Big 'Ammer

Pete, it was a fun day. Dave, there were a few strange creaks and groans from the tree, the Matador, and Derek, the owner, huffing and puffing whilst steering the old girl!

Here's the tree. Here's the splash. Here's the winch! Here's the state of the nasty, rotten, sideleaning, split kelter.

Here's one that involved a winch.

Well done! Experience is a good school. Carry on like that and they will get easier every time. And the easier they get, the faster you'll do 'em, the more you'll enjoy it, the more you'll earn. Not sure about the two 12 tonne trailer fulls of chips, mind.

News just in! A man has been found battered to death in Glasgow. Bloody Jocks will deep fry anything!

That's amazing! Imagine what Plymouth must be like.

Years ago, we were working on a pitch and putt golf course and there were people round all the time, so nowhere to take a leak. The best place was to stand inbetween the wheels of the County. The new lad came back with fish and chips at dinner, just after one of us had been. "Is that tractor losing diesel?" He put the food down on the log we were sat on and goes over, bends down and wipes his finger in the puddle, smells it and says "Its not diesel, it must be antifreeze?"

Nice work on the ash. Do you now have to take the staff welfare unit on the right of the tree to every job on the back of the lorry? Is it one of the requirements of being an AAAC, Simon? I suppose you can't just pee on the chips in the back of the truck anymore.

Good man! Hope you dug the spade on the Cookes right in 'til the back wheels were off the ground too!

Sounds very fair IMO. Specially if your going to be training him up further. He wants plenty of experience from ground level first anyway.

Just seen that on the news.

Give Beaver Plant at York a ring. Alan will probably have something to suit. 01759 372552

Great job! You didn't drop the pine on the tennis court did you? Looks a bit flat.

Some skilled work there.

Ask if I could have the firewood?

Nice one! I bet your grandad has some great stories.

Like the new avatar Pete. Is it an action shot of you gaffing out on a pruning job?

My bad.

Rate my minge?

AA contractors from York.

That's a great set of pics, Ace. Wish we got some jobs like that these days, good times. It was a long drag, so like stevie mentioned, how come Grandad didn't move the cable up a bit? Is your Cooks the one speed one? The one I used to use was a two speed, like Logologists' on here. We had a little smooth shoe in the centre of the anchor so that you could slacken off the wire, drive on a bit and lift the anchor, back up slowly taking the wire in slack and then wind in a few inches to lift the butt off the floor slightly. Then you could skid it out with your front wheels in the air! If you got to a sticky bit you could still drop the anchor and drive on and winch, without having to get off and reset the cable. I often didn't bother with chainsaw pants when I was on and off the tractor and dressing out butts dozens of times a day, they were uncomfortable. In an unrelated piece of small thinning work, when I was on my own, I stumbled backwards in a divot and clouted my left thigh with a 254 on the run off. The chain brake came on and it went through to the last layer of material. All I got was a bruise. I shudder to think of the consequences if I had only had jeans on. It happens that quick. That was 13 years ago. I've always worn ppe trousers since. Modern chainsaw pants are stretchy and comfortable, there's no excuse for not wearing them nowadays, no matter how old school cool Grandad is. Take care and enjoy your work.

Use a mewp? Pay someone else to prune it? Theres a couple of lazy options.

I've just got a dog off a blacksmith. We got it home and it made a bolt for the door.....

When I was felling for timber, it was drummed in to me to cut as low as possible with a small gob, and waste nothing. But we were felling for the timber value and had plenty of tackle, big winchs etc on the job. It is very rare nowadays that I get the luxury of felling a large, sound tree. 99% of the large trees I fell have something wrong with them. The approach you take has to have a different focus. We are already being paid to remove these trees, timber value comes way down the priority list and if there is any, its a bonus. Knowing where to cut, when to cut and when to stop cutting is different for every tree in arb, whereas a more general, standard method can be used for most forestry work, IME. The timber merchant who taught me, used to say, "The tree will tell you where it wants cutting." The longer I am at it, the more I agree.

All down safely away from the wires. Can't beat a tractor and winch for jobs like that.