Ty Korrigan

It all went 'Pete Tong' with our angry Frenchman... Convinced he had been robbed and by us too, last night my associate was lucky not to be beaten to a pulp despite insisting no wood had gone missing. I am too shaken to work today and shocked that a man we have known for years has such a nasty turn of temper. There must be other factors to cause such a reaction, friend to foe in one fell stroke... He would have eaten Beadle for breakfast! Ty

Hey, selling firewood is not the right of kings... I mean any-one can start an enterprise if they wish regardless of the competition, after all, thats the free market. Plus you never know where life may take you, give it a go, you may never look back. Ty

Hello, Frankly, we have done amazingly well with just a wee CS100 18h gravity fed. Now the time is fast approaching for an investment in a larger road tow. For in feed size the Bandit xp75 is an option for us here, its 7" x 12" 45hp BUT weighs 1340kg. This is obviously a cost implication when towing distances as many of our clients are a 125mile round trip. So more weight, bigger towing vehicle. However, a machine of this size will do eat anything we give it and fast. Our other option is to go for a lighter 6" such as the Quadchip at 750kg. This would allow us to continue using a small kangoo type van for distances. My concern is that too large a machine will never be fully optimised. A smaller machine would probably serve better for most of the work we undertake. Plus the cost of towing etc... Cheers Ty

I would like to instigate a poll to find out the size of chipper most commonly used in the trade. However... I'm not sure how to word my key question. Should it be hp? Or feed size? OR...both. Cheers Ty CS100 4" 18hp 'all maxed out'

Played a joke on our local firewood seller. Put a sign on his wood pile saying free firewood, help yourself (in French of course) We laid the sign down so it could not be seen unless in the yard and moved some wood around to make it look like he had visitors. The joke was not appreciated and he is convinced tonnes of wood has disappeared! We now have one angry Frenchman on our hands... Ty

So they work for Pete then... I use a Lider trailer that 'tilts' to allow small plant to drive up or be pushed with a run up in the case of our CS100. Also this trailer is good for lots of things but is not compact like the dedicated version. If you talk nice to Pete I'm sure he'll cut you a deal... Ty

U.K for kit, French prices are just...silly. Postage from Honey Bros' is £25 so easy to make a saving on prices here. Ty

Yes, I'd rather thought that the 200 stumps would take me about 7days to grind out at least. I reckon 15min per stump on average at 15euros per stump. I don't get enough large jobs like this to warrant a bigger machine and I pick up excellent money doing domestic jobs. Customer had a budget of 1000euros Any-one any idea how much my client will need to cough up for these 200 stumps? You can give me your sterling prices as example. I will try to help them with their project as much as possible and find them a solution. Cheers Ty

Hello, I own a Bandit HB20 which is great for domestic work and earns good money. However, I have a client who wishes to have 200 picea abies ground out. All various sizes, all planted as a plantation 25years ago. I have done 80 stumps before now taking me 24hours of grinding time over 4 days, the rest being grubbing time, teeth turning, fueling etc. Question is, over my HB20 just how much faster would a larger (say 35hp diesel) machine be? Cheers Ty

WHAHAY!!! Still waiting for sign writing though. New pick up, new tipper from Atlas, new chipper on the cards. Ty

Well now... I hope this works, the first time I've ever tried to attach an image. Ty

I've got a small bin full of alcohol. You can buy 5litres of it for €10 here. Its meths without the colouring. I soak kit overnight, clothes and ropes etc prior to washing. I give my arms a scrub with a sponge soaked in the stuff too. 50c wash also does it for resin. Ty

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!!

How about trees requesting trunk augmentations? Injections of lignin to boost size of stem hur hur hur. That really would be tree surgery eh?

