scotspine1

cheers David - [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7O24UrMePg]"On and On and On" - Jack White (Lossless Vinyl Rip) - YouTube[/ame]

found one of those old mobile phone memory cards whilst clearing out some drawers today. It's a few ground views of a job I've posted before (helmetcam), only a minute's worth. WARNING: if it does have vertical video syndrome [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvAcEcd7aR8&feature=youtube]old footage - YouTube[/ame]

Look's like Sulphur Tuft, Hypholoma fasciculare

with this tree it could easily be argued that what is happening is the end result of accidental and unintentionally excessive crown lifting leading to forced crown retrenchment Basically those miners gave this Sycamore 2 chances at life, good on them

Looks like natural crown retrenchment on the tree on the right, this happens for various reason such as storm damage, drought or simply that the tree has reached it's maximum height and so begins to form a new crown lower down - meaning nutrients/photosynthates have less distance to travel from root to shoot/vice versa (less energy used by the tree). 1983, only thing I can think of was we had very heavy snow in Scotland in the winter of 82 so this might have snapped the lower branches leading to vigourous regeneration at the wounds? Seems like both trees lost lower limbs at some point for whatever reason.

you having a laugh treequip?! jetboil? only losers use them. Kelly Kettle's got soul cause it runs on coal (or small sticks but that didn't rhyme with soul ) Seriously, it's Kelly Kettle or nothing.

me, and I would happily pass a 2 way snap hook and polyprop if they were both fit for purpose. Appropriate Polyprop is an excellent bit of kit which has certain advantages over other ropes when used in the right way, like all things though, when abused it'll cause you a whole multitude of problems. As part of my own rigging kit I use 3200 kgs WWL and 5000 kgs WWL 3 strand polyprop. Also use various other ropes made from various other materials.

great angle for the climbing, looked like a fun job. Nice cover of Discipline there, never heard that before.

Probably heading this way soon what with global warming and all that - Swarms of deadly hornets kill 42 people and injure over 1,600 in China | Mail Online

funny that, the only place I've had the same problem is Morrisons. I had the same debate with some subnut who had a major personality disorder, he says, 'computer says no' in that drone like way these sad individuals do. Here in Glasgow you generally find garages that are run by people from the Indian subcontinent are only too happy to let you fill whatever the hell container you want. You know why this is? because these people can think on their feet, they have imagination, creativity and that most rarest of things these days - common sense, their souls haven't been sucked out of their skulls like the cyborg manning the Morrison kiosk.

I do ISA one year then AA the next as I wont pay for both in the one year. ISA this year, BUT if AA Teccie is successful in stopping the HSE introducing mandatory refresher/update training for the arb industry I'll stick with the AA until my treework days are over and maybe beyond if I still have a mild interest in trees. In fact, why dont we all join the AA for life if AA Teccie's negotiations are successful, think of the income stream the AA would have for the next 50 years if we all agreed to join pending AA Teccie's successful negotiations with the HSE

it was sarcasm mate, you and eddy obviously missed that by a country mile, you guys seriously need to develop the ability to think critically. So anyway, are we all in agreement that AA Teccie should act on our behalf to stop the HSE introducing mandatory refresher/update training in the arb industry? .

If the industry as a whole rejects the idea of refresher training then the man handing out the contracts wont ever ask for it in the first place! AA Teccie should be representing contractors and telling the HSE to back off with the idea of mandatory refresher training. We already pay enough for all the various legislation/regs LOLER etc. Treequip, if you took your argument to it's logical conclusion you'd want to see the introduction of an NPTC unit in backpack blower use. Then if the man handing out the contracts asked to see your Backpack blower cert you could say, 'here it is sir! yes sir!'. That'll the be the next thing HSE will be looking for no doubt

Like I said Treequip, you do the refresher course if that's what you need to do because you've forgotten all your initial training, feel that your own experience on the job counts for nothing, have picked up loads of bad habits and dont keep up to date with new developments, you go ahead and pay one of these training providers to refresh your memory of how to be a tree surgeon. Let us know how it goes.

