Big 'Ammer

Bob came over last week to give us a hand with an elm t/d. It was a big old tree and it gave us a chance to put the 'Arborcom' Bluetooth earmuffs through another field trial. Bob climbed and I was on the lowering rope, Dave and Chris on tag line and chipper duties. The job went very smoothly indeed and Bob was a pleasure to work with. He never wasted a single step or movement, appearing unhurried but with an immense workrate. It was nice to not work with the usual shouts, waves and whistles over saw and chipper noise, and it made a very pleasant and sociable day mixing work related conversation throughout the day with general chat, whilst putting a lot of work away at the same time. I was in a garden unsighted to Dave and Chris who were in an access road lower than the garden , behind some tall shrubs. Bob and I could coordinate each cut and the lowering and he could direct me as to what the others were doing from up in the tree. There are a few issues with the headsets which need sorting out, but overall they were very good indeed for a job like this. It stayed dry until the climbing was finished, too! Heres a few pics.

Was it part of your method statement to have a female chaperone, leaning against the wall in picture 2 , to make sure you guys didn't peep through the upstairs windows into the ladies changing rooms in Next?

Its not the groundy is it?

91 vx or Stihl pm. Just run out of Oregon, just got a deal on Stihl. Once you are comfortably experienced with a topper in a tree, then you won't use the recommended ramped safety chain that comes on 200t's saws as new.

Very occasionally, I will sharpen a new chain prior to use, but only ever on a long bar where I need to cut something really fast. Normal 15" -20" chains I don't bother, as I will give them I tickle up after the first tank full. They always cut better after the first sharpen. Stihl .325 chain is very good, but I find it far too aggressive when new, tries to take too much off and can be a pain stalling the chain in the cut. The secret to low vibration and smooth cutting is nicely profiled rakers IMO. Find the sweet spot and then maintain it at that by eye. I had some Windsor chain to try along with 18 Stoner and McSarnie, and it definately needed sharpening before use, but once done is giving good service.

Cutters first, then rakers every time. I do it by eye. Following damage from metal or whatever and the chain needs resetting, I will use a depth gauge. The key to fast cutting and low vibes however is the profile of the raker - make them rounded and smooth.

Cheers for the replies guys. I have a 440 Magnum and it goes real well with no aftermarket mods. Seems to have a bit 'more' over the standard one?

We have an ash to do that shed a limb last week in the heat. Seems to happen mainly on ash and horse chestnuts around here. Years ago we were working at a zoo on a very hot, humid and windless day, and heard an enormous crash. We thought it was a traffic accident at first. We went to have a look see and a huge horse chestnut in the middle of the llama enclosure had shed a massive limb, about 1/3 of its crown. It was hilarious, as the tree was in the middle of the field and all the terrified llamas were doing a 'wall of death' around the perimeter fence and couldn't get out. It was like when the cowboys circle the wagons when the the indians attack!

Al, following on from 18 Stoners 192 thread.... What's the technical differences between a stock Stihl 440 and a 440 Magnum? Cheers, Nige.

Sorry to hijack yer thread Pete. Thanks for the answer on the 038 magnum Al. I always wondered what the difference between that and the standard saw was. We used to have a 038 Magnum at my old place of work, it was robust and reliable, if a bit heavy. I used to keep it on the winch tractor for dressing out the bits hidden on the underneath side of the logs which appeared when you rolled them out.

So 7 hrs at £60 = £420 £420 x 4 days a week = £1,680 £1,680 x 40 weeks work a year = £67,200 Just under the £68 K vat threshold! So it can be done!!! But then, 4 days a week for three quarters of the year sounds a bit 'part - time' to me..... Only kidding mate! They are your numbers, though.

Don't be doing a full weeks work at £60 / hour then Dean, just stay a part- timer or you'll have to start putting the vat on....... Sorry wrong thread!!! :001_tongue:

038 was the predecessor of the 044 / 440 Pete, about 68cc.

Havn't done it for ages, probably several years since, for crossing a wide crown. Where I used to work , we had a 'very basic amount' of kit and it was something we came up with in the field once to solve an access problem. Its a lot more ergonomic when you don't use 3 strand! As an extra work positioner, maybe 2 or 3 times a year, its a handy little trick.

Obviously it never went up then. Internet was useless yesterday. Apologies David. I just said that I had done that with an extra prussic on the free end of the rope before, and close up it made a handy third positioning device.

Why was my post yesterday removed?

Good stuff!

Lech Walesa?

Any pics of the tree Russell?

Didn't really go to buy anything.... but came away from Jonsie's with a helmet for someone else, some chainsaw trousers for Dave and a revolver Krab to try out. Cheers for the prussic cord and the beers Justin, it was nice to meet you. Then got a a very good deal on some spare blades from Saturn machine Knives. Treated myself to a little wind meter too, for a bit of cherry picker envelope pushing fun!!! Nice to catch up with a few people off here too.

All the best to you and the Mrs, Frank.

:scared1:

I picked up a pair of Arborcom headsets yesterday. Viking Communications at York have very kindly lent me a set to demo for a couple of weeks. We tried out a pair of their earmuff mounted ones on Friday and were well impressed. They ordered a helmet mount set from Norway that afternoon and they arrived in the post yesterday. You can set them up in pairs or bluetooth to a phone. 250 metre range . Rechargeable, with 8 hours constant use apparantly. My only niggle with a morning's use so far is that they dont quite 'clamp' onto your head as well as the spring arrangement on our normal muffs. But these guys want actual feedback from use in the field, so improvements can be made if needed. I'm going to give them a fair trial and let everyone on here know how we get on with them. So far we are very impressed, the noise reduction and clarity is exceptional. Bit overkill for run of the mill stuff, but will be excellent for crane jobs, roadside stuff with TM, and anything like winching where there is no clear line of sight. Home

Stevie only puts the good stuff through the chipper on the front.

How will you be attaching these 9" rings to the crane?