Ty Korrigan

He's too late for that, 10 euro Dave is already on my patch pinching any tree he can get a ladder against... I've just bought a new domain for our future new company. Acrobat-elagage.com Elagage being tree pruning in frenchist talk. Acrobat will probally sue my lilly white but quite pert ass off for using that word. Currently I am http://www.lejardinieranglais.com or the english gardener. I still think I'm lucky to have bought that domain. Ty

Hello, I recently wrote about my impressions concerning the HB20 Sidewinder. I will add... It is well made, powerfull and a capable machine. True it cannot move 'sans motor' I find the easy swing action a dream to use. BUT... you must ensure the surface beneath the wheels is fairly level. If it is not then the machine becomes rather unstable. This is not hard to achieve with a mattock and spade. Its drive control has a delay which is annoying. Manouvering is a jerky business and the machine has a tendancy to creep downhill. The handle bar does not lock in place securely and jumps to the lowest position within minutes of using the machine and that really is dangerous. However... It grinds like a dream. Smooth action and powerfull motor combined with Green teeth. I'm torn. I can just about live with its faults but I feel I really shouldn't have too. Global recycling the sellers are first rate to deal with. This machines faults are no reflection upon their business. Regards Ty

Since when has Wirral been Liverpool... It is a light dig at a sterotype not a serious regionalist attack. Liverpudlians dig make shoite Fords though... p.s I can't post smilies on this shoite samsung phone made by henchman in liverpool...xxx

Hello, just recycling this thread... I have just lost a job on grinding 15 lombardy poplar stumps. In fact I lost the felling quote too... I priced at €2.5 cm including removing the arisings. My quote was €1480 or £1200 and the chosen quote €700 or £580 I measured each tree half way between stump and trunk before quoting then went back when I lost the job, jumped over the wall, remeasured again to make sure I was on track. How the French Connection U.K could I be so wrong...? I'll tell you what I think... The quote went to a big firm who charges out by the day. €350 is what I look to take MINIMUM for my machine but the serious amount of arisings that 15 garden poplars will create... I lost the felling by €800 the winning quote being 2k. I think I am perhaps pricing big jobs like my quite profitable small jobs. Just feeling a bit lost... I hate to think I'm expensive when I believe I am good value..m Ty

MS260 and all its following models serves me fine. If anything beats a 260 by a decent margin then I shall buy it upon the vote of the forum. Ty

Hello, Recent problems I need to resolve. I apologise for misquoting technical or part terms. The blade cassette housling bolts nearest the anvil of which there are two have sheered. I replaced them with non hardend ones at short notice and they lasted 4hours. This throws the alignment of the anvil out bringing it into contact with the blades. The noise starts as a tingtingtingting before becoming a TINGTINGTINGTING. At that point I stop chipping. I have greased the bearings regularly and they run smooth. If I adjust the blades tolerance they make no sound on tickover but when I increase revs they touch the anvil on the furthest opposite side to the drive. The machine has done 82hours. The blades are new. I turned the anvil. Question. Should I change the bearings? Is it play in these which causes the problem? I freely admit to using the machine hard but it is not abused and well looked after. Regards Stuart Lee Le Jardinier Anglais Brittany France

Hello, I own a henchman platform I use for hedges. Its good points are its safety aspects which I find invaluable. I never cut from a ladder since falling and cutting through my left arm in 2007. Its bad points are that it is poorly made. Possibly because its made in Liverpool... Non alloy parts rust or just fold up. It is also always shedding its clips and pins that secure the legs and safety bars. I am replacing the 'leg scissors' with solid versions made of tube. These are just plain crap and dangerous. My complaints didn't fall on deaf ears though, I was sent a second pair of the same, total rubbish. Its a devil but its my devil and it does earn me good money. I just wish it was better made. Ty

That is disgusting! I always wash my hands before driving home in case I pick my nose on route... nom nom nom

Hello, Clients are valuing their wood more and more I find. Here, when I price a job I give them an idea of just how many m3 they will get and its worth as fuel. It dulls the pain of my quote if I say "you'll get at least 3stere worth €200 " Just tried to find a local buyer for 15 garden grown lombardys as the client was convinced they would offset some of the cost of felling. No business here would consider buying them as there are many better pops than a lombardy but I had to try anyway. My understanding of walnut mostly comes from reading Wildwood by Roger Deakin. In it he writes about the best walnut coming from Kazakhstan. Huge trees uprooted for the best wood is in fact the bole. I recommend you read this book. Ty

Gentlemen, I'm changing blades around today at 20h (fitted a counter) Local firm does them at €17/£14 a side. Our jammin, do you like jammin?, I hope you like jammin too? problems occur uniquely when chipping the 'Cupressus bastardos' family. With a firm grip on the branch the blades eat through the stem but when they get to the mixed dead/live mass of little branches they can be ripped out of the operators hand too quickly. I'm going down the route of not chipping dead shoite as the honourable Mr Blair suggests and sharp bladezzz. Why can't the motor be lower? Make it less ungainly to move or tow. Now to change blades...

