Ty Korrigan

Cheers Bro! I do in fact have an old washing machine stored away. I had wondered if using talc on the lines during work would unstick and dry the resin up. Very frustrating and slightly embarrasing becoming almost stuck fast. Ty

Hello, We're on a weeks job in a 16thC manoir clearing storm damage and dismantling several radiata that overhang the gardens walls. I've come to the end of my tether with a very sticky problem. The resin, of which there is lots of, is simply making climbing a dangerous chore. Yesterday ALL my prussiks and even my 2 flip lines rendered useless, glued tight so as I was unable to budge or at one point even open the knots to descend. I clean the cords with neat alcohol after but really I need to find another solution. Any experiences or suggestions? Cheers Ty

This side of the channel... All week at €480 per day. Which is your £400 for 2 of us doubling up as climber/groundy and a wee chipper. We eat a 4 course restaurant meal every day at lunch forgoing the wine and drinking lemonade instead. Want to join our club...?

Ask one of those mongeral Kiwis what they are doing posting at XYZ o'clock... My excuse is apart from living in a different time zone is that I post from a Buck Rogers in the 21st century phone. Not always idle... Well... abit. Ty

But no intention of abandoning it. Its an amazing machine and worth its weight in gold. However, we are growing and require a larger machine. Talk to me about the Greenmech 13-23 petrol or diesel. I already know about the TW125 and its pros/cons. Any opinions welcome. p.s here there is a make called Saelin. Anyone know anything about these? Cheers Ty

Har har har... I got this even in France in 2005. I used to put up flyers with wee tear off strips for phone numbers. I'd drive faaazzzands of kms during a day visiting supermarkets, bars etc I'd just popped into a supermarket, placed a flyer and went to buy a sarny. As I left I saw a dumpy old cow (Brit cow) tearing down my flyer AND pinching the drawning pins! When I challenged her she went all red and blustered 'but this is our area, the last thing we need is competition...' Eh? free market and all...

Hi, Any advice on sharpening them? Also what kit do I need? Cheers Ty

Hello, Cash? Me? Take cash? Honourable member for Upper Drivel caught taking cash for no questions...? Brits all want to pay cash, French rarely. O.K... Some French maths. Currently for every euro I earn, 25 cents goes to prop up the pension funds of goverment workers so they can retire at 55. The rest is mine. I'm currently taxed on turnover not on profit. I'm given a 50% allowance against business costs. It works out at a 50% tax on your profit so its in your interests to keep your costs down to maximise your profit. This will change in the next year or so as my turnover increases to over 33k limit for micro entreprises I will then be able to offset my costs against profit just like in the U.K. Trying to keep the 'official' figure down right now... Say if I want to pay my rent or buy a tool, I could just get the clients to give me a cheque with no name. Its a thought that has crossed my mind not that I would actually do that of course... Another job has come in today. I don't normally get to do oaks in hedgerows as the firewood guys in tractor buckets do them normally but this one is just too big for them. We are just dismantling it for them, no chipping, no clearing up, 400euros. May get my groundy to start his climbing career in this one... All things considering, in a good week we may gross 2000+ euros between 2 with only a compact chipper, Kangoo van, trailer and basic climbing/lowering kit. We do aspire to a bigger chipper and a tipping trailer... That is not to say that every week is like this but Feb and now march are almost fully booked. January was lean with only a couple of days a week. I'll just take January off next year and go travelling. Not worth hanging around for pennies. Our liability insurance is 700euros for the 2 of us. Kit is not insured as we have a big dog, a machete by the door and not the same issue with the 'traveling community' as in the U.K. Back in the U.K, as a self employed groundy I earned 10quid an hour gross but supplied my own kit and insurance. I'm better off here, rent is cheaper, insurances and if I want something expensive I just buy it from Germany or the U.K via the internet. Beer is good too but the bars are souless. Except the few celtic ones around. Every day we eat in a workers restaurant a 3/4 course meal with cider/wine as an option when not using a saw for 10.50euros. Bloody marvelous! No shivering in a damp van cab with steamy windows, munching sarnies and supping suspect tea from a tartan flask. Ty

Hello again, I just spent a day on a mates/competitors mobile saw mill. What a wheeze! Its a Peterson made in Kiwi-ana Quite an experience to operate. Today we won 2 jobs of significance on the arb side and 2 on from the french version of b+q installing awnings and gates. The grey days of January are finally over and peoples wallets are slowly opening as the days lengthen. Still many calls from expats asking for tree work for free in exchange for the wood... What? drive 100km to fell a few pops for the wood alone? Sadly I'm getting these calls more and more often from the expat community whilst the growing French client base snap my hand of because I'm so cheap! Next step is to put some stump grinding or dramatic topping out footage on the web site. Cheers all!

Hi, My groundy is also my business partner so we go halves on the take. Seb is Breton and brings in work for us. Important to have a local fronting the business. Just bought a harness etc to start him climbing with a view to him taking his tickets in the U.K this year. I'm 41 now and Seb is 31 so bags of climbing years left between us. On a normal day we get €480+ with our little CS100. The stumpgrinder is proving an earner and I can be cheeky with my pricing cos its a rare service here. Tomorrow, gardening for the mother of the mayor. Networking that is...

