sime42

Evening guys, I been using the pole pruner again today, (Corona). It's a great tool, really useful but I often feel that it lacks something. When I'm cutting large diameter or particularly hard wood, (beech for example), it's hard to put enough force into pulling the cord with one hand whilst holding the pole with the other. Anyone know what I mean? I think the problem could be solved by supporting the butt of the pole in some kind of waist or chest harness, hence allowing both hands to be used to pull the cord. In my mind I'm seeing some kind of sport fishing harness type arrangement. Something like this:-

That's ominous. I hope that's not the beginning of the end for wood burners. I don't trust the government/authorities to always do the right thing in cases like this. Seems like they have chosen to pick off the easiest target first. I do very much care about pollution and the environment but I can't believe that wood burners contribute that much to the issue. "Up to 50 percent in some areas"?!!! Never! Transport is by far the biggest cause of urban air pollution. Taking cars and trucks off the streets should be the priority. Eg by improving the rail infrastructure to handle more passenger and also freight traffic would be a good start. Allowing private companies to keep raising rail fares is definitely NOT going to work!

Tree cavity treatment - Chinese style.

Ollie;- ignore the Troll-Creatures that have been trying to put you off. There's no reason why you shouldn't have a play around in your own trees. As long as there is no possibility of harming anyone else around you then there is no problem. You are entirely responsible if anything bad did happen and I'm sure you were aware of this before you decided to try it. Our culture in this country is far too risk averse already, I'm surprised that some on here are echoing that. There is obviously no substitute for experience but as someone else said;- the basic concepts of tree climbing/surgery "are not rocket science" at the end of the day. Plenty of people even free climb trees without falling out, we are not that different from other primates after all. (I'm not suggesting that anyone does this by the way! I used to as a kid and growing up. No way I would do it now though, it would be extremely dangerous and most times impossible I reckon if you were trying to work and use tools.) If you were asking for advice in order to profit from your activities then I agree with the Trolls that we as trained, qualified and experienced arborists should NOT be encouraging you. But you're clearly not so there's nothing wrong with us giving advice and opinions. Maybe this is a case of "knowledge is power, hence let's keep it to ourselves and fiercely guard it". I don't think that's very fair. We should all share knowledge, experience and opinions:- that's how we learn and also the whole point of this forum, surely. Anyway, we digress.......... I agree that some kind of friction saving device is a great idea, and actually almost a must if you're going to be moving around and up and down a lot from one anchor point in the tree. From the point of view of protecting the tree, reducing your fatigue and enjoying yourself. I am pretty sure that reducing friction at the anchor also shares the load more equally between both sides of the rope if using the doubled-rope-technique as well. I would go one step further than the cambium saver and use a pulley as well, attached via a karabiner. That really increases mobility. Though if you do try that then you need to have complete confidence in your friction hitch as that becomes the only braking action in the whole system. Have fun, but stay safe!

I've had the KM90-R with an adjustable hedge cutter and strimmer attachments for about 8 or 9 years now. It's probably the toughest tool I've got in terms of reliability given the amount of work it's done, mainly hedge cutting but also a fair bit of strimming. Always starts pretty much first time, even after being laid up over the winter for a few months. I've used a metal mowing/brush cutting blade a few times. It works but probably this engine is a little under powered for it to be honest. One extension is quite manageable for vertical hedge work, you could probably use two at a push as long as you don't lower it too much. Horizontal work, (really wide hedges), were a struggle with just the one extension though. I always thought the KM90 was a 4-Mix engine until I read this thread and then checked up on it. Feeling slightly sheepish now!

Where to begin a critique of that? Positive or negative ......... ...............

Little beauties!

Hi Steve I think it's probably not constantly manned, maybe there's nobody there if there's nothing to process, i.e brash to chip or timber to logs. It was something like £10 a load last time I was there, you pay to tip.

Recycling Organic Matter Gorcott Hill, Beoley, Redditch, Worcestershire,B98 9ET I've used these guys a few times before. They take logs, brash and I assume chip. They seem pretty good, no hassle. Can't be tricky to get hold of sometimes though.

