Taupotreeman

Haha brilliant. Can anyone remember the milk advert with the catchphrase "watch out watch out there's a humphrey about"? and if so would you care to explain what it was all about. I also liked this ad. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5P7KyMLZAY]YouTube - Do it all - advert[/ame]

Nice nice. Did some dry stone walling at college as part of my conservation course but that looks proper smart.

Not even when viewing upside down.

So I'm having a wistful moment and remembering some of the good and the great of TV ads I grew up with in old blighty such as; The readybrek ad, Hamlet etc and thought, just for a bit of fun, I'd see if people out in arb land actually had a favourite tv advert that reminded them of being a kid or just made them smile. This one is my fave from a couple of years ago. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbBx4Ql6Umo]YouTube - Bugger[/ame]

Some of these humourous ones are all good in the first instance but then the humour starts to wear off after a while. I've also found that a lot people associate dodgy workmanship with a humourous company name so if you are going to use one, be original and really think about it first.

Much as I am happy to endorse the use of EPV's, MEWP's or whatever you wish to call them, rigging from them is a wholly bad idea. I was always taught never to use them for rigging, lifting, craining etc. They are designed for one purpose and most usually have a safe working load for a reason. Personally, I wouldn't use an EPV that I know had been used by someone else for rigging etc. In fibre glass booms it has been known to cause hairline fractures which can lead to a catastrophic failure of the boom if it isn't picked up by daily check, acoustic testing etc.

Never really used one. Wasn't keen on the idea of the saw getting jammed in a piece of wood and taking me out of the bucket with it. I had it happen a couple of times and just let the saw go.

Worked with a guy who, when faced with a tree entangled in telecom lines, would put his saw through the lines, deal to the tree and then call telecom at the end of the day and say he'd seen one of their lines down or had seen an over height truck snap them as it drove under. Personally, done one, maybe two phone lines and one LV that I unwittingly dropped a Cedar branch on. Ripped the mounting off the house wall but didn't snap the lines. Cost me a box of beer for the faulty to reattach the the wall mounting

These biggies are becoming an all to regular occurence. Thoughts go out to those affected.

Haha, you'd get more life in a cemetary than in downtown Turangi of a night, believe me.

Does any Friday/Saturday night in the town/city centre count?

What species of Nothofagus?

I've used platforms or EPV's quite a bit at Asplundh and another company. The platforms were truck mounted with a chip bin underneath. Average reach was about 55 feet. They were mainly used for power line clearance (being insulated booms) but came in useful for work such as deadwooding, where access is usually difficult, especially on a large Gum. The newer EPV's used had a reach in excess of 65 feet and Asplundh have some two man versions with a 110 foot reach. If used correctly they are an excellent bit of kit and nothing to do with being lazy. The idea is to make life easier for both the operator, company and client and I don't understand why some arborists are so against them. Personally I would prefer to use one in order to make my life easier on a really tricky job (not to mention safer) rather than go home at the end of the day a creaking aching mess. As for safety; if the daily, weekly and monthly checks are done then they should be safe as houses. The checks daily take about 10 to 20 minutes. The weekly checks would be about an hour or so looking at cables, bearings, shims etc. People are willing to check their climbing ropes, lanyards etc before the start of the job but because it's a piece of metal beneath them they think it should be safe as houses without these same safety checks. During my time using them we only ever had one fail and that was due to the operator not carrying out his safety checks and just filling out the forms without actually getting out of the cab. Had he actually looked he would have seen the cable starting to ping strands.

Well done mate and thanks for your efforts over the last 30 years too.

Does this also possibly show that it doesn't really matter what type of chipper it is (feed bars, emergency stop etc) if you are going through, you're going through unless there is someone else there to stop the machine. A lesson worth learning, from someone elses mistake unfortunately. Good luck to the fella, hope he pulls through OK.

Never heard of using a shove stick? I know we should all be wishing this guy the best at the moment but some people just never learn. This was predictably avoidable.

What an excellent cause and what a shame that you guys actually need to raise money for them. Hope you manage it and a few photos might well be in order for me to salivate over. I'd be keen to join in but it might be a bit far for me to travel, sorry.

Just popped in to my freindly neighbourhood Stihl shop today and they had one of those 192T's in. I have to say, despite in not being a full pro saw, it's incredibly light and for stuff like street tree work, light pruning etc it would be awesome and a lot cheaper than a MS200T. Not so sure about the fuel primer though, I can see that getting popped or busted within the first few days once it's been smacked against a couple of branches and the odd dead stump. Still, I'd be tempted with it as replacement saw for those lighter jobs. Haven't yet seen the 201 or heard anything about it.

Is this the most boring world cup ever should have been the thread title. What's with the 6 or 7 days between games for any particular team? And can any result that pakistan produce be reliable these days? Mind you I'll take a kiwi win anyway we can at the moment. And can somebody please knock those cock sure Ozzies out before I have to watch one more bowler try and stare down one of the opposition.

That limb looks like about a third of the tree. I reckon it would look odd if the whole thing was removed, top heavy and would definately put some stress on the tree. I'd side with mrtree here and look at a reduction of the limb possibly in conjunction with bracing.

I hate to say it but I still work on my own a lot of the time. Mainly for smaller jobs and what we call drop and leave, where there's no clean up. Unfortunately I just don't have enough work to bring in a full time groundy but I do have a part time guy that I use for big jobs, rigging or stuff that's just too dodgy to do alone. And I can certainly sympathise with getting your rope caught up at the bottom of the tree and having to pole slide down using your nads as brakes. And yeah, having a groundy certainly makes life so much easier on the clean up, as does a decent chipper. I felled a humungous Plane once and then spent two days on the clean up breathing in all those horrible little hairs and the dust. That was the turning point for me with the bigger jobs.

I've already dished out a small fortune to the red cross for Christchurch so couldn't afford to donate anymore via the thread otherwise I'd have kept winding em up to see if anyone actually bothered reading it

The march of the Ents. After reading a couple of posts at the weekend I thought I might pay a bit more attention to what was around me and what I take for granted on the way home most days. The photos aren't top quality as I got a bit steamed up in the cab but they are of more old growth forest with new generation coming through below. Several are deader than a dodo and next to a Sate Highway with some serious weight from epiphytes in the canopy but they are left to decay naturally and fall as they wish. If they fall on the highway they are shoved to the side and left to decay on the road margins. Mostly Kahikatea, Rimu, Nothofagus etc. No idea about the self supporting colonies in the canopy. On a misty day they truly look like Ents looming over the road below.

A couple more for you along with some mosses and epiphytes. The mosses were in the upper canopy of a large Kahikatea I was clearing from the power lines, about 40 feet up.

Somebody is going to have a very sore hand. Several more are going to have very sore ears.