Ty Korrigan

61m3 of chip from 100 leylandii bordering a college on council land to be done during half term. I tried arranging for my client, a council, to get this done for free by a bio-mass company but the trees would have needed to remain stacked until May or June to dry out before chipping. As this is a pressing development, new skatepark, this was not possible. So the parks dept asked if I could quote and even kindly told me how much the competition had quoted some years before which made life easier though my own calculations came in lower anyway. I've subbed the stumps out to a man with a Bandit SG 74 so I'm spared 5 days behind the bars of my B20...

There is certainly more investment in sites in France. Waste disposal is easier though selling scrap is now highly reglemented. Scrappy prints a cheque, no cash transactions, business need to open an account. In all my dealings with them, even ones I quite liked, they are all to a man, bred to the idea that ordinary people are there to be exploited and that is literally a God given right according to their traditions. I'm occasionally taken for a gypsy even by Gendarmes, working with my brown skinned wife, The Afghan when he was around and Komatsu Clive who really does look the part so now doesn't wash his white van, no gypo would drive a dirty vehicule. Most of the real crime though around here is Romanian Roma based, not French 'Gens de voyage' Last Summer I gave a witness statement involving a Roma gang. They had been engaged in distraction thefts here on this sheltered housing project we live on. They are easy enough to spot. I know beauty is subjective but... The large catalogue of mug shots I was shown of rogue Roma looked like a couch casting for Orcs in Lord of the Rings. The Gendarmes credited over 80% of all theft in our town down to one group of Roma. A few days later I chased another door knocker off attempting to gain access by selling ordinary sponges and wipes from a satchel.

I never see a French 'pikey' with a chipper. I put this down to the logistics of an extra towing vehicule, local green waste tips that are easier to access and the French gypos general maniac level of hygiene which makes them stand out from regular tree surgeons. Every gypo tipper or flat bed looks like showroom condition. When I had a groundscare contract for the local council run gypsy site, the men were either out in the grift or washing their caravans and vehicules. They looked at our truck with disgust.

I wish a Manouche would pinch that bloody 150P from the mechanics yard and end our suffering at the hands of Briggs.

Cheers Swinny. Signing for the house in a few weeks but the final 'act de vente' won't be until May. Half way between where we live now and Mont St Michel. It is only just habitable in the Summer months, zero insulation, no plaster, just bare stone and wood. Ideal as I won't need to strip anything much out. It did once have spiral stairs but only the curved stonework of the wall remains. It will be a couple of years before we can move into it. There is a date on a lintel, 1675 or 1615, hard to tell but the neighbours is of the same age and has a 'garderobe' toilet still present on the back wall. I found it after working for the neighbour and almost bought it back in the Summer but the sage of our Efi engined chipper meant that funds had to be diverted to buying a new chipper so we let the idea of a house purchase drop. THEN... I Last month I noticed that it was still for sale at a reduced price and so we made an offer not really believing it would be accepted. My wife is sick with anxiety, we have zero reserves now except what I can earn and so need that 150P back running in order to sell it so we can pay ourselves back and buy materials and sewage system for this Summers renovation-fest.

Funds will never really allow for a larger machine. I recently crunched the figures. 142 hours in 3 years 6 months. A very profitable 142 hours but insufficient to warrant the investment in a larger machine. I was very close to buying something this year but we've decided that a house of our own is more important. Instead, I've found a guy who runs a new Bandit 75 and just does stumps and is keen to fill his books (a rare thing here) so he'll be doing my 50 conifer stumps instead which as just doubled to 100 at the request of the town hall. Hopefully he'll do all my larger stumps in less sensitive situations (unless I invest in some ground mats.) A bit like hedge cutting, I feel happy to let stumps go to another in order to concentrate on pruning work and removals. Stuart

This Euc was back in the Summer and was about 50min grind with 20 min prep and 30min clearup taking barrows of chip out to the truck. It still ran smoothly then, the vibration issue is really quite recent.

