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Will Ayers

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Everything posted by Will Ayers

  1. oh and as for firing him... i meant that in the same way as Matty F did in giving him a big talking to! sorry for upsetting you skyhuck!
  2. okay so as a new guy or an outsider do you think you'd just know what was going on and where things were instantly? no chance hence the ORGANISED! i like to know where everyone and everything is on my sites so this doesnt happen but a new lad???? you know where is was coming from, surely?
  3. well..... my findings are as follows! love the spiderjack for climbing up... and from here on in i dont see any benefits. in fact there is a slight negative when it comes to change overs, its a bit fiddly IMO. i have given it a good go and i do love the fact that there is zero sit back while climbing up but i dont think benefits outweigh the cost. i'd certainly reccomend it to any one to try out and if you have a stash of cash that needs to go missing.... if they were closer to £30 i'd probably find i used it all the time!
  4. i bet your not paying him much? if he is a keen young lad and is willing to work for not alot then i'd suggest sitting him down and telling him that.... "although the mistake he made was a big one, and by rights he should be fired, you think he's a good lad worth keeping and that you'll foot the bill this time. make sure theres not a next time!" think back to when you were that lad what would a knock like that do to your confidence? i'd try and teach him not punish him... arb sites are often an organised chaos...for a newbie there is a hell of alot going on. IMO the others on site should look out for the mistakes this lad might make.
  5. cheers for the quick delivery and the SWEETS!
  6. i bet... like the ropeguide... they can with a bit of faff and imagination! but i rarely bothered with a ring saver before... if you were that bothered you could install a ringsaver and then put in your pulleysaver when you are up there
  7. cheers for posting all of this Stephen. i have had to make this decision three times in my life, i dont know how i'll cope when the lab bitch i have now has to go. she isn't even 2 yet but i couldnt wish for a better friend... my thoughts are with you.
  8. i just placed an order with them for a new rope and bits and bobs, fingers crossed for a fast delivery but more importantly... a bundle f sweets!
  9. well.... you need to have a wide enough client base and not rely on the one firm... £80 a day sounds like an employed wage not a freelance day rate. you need to be able to proove that you can do that much more work for the money, get the days job done in a day and perhaps the next days too i'm always nervous when putting up my rates, and to be fair when i did it last year i didn't hear from one guy for a few months, but since then i have shown him what i can do in a day and he's using me more than ever!
  10. well as has been said before it really is a tricky question. when i cam out of college with no experience i was earning £90 a day. it slowly (over 3/4 years) crept up to £130 a day and i add on more for millage for my far away customers. i feel this is a wage where i can get by comfortably and the guys that employ me are still getting a good deal for there money. but for that i bring my own saws, climbing gear, rigging gear and pull lines etc, so that as Steve says... you can take on any job. you need to be able to make alot of money for these guys until they are going to invest the 130 - 150 a day. it can be a slow old road but think of what you need to make not what you think people will be prepared to pay, more often than not people will be prepared to pay what you think you are worth. oh and people do have to put up with my labrador sitting in my truck as well, unless there is no way she can come at all.
  11. so today was the first day with the SJ Steve has loaned me. i had a pair of beech trees to reduce by 30% the first one was fairly big and wide spreading and the second one was smaller and really congested in the crown. i had a nice long ascent to my first anchor point and really appreciated how smooth running the Spider Jack is on ascent, there after i had another 10ft or so to get to my top anchor and it did bug me a bit that you have to fiddle with that bit of Velcro every time you change over, but soon realised that you needn't bother with it if its only a short distance before the next changeover. on the way out to my first lateral i had a few difficulties, i found it jerky and imprecise and rather unnerving i also found it alot easier to operate with my right hand than with my left. i also found that i was using my glove more than the wooden brake and frequently smelled the burning rubber (cost of gloves now weighing on my mind??) but as the job wore on i did get the hang of it by the time a came out for tea at 10 i had got alot more confidence in the smooth use of it. the SJ in conjunction with the art rope-guide is a joy to work with. i still find that it is easier to operate with my right hand where as the VT is a completely ambidextrous thing so all in all, having tried it for a day, i have a good idea as to the application and use of a SJ. i will keep on using it for a couple of weeks. will i buy one? well for me, the benefits are struggling to outweigh the cost so far, but i will persevere and let you all know how i get on over the next few weeks oh and both reductions looked amazing.... even if i do say so myself!!
  12. that said i have been employed by a firm and got given the boot when the work dried up with them.. along with quite a few other guys. since then i have been self employed and i love it!
  13. thats a lovely one! i had a huge hazrd beam in a chestnut the other day! i had great visions of taking it home and planting something in it or using it as a natural sculpture..... and our young lad BEN.H put his saw straight through the middle of it!! gutted!
  14. oooh bet that tingles a bit matey!? not nice at all! hope it doesn't take too long to go down mate!
  15. perhaps print a couple of the photo's off and pin them around the place with thief written all over it!
  16. Gränsfors Bruks heres a link if your interested
  17. i love my gransfors bruks scandi forest axe for small stuff at home, they do a large splitting axe which looks lovely
  18. i think being adaptable is a good thing, i do hate being without some stuff, and i confess to getting gear ready the night before work so i know it's all ready to go, but if i sat and organised my gear for hours i'd self combust! right now there is a ropeguide and line hanging from my banisters, my lanyard is in bits on the livingroom floor, my topper has its guts out all over the coservatory and my climbing bag looks like a nest of ropes and biners! but im not working tomorrow so it doesnt bother me one bit! i used to get sooo frantic about gear but i just dont panic nowadays! and im a messy guy so i suppose its horses for courses!
  19. i find i am like that with rock climbing gear more than i am with tree gear... i thnik that is because there is a set way to rack gear up on your harness so i rack it the same in storage. i also seperate crag gear from indoor wall gear. but with tree work, i have a rigging bag with all my rigging gear in, my climbing bag with all my climbing gear in and anything i leave behind i can make do without!
  20. i get the application of it robarb but i just cant get my head around srt as a working line??? been climbing too long on ddrt!
  21. ah mate thats a terrible start! a bad few days doesn't spoil a year mate!
  22. i think i'll take it one step at a time the rope wrnech may stay in the kit bag for a few days as i want to get comfortable with the SJ first... cant really get my head around the rope wrench it all seems a bit odd!
  23. no worries mate! there must be someone nearer to you? common guys, pay it forward!
  24. so i now have a SJ and a ropewrench in the house! if it werent so windy i'd go out and give it a go, maybe tomorrow! cheers Steve!

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