Tom D

Same here, lets hope the old sayings right, last year they came out pretty much together and the summer was crap.

Yes, the pictures came out dark unfortunately, here's a few more.

Anyone heard the expression "Oak before ash, you'll get a splash. Ash before oak, you'll get a soak" as a predictor of how wet the summer will be?

I thought the tree austria 2 was comfy but it tends to pull your legs together which can be restrictive.

SWB is closest although not very close with 157'. The clinometer said 60M and the tape measure at the point where I am standing is 55M.

I already posted a reply to this. Its gone:confused1: Well done, looked a nice job. What % reduction was the spec?

The photo is poor I know, but they're not on a banking, in fact the camera is about 20' up from the trees. I'll post the answer shortly.

Any Ideas?

Have you tried these people? VHS Hydraulic Components Ltd.

I am sure its only meant to be the top strand. Why not find a dead badger from the side of the road, one thats not too mangled and then tangle it up in the fence. Then call the rspca or the councils environmental warden.

Anyone looking for the odd day here and there, Edinburgh area mostly, I used to have the numbers of three good guys, two of whom have got full time jobs and the other is avoiding me as he owes me £1300. Might work out as a day or two each week or alternatively, if I get a reliable guy I can book work in blocks to suit. I know there are lots of guys looking in other parts of the country but I'd prefer someone either in Edinburgh or the eastern borders with their own transport. Doesn't have to be a climber but that would help, chainsaw certs prefered. As you know times are harder than before so I can't say how much work there will be. And the money will be crap... £60 - £70. PM me if interested.

I think he means western hemlock.

I have the POV1, no complaints with it, I'll bring it to the get together if you're coming.

I've used both, but never side by side, they were both good. I have a 385 with a 28" bar and I like that very much. If the new 576 does what it says on the tin though it could be the pick of the bunch.

Interesting Monkey, makes ntp look more like the way to go. Whats your experiment? I suppose being with an la give you the opportunity to do some quite interesting experiments.

Quite right. I think the natural process is called branch abortion, like I say, I think.

I've thought this myself in the past, however, when you think about it the natural process when a branch dies and falls is for wall four to cover over the wound, this can not happen while the branch is still attached. NTP pruning still leaves a cone of redundant wood within the stem, this reduntant wood is prone to attack by saprophytic fungi and can also be an entry point for fungi with heartwood exposed decay strategies. The quicker the wound heals over the less exposure to fungal attack there will be, a dead stub will prolong this exposure. Some species will lay down chemical bariers around the redundant wood, but only where it is in contact with active sapwood, if the cone extends into the heartwood there is no further action the tree can take except to build wall four as quickly a possible. As for pruning live branches, obviously it would be better for the tree to not cut it at all, but NTP techniques are the least worse way of doing this. In species with particularly soft wood such as poplars and horse chestnut and where large limbs are to be removed I have wondered if leaving a stub would be beneficial, I think this has been discussed on here before, I can't remember the outcome though.

If one of your workers blunts a chain, make him sharpen it, if he makes a mess of it make him do it again. He'll never learn otherwise, either to sharpen properly or to cut without blunting.

Nice work mate, must have been a bit dodgy on that leaning sycamore, or did you do it in small bits?

Good to see you today Jamie, it was in dalry BTW. A crane would have been great except for the fact that the only acess had a 2.2m height restriction:sad: We had to take the chute off the chipper to get it in.

This tree had split at around 10' and was hung up in a neighbouring ash when I looked at it 2 weeks ago, it had fallen further since then, taking part of the ash with it. It was a bit of a jigsaw puzzle to dismantle safely but we managed it thanks to ite incredibly chewy properties. At one point a 25 foot section was held off the ground by the split part (pic 4) . Made protecting the wall so much easier.

The dates will be the 9th and 10th of May, unless the weather is terible in which case we'll do the 16th and 17th. Gustharts have confirmed that they will send a guy on the saturday so if you want a particular harness or piece of gear to try please contact them and let them know what you'd like.

My brother was on a farm the other day, the guy had a range rover sport with a big bar welded on the front, all his gates were sprung and he just bashes into them to get through. He'd had sheep in the back of it too. Some people have too much money. BTW monkey I saw a wildlife program once where a cock robin attacked a model like yours. Apparently during the breeding season they will go for anything remotely robin like if its in their teritory. Keep an eye on it.

They cant all be bad, all i know is mine has been expensive, and talking to the dealer I'm not the only one. I think there's a lot of guff talked about the stihl vs husky debate, they are both pretty good, but the 357 is a bad saw. I bought mine thinking that they have been around long enough to have ironed out any teething problems, I was wrong. I am a husky man and have always preferer their high revving slimline style, but I would buy a stihl next, even if I don't like shape and feel as much.