Mark Bolam
-
Posts
31,401 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
368
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Classifieds
Tip Site Directory
Blogs
Articles
News
Arborist Reviews
Arbtalk Knot