scotspine1

the main stemwood was good, would've definitely made some nice milled timber, but the client wanted the timber for firewood

Check out the tall Yew to the left of the HC, the HC has been fighting the Honey Fungus for years but the Yew is fine, why? cause Yew's resistant to honey fungus, yew gettit?

we thought that might happen Dean.....waited until there were no people about, that piece of shrapnel that heads towards the camera was 2 ft long and heavy, would've done some serious damage no doubt

Armillaria mellea

Today's job - this old Chestnut had loads of character and was much loved by the local community [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQmlTdoPseA&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - Dead Horse Chestnut.wmv[/ame]

looks like the double blocks are working well for you. Dont like the look of that stem cavity one little bit - Cheers for posting.

maybe related to this?

Have heard of it at around 12ft up on old pruning wound. Mistertee, have you been to the tree?

Somewhere between £40 and £80 per day There's 10s of thousands of small arb companies all over the UK, a few thousand medium/big companies and 100s of companies who do utility/line clearance work/large contracts. As in the US, the general quality and levels of professionalism with companies varies hugely. As a starting point someone coming from abroad may want to consider working for an Arboricultural Assocation Approved Contractor or an employer holding the ISA Certified Arborist qualification or similar. Yes, some employers pay for their workers to gain NPTCs certs mainly because they have to, not necessarily because they want to, there are a few generous folk out there who will put their staff through expensive courses only for the employees to switch to another company or start their own company soon after, but then...thats life. There are many treeworkers in the UK who have paid for all their own training. Professional employers will provide basic PPE for treework, but they'd probably be happy for you to bring your own if it met all the relevant safety standards. Most employers in the UK will ask for the basic NPTCs at the very least before they employ you as a groundie, mainly for insurance reasons. There are a few decent folk who will take you on without the NPTCs but pay you less and give you some onsite training. Apprenticeship schemes are basically on the job training over a period of a few years, there will be some companies/organisations in the UK running arb apprenticeships, someone else may know of them. Most decent employers will give you time to train you as you work. good choice, very expensive place to live though .

Woodpicker - it was felled at that height because I like to stand and just drop the saw into the stem at a comfortable height, all the timber was logged. Mester H - metal fence was removed before felling Skyhuck, Bareroots - If the tree could have been felled without any climbing it would have been....I dont climb for fun. The limbs were removed from the house side due to the excessive weight and it being unbalanced for felling exactly where we wanted it to go. That small building beneath the tree houses a geo-thermal boiler and processor worth a colossal amount of money - a tractor/bull rope and wedges were used. .

Cheers, had to rig out some limbs growing over the house before felling it

Not much more to say......the vid speaks for itself - [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGwz3WfOPR0]YouTube - Cardross Sycamore.wmv[/ame]

I worked in the states as a full time/full pay climber for 18 months on a J1 visa, its the best option for tree climbers if you find the right company, pm me for more details.

The scientific establishment didnt like Lovelock cause the Gaia theory is anti-human. For Gaia, human life has no more meaning than any other animal life. Scientists, like Christians, like to believe that man is above all other animals. Its also not a new idea, ancient chinese philosophies were talking about the Earth as a self regulating system thousands of years before Lovelock.

I agree. Looked like it was in woodland, why wasn't it felled and winched down through the canopy of the other trees?

During a large dismantle, we make decisions based on experience and some book knowledge then we just have to go for it otherwise we wouldn't get anything done, this is why professional tree surgery is dangerous. If you dont think the job is dangerous then you've become complacent, when complacency sets in, you've taken your eye off the ball, which makes a serious accident more likely. The culture of risk assessment has created the illusion the job is safe, when clearly it isn't. Working at heights from a rope and harness using a high powered petrol chainsaw is not a safe job. Training to be proficient in the use of a trauma kit in relation to arb specific injuries has to be a good thing.

That's not an argument for coronet cuts, standard arboricultural practice would have recommended reduction cuts which would achieve the same goal of retaining the tree and use less fuel in the process, which in turn benefits the environment.

What's environmentally friendly about standing in a tree with a petrol chainsaw using over 5 litres of fuel to make coronet cuts?

Arboriculture is different from the other jobs you mention. As a company owner whose been climbing and working in the industry for years surely you recognise it's a special job, that requires unique skills? so why shouldn't employees be trained in the use of a trauma kit - another unique skill that could make the difference between a workmate living or dying?

The kit is called 'ArbAid' right...... We should see this as a positive move towards the industry developing an 'Arboricultural First Aid' NPTC certificate which takes into account the specific needs of wounded arborists. Just an idea. .

gibbon and monkey d, Coronet cuts are not 'arboricultural' cuts because they're not done in the best interest of the tree. True?

No problem, look forward to the next vid. Any shots of how the camera is set up on your hardhat? Did you use Windows Movie Maker for the editing?

Good quality vid. On the subject of Coronet cutting and Fracture pruning from a rope and harness. From my experience, the climber is carrying out work that is ill-suited to rope and harness work positioning techniques. When dealing with clients requesting Coros/Fracture pruning in the crown, I'll only do the work if the tree and branches can be accessed from a MEWP, if they can't then the work doesn't get done. Working from a rope and harness already carries a high enough risk of injury or death, when you add in the type of cutting thats required for Coronets your greatly increasing the risk of injury (specifically kickback) or death.

Here's some good skills main action begins at 0.14 [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixAkmDx3ImE&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - Time laps Snoeien populier duffel belgie[/ame]

Shouldn't be so negative MB, didn't ask wether it was fake or not, asked wether it was a good idea, which it is in theory. A compact powered ascender much smaller than anything else on the market is no doubt achievable in the near future.