If you're looking for pole pruners then Corona make the best in my opinion. Lightweight and efficient. Though you can't cut a whole hedge with them! Just isolated branches too thick for the hedge trimmer.

Yeah £1 a plug sounds about right. You're definitely paying for the convenience;- they're dead easy and clean to use compared to messing around with sprays or liquids. Not completely sure about the environment friendly aspect though. The actual plugs seem to be made of some kind of plastic. Unless it's a biodegradable type then that's going to be in the ground for ever more.

Evening all I used some of these Ecoplugs on a job today, to stop the tree re-growing. First time I've tried them. They're very easy and convenient but seem to be a trifle expensive. The customer wanted two trees taken out completely. One was an Ash with a 2ft diameter butt after I'd cut it at ground level. The instructions specified that the plugs should be put in at 50 - 60mm intervals around the perimeter. I was shocked at how many this would have needed so did them at about 100mm instead. Even so this needed 17 of them which works out to a cost of about £11. The other tree, sycamore, was smaller but in total I reckon I spent £19 on the Ecoplugs. I'm surprised, I didn't expect them to be so expensive to use. Anyone else have much experience of using these things? Does that sound about right? I'm sure it would be a fair bit cheaper to use some other kind of readily available strong Glyphosate weedkiller/stump killer. What do others use to stop re-growth on unwanted trees?

Ok. Thanks for the quick reply. I'll leave the App alone for a bit then. I'm sure you're gonna have a load more questions before this night is through, but don't forget to have some sleep!

Hi Steve Good work with the new site. Looking forward to using it. In the meantime I've got a problem with the Arbtalk App. I can't sign in! Using the same UN and PW as for this web site. Any ideas? Simon

Hello all I'm currently reading "Norwegian Wood" by Lars Mytting. It's a great book, really enjoying it. A lot of it is probably common sense to us woody types, but there's also a lot of stuff that I'm learning. It's a wealth of knowledge on everything to do with cutting/splitting/drying/burning wood as a heating fuel. And very readable too. I'd highly recommended this book to everyone. Simon Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Arbtalk mobile app

As Rustcutter said really. When I chipped off the bark they were still there, (or bits of them after I'd been at it with a bill hook!). They were in the cambium or a little bit under it into the sap wood, but no more than a couple of mm. Didn't seem to like the real wood. I'm pretty certain that non of the structural timber in the house is made of ash, and even it were there's not gonna be any fresh cambium around. So I'm resting easy now. Cheers chaps. (I have seen ash used for building, but only once out in the country in an old place. I don't think it was that common. But I would stand corrected if I'm wrong. Anyone else know if it was ever widely used for construction purposes? It's obviously strong but I'm sure it doesn't have the durability of oak for instance) Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Arbtalk mobile app

Thanks all I knew there was a proper name for the dust, it's been doing my head in this morning trying to remember it! Frass. Good word. My concern was not so much burning the wood, (though I guess if the worms ate enough of it there would not be many calories left to burn!). It was more a case of should i be careful about introducing woodworm into the house. Especially if as Openspaceman says they are furniture beetle. The worms are very much still in there Treequip, wiggly white maggoty looking things. Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Arbtalk mobile app

Morning guys Yesterday I discovered that my prized stack of ash logs that I've carefully stacked up to season before being used in the woodburner is riduled with some kind of wood worm. It was the dust that alerted me at first, seemed more than the original saw dust from logging them and much finer. On closer​ inspection I can see the logs are covered in holes. But they only seem to be in the bark, not the actual wood. Has anyone else had this before? Is it something I need to be concerned about? Or is this normal for ash? Thanks Simon Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Arbtalk mobile app

Bronze filled resin is my guess. (Plastic made to look like metal). Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Arbtalk mobile app

Me too. It's a Cotinus. They come in a green variety as well. Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Arbtalk mobile app

