scotspine1

Dan, you attempted to show a vertical snap cut with a holding strap designed to slow the trunk down as it breaks. All you achieved was a standard jump cut with no slowing of the trunk as it broke.

watched the vid about 3 times now, at no point do you mention the root plate as a consideration when choosing the technique. you do however tell us about 6 times throughout the video how the technique allows you to make an escape so that you are nowhere near the trunk as it drops, then after the abysmal final and frantic cut at 4.52 that nearly leaves you as a double leg amputee you state at 5.18 in classic historical revisionism style that you "didn't need to escape" [ame= ] [/ame] the video is full of inconsistencies, contradiction and above all the technique you showed did not allow you to make any form of escape whatsoever, in fact if anything it actually put you in more danger as you had to position your body nearer the trunk to make the final undercut. .

Thanks for posting the vid, At 3.38 the example video footage you show is a very different scenario from the situation your dealing with in the main demonstration, in that clip both the upper and lower section want to fall to the ground with gravity. In the main demonstration you failed to observe that the rootplate may would want to pull the lower section of the tree backwards/upwards. At 4.52 you can see the lower section jolt back rendering your snap cut technique useless as a way of slowing the break in a controlled manner.

people, that T Reg is just some random pic of a disco off google images, only posted to remind folk of what a disco looked like. Its definitley a 300 Td1. Well aware that most Landy afficionados wont touch a Td5 or that Transit derived piece of junk with a 40 ft barge pole. Thanks for all the advice though.

thats good news thats great excellent knew it was a good buy

N reg, 180K on the clock, FSH (apparently ), 300 Tdi, 9 months MOT, 6 months Tax, chassis looks ok....from what I can see, tidy bodywork (metallic turquoise ) If you just bought this vehicle, what kind of maintenance issues may you expect to arise in the forthcoming months? Should it be binned promptly or is there life in the old beast yet? thanks TC

Hi, I need to find a professional tree surgeon in Cobham, Surrey. Can anyone suggest any good small companies or if there is a member here at Arbtalk from Cobham or nearby - Esher etc Thanks TC

thanks for the comments everyone.... Yeah...well.....I dunno.... just thought some folk might like to see the vid one at a time Dean yup, anymore than one would've been a major hassle for that particular set up, the drift helmetcam makes the branches look a lot smaller and lighter than they were, too big to be cut and chucked, so the zipline was the next best option. Tree was about 75ft-85ft Samuel, it was at the top of an embankment at the road level, the lawn in the vid sits about 15ft lower than the base of the tree. Anyone know why the vid has embedded with a large black border? when you go to the youtube page its normal size? cheers TC

This Sitka got too big for its location, so down it came.....hope you all enjoy the vid [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg7i78qStY0]YouTube - Sitka Aug 2010[/ame] cheers TC

cheers to Steve Bullman for starting up the forum and for all the folk who've contributed to Arbtalk over the last 3 years, special thanks Monkey D for sharing his ideas, knowledge and pics of his crew's pioneering work in London. Also really want to thank Reg Coates for all the vids he's posted here, learned a lot from those videos. Special shout out to Stevie Blair for stoking the fire every so often

well said Lee, I sent the guy a youtube msg to say he should join Arbtalk as there are some very knowledgable chainsaw guys here, this was his reply Re: Stihl 38 Av Hi man, Thanks for pointing that out, I am just starting out on this thing and I never claimed to know anything, I'm just preparing it for my chainsaw training I'm already booked on. I have replied to the guys who told me I will kill myself in no time, lose all my limbs etc. Telling them that they should respect that I have not yet attempted to cut any wood untill I get qualified. And I have a 'text box' that pops up at the start of the "Saga" vid explaining that, they can laugh but not leave anymore hater comments. Thanks for not assuming like the rest mate, Dave

By being enthusiastic enough to buy that saw and making that vid that kid knows more now than half the people I've worked with in this industry. Showing that kind of initiative is a rare thing these days. I'd give him a job in a second.

Anyone any idea why it was cancelled?

His latest stuff about tensile triangles in nature - people have known about this for thousands of years, its just nature....he seems to think he's discovered the secret of life itself. The dome of Florence cathedral was designed over 600 years ago, you could fit his tensile triangle model to the dome, but the men who designed it already knew this as they also looked at nature for inspiration. Think of the boughs of the Viking longboats or Roman ships, designs that are 1000s of years old. He also reckons that the species of the tree plays no part when assessing it's structural strength as all trees are essentially made from lignin and cellulose. Anyone whose worked with trees for any decent length of time knows this is at the very least questionable. Sycamore - Acer pseudoplatanus is far more brittle and will shear more easily compared with a Sitka - Picea sitchensis. So how can the principles of VTA apply to both species equally? .

Borrowed a Drift helmetcam, here's some clips - [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig-SDDw-Qco]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig-SDDw-Qco[/ame]

Nice work again Reg, quality vids. Neil Finn is a kiwi.

Mattheck covered Massaria on his recent seminar in Dunkeld, very tricky to identify symptoms even with climbing inspections as the fungi decays the wood fast, infected branches can die and break off within a couple of months. Apparently the top of an infected limb can look purple. It also spreads fast in hot summers due to drought stress. Its always the top of the limb near the stem that becomes infected - These pics were taken by an arborist in Holland in July 2008 -

3 big Lombardys being felled in Glasgow's west end this week, anyone interested in having the timber for free? Would have to pick it up from site, access is good for large vehicles.

anyone know what make of cord this is?

excellent work Reg, thanks posting. Could the LD have been positioned on the side opposite where the wood was dropping?

had the same happen to me on a Honey Locust few years back. Glad to hear no-one got hurt

Twisted shank spikes help if your bow-legged

Good job Steve, started a beech removal today, not much in the way of vid just a few seconds worth of footage, back tomorrow, hopefully get the main stem being felled - [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WvBtkxl_P8&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - Beech Day 1.wmv[/ame]