Tom D
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Everything posted by Tom D
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Thats the key, going through "head office" is a total waste of time.
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They just fit on the log grab on my little tractor, its like pallet forks with a grabbung arm.
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I've yet to find a wood that does'nt burn when properly dry. Dry poplar or leylandii ( or anything else considered poor ) will burn hotter and cleaner than wet oak or beech ( or anything else considered good ). Dont fret about the species, just make sure its dry, so lets have some drying tips.. I am building a proper log store this year but in the past i have used the crates that come with the Indian paving that is very popular now, they are roughly a metre square with a pallet style bottom, they are open to the wind and keep the logs off the floor.
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I would'nt top a lombardy at all, the pole will rot very quickly, get a second hand bt pole, they last for ever.
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I used to drive a 1750 long wheelbase mog with a 12" bandit on the front, it was a pig at junctions as even with the chute closed it stuck out about 2 - 2.5m. Also when empty if you had to brake hard the back wheels would come off the floor, like 4 foot off the floor! When full of chip it was very hard to steer at low speed and impossible when stationary, the ps just was'nt strong enough. Great chipper though.
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I once felled the top off an ash on top of a groundie. in my defense it came over pretty slowly and at the time i finished my cut the landing zone was clear, then this guy with a strimmer casualy walked right under just as it was stating to go over! Amazingly it landed all around him brash first but did'nt actually hit him, he was sort of trapped inside it but unhurt. I should point out that it was'nt my job and i was climing for someone else, the guy with the strimmer was not used to working on a tree site. just goes to show though that a but of on site induction for the inexperienced goes a long way.
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I repacked the contents of my harness kit into a couple of small freezer/sandwich bags then back ito the kit, it has stayed nice and clean so far. Also since i started with the treeflex i now have the kit on my side rather than at the back, it gets in the way a lot less now, it got ripped off a couple of times when i had it strapped to the back.
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I use a hitch climber but i think this should work for you: When ascending put a 50cm loop betwen your harness and your system, then you are hauling under the system and can get a really good pull. once you are up strop in and re-atach your system to the harness. A friend of mine uses a petzl quickdraw instead of a loop and though i have not tried it it is probably tidier, you can leave the loop/quickdraw in place if you need to re ascend at any point.
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I think the reason they can infect trees so easily is that there are billions and billions of them. If all the spores from one puffball germinated for two genrations the mass of puffballs produced would be larger than the earth.
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For us YP are rubbish, we used to spend over 1000 on them, i ask every client where they heard about us, yp accounts for around 5% of our turnover. Many of the online directories are also poor, i ask all online enquiries where they found the site, the vast majority come from the big search engines. Almost everone says they just typed "tree surgeon edinburgh" into their engine rather than an online directory. I just make sure that I am page 1 on as many engines as poss.
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I'm the only person i know who does this but try sharpening kneeling with the saw between your legs, sharpen the lhs teeth right handed and the rhs teeth left handed. I may be somewhat ambidextrous but if you can get used to holding the file in your other hand this is very quick, one left one right and so on, no need to get up and change position.
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I know you're not short of work but if you're that quick there's always a job for you here!
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I can totally see where you're coming from. Its your business no one is making you climb without a rescue climber and only you stand to loose out in the event of an accident, and of course no one else is at risk. I just dont fancy it myself, I have done it several times when i first started on my own but having a second climber who is competent speeds the job up considerably. I could'nt climb all day every day, its nice to let someone else take the strain and its quicker too if you share the work.
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I think since the co driver would also be in the truck, in the event of an accident he would not be much use. As you say each unto his own, in fact the majority of jobs could be done as you describe but you must occasionaly wish you had a good grounsman who can fell, cross cut etc. This is one I started on friday, the last of four we are taking down, there is only a smal target area due to various walls and a couple of manhole covers i have lowered pieces as big as i can, by the time the lads gave got them cut up and dragged away i'm ready to lower the next one. Doing it all in hand held pieces or lowering dragable bits would have taken ages.
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I cnt understand how you could manage with a groundsman who could'nt use a saw. If you are dismantling in a tight area and lowering big lumps do you climb down after each piece to cut it up before climbing back up for the next one?!!! Surely madness. Also replacing each blunt cain with a new one!!! they're no that cheap. Climbing with no rescue climber again madness, i dont want the last thing i ever see to be a bunch of firemen scratching their arses trying to figure out how to get me down. If you're in any doubt about this who do yo think can climb a tree quicker: you or fireman sam? how much training do you think they have done for this? Remember no one thinks they're going to have an acident but they still happen.
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recommendations for public liabilty insurance?
Tom D replied to cerneARB's topic in Business Management
I was with NFU for PL originally on a tradesmans policy it was very good value. Then last year they said my turmover and was too high for that policy and i would need a business policy, they duly quoted and came back with £7000!!!! Rightly i told them to piss off. the agent said that was their way of saying we dont want to cover tree surgeons. I now have el and pl with bryant kesek costs around £1800. I think the way the nfu works is weird some people get cover and some don't. How do you guys find them, i still insure vehicles and equipment with nfu. -
i used to do a bit of welding so i made my own, but i would say your cheapest bet would be an agricultural engineer. Get out of town and find a good welder and get him to make a box section frame and clad it with 1mm galvanised sheet, you should get plenty change out of a grand.
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I have slipped the same disk four times and often have baxk pain, bit its just a case of managing it and taking good care of your back. I have not had a day off because of it for five years. It is much better when in a harness and climbing is no problem. I just have to remember not to lift big lumps of timber. If we have a lot of timber to shift by hand i have a back support thing which is very good. it looks like an elastic corset and just holds everything in line.
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I bet you say that to all the girls.
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I know what you mean , i think you can get extensions for those sds type ones but it'd be a real ball ache if they came appart half way through.
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Yeah nice one for that, I'm still learning as we all are and it's pointless getting worked up over a forum. I think what Pete and MrEd said about reducing/pollarding the tree further is a valuable point and is what I have done in similar situations where targets are concerned when working a for local council.Thanks for the wise words all. Here's the fracture, what do you think? [ATTACH]4938[/ATTACH] I'm no expert on rod bracing but surely that was an option rather than toping. I f anyone is an expert i'd love to know if its possible on a tree that size, i cant see why not but it is surely still risky with that split, there must still be a few tons above that point even now.
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I see, fair enough, in that case bring it on.
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Sorry but i've just done exactly that, i've quoted for a job that will take five days, i need some exra men and guy has rung me who is an experienced climber with his own groundie. they want 200 per day for both of them. No one can argue with that but i can get a couple of snon climbing colledge grads who may be a bit slower for 70 per day. the 60 per day saving over 5 days is well worth having. and so whilst id love to have top quality guys i can do all the climbing myself and save £300.
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This sounds like a terrible idea. you pay vat at 17.5 and can only charge only 5%.
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Table every time, unless all your wood is the same size and each peice only needs splitting once. do you need electric or pto?