Cercis Canadensis I reckon. Cercis siliquastrum is the more common Judas Tree. They are covered in beautiful pink/red flowers in spring before the leaves appear. Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Arbtalk mobile app

True Timon. Bouncers tend to be of the aggressive paranoid gorilla type. And play the game of being both poacher and gamekeeper wrt drugs, benefitting from both sides no doubt. Sent from my Nexus 4 using Arbtalk mobile app

"I imagine these raves are full of predatory males looking for an easy victim and vacuous tarts giving it up at the drop of a hat" - that sounds like your average club or late bar there mate. As others have said the atmosphere at a proper dance event is always much friendlier, there's very rarely any kind of aggression or "attitude" or predation. People are there for the music and dancing, and dare I say it the drugs of course. The main disco biscuit is not called Ecstacy for nothing, people are HAPPY! I was never a pill popper by the way, just enjoyed the music and the atmosphere. Old Skool / Hardcore and Jungle or DnB is my bag. Any other DnB heads out there guys? It's all about the BASS! Sent from my Nexus 4 using Arbtalk mobile app

Cheers guys for all your thoughts. Some good advice there. And re-assurance. The trees are only a foot or so from the back of the shed, it's a squeeze to get between them and it. So the area for cutting and chucking into is a bit too small. Just the bit beside the shed between the fence on the left of the picture. Hence why I decided to rig it. I did think about a speed-line initially but then got put off by the sideways forces it would create. I like the idea proposed by Arrozdoce - of effectively having a double sided speed-line. I'm pretty sure it would work, makes good sense to me. Trouble is its neighbour’s gardens behind the tree and I probably don't have a long enough rope anyway! (I've been reading the article about the importance of angles in rigging work, that someone put on here recently on the rigging forum. I think it’s great, really useful. I’ve attached it again to this thread in case anyone facies a read.) I’ve decided that I really don’t like Lombardies. I did some over in France a couple of years ago. Once I’d got them down to the stump I discovered that most were rotten in the middle to a greater or lesser extent, (no wet red cheese though thankfully Timon!) As someone else said though, they are stronger than you think. It’s only really in the outside rim of a tree where most of the strength is. Think how strong a scaffold pole is. Even knowing this doesn’t stop “the twitchy feeling in the pants” though! Good point raised by Jamie Bray. I’ve thought about this in the past. Sometimes there is a huge difference in stability between the tree at the start and the pole left at the end before blocking down, if you strip it as you go up. It’s all about inertia and damping I reckon. I’m sure it’ll be a real pain in the ass to lower through, (I’m imagining Velcro), but I’ll try an experiment this time. To see if the trade-off between stability and lowering is worth it. I’ll pass on the compliments on his stylish attire to my groundie! Who happens to be my bro! Working-the-Angles-i.pdf

Evening guys I'm halfway through this job of seriously reducing, (and ultimately removing completely) these three Lombardy Poplars. The first one, multi-stemmed job on the right was fine. I just climbed it and rigged off the second, the middle one. The second was more nerve racking but we sorted the worst part of it without any issues. I rigged it from itself, but because it was unpleasantly "mobile" towards the top, (and also has a large section of trunk rotted out at the butt), I anchored my lifeline to the third tree on the left. Topping it out wasn't very nice, it whipped around like a b*stard. So I'm left with the one remaining tree to take down. I'm nervous about this one as I don't have the option to lifeline off another tree. It's also higher than the others were. I'm hoping for some advice or reassurance. Maybe I just need to "Man-Up"! I've not had much experience in this type of tree. How weak, or strong are they actually? There seems to me to be a trade off between anchoring the rigging block as high as possible, (to minimise the size of the topped off piece), and making sure its attached to a strong enough section of trunk wood. What's the minimum diameter you'd rig from? What's the minimum diameter trunk you'd climb up to on a Lombardy? I went up to about 5" which didn't feel nice at all, but there was still a good 15 - 20 ft above to the top of the tree. I think the picture should show the situation but just in case;- it's all got to be rigged down unfortunately because of the shed directly underneath the trees and neighbours gardens all around.