybe that happens all the time...

After weighing myself for the other thread I remembered having a competition with my mates years ago to see who could squeeze the most on the bathroom scales... just grab them one hand either side and squeeze like ****. Be honest now:sneaky2: I can do 82KG, which is less than I used to be able to do I think. You ought to be able to do your own weight I reckon.

75, which is 2 less than last time I weighed myself:thumbup1:

I've done 14 cube so far. Hopefully It will keep going like this .

Personaly I'd do it all at the same time, but only take 2-3 foot at the most off the sides. Its never going to be a small hedge again.

Yes, but the blakes is an "open" ( you only tie in to one end) hitch where as the martin is a "closed"(both ends on the krab) Hitch. Open hitches need thicker cord and are therefore more bulky:thumbdown:

So true. Hope he's ok.

Here you go. You can add more wraps to suit your rope/cord

Nice one mate, are you doing the big beech at the back?

My local sawmill mills all the rubishy knotty edge stuff into "railway" sleepers. they are good money to landscapers since they stopped selling the real ones. Might be worth a try if the quality is not that good.

Are you rtying to take it right doen to where it was before? If so you'll be looking at a whole load of brown dead conifer where it has been competing with the hedge. I'd accept the fact that it has "got away" and take it down to 12-15 foot and make something of it from there. That way you could do it all in one hit, wait till the leaves have browned off and that way it'll recover better. Remember beech produces next years buds the previous growing season so if you go at it too hard you will reduce its ability to recover quickly.

The Hexfoam on the treeflex gives good hip protection, I used to be skinny too...

Nice work, great pics.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a pathogen involved somwhere, Keep an eye on it over the next few months and see if any fungi show up. Clients love this BTW, explain that the fruiting season is in full swing and ask to hold off for a month or two to see what shows up. You could also try digging down between the butresses and looking for decay on the underside of the main roots, that would indicate merip., then you'll get the OK from the TO to fell it. Otherwise as others have said "veteranise" it by reducing back all the deadwood and recreating a smaller crown with a smaller windsail.

You can do mine mate. You've been quiet lately...

I looked at a job today for a landscaper who puts a bit of work my way, he'd got someone in to look at three take downs, a 70 foot beech over the house a 60 foot pine and a monster noble fir. When the guy saw the fir he said "its too big for me" and offered to do the others for 250 per tree. I looked at them today, i spotted another beech that needs to come out, also over the house, the fir is about 1m diameter at 60 foot, a huge column streight up to around 90 foot, it can all be dropped and chunked though. My price for the 4 trees was well over a grand but because the first guy mentioned 250 a tree I'm not sure if I'll get the job. At the end of the day its all perception, if I had seen the job first they would probably have been happy with my price, now they have the idea that it could be done for less, even though the guy wimped out at the sight of the fir. Thats life though it will always happen, people will always cherry pick the easy jobs, just like I cherry pick the easy site clearence jobs from people who have loads of big kit. I'm sure they feel the same about me with my little 50 hp tractor as you do about the one man bands doing work for £50 and a pint.