Pete, When it jams we do all of those things. But believe me, I'm not posting to winge but to generate discussion about improvements. If you don't believe the jamming issue is an 'issue' then more fool you. There are times when 3 grown men and any number of metal bars cannot shift dead thujia twigs from the jammed blades easily (ie) without a chuffing gurt sweary session!

I'd leave a pile in a visible place with a sign saying woodchip for sale £10 per bag then sit back and watch the local scuffers steal it! Ty

Hello, I recall being caught out badly by an old biddy using the 'can you just' method of extortion... A half day turned into a full day and so did her bill. I bligthly thought she understood that extra trees ment extra work = extra money. Never ever say yes unless you give a price or get an under standing. Last 'just can you' I did for a 3 course lunch with wine so some times it can pay. Ty

Well... Pricing is just 'le business' as they say over here. It is all an element of that great sphere known as a free market. Personally, if I hated a competitor enough I'd do a job for free just to put one over him. However, that situation has yet to arrive. A free market is like a lemming migration. Every few years there is a bandwagon of new recruits and wannabees then the prices drop to the point the wannabees those with double mortgages on big chip trucks go under or in the case of a lemming over, leaving only the lean and mean to repeat the cycle a few years later. Its natural selection... simples x

Good grief... Its all a bit nanny state eh? When I'm out cycling I see many dozens of birds and larger animals as road kill. Cat lovers too have lots to answer for, should lock cats indoors to preserve song bird populations. I can't imagine the number of tree surgeons versus the number of other causes of bird deaths statistics but I am willing to bet my willy that its just a drop in a highly principled ocean. If I refused to work on a tree due to a sparrows nest I'd be laughed back across the channel! Plus I'd only lose the job... Not as though every leylandii is home to a nesting sea eagle now is it? Ty

If the Kangoo crewcab came in a 4x4 version then I'd snap it up. I still may do so anyway. My Kangoo is rarely a 'Can't go' and is really fuel efficient. However... we need a meatier machine to tow with. However... for quotes, run around and jobs that just require compact chipping on site then kangoo is ideal. AND its half the price of a 4x4. Ty p.s I have desires for a Ford Ranger Any feedback on these?

Hello, I am going to write to G.M to offer my feedback on the CS100 Of course, I am pleased and proud of my machine. It impresses my clients, surprises my collaborators and no doubt my competitors shake with laughter when they see it on the back of my trailer but rarely do they see it in action. I want to see it improved, so I can buy another only better. The freeing off after jamming is too much effort at times. Lack of really good tie down points. Expensive blades. Where too now? Self propelled auto feed bigger brother but still compact? What if the engine was lower, say below the feed chute and it had 3 wheels with a tow handle to pull it along? Ty

Hello, Yesterday I groundied for my partner and had our biggest grossing day yet at €960 Working like a fury feeding our CS100 trying to keep up with Seb dropping coni all over the show. The chipper jammed twice good and proper with dead dry Thujia twigs. Its a design flaw, a bloody nusiance which cost an hour if down time to fix. The blades need a hatch to access caught material. Still, the thing is on 82h and doesn't often let us down this way. Ty

Morning... Over here, there are many plantations of huge pops, perfectly round with clean trunks. These are garden lombardys with multiple leaders and thousands of little branches on the stems. Today though CONI BASHING for cash k'ching!

Thanks for re-enforcing what I was rather thinking. I will evacuate the wood in rounds and offer it to the poor and needy for free if collected. The chips... Well I always have a market for good clean chips. Ta chaps. Ty

Hello, Just pricing up a job to fell 15 lombardy poplars in a large garden with good road side access. I was just going to bring the wood back to my yard and give it to hard up people in our village. However my potential client believes they are worth money. I personally think any money gained will have to go on reparing the damage done to the garden by whatever machine may be used to extract the logs. So my question is... How much per m3 is it worth?y Thanks in advance. Ty

When in France... Possibly the chainsaw capital of Europe. Almost every one ones a saw and will have a go. Its like some kind of weekend gallic rite to climb a tree in plimsoles smoking a gallois with half tank of muscadet swilling around in your head. Brave bastards I say...

Ladies! Put down your handbags and visit http://www.toyota.au These are the raw prawn mate! 4.8Litre Landcruisers... How to import one of these babies....?

That... Is just the stuff of nightmares and Frenchmen. When I saw a co-worker standing in the hopper kicking lumps into the infeed rollers I decided I couldn't work with these idiots anymore. I imagine there is a specialist company someplace responsible for cleaning up after such incidents. I just wouldn't know where to begin if it was my own machine/employee Imagine the effects on those who must pick up the pieces (no joke to be found here) When my CS100 jams and one of use must crawl into the hopper to free it I always remove the keys... Ty

Hello, Here in French-ville-dans-le-merde lots of 'elageurs' work climbing on their own. They carry their fuel aloft with them too. These guys often harvest the branches of trees along the hedgerows leaving them for the farmer to clear up. I've done a few jobs on my own but use a short rope so its clear of branches lying on it. Much better working with my business partner/groundy/trainee climber. Far more efficient, motivational, safer and professional. I could employ a self employed groundy for say 120-150 per day but prefer to split the take with Seb who having a financial interest in the business works far above call of duty. My advice to you... Get a good loyal mate onboard and give him decent shares. Ty