scotspine1

Sorry to say this....if your burning your fingers/hands with throwline your not throwing the line properly. Re gloves - If anything gloves would be a hindrance to the feel of the line. On the big shot - I use to use one every other day when I climbed in the states, it's a great tool for setting high SRT anchor points but over here I just dont see the need for it at all unless you specialise in deadwooding big conifers. Most decent climbers here should be able to hit any 40ft to 50ft high target union with a regular throwline and bag in under 5 attempts. This level of skill will do for accessing most trees in the UK. Buying a Big Shot here is a waste of money unless you plan to work in the US, Canada, Aus or New Zealand etc. and just want to practice with it. .

Ok, that was slight fabrication of the truth. But this is fact - The British Army are currently carrying out a plausibility study into wether or not the Big Shot can be used to fire grenades over long distances. So far the tests have revealed the furthest a grenade shot from a Big Shot was a distance of 16500 miles before exploded in mid air 15 miles outside the Earth's atmosphere.

I was once used a Big Shot to set an access line in a 130ft Redwood, I fired the bag and it went clear over the top and disappeared into the sky, about two minutes later the line seemed suspended from the sky, i pulled on the line only to discover the bag had lodged itself in a crater on the Moon, ended up pulling the Moon back down to Earth.......wrecked the guy's greenhouse so it did.

Use a second climber as a counterweight. He'd have to be roughly the same weight as the cameraman and his camera. Have the second climber at the top of the tree attached to the same rope as the cameraman at the foot of the tree (rope is through pulley positioned at suitable high tie in point). The cameramen should have a secondary safety line which is through a belay device at the base of the tree - gri gri/grillon etc. This will be tended by a groundsman. This rope will also be through a separate pulley at the top of the tree near the 1st main tie in point. The second climber would also have a secondary safety line in the form of his usual Doubled rope system. His tie in point will be in a similar location to the other to tie in points. This allows for the controlled descent of himself and the controlled ascent of the cameraman. As the second climber descends from the top of the tree the cameraman rises to the point where he is to set up his gear. This may mean the second climber hanging around in mid air for a short time. The cameraman is lowered by the second climber ascending using his doubled rope system. Again the cameraman's safety line is belayed by the groundsman bringing him safely to the ground. .

Short.......here's a Jimny towing one to give you an idea. They're really small. They're mainly for sleeping in, but there's a twin hob gas stove, fridge and sink in there too.

Speaking of caravans, I've an early 90s Eriba Puck (French made - cult following amongst the VW Camper set). Bought as a project last year, wont have the time to give it the little bit of attention it needs. Gas stove etc, the whole thing is in pretty good condition. Looks very similar to this if anyone's interested pm me for details.

Isn't that quite a specialist job? Why would you want to leave that kind of work? There can't be too many harvester operators in the UK? What's the pay like?

Stevie, the closest vehicle in production to that is the Toyota FJ Cruiser (not available in the UK). Import one from the States, you can afford it. Stick 30' rims on it and I can see you frontin it on down Largs' promenade on friday and saturday nights. This could be you - during your working week stick the stock wheels and tyres back on and do stuff like dis!.........on customer's properties while the groundies are busy - [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZjGZurjCzo&feature=related]FJ Cruiser Gone Mad! - YouTube[/ame]

From my experience this issue has nothing to do with 'people not liking change' it has everything do with Stihl not introducing a vastly improved saw to the ms200t. The mere fact we are discussing any issues at all with the 201t should be embarrasing for Stihl. Everyone should be raving about thow good these saws are, they're not. Stihl have had years to design and build what should've been a major step forward from the ms200t, there's no excuse for any negative talk about the 201t. It should all be positive. Husqvarna have a great opportunity to take over the top handled market with the 540xp. The reason it's taking so long to get to market is that Husky have seen that folk are disappointed with the 201t so they're gonna make very sure the 540xp will be near faultless. I hope they succeed. Either that or I hope Stihl re-introduce the ms200t. From my experience of using 3 different ms201t's, I will definitely not be buying one.

Not sure about the size and weight of the Stein single bollard but we use Lyon bags of various sizes for all our rigging/climbing gear, we can get a Buckingham Portawrap and blocks etc into them no problem. Having used all the other brands at one time or another - Lyon are probably the best rope/equipment bags you can get. We have 5 of the 40 litre bags for our rigging gear/ropes. Shop around for the best deals. Lyon Personal Kit / Rope Bag (40 Litre) Personal Rope Access Bag (40 Litre) [LSB40colour] : Abaris International Ltd , Equipment for Rope Access and Rescue, Work at height, Arborists, Adventure Parks, Water Rescue, Expeditioners and Outdoor Pursuit E

rubbish! this guy's got it sorted

Marvel at the skills shown by this expert logger, watch how everything comes together at the moment the tree falls, perfect felling, great use of the hinge and brilliant back cut. It all makes sense, why didn't any of us think of this before? Good luck with your project. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVZkGYKcysA&feature=fvwp&NR=1]Quick Tip: Tree Felling - YouTube[/ame]

yes tried 3 separate saws each on large dismantles. Most of our work is removals. The 201t behaves like a diluted weaker version of the 200t. Yes...it'll get the job done, but it lacks the raw power of the 200t, especially on larger diameter wood. When you've been using 020t's and 200t's for years picking up the and using the 201t feels like a step backward, I agree it may be more refined in some aspects of it's design but why would anyone want refinement in a chainsaw? The 200t is an excellent saw, why change it? especially when it seems the change is for the worst.

