Nick Harrison

Went to the Carmarthen seminar on bs3998 yesterday, very well presented, thanks to dom and Peter. Very worthwhile taking the trip up to attend, lots of interesting stuff in the new version, thanks to steve for the heads up on the event, was a very good turnout, bout 60 odd people there! Good to see plenty of guys showing an interest in how the industry is moving forwards, just a shame bs still want to charge so much for the hard copy. Thanks again to those who organised it all..

Looks like it's obviously a personal preference type thing, will try the rope grab for now and see how it goes, might purchase a grillon too when the wife isnt looking... cheers for feedback

Has anyone used an ISC rope grab on a rope strop instead of the Petzl grillon? if so wondered how they compared...been thinking bout buying the petzl but found an old rope grab in corner of my shed and so thought about just using that instead?

Thanks, thread was useful, will try it out this winter

Got a load of tree of heaven wood other day, anyone got a clue as to it's firewood attributes? Took a reading with a moisture meter about an hour after taking it down and it came up similar to ash, about 35%, would be nice if it burnt the same!

lost track of this thread, only just caught the replys...cheers for advice, have missed the boat for old snake at capel so will prob contact honey bros and see what they say...will post results in case others need similar problem sorting..thanks again for recommendations

Looked on site and can't see anything conclusive, tree is in sw by the way, not far from Exeter.

Thanks, will check out your suggestions. Rope got damage yesterday from misplaced climbing spike, new one already on order

here are some pics

Had a climb yesterday to take close look at the flaking bark, no sign of old fungus, just some what I reckon is saprophytic fungi which indicates presence of deadwood. Will attach some photos later, unfortunately still too early to monitor bud burst, but there was certainly plenty of buds on their way above the damaged part. Found a buckle point on the opposing side of the tree (see pic) which would suggest the top is leaning to one side. It appears that a load of pruning work was done a few years ago, mainly limbs removed from just One side of the crown, was wondering if this would explain the buckling on the main stem? My vta skills are still in the early stages so not entirely confident in my conclusions, any advice would be much appreciated!

Had a customer ask me to check on her large English oak which she says sheds bark daily. Had a look from the ground and can see bald patches where bark has been dropping away, is fairly high up but all appears to be happening close to some pretty dodgy old pruning cuts. Gonna take a climb to have a closer look in a couple of weeks, any advice on what i could or should be looking out for? Hoping there will be a bit more bud burst by then which may help give some indication what is going on, any advice much appreciated!

I need to get my main climbing line eye re-spliced. Caught line the other day With spikes so now need to cut out damaged end, I'm based mid Devon, can anyone recommend a person/place to go get a good job done?

my thoughts too, was planning on simply cutting and dropping small bits at a time, wouldn't need to do any lowering plus once back weight out could probably fell away from house...with enough stuff crossed might get away with it?

Had a look at a semi-mature Copper Beech the other day that appears to have the rotting remains of Giant Polypore. The fungus is spread over approximately half the root area around the base. The owner wants to have the tree removed whatever, very close to an expensive house! Does anyone have thoughts on how safe it would be for me to dismantle the tree whilst being rigged into the tree itself? Haven't dismantled a beech with this much fungus around the base before and am looking to keep the quote as cheap as poss, i.e. don't want to have to include the cost of hiring cherry picker/crane. The canopy looked fine before leaf drop, just a couple of small areas of die-back which i know doesn't necessarily mean much with this type of fungus, owner has been in property for 3 years and says the fungus was there from the start and has got worse each year...am tempted to get up into it but wanted to see what others thought first?

That's great, many thanks for the detailed advise, got bits on order and hope to be re-assembling tomorrow, any probs will give you a call, thanks again!

just noticed i didn't quite finish the serial number of my chipper, should be 20519017. one other quick question, is it worth replacing the 3 sets of bearings while i've got the machine stripped down this far, chipper is a 2005 model and has the original bearings as far as i know? thanks

Hi, I'm currently in the middle of trying to access the fan sections on the back of the rotor on my 125 machine. I've got as far as removing the rear bearing housing but seem unable to get any joy in trying to remove the rotor itself? Have seen a similar post on here where you said that the rotor might be welded as one unit with the nose shaft, it all depends on the serial number. The number for my chipper is 2051901...hopefully it's the cheaper option? basically just need to get the rotor off so i can get to the fan sections (one of the fins has some damage and have been advised to change both sections at the same time as they need to be close in weight to stop excessive wear/damage on the bearings? sounds logical to me but thought i'd check with you just to make sure??)

I'd go with what Arbgirl has said, I suspect I failed as I ran out of time by not properly reading the questions and spending too much time on questions that held too few marks overall. I spent way too much time on drawing up a map etc which then left me with virtually no time for the questions that held the lion's share of the marks. I've emailed ABC Awards today as well, maybe if enough people request it we might get a resit date earlier than next October!

Just got the one unit to resit too, the 5837...anyone had any info on the possibility of a sooner resit other than next October? Am pretty sure previously they have had a spring management day too.

2 new relays have sorted the problem, many thanks for the help, Nick

it has a black metal unit with paddles..

I have a 5 year old 125 petrol chipper that has been working like a dream until recently. the rollers intermitantly stop and only go round if you hold the green feed button down. it does this whether there is brash going through or not, this problem isn't there all the time but certainly occurs on each job. after repeatedly pressing the forward feed button the rollers will eventually kick back into action and continue to roll without having to hold the button down. I recently serviced the machine myself, replacing both the hydraulic oil and the filter. I also regularly grease both nipples situated under the black cowling that covers the roller springs...can't think what can be causing the problem?

more or less same as you, feel fairly confident about the day in general, definately messed up on the time management for the 5837..frustrating really, especially as our tutor at tree life kept banging on about how so many people mess up that question due to not reading question properly and not managing the time properly! will be happy if all i need to retake is the 5837, was dreading the day before hand but i think i almost enjoyed it in the end...good luck to everyone else!

just wondered if anyone has an idea when we're likely to hear about the results for the management day at chorley? forgot to ask the examiners when i was up there on the 5th

Thanks for the info, getting abit impatient now, really want to know how i did. was the management day as full-on as i've heard?