Will Hinchliffe

looks cool, not seen it before cheers.

Thanks for posting the doccument Tony. I thought the document was interesting reading and has the potential to be very useful. I thought it was quite relaxed and ambiguous. I did some tree safety surveying 3 years ago as a layman, and think I would have found it useful. I dont think I really qualify to coment any further than that on the document or on Chriss Hastie's reply. I think I would like to do more saftey surveying in the future but at the moment the thought of writting reports and surveys puts me in a spin.

Yeap!

Cheers Tiago, I will try and get myself in gear and look for a grant. Thanks for the offer of a lift share to Westonbirt Nick Im going to reconsider Westonbirt. Still not made up my mind, logistics and economics. Will

We use the hobbs block a lot, its a fantastic tool. I reckon we are pretty slick with it. It gets quite hot sometimes if you are letting loads of big pieces run and sometimes the rope can get a bit glazzed. Is it correct that you can pack the GCRS bollard with ice? What would the effect be of having a coolant (water) sprayed onto the rope and drum? Also some one told me about a capstan that was slowed by air paddles, it is used to evacuate buildings sounds cool. Dave the dog your capstan winch looks great.

Id probably love it to!

Does anyone know who sells the chest harness and braces for the tree austria harness. Would like to check them out.

I cant believe people get rained off! I reckon a bit of stoicism its all part of the fun, character building.

The danish pie cut was explained to me the other day but I have not tried it yet, its nothing revolutionary or new but I can see it has its applications. Its a normal felling cut with a little bit of holding wood left at the back. you stick your wedges in then just make a small cut directly bellow the holding wood (step cut type thing). Should prevent it going over early. Any one use this? Could be used in the tree to gain a safe position before launching something down.

Yesterday my work mate was leaning on a screen in a casual and stylish manner while I was stump grinding and the screen collapsed. He fell on top of the cutting arm of the stump grinder, no injuries but my heart stopped. Respect the exclusion zones.

Didnt even get it first time. ha ha ha

Shame the tree had to go but looks like it was taken down in very professional and efficient way. Nice work, the hiab looks just the job.

Went to Winchester Garden Machinery today and tried loads of harnesses. Really good service and patience. I came away with a tree austria 1. It fitted me much better than the others and although it doesn't have as much adjustment as some the bridge seems to be in just the right place for me. Can not wait to use properly and put the evolution into retirement. I found that the tree flex when adjusted small enough for me bunched all the bridge up. Even with loads of adjustment and playing around with it I couldn't get it set up right. I think they need to make an extra small one. Really liked the kolibri as well it was a tough decision but the tree austria was just so comfy. Thanks for the advice from this and other threads and thanks to my boss for paying for it. Will:001_smile:

Great site. Addictive though?

So my harness has passed its loler but I have been advised to replace it. Its a Komet Evolution and has ware on the belt and on the webbing that attaches to the steel rings for the bridge. Im going to try to go to Winchester garden machinary (never been before) tommorrow to try on some harnesses probably the treeflex, skylotek, Tree Austria and whatever else they have. I need a harness that's suitable for all kinds of tree work and durable. Any thing I should look out for? Im quite keen on the skylotek Is the treeflex durable enough for daily climbing?

who's got the biggest ladder?

Pro ladder

So are caddies the way to go then? I will have to look into them.

I carry a firs aid kit on my harness always, doesn't get in the way to much and hopefully i will never use it. A bit daft not having one really.

Warm water is best if your exerting yourself, its less of a shock to the system. Might not be everyone's cup of tea though.

I purchased a hitchclimber pulley at the aa show in cirencester and have been using it daily since then. I love it. I use it with beeline friction cord, a ISC mighty mouse 4 way crab and a Petzl OK triact crab. I have tried it with really short distel and short knut hitchs and also with a longer knut, I loved the shorter hitches but found that the eyesplice would catch on the top of the hitch and hold it open. I think a lower profile crab and splice would probably sort this out and also maybe some stiffer friction cord. I have found that i like a nice long VT the best with the system. I had the Petzl OK triact crab open on me in the tree when I dragged it over a limb:scared1:. This is due to the design of the lock on the gate. On other crabs the up and twist movements are defined by 90 degree edges cut into the gate but on the triact gate its a 45 degree edge that makes the twist push the gate open . I really like the ISC quad lock crab:001_smile: supper safe. Ive tried a few of the more advanced setups and love the versitility of it. I tried putting a sling with a crab in it near my cambium saver and clipped the tail of the rope through the crab then descended out of the tree. When you go to ascend again. you just haul yourself up with the 3:1 advantage you have set up. Its really fast and might save some energy but just a bit of fun really. I have found that with the longer vt I have to reach really far to pull down. This is due to having an excessively long bridge on my harness. So my next refinement is going to be to shorten the bridge on my harness. I cant see any problem with girth hitching a sling to the top hole of the hitch climber and then clipping the eye splice to the other end to stop it interfering with a short hitch. Anyone tried this? Anyway hope someone found this interesting. My girlfriend just started laughing at me when she read what I was typing over my shoulder.

Id like to try other spikes and pads but never get the opportunity to try more modern ones. Not that im complaining about the bashlins. Looks like you get some nice jobs.

I've not tried the gekos but I love the bashlins with twisted shanks and big leather pads. I can wear them all day with no problems and would recommend giving them a go.

Thegreatbigtreeclimbing looks great. Good luck with it.

Excelent video. Amazing job. When he climbs the pole does he throw one flipline around after the other to progress it up the tree? I struggle when i throw fliplines around large trunks (I dont think linking two 3m ones with a mailon helps) but he makes it look easy. I guess thats all his hours on spikes. Im probably missing a few tricks to Big dead trees brilliant.