Look at the diameter of wood Snelling's cutting in his vid, it's pathetic. About 4 inches not including the bark. Lets see a vid of that ported saw through 12 inch diameter Beech, bet it's rubbish. A stock ms200 will destroy that ported piece of junk through large diameter wood.

Its all good Reg, and I know it doesn't really matter mate, but whatever you say the lens is most definitely deceptive. Here's one of the vids I shot with the Drift, guess the height of the tree, anyone take a guess. I have pics taken of the tree from the ground with a regular digi camera I'll post soon. It's not really the 'false' height that's the main issue, check at about 1.37, that's a 288 with a 24" bar, looks more like a 346 with 15 " bar. Is the Drift the best headcam out there? not so sure. It's good, but could it be better? [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6pqqGBT7kc&context=C3fd783bADOEgsToPDskLWaRGe0G8H4PTFba2FCKNh]Sitka Speedline - YouTube[/ame]

If the loads are small here's a basic system. Any questions fire away. 1- Speedline is Dyneema (grey/blue clour) 1b - control line (Yellow) could be half inch Yale double esterlon or even climbing line if the loads are light. 2 - Pulley blocks in trees (red), Speedline is locked off at the top using a Porty. 3 - Tirfor to tension Dyneema, this would only work if you didn't plan to move the top anchor point around continously. 4 - Two people hoist loads up to pulley on speedline - Speed of loads is controlled by 2nd Porty at top (which the yellow control line runs through) 5 - would the loads automatically start moving down the speedline as you loosened the 2nd Porty? not sure, maybe someone else can add in the finishing touches like a pull rope at the bottom. Reckon could set this system up in around half an hour Can anyone make this picture bigger please?

Samson AmSteel, New England Endura or Dyneema are all low stretch but steel cable is what you want to be using.

As many have said before the Drift with it's extra wide angled lense gives a false impression of height (trees look much taller than they actually are) and the sizes of the branches and timber are distorted (timber sections look much smaller than they actually are, branches look much narrower than they actually are). Having said that I suppose there's a pay off in that you get to see more of the immediate situation in front of the climber, problem is when you move outside of this 3ft bubble everything is distorted. Taking everything into consideration I prefer watching treevids filmed with narrower angled lenses as you get closer to seeing the tree, branches and timber as they really were.

These guys will have access to something very similar - Buchans for Towbars - Towbar Fitting Glasgow & Edinburgh

I agree, nice bit of problem solving going on there. All joking aside it seems to do the job these guys ask of it. Its good to see this kind of thing going on in the world somewhere, the British used to excel at these kind of contraptions, now we just buy Ipads and giant flatscreen TVs made in China.

What you are about to see is the future of tree surgery in the UK - [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNkyWiLFtdQ&feature=related]bhadra2.wmv - YouTube[/ame]

Watch as the holding wood fails unexpectedly during a plunge cut operation - there's a few lessons here for everyone......felling zone, escape routes, decayed timber in stem? etc [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StmPiJ0qcCI&feature=youtube_gdata_player]plunge cut tearout - YouTube[/ame]

you should, the way you've framed them using rational thought makes them seem quite plausable. Changing my beliefs isn't going to change the way my customers behave. I regularly quote against VAT registered companies for large private/residential jobs, most times I win, the reason I win is because I made a decision not to be a tax collector for the government which is what all you VAT registered companies are doing. Being VAT registered will help you get that Council contract for sure, but thats about as far away from the kind of work I want to being doing as you could get. If you want to run around after half baked civil servants barking orders down the phone thats your perogative. Private and residential clients represent a goldmine to me, they pay well, they tell their friends about me and they're not interested in having VAT added to their bill I can assure you of that. The work is top end and interesting and thats where I want to be. This year I am ceasing all my commercial work to concentrate on private residential treework. After this year there will be no more commercial contracts. I'm leaving stuff that for the so called, 'bigger companies' with their vast array of plant and machinery. I'm not in treework to be a millionaire Tom, if I wanted to make serious money I'd have left this industry years ago or moved my business to upstate New York or the Hollywood Hills.

Was involved in felling around 12 big Sitkas a few years back, everything burnt onsite immediately in the garden, the fire was going all week, the heavy stuff burns like a furnace once it gets going and leaves nothing.

The most prosperous area in the UK is the South East, I bet you'd be hard pushed to find the majority of 2 men arb teams that operate in that area are turning over 80K per year. Not because the money isn't there but simply because there are so many arb companies fighting for the same work it pushes the average price of treework down. Maybe they all aim for 80K but rarely achieve it. Your in the fortunate position of working in an area with a relatively low number of arb companies (compared with the South East), added to this a relatively wealthy client base, so for you 80K seems realistic, for many others it will seem out of touch with their own particular situation. I do agree in general that we should all charge more - but we're all to a greater or lesser degree controlled by the economic situation of the area in which we operate. For many people this will probably mean going in relatively low to guarantee the work and keep the company ticking over.