sime42

My job today. A reduction and thin of a medium sized oak. A bit on the heavy side maybe but hopefully it'll be okay. Unfortunately I forgot the "before" photo. So these are just the "after" photos. This next bit should probably be in the Wee Chipper thread but anyway, I'm too lazy to repost so here goes:- It's hard to tell the scale on here but the pile of brash was quite large. All shredded down into just 22 bags and a small pile of logs in a little over three hours. Using my Flymo shredder. Excellent machine in my opinion. Great for jobs like this in small gardens with limited access. Its obviously no comparison to a real chipper in terms of throughput, but must be economically competitive for jobs of this scale. When you consider i was leaving all waste on site, using the customers electric supply and I was being hourly paid!

Pesticides. Destruction of habitat.

Intensive agriculture.

Low enough to be into chain munching territory I reckon unfortunately. With all that dirt and grit around. I hate cutting right down to ground level as it so often knackers the chain. I keep an old chain to swap onto the saw to use in just those circumstances. Sadly I rarely actually do it as I either forget or can't be bothered to stop and swap chains as too much in a rush!

Very clever use of a router there. I could work out how you'd done it until I saw the photo. I had visions of you somehow mounting the hub onto the router spindle or something crazy!

That's beautiful. What woods do you use to make the wagon?

Cheers Jrose. That was exactly what I was looking for. I'm coming from a Distal Hitch;- is a 4/4 VT going to feel more or less sporty? If the latter then maybe I'll try a lower config.

Anyone tried using this as a friction hitch for climbing? DRT. I was fascinated by it as a kid as it grips like magic. Even on a smooth spike. Try it on the smoothest slippery peice of wood you can find, it's amazing.

What length of cord do I need to start with to make myself a V.T. friction hitch, (to be used with the hitch climber)? I'm using 8mm ocean polyester on a Yale XTC climbing line. I'll be tying my own eyes on the cord, probably with a Buntline knot. Aiming to start off with a 4 wraps, 4 twists config, as recommended by Treemagineers. Any ball park figures for length initially? Id rather cut off a section of O.P. that's slightly too long than too short. (I don't mind trimming a few inches off the end of the cord, whereas I'd be pissed if I have to lose the whole lot if it's too short). Ta

Thanks Rich.

Where's the best place to buy it Rupe? I really fancy having a look at this but I can't bear to pay £66 for it!

You tie it to a side D-ring on your harness and then clip your flipline to it. Its probably made of Dyneema so plenty strong enough.

It's a "cut-away" strap. For use with a wirecore flip line.................. So that you can cut yourself free in case you ever need to.

That's got to be man made surely. Perhaps someone tied it in a knot as a young whippy seeding. I think it would be possible.

Do you mean two life lines, (Doubled Rope Technique) Alex? Maybe the guy you saw was using a Hitch Climber, triple attachment pulley. The third hole can be used for the second Life line or a work positioning lanyard. I'd highly recommend a Hitch Climber. Makes the front of your harness much less cluttered and the self tending aspect is a dream.

Hedge porn is extinct?!! [emoji26]

Bloody hell!

Go away?

Urghh

Seems like I haven't lived. Tree Dildo, munitions and syringes certainly make my day seem tame! Really wouldn't fancy any of them. I've just remembered a job I worked on clearing beside the M6, the number of plastic bottles part filled with yellow liquid was amazing. Is it Lorry Driver Shandy they call it?

So I've this afternoon been strimming down a much overgrown lawn for a customer. It was going well, despite the miserable drizzle, until bang; I realise that I've strimmed right through a pile of dog sh*t! It took a second or so to react so the pile was pretty much sprayed everywhere. Including me no doubt. It's hard to tell given how much debris is spattered up anyway when strimming, but hopefully not too much went in my face. Rank! It happened one more time during the job but not so bad the second time as I was primed to find more by then. Not much you can do to avoid it when the grass is 6 - 12 in high as far as I can think. If there was too much then I'd refuse to do the job. I can't of much else worse to find doing this particular job, except cat sh*t! Anyway this got me thinking;- what is the worst thing others have found or are afraid to find? I'm starting with grass cutting since that's what triggered this but I'm expecting to hear about Tree work as well. (Sh*t of any type comes high on my list when I'm working on a tree as well. If unseen it rapidly moves from boots to tree to ropes to hands and everywhere!).

I like this theory. I think it really makes sense. I'm not feeling clever enough at the moment to analyse the numbers your proposing but I completely understand the basic principle of you idea. Nice.

Very interesting. Thanks Sloth. Agreed, the Staghorn Sumac sounds amazing.

Cheers guys Nice bowls there. That's something I need to develop, bowl turning. Not done any for years. That's a nice hard shine you've got there se7enthdevil? What did you finish them with? Apparently Robinia is a lot more widely used in America where it originates from. For things such as you suggest. Never heard of it being used in nightclubs though! The glowing is an interesting property. On the negative side the trees can sometimes be a problem. They grow as weeds in some areas where they're really comfortable. And have even been classified as invasive species in some places I think. They're all over the world now.