Back again... It's all going rather well since I moved from deepest Brittany closer to the capital city. January has been quiet with only 2-3days a week but Feb is completely booked up. Not every job is tree related though. Our new web site is online, it cost me a weeks tree and garden work in exchange. http://www.lejardinieranglais.com Still lots to do to it yet. Every month I get a couple of e-mails from better folk than I enquiring about starting up over here. I confess to 'ere on the pessamistic side as without a real grasp of the language you stand little hope of finding work. The CS 100 Wee chipper is really an asset and has won the compliments of a local forester who employed me to climb his own trees at home. Just invested in our own bandit sidewinder stumpgrinder as the Laski rental ones were so expensive and wornout. But what I really need are more hours climbing to keep a consistant level of fitness up. Well, thats all folks!

Hello, Jan '10 I grossed... Zero Jan '11 I expect to turn over 1000€ In fact, I'm planning on taking next Jan as holiday and going cycling in N.Z Things are looking up though. I just won 5 days of work for a well off ex-pat second home owner. Proposed 2000€ for 2 of us and a CS100. We do a day a week for a Countess on her estate in Normandy for 400€ cash plus 25€ per hour for chipping. This year I've a new stumpgrinder which already has 3 clients booked. Yes, I lose work all the time to gardeners on ladders but hey... I also win jobs by chatting to these guys and giving them my card. They can't do every tree now... can they? Oh... my insurance, this year I can choose between a basic third party for 354€ or one which pays me a pension for life if I get injured and can't work for 975€ No talk about insured for 10million etc. No lola to pay although I check our gear frequently. Just the 60% tax rate for businesses to cope with. Have a good start to 2011 guys!

Yes you are tight and I approve

Hi, the reason our Gallois smoking, garlic chewing, looking at us Brits down their long Gallic noses cousins wear arm protection is that... Cut and hold banditry with top handles is the norm. Also, I have even see supermarkets selling top handled saws. From experience I can tell you that a frenchman will base the quality of a saw on its lightness. Which is why so many Echo and Dolmar fisher price top handles are on sale. Also... There is currently an ad campaign by Stihl which says the 200 is the most popular saw sold in France. Even roofers use them to cut lattes the lazy...so and so's... You see the idiots trying to start a cold poorly maintained saw astride a roof ridge! Hey ho... Back to the video...

Well, we are largely dried up now on the tree front for a few weeks. Don't expect any excitment now until after Noel so we seasonaly turn our hands over to minor building renovations or labouring jobs. Still pays far above the minimum wage and keeps the wolf from the door no question there. On the plus side, we have friends and poor expats who need cheap/free tree work doing. This is my opportunity to train my younger business partner/groundsman the basics of climbing etc without being overly worried about the clients garden or cleaning up. The intention being once he has the basics to send him to the U.K for his tickets. The french don't offer short courses... Cheers! Ty

Well, being a bit of a ladies man... I always wear gloves. I like to keep my hands as free from callouses, cuts and rough skin in order to as few complaints as possible when I get 'busy hands' with my madamoiselle... I buy lots of cheap cotton n rubber garden/diy gloves at €2.50 a pair and wear them till they either fall apart ( rare ) or begin to make my hands smell like a frenchmans feet which defeats the object of wearing them in the begining. A wee joke of mine is to put my hands near my groundies face which always makes him gag!

To your credit mate, it looks bigger in the images of you climbing it. Well done. Ty

Thanks for all that. My associate wants us to consider the bandit sidewinder. Anyone used that? Looks to be labour saving...

Hi, Any-one any real life experience of this make? Looking at the 27hp model. Would appreciate any comments or alternative suggestions... Cheers! Ty

Hi, I lived in a 1968 Sprite for 2 years complete with gas lights and a wood burner made from an old gas bottle and an alu flu from mr scrappy. Then I bought a Bailey Senator. Luxury for 8 years. Then a house owning phase. Last year I bought another Senator for 8K and hope to live in it for 2/3 winters to save €€€ AND I pay no rent as I DO for madam rennie. Its warm. Its dry with an awning and decking. One big bottle of propane is good for 3 weeks+ and costs €70. Lasts all summer though. Say €500 on gas a year. Water may freeze and holes need to be dug for the loo waste but if you strip off before you enter leaving your boots outside and ventilate then caravans are a great form of accomodation. Best of luck!

Ah... You could try woofing... No money, easy tasks, bed and board thrown in often with loose german blonds to occupy your down time between fishing for snapper... Look up Whangerai heads in the old woofing manual as there is an old couple with an 80hectare forest. Great people. Private airstrip. Love fishing. May adopt you... N.Z is a land of opportunity once prospective employers smell your a grafter. Best of luck!

Hello, Andy's point about running costs is quite valid. However... Quoting for hedgework can put you in competition with pure gardeners so for lower hedges with only trimmings to take away we charge locally €25/30per man hour. But... When its the grand reduction and big material is involved then we price in the chipper at €30 p/h and our rate from €30-€35per man when possible. Hedge cutters are expensive so I have a rough cutter for woody ripe material and a best for soft taxus and thuyia etc We use a henchman senior as a cutting platform and we may buy a smaller model too. They are expensive, heavy and not that well made but a great piece of kit regardless of faults.

Hi, I can't read all the posts as my phone is so slow to download but I have done similar... Boarded over the green house. Working from a henchman platform and took the branches off with a polesaw. You may have to rig up some way of catching heavier material. I polesawed thin rings off. My price here would be €480 inc the stump or £380-400

I'm with you on that front. Just a question of etiquette I wanted to clear up. Ty Korrigan CSE grade 3 life skills.