You guys are missing the point Trainers/assessors in arb are finding there's easy money to be made from us hard working contractors. They set themselves up as the authority on everything arb related when in actual fact a lot of them that have ceased working daily at the sharp end of industry - so how in the hell can they possibly be contributing to the evolution of climbing/felling/rigging advancements? They can't. It's people working on the job day in day out that make the real changes that make the industry safer or less labour intensive. Refresher training is laughable, it's a con. I dont need reminded of how to do my job, it's what I do every day. I also keep up to date with any new developments in the industry, it's called personal responsibility. Now if you're one of those people in life who always likes to be told what to do, how to do it, when to do it, why to do it and pay money to people to tell you these things then refresher training is most definitely for you.

you've just re-enforced my main point that a bureaucratic organisation like the HSE are over concerned with procedure at the expense of common sense If they got that involved they would understand that the need for refresher training for serious, experience and professional individuals is so negligible it's insignificant.

The idea that the HSE thinks refresher/update training is 'reasonable' shows just how detached they are from the reality of tree care contracting. It's not reasonable at all, it's a waste of money.

If most people in the arb industry are comfortable that their specific skill set and level of experience suits the work they carry out then they shouldn't really be forced to pay for a refresher/update course......especially if they have been building valuable experience on a daily basis for years on end with no extended breaks away from the job. On a general note about refresher/update training - it's insulting to assume people have forgotten how to carry out a specific task they received training in. It's also insulting to assume people haven't being keeping up to date with new developments or techniques that would make the job safer or more efficient. I can see some employers thinking refresher training is a good idea if they have a member of staff who just goes through the motions at work - has picked up a lot of bad habits and has no interest in keeping up to date with new developments, but for the rest of us people out there who carry out the work professionally and take pride in doing the job right refresher/update training just doesn't apply. HSE want the industry to bring down the number of accidents, but there's always going to be accidents, you can't eliminate serious injury or death from treework, it's just not that kind of job, mainly because we work at height. Even the most knowledgeable and experienced people have accidents.

didn't think so how often is 'training done a long time ago' cited as the main contributing factor in an accident/incident? any examples? From what I can see it doesn't carry enough relevance to justify the introduction of refresher/update training. The training providers will like it though, more cash for them.

Hi Paul, Can you (the AA), or HSE, NPTC and LANTRA prove a definite link between a higher accident rate and the lack of refresher training? You say our accident rate is high, high compared with what? Are there more accidents now than 20 years ago? Are there more accidents in treework than the offshore oil industry?

the Silky is for small diameter branches, if your using the handsaw for what it's been designed to do, you'll cut 1000s of these small diam branches before you even begin to feel it getting blunt. It goes without saying, if you need to cut thicker branches you use the top handled saw. Using a top handled to cut hundreds of small diameter branches on pruning jobs is both a waste of a good top handled saw and also a total waste of an A grade product like a Silky which is specifically designed with treeclimbers in mind. Again. if you use the handsaw for what it's been designed for ie useful stuff like pruning/thinning out small diam stuff or removing small hand held branches during an awkward part of a removal (reducing a branch overhanging a conservatory) then the issue of replacement blades is insignificant because the handsaw is paying for itself a hundred times over. the pioneers of treework only ever used handsaws, sure they'd have used chainsaws to take out these sections if they had the option, but when the chainsaws arrived you can bet these guys still took handsaws into the tree no matter what they were doing.

Sugoi 360, been using various Silkys for years now, Natanokos, Zubats and Gomtaros, simply put, the Sugoi 360 will outcut, outlast and basically out perform every other Silky out there, got a box full of old Natanokos, Zubats and Gomtaros that haven't seen the light of day for years since I got the Sugoi. The hooked handle, the hooked nose and the speed of cut make it the best handsaw available for treework IMO, especially if you do a lot of removals.

the front end of the new Isuzu is hideous, the girl on the left can't disguise her disgust, the one on the right is a good actress

Nice one Reg, quality felling.

probably the best present anyone could ever get A Kelly Kettle is so much more than a mere implement for boiling water, using one is a statement against modern culture with it's obsession with I Phones, twitter and facebook If anyone here still hasn't seen one or got one yet, you need a Kelly Kettle in your life. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMCR-ie9H_w]Kelly Kettle Review / Demo by the Kelly Kettle Co. - YouTube[/ame]