Rupe

Even though it was true, there was also in influx of workers from eastern europe so the high paid jobs for brits diminished. Now its all fair game for everybody as long as you stick to the HSE (or german equivelant thereof) which of course the germans are good at.

Thats very old news mate. True in the 80's and 90's maybe but germans are now among the best climbers in the world.

We will fell if we can anchor a winch somewhere. Would only be space for the last 20-25 feet though, so more winching force required. Not sure yet, we'll see. Blockdriver at the ready!

Some more pics

Some pics

Spent the rest of the day driving chips/logs all round the county. Got some video today but had battery problem with the head cam! I forgot to get some more lithiums so had to use energiser standard ones, got 3 shots, about 15 minutes!! Anyway my digital camera has video mode so we used that a bit. Will edit something together, I'm sure. Its a shame cos we did a lot of lifting today getting the heavy branches off. I'll post some pics for now.

Then this is 2pm today ( we missed out friday, rained all day)!!!!

So this is where we were last thurday!

All good mate. Takes 2 ton of logs and a ton and a half on a trailer no worries!

Well. we are a bit overtime already. We lost 2 days last week to weather but I can't count those, they get counted on the days lost per year and every job has to make up for them not just this one, but we did work 3 days last week on it and today so that makes 4 so far. We made good progress today, I'll put some pics/video up soon. All chipping is done and just trunk left, and all wood thats down is gone. We are not back to it until thursday as I have other things that I need to get done, so overall this is dragging on a bit now, but six days total is what I estimated so we could be ok, and if not then the firewood I get will make up for it, but not till next year! I'm doing approx 4 hours climbing a day, the rest is transporting woodchip etc. It takes an hour to unload woodchips, then I get back and fill up with wood which takes 2hrs to unload (different location) we are also selling quite a bit locally as unseasoned wood which is good. Seeing as there is not much work on I can't afford to bring in extra people and vehicles so I'm just ticking along myself. Its surprising what you can do with one truck!

Well I wish that was on youtube Dean, it would be worth a laugh! One of my very early jobs is on youtube, 1994 it was. Very slow but ok. Its all good entertainment.

Me? I'm really not worried Mick, I was entertained so I shared it.

Yeah , I was thinking that, and thouhgt maybe we shouldn't be too harsh. But its still funny, the "saving" the tree bit is best. I guess 15 years on it probably is thriving and the best tree in the garden!

This is good fun. Read the description in full. In fact I'll paste it here......... "Due to the upper limbs of this tree keeping snapping , falling down , damaging lower crown plus public footpath below .This tree was going to be totally removed but we persuaded the customer to save tree if we done work for 25% cheaper than his best quote. The tree is now one of the best feature in there garden and is a thriving habitat for numerous wild life. " [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbIeX4vsgL4&feature=related]YouTube - Unstable 100ft Poplar[/ame] I know my videos aren't exaclty HSE perfect examples, but these guys are out there!

yep, met too. Shows 3 pages when there is only 2?

mine stays pretty much the sam eeach year, if that's waht you mean. To get a significiant increase I would have to run as three man crew more often, thats all. We do too many 2 man half day jobs which I would rather turn down but I can't.

Yes, your right. I'm starting to see improvements even though actual turnover wa sdown last year. Another point though is that % is irrelevan too. Would you prefer 10% of 300k or 30% of 80k ? Even though the first option is higher, I bet that would be a far more stressful existance. 50% of 60k sounds like a far nicer existance than 10% of 300!!!!

And in answer to the original question, my recent tax declaration suggests that I have approx 40% profit.

I think I pay myself peanuts, but I have a nice house and gadgets and a car and can do whatever I want everyday. I'm far better off than people who are actually on minimum incomes.

I thouhgt we are talking percentage profits. It all depends on your overheads. 300 a day with free use of cottage garages and yard on daddy's farm is more profitable than 400 a day renting everything and paying a mortgage, and if yo drive an expensive hp truck or a cheapo all paid for one. Its all variable, the amount you earn per day/year is irelavant. "Turnover is vanity profit is sanity"

I keep seeing this thread and thinking it says "Rupe! Stupid or Ignorant?" Is there a poll? I vote both!

Mine was 70m and I ordered a new 60m by mistake! The company I was workign for paid for it but kept the other two bits of rope in approx. 40 and 20 m lengths. WOuld have been handy for smaller stuff. 70m is only ever really necessary if rigging from a different tree a way away.

my last one got cut in half just before christmas! I did a couple of days for another company and came away with a brand new rope!

Sawdust will be a pain!! Beech always seems to produce little woodchip cos of all the gaps betweent branches but this one was as dense as beech hedge!! The guy that lives there had it crown lifted in 1952 and not a thing since! He actually crown lifted it himself with a wire saw on a wire! Top old geyser!

I had to go and look at the orginal footage to see. Nearly!. Ther eare two pegs that I left by mistake and it heads towards them and would have got stuck. My groundie is too good though, and he held it and let it swing back away form them before lowering. The lowering point is away from the stem so it wanted to swing back away from those pegs. Then after that is the one for the goofs video, then I had a word with myself and made a bit more effort!! Not had much hang up this time, but whne it does the GRCS really comes into action. Of course preventign hang up in the first place is better.