Tom D

its funny, I thought that would be too light but I was playing around with an iron bar about the same length earlier and I could feel the stretching in my bad elbow, and that bar only weighs a pound and a half! So I'll take the ladies set... I think a heavier set at 2' long and 6" diameter would be plenty for the swinging type excersises...

Thats perfect! another one the same and thats the small ones done. The larger ones could be 2' long and they still wouldn't hit the floor despite my monkey arms. I found some nice big lumps of burry elm in the yard, There's also a massive lump of oak that was dead standing when we felled it, it might be dry ish, there's no shake in it maybe the big ones could be made out of that, I could rough out some 6" square lumps with a chainsaw??

Thats the beauty of these Rab, I reckon they would look quite nice lying round the house... I think the trick is not to have massive heavy ones, just sensible weights its more a joint work out than a muscle work out. I'll probably get a 1-2kg set and a 4-5 kg set. My right shoulder has a patch of numb skin on my back due to a trapped nerve somewhere and my right elbow is knackered too. Plus my wrists don't bend like they used to, I'd like to get it all moving again in a gentle-ish way.. Edit. thanks for the PM's I'll be in touch..

I was thinking of getting some Indian Clubs to compliment the kettle bell training that I ought to be doing. I was looking on line and then thought why not get some made... It would be nice to have something made by an arbtalker. Plus if you make me some prototypes and get the weights - sizes worked out there may be some money in selling these things.. Apparently they are becoming more and more popular...supposed to be really good for shoulders, wrists and elbows which is what attracted me.. Pm me if anyone fancies making me a set..

Yep, there's a monster stone in the bottom of there, couldn't build through easily, I had positioned it with the digger..

It is, it will look nice when it's done, and every time I see it I can have an 'I did that moment'.. Right now I can't see past the back ache..

Having a week off to landscape the garden after having an extension built, been dry stone walling today...

Totally agree wit your point though, why bust your balls to earn less than joe average?

Halfords socket sets are badly let down by the crap cases that they come in. The tools are ok though..

Where did you get the 38 from Dave? I thought it was about 26..

I don't think dropping your price on the second bite of the cherry is necessarily a good idea, unless you change the job spec in some way, leaving the brash or timber for example. Otherwise if you knock off more than 5% I think you are starting to look like you were charging too much in the first place.

I can't believe how many people don't follow quotes up. I will be the first to admit that I don't do it all the time, when you're rammed with work what's the point, but when things quieten down why wouldn't you. I don't just ask if they got the quote, I ask (if they have gone elsewhere) why they chose the other Co. and how much they paid, and who the other company was. Three vital bits of information, if you missed out by miles then fair enough, but if it wasn't by much then you have a chance of beating them next time. There's nothing dodgy about calling someone to ask this information, it's professional. Same as asking where they heard about you, how will you know where to advertise if you don't know where your jobs are coming from? There's a good chance that most of your old quotes will have gone elsewhere, but some will have just not done anything, remember that for people on a wage suddenly finding £3-500 can be tricky, maybe they are saving up, or maybe the cars mot was due that month.. Then your competitor calls to follow up his quote and they give him the job as they can't remember your quote or have lost your number.. On at least 3 occasions I have been rung by someone looking for another tree surgeon, they have dialled the wrong number or forgotten the name etc, 3 times I got the job too..

And the others in the car, there were 4 apparently, can't imagine they walked away.. Just because tractors are capable of towing diggers along doesn't mean they should. I see loads round here.... There will definitely be a crackdown now. Thats how H&S law works here, its reactive. Guy parks his discovery and trailer on a railway, we all have to get tacho's. etc.

Thats screwed things up for everyone, VOSA will be all over tractors and mogs now. Cheers Land Engineering.

Is this because so many customers take sugi bars instead?

My understanding was that you had to get 4/4 on the fungi ident or it was a fail? I could be wrong though, it's years since i did mine.

To be fair the bearing problem on the 261 is widespread and widely repoted.

Wonder if they'll still like the 261 when the clutch bearings collapse next week.

Thanks. I had missed that section, I've been using the same excel base one for years.

I'm acting for a family member, tbh I don't mind arguing the toss with another consultant. It's just business at the end of the day, I wouldn't take offence if someone took issue with a survey that I had done. Plus I think I have a strong case...

Just doing a Wee planning query, objecting to an application, one of the trees in question is multi-stemmed, calculating the RPA using the Helliwell method gives an RPA of 5.3 m using the other method of 10 x diameter above the root flare gives 12.5m. This difference could have a significant impact on the application.. 5837 gives a measurement guide showing the individual measurement of stems but does not supply a formula. Anyone know the 'approved' method?

For a setup that small just buy a small chipper like a TP175, TP's make a nice quality small chip and they have sliver breakers. You will be restricted in terms of the girth that it can chip but if you're growing your own and chipping up to around 8" it would be perfect. They also make a 10" machine. You will probably only be burning 50 ton a year so going crane fed probably isn't worth it. Use your tele handler with a muck grab to handle the timber, stick it right next to the chipper and fire it through. A couple days work with 2-3 men should see you a years supply...

By the time you have a tractor, crane, and a decent chipper you are into big money, my setup was £110k you could do it cheaper of course but if you end up hand feeding a small chipper it will be slow and will work out more expensive than hiring someone in. What size boiler are you looking at? For reference one of my customers is heating a farm house and 6 cottages with a 200KW boiler, he burns maybe 100 ton a year. This costs him about £1500 to chip, it would be less if he did it all at once but he only has space to store about 4 months worth of chip. At that price your payback on a tractor and chipper is going to be a very long time indeed.

Don't buy a chipper it's a huge expense for something you'll only use a couple of days a year.. If you're chipping small diameter wood it will dry nicely in the round, cut one year, chip the next. My machine can chip 50 ton a day, there are others that can do 4 times that..

That's the trouble with porting saws, it makes the stock saws seem lacklustre.. I'll get Finn to send it down spud.