monkeybusiness

Salix is willow, not poplar. What do you need it for out of interest? I’d have thought it would be crap for a carver.

Is it still attached to the root plate? If so please leave it alone and at least get someone experienced to sever it.

The customer is always right - if they absolutely want a certain spec then we will deliver, no problem. I’m just saying that I’d explain the benefits/negatives of their spec (and be very clear about how minimal a benefit they will achieve if reducing properly) before undertaking any work. A large tree properly reduced by 30% is still a large tree - if it starts at 100 feet tall it is unlikely to be anywhere near 70 feet once complete (more like 85-90 feet finished height). I’ve used 100 feet to simplify the maths). I’ll stand by my convictions that proper reductions are very often (not always) a waste of time.

So talk them out of spending the money then - it’s protected for a reason and such a tiny reduction benefits nobody, does nothing for the health of the tree and is spec’d by the TO to get it off their desk and be seen to have allowed some pruning work.

I’d say that example is definitely something you should accept. Why should the farm be restricted in their business activities because the new bloke next door has his own ‘Good Life’ ideology and doesn’t like the smell? A mate bought and reopened a lovely rural pub that had been closed for a couple of years. A neighbour who had moved in during the closed period constantly complained (to no avail fortunately) to the local authority about noise and cooking smells (yet had chosen to buy a house next to a pub!). What a plum!

I talk a lot of people out of doing any work at all to their trees. Retention all the way as far as I’m concerned - wherever possible leave trees alone with absolutely no intervention at all. We do reduce trees, and obviously undertake plenty of crown cleans etc. What I don’t agree with is trying to make a small tree out of a big tree - it’s a total waste of time and money most of the time. I see loads of pics/posts of arborists undertaking pointless reductions (some very good, others as in this case not good at all) and largely come to the conclusion that the customer has wasted their money, and the arborist should have (morally and professionally) talked them into a different spec (including ‘do nothing’). Don’t get me wrong - I used to get great satisfaction looking at a tree I’d reduced nicely, and in some cases it is still the right solution (screening trees for example). But a lot of reductions are totally unnecessary money-earners as far as I’m concerned.

The bulk of our pruning tends to be at ground level, we don’t ‘sell’ many reductions to customers. Big tree in the wrong place - pay once and put something more suitable in or leave it alone. Margaret - you’ll be spending the same money on that tree every couple of years until you finally get sick of it and bite the bullet to remove it. Plenty of ‘arborists’ will happily keep taking your money. Spend once more, get it out and plant something lovely would be my advice.

I don’t think the arborist ‘pruning’ a tree during its dormant phase in the winter makes him/her unskilled in any way - it’s largely recognised as the right time to undertake such work. There are other aspects of this job that may lead to the ‘unskilled’ conclusion though... (I’m still of the belief that Margaret1968 is a coverup ID for a user on here though I’m afraid).

Thought so - I often wondered what ‘Mick’ was short for. Margaret wasn’t even on my radar tbh, but it does explain a few things!...

57/8 year old ladies tend to have better grammar than the poster - I smell a rat here. I think it’s a more-recently ‘educated’ arb looking to rip apart someone’s work (quite rightly, as it is terrible).

Were you born in 1963 Margaret?

? Diameter in itself isn’t a quantifiable measurement. It needs some sort of scale (mm/feet/miles/fathoms/hands - take your pick)....

These guys make the Bucket Warehouse shears - you can buy direct from them cheaper (not sure how good they are as never spoken to anyone who has used one though). Tree Shear WWW.BRIANSCOTTENGINEERING.CO.UK

You need to do a bit of hoeing, the borders are untidy

Which is what everyone with actual knowledge of the subject has been saying on this and the previous post from the start...

TF604B Double Axle ATV Trailer WWW.TFMENGINEERING.CO.UK TF604B Double Axle ATV Trailer, Livestock Trailer If not low enough ground pressure then stick dual wheels on it

I’m not saying it’s not true, just interested in the source as can’t find anything on the net. My kids are at school in Cheshire and this is the first we’ve heard of it.

Where are you getting this info from please?

Först without doubt have the best sales and marketing team in the UK woodchipper market. They appeared out of nowhere into a steady-away marketplace with great branding and a massive flurry of free hats, pens and pretty promo-birds, converted their existing Jensen customers and also bringing in a load of new business from users of long-in-the-tooth competitors’ machines with the promise of something radically better. (From a consumer’s point of view this has largely been a good thing, as it forced others to have a look at and improve their existing offerings (none of the main manufacturers offer a bad machine today IMO)). Forst then kept the ball rolling with very good aftercare (which must have cost them a fortune), and have underwritten their machines very well to those looking to part-exchange into a new chipper to keep value in their brand. They also offer incredible deals to ‘new business’ - offering above-market-value for other-brand part exchange machines. The issue is that there is no way of breaking away from the brand once ‘hooked’ without taking a significant financial kicking. They are worth very little second hand unless you are buying another Först - nobody else wants them in part-exchange and buying a second-hand one is a potential grenade... Once they’ve got you invested in their brand you are a bit screwed sadly.

In the North West - he has had Scheislings forever and I doubt would ever buy anything else. Also uses (religiously) the best chipper mechanic I’ve ever come across (who the dealers gave their consent to sort the first issue). The machine is obviously made of very good components, and once right will probably be a great machine. If I’d spent £30k on it I’d be getting my money back one way or another though, this one is a load of shit and the dealer hasn’t done anything to support it from what I’ve seen.

A mate recently bought a brand new tow-behind schleising - it’s a small chipper (6 or 7 inch). Cost £30k(!) and has been a bit of a disaster, he’s had to have it repaired locally (with the importer’s approval) and then run it back to them for even more work which cost him a day to take it down and another day to bring it back. They don’t have any support network at all by the sounds of things, and I don’t think they’ve done anything to contribute to his messing around. He is far too polite a chap to kick up a fuss though (I’m not sure I’d have been so understanding)...

The other issue is resale value on these - other than Först nobody else seems willing to offer a decent part-ex price which potentially locks you into their brand. Good luck however you move forwards - if possible I’d consider getting your money back and chucking a bit more in to get a 1928 Safetrak. Anyone who has had bad experience of these tends to have only used badly maintained examples (every mong and his dog has had a miserable stint on the side of a railway feeding thorn into one that has been ‘serviced’ by a plant-fitter who know nothing about sharp blades/anvils/feed rollers etc - obviously they subsequently compare them to a super-sharp Först they used on another job...) The smaller Bandits are well built but I don’t think they perform as well as the GM/TW/Forst/Jensen equivalents sadly. They are the benchmark from 12 inch upwards though!

I’ve hankered after one for years, but there’s no way my old Jack Russell would have accepted one (he was a nightmare with other dogs, particularly big ones...). We also have a lovely Lab who is totally passive that ended up best mates with the Jack, but only because there was no hierarchy conflict.

My old Jack Russell died at the start of December which was an emotional roller-coaster (to say the least!). Anyway, meet Mando - he’s a Rhodesian Ridgeback and will hopefully make inroads into the significant marauding lion problems we are facing in Cheshire when he gets a bit bigger...

@Gray git - if I was currently in the new digger market I’d also get a price for and have a good look at a Sunward - they have apparently been around for a long time and have re-launched this year in the UK. Apparently since August they’ve sold 100 machines and appointed 6 dealers, so they aren’t playing at it! Their machines are supplied with two sets of joystick controlled proportional extra services so are plug-and-play for grabs/rotators etc. I’d be interested to hear how they compare price-wise to the more mainstream kit.