Big 'Ammer

If in doubt, you shouldn't be doing it at all!

On one hand, this is a good idea. A bloke saw us working on a site and came up and introduced himself, said he was after some subbing work and was all insured and ticketed up. I gave him a trial of a couple of days and now he subs to me fairly regularly. On the other hand, a few years back, same scenario out on a site, while a bloke was asking the boss for work, I am running down the road after his mates with a couple of saws out the back of the truck, whilst the first bloke was doing the distraction. Go figure?

Bet they're all "warm" !

Used to have a hilux and trailer for feeding pheasants and weekend jobs, when I was employed. Like the rest, started properly with a LDV 400 with greedy sides in ex council yellow!

Arb Related Bollocks? Think about it Ask about it Learn about it Know about it!

Go on then John, I'll make the numbers up!

Some years ago a mate found one in a sale and bought it for next to nothing, it was silver and a McConnell I think. We piped it up and stuck a bar and chain on and it went, but that was about it, very numb and heavy with the pipes etc. Went back into the next sale. Suppose you could have made a cheap small processor with it maybe.

Limescale in the kettle. In the old days they used to drill out a log and put a 12 Bore cartridge in and seal the end with dowel and put it on the stove....... whoops, wrong thread!

Ho ho! Great fun. Takes me back to when we had the old super major and cookes winch, wind up the anchor and slowly take up the slack and lift the log off the floor and off you go on the back wheels with back tyres down at 7psi for more grip! Yee har!

I hang the saw on my right and run the free end of the rope through a small minder pully clipped to the left of the harness with a dog lead clip that rotates. Rope never snags on a sharp saw or hangs between legs for spikes to catch. Also it acts as a fairlead so you don't get the rope coming into the friction knot at funny angles when you're moving around the tree. Paying attention is the best advice however.

I'm in.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

You'll either love it or hate it! the Transit wears PR0 4RBO. The novelty value has attracted more business than the cost of the plate. When I'm old and sick of tree work, some young buck somewhere will want it on his tree van and I'll take the profit.

I was relieved to be made redundant from an office job I hated at the end of 1992. Tossed it off for three months beating on local shoots and a bit of casual farm work. I answered an ad in the local rag, "Tree Surgeon requires assistant" Didn't know what tree surgery was about but went along and got the job! Previously, I had worked in a sawmill for a year and on farms plenty and had achieved the tree climbing badge when in the cub scouts.

I realised something serious was up when I passed 18 Stoner coming back from Beverley at 8.10 am! Don't know if this was cos he been picking up McTree or more sarnies at the bakers in town! The big fella doesnt usually start till 9 ish!

Don't faff about with twigs and paper like ray mears etc. quickest way to boil the kelly is some fresh sawdust/shavings and a glug of chain oil and splash of 2 stroke mix, boils in about 2 1/2 mins.

Make a fresh one as you want it, we take a kelly Kettle with us. Genarally though, I just stick two bags in the flask and pour in boiling water and take the milk in a separate pot.

Waiters friend. Opens beer and wine as well.

This wasn't what I meant when I said 'put another log on'.

If you're determined to have a go, then the best of luck to you, however as rightly pointed out, it is a bad time to be starting out in a service business. I would disagree in part, to stockers advice however. You will have no choice but to start small anyway. Don't spend much. But, do not quote low, quote sensibly. If you quote too low you will discourage some customers as they won't see you as a serious business. Or you will be running all over the place working for nothing and wearing your kit out in the process. You will never make any additional money over wages to add to or replace equipment. And if you only get a few jobs a month you'll soon go bust. If you quote a sensible amount for a days work and only get a few jobs a month at least you'll eat. By not quoting low you will not start a price cutting war in your area, with you as the first casualty, against more established businesses. My twopenneth anyway!

Done. Best wishes to Chris for a speedy recovery.

Nice one Dean. I have set mewps up in some awkward places too. I set an 18 up on a lawn which had been under water for five weeks after the 2007 floods, this was the feb this year, and your feet still sunk and squelched when you walked on it! Leapfrogged trailer ramps to walk it down to the site and then set the legs up on them at 90 degrees like snow pattens. Worked fine it never moved an inch. Pushed one leg down on the grass to see what it was like and it just squeezed straight into the ground!

There are 1599 members of this forum. If we all donated a fiver, only the price of two pints, thats £8000 to help Chris and his family. Come on guys, its not much, think if it was you.

Pholiota squarrosa. Sent to me by a customer.

Well I think its a funny picture! Fox won't mind as its already dead. I am sure Basil didn't shoot the fox specifically for the purpose of creating a humerous picture.