I run a wee grinder, FSIB20. Had an hour clock installed since new and now shows 142 hours. For the last 10 hours or more I've noticed that my hands have suffered painfull aches after about an hour. Painfull to the point I thought I really couldn't continue using a handlebar machine. I first put it down to grinding in the cold and wet but now I've come around to the idea that the real cause is the side play in the bearings. Despite being enthusiastic with the grease gun, grinding is certainly not as smooth these days when I think about it. The rubbers in the bars are still good though and I will buy a pair of gel gloves So I've ordered a set of bearings from my local engineering shop who will extract and refit them for me, as I've a 50 stump marathon coming up. In terms of bearing wear, what is average for a pedestrian grinder? We managed 450 with a Carlton 4012 until the side play became too great and the belt shredded, bearings still ran smooth regardless. Stuart

I was considering one for the Ifor tipper, mounted to the draw bar if skinny enough and easily removable. I see a French company advertising in a FB group offering a high side 3.5t tipper converted for a mere €27'000. Upon closer inspection it does appear to be a knuckle boom. Claims a ton lift. Stuart

You sure you are feeling O.K tonight?

O.K, I'll look at that. Thanks

Or why don't I just Google harder? Because asking on here creates a conversation from which I might learn things. You O.K tonight Mr Dempsey? Is the responsibility of GM150 ownership getting you down? You could just call GM direct instead of asking on here... See what I mean? Stuart

Any one know the approximate price of one of these? WWW.MAXILIFTCRANE.COM

Mel Gibson used Zomax chainsaws in Fury Road...

How are the ones I delivered from France doing? Post Brexit phytosanitaire regs have put a stop to private individuals importing plants. Stuart

The stump size is only limited by the operator.

Well, you've all heard of the Great Springfield tyre fire in the Simpsons... Stuart

Hello Mick, Our 150P did this. With our 150P the kick back now won't occur until the hydro oil is warm so no putting in big lumps for the first few minutes. It's a good feature that pulls lumps back from the flywheel so the revs mount faster but the box is a bit tempermental and needs fine adjusting. Sharing and discussing these quirks is all part of happy GM ownership. Stuart

Interesting thread, thanks. Although I enjoy the idea of pruing fruit trees, my own but I dislike intensely doing it for clients who are often strangely attached to the most unfortunate trees. I often get asked to but almost always reject the work apart from cherries which are less disagreable to work on. I also won't get involved in previously hatracked trees unless a removal. Clients mostly demand that their neglected fruit trees are pruned hard because the fruit is out of reach. It takes alot of talk time to convince them that reducing it to a hatrack will not bring them bushels of fruit. I could talk about the merits of a regular pruning regime but there is little money to be made from this service which they see as low value work. When I'm retired, I might consider a side hustle in fruit tree pruning to bolster my meagre pension. Clients here often insist that treat the wounds with 'cicatrisant' which is ,mostly bees wax, thoughts and prayers. On a pre-covid visit to the U.K, I saw my sister had used the local tree surgeon who had transformed their large mature Brambley into a complete sphere. It really was quite striking in it's perfection and must have take many hours to achieve using secateurs as they paid a couple of hundred for this. My brother-in-law was made up with it and laughed when I told them that there will be no fruit for a year and in a couple of years it will be almost double the size. I am sad to write that I was right and they had to buy their cooking apples from Tesco and the tree turned into a massive ball of skinny shoots even quicker than I predicted. Stuart

I have a 3.5t Ifor tipper which carries it very well. Alloy floor though so I need to be careful with logs.

I run a budget tractor, 26hp Solis. It can only lift about 150kg in the bucket but that is enough for my needs. It acts as a tow tug for the chipper, moves rounds, brash and the 3.5t winch is great for ragging over conifers and pulling them to the chipper. Quite fun to use and has been really usefull though at times I do wish I had bought a larger machine. Stuart

Do you know the UK 'dealer' price by chance?

Does any-one know the current U.K prices of any of the following machines: FSI B28 Bandit SG40 Predator 38X(Sold as Laski over here) Vermeer 292, 362 and just so I can dismiss it from my wish list the 382 Cheers Stuart

I'm 52 today. My chipper is 55 (hours) and has not broken down. Milestones eh? Stuart

So much...jealousy...lol!