kipperfeet

On behalf of the Myerscough team and travelling support, thanks very much Gustharts and Nick, Paul and Tony for running a fun, well oiled and relaxed climbing comp for all students to take part in. We look forward to putting another team in next time. Well done Paul, Matt and Rich for bringing back a trophy to Lancashire and bagging yourselves a chainsaw each in the process!

What harness' are they on then?

I thought it looked pretty good. They seemed to have ironed out some classic husqy design faults from top handle saws of past. The clip will be metal and not plastic as on the demo saws apparently. I watched the demo of it and it sounded pretty good to. Can't be any worse than the last one, it really was (and still is) plasticy and poorely put together in my opinion! Not sure about the gimicky top handle though. comes with a choice of 3 handle sizes to swap depending on your hand size for ergonomics!! Yeah, right!

About time. There's not that much info out there and it seems they are much under used in the industry by most.

Excel spreadsheet works pretty simply and it can be printed off for hard copies and signed or pdf'd and put on a disk. I also have our companies on a microsoft access database which enables me to pull up what i need when i need it and add to the next inspection each 6 months to keep an accurate record of the length of time each item has been in service. Bit of a pain to set up (i am a bit of a numpty on a computor!) but once its set up its fairly easy. So much easier on excel if you are doing it for other companies as you can re do the same sheet each time and just save it as the new date. Make sure you do pdf it if you put it on a disk though so it can't be changed!! I'm sure there are more comprehensive ways of doing it but for a computor illiterate like me it works fine.

Drew, hows it going dude? The cut and climb jacket is my old treetop jacket. exactly the same design and fabric and all of the treetops out there are still going strong. I can highly recommend them as they were well and truly tested and faffed with then and not much has changed.

Yep! Not sure if your question is answered but there is!! Feel free to pm me if i can help.

A friend of mine requires Arborists in Australia working for a large company based in Sydney and Melbourne. Excellent rates of pay and the opportunity for lots of C.P.D. Working on a holiday visa so 6 month contracts and, sorry old timers, you need to be under 30 to qualify for the visa!! P.M. me and i will pass on your details to my mate.

Liam, glad you made it to the APF (and hooked up with Nod) Sorry i missed you. I had to head back up north Saturday morning. Any help i can offer, just pop in. Rob

Parkside have closed down last year. If you know your way around a chipper then just print off the schedule from the NPTC web site (08 version) read up and register through the Lancashire assessment centre. (about £90) they should pass on an assessor. Failing that if you want the training for an NPTC assesment or just the training put your name on a list ay Myerscough or try Millhouse training. PM me if you get stuck, i may have a slot for the assessment on a day when theres only a couple to do.

Me too, had an L330 delica with the same block that the balance shaft bearing disintigrated and skipped the cam belt a couple of teeth. Caused a rocker to break. Quite common on that engine but thankfully not usually a write of and a fairly eay fix.

I use it on my lanyard with a gnut and it works well. Lasts ages but you do need to wash it. Never usually wash friction chord but it works better after cleaning. Mine was free to try about a year ago and its only on the lanyard so not really working very hard.

Hey mate. If you can find out where your man is registered through and get the CARF forms then i would be happy to assess him. I am in Lancashire and have a few odd 38/39 assessments to tie in in the next month and you need two 38's to do the rescue element so it can't be done with one candidate. Pm the name of your man and i can check tommorrow where he regisered and if i can get the forms from LAC.

Give Drew b on here a shout, he works for Asplund based in Dorkland.

Nice one Hooch, you must have been really on the ball if the assessor was being verified.

Hey big boy, i'll come over only if i can stick my tongue in your ear!

I have had a bit of a go with Mycelium plugs with pretty good results but only on dead and well seasoned logs. Surely on young trees the codit would kick in and halt the progress of the fungi spreading on all walls? We played aroung with veteranizing some huge beech trees at work a few years ago and tried winching the branches out to cause natural fractures but it was actually very difficult. They are resiliant buggers to it. We had to put fairly big back cuts it before the winch (off a landrover doubled up) would do it, by which time the cut didn't look that natural any way. Might be even harder work with a tirfor! We did some with coronet cuts, some with fracture cuts and some to B.S3998. The fracture cuts all had regrowth within two years, which was amazing for an over mature beech. We also created and large bowl in one branch to fill up with water to see what we could get in the wierd micro habitat. Never checked it actually as we need a mewp to get up there but i bet its got fish in! Probably best cutting the holes in with saws or drills and filling them with rotting humus material so it retains the water. Sounds a nice little project that. Good luck:001_cool:

13mm split tails on a 13mm rope work well with a Blakes hitch because of the amount of pressure that is put on the hitch in one place where the tuck causes most pressure. This is why if you go really fast on it, it leaves really hard glazing in a long line on your rope and melts the split tail at that point. As i remember, it was used alot in America due to thier rope diameter legislation? Over the vast amounts of ropes that we have tried, i have come to the conclusion that the rope make and construction has alot to do with which ropes work well with which friction chords. Even the same rope but a different colour due to the dye can change how the hitch works. Trying to get a gnut to work with some combinations is a swine, but on some ropes it works really well. Also it depends on wether in is 24 strand or 16 strand etc etc.

Give Anthony a ring at Treeclear uk. Based in Longridge Lancashire and they can help you.

Erm, yep. I will check the dates and jump on board. Will e-mail you on Monday Nod.

Stick your ropes and kit on the heaters in the van, when it is warm, race up the tree, do the job quick and get back in the van and drink tea whilst thawing the kit on the heaters again. Tried and tested!

Yep, always. I don't cut off them but for getting in to the tree, saves so much hassle and effort.

Just ask one of the instructors, they have a rope cleaner. It is a T shaped tap attatchment that has lots of small holes in that you run the rope through and the small holes blast the rope like a mini jet wash. Works a treat and saves knackering the washing machine. If you do use a washing machine don't use detergent and make sure it is not your own!

They need inspecting every 12 months but if they are used regularly i would get them done at the same time as the climbing kits six monthly. They do take a bit of stick after all, and big bits of wood falling when they shouldn't can make a mess.

It would be interesting to see what people pay for LOLER inspections around the country. How easy it is to find inspectors and how reliable are they? Do most bigger companies have there own inpectors? It seems quite difficult to me, to standardise prices for inspections because there is so much difference between one persons kit and another. A rope, a harness and a couple of karabiners kept neatly, compared to masses of shiney stuff not marked up and kept in a spud sack filthy and wet could be the difference between an hour and three hours. Rigging kits the same, just a rope and pulley and a full kit with grps, capstons, slings shackles etc etc. Big difference.