Urgh! Where is the torque going to come from? The fly wheel is so small. I imagine that it is tempting but I think such a small machine would be a waste of cash. Well, thats my shilling worth. Ty

I've felt far safer amongst people in the developing nations than I ever have around certain facets of white Europeans and I include members of the BNP, travelling community and British youth culture. In fact the most dangerous I have encountered are white male Australians from the Northern Territory. In this case I was rescued by a group of Aboriginal youths and taken back to their camp. Such a statement Lee is born of a lack of worldly inexperience Travel would improve your understanding and broaden your attitude towards your fellow men. Ty

Then the ramps would have to span the tailgate. The machine weighs 350kg. I was hoping to tow our new road tow chipper (when we get it) and carry the Bandit HB20 in the pickup. Ty

Its all work though eh? Down here in Redon loads of trees had a good going over or were felled around the final 1km to the finish. Its not as bad as some of the terrible things householders and a minority of the travelling community get up to. At least its done by pro's. Ty

Hi, we have a new Navarra. However we have a problem my associate didn't think about when he bought it. How do we load a stumpgrinder? The tailgate doesn't fold down due to the rear bumper step. The tailgate was a weight limit of 80kg. Are we stuffed or is there a solution? Cheers Ty

The new E.U rules coming into force from October 2012...? Ty

Hi, I've a price of €25k + t.v.a for the Bandit 75 here in France. I've used Tomtrees 65 for a day and can't grumble coming from CS100. The weight is an issue as it is almost double that of the Quadchip which I am also interested in. I'm thinking in terms of the mileage we cover/fuel. If you put a Quadchip up against the bandit just how would they compare? I know the infeed size is different and there is 10hp more on the new 75. My associate is wary of lightweight machines and plastics life spans so is gunning for a Bandit. I'm into small, powerfull and efficient. If I need a really big machine I can always hire a huge bandit with a grab for €600 per day if need be. Still, I'm waiting for Pete to give me a straight answer concerning the new E.U regs on towed vehicles and if I buy a U.K Quadchip if it will be E.U compliant. Chippers in France currently carry a premium as its a controled market due to French regs on trailers. Ty

Tomtrees... You only have an old banger! Ty

Nuts... So I turned up to do a quote at property of a retired couple of Ex-pats IN our shiny new Navarra. Its the basic model, we worked hard, saved hard and chuffing deserve to own a decent bit of kit now and then. No alloys, not sign written yet, just a big white grunty whale. Anyway... Back to the clients. A technical take down over phone lines, gates, traffic to be controlled blah blah... I gave a what I thought to be a competive/low/cash option figure over a cup of tea only to receive the response along the lines of "How can a couple of trees be so expensive? I'd do them myself if it weren't for my back/age/wife... So thats how you can afford that new car then eh? Must have cost a pretty penny? I'll think about it, goodbye." I received an e-mail later saying they have found another 'local' company very much cheaper...which is an odd thing for a client to do in fact... On my mind... 1.Was it my truck that lost me the deal? 2.Was it the fact that tree work is costly and they just didn't have the funds? 3.Is the e-mail a cover for 2. I will pass by in a few weeks just to see if the work has been done or not. IF not then number 2 applies. If it has been done then fair go I say! Another more hungry firm could have underpriced to win in hard times. If number 1...I'm going back to the 10year old Kantgo (Kangoo) for quotes. Cheers for listening (reading) Ty

THREAD DE-RAIL WARNING! Re: Quad chip blades (seeing as Pete is nosing around here...) How easy are peeps finding these to change? Its a factor, time=$$$ Cheers Ty (Mad as a toilet brush and a few quid short of a Quad chip:001_tt2:)

Honestly, Before I ever prune anything 'unfamiliar' I do a bit of revision I look it up in the RHS bumper book of pruning or even google the subject on my phone. Bit late now I'm afraid, nothing you can do and elastoplast doesn't work on these cuts. Well before the leaves fall as a guide with July-August being perhaps optimum months. I have even read that certain varieties just won't tolerate pruning at all which bears the question, what happens if a branch breaks? They just bleed to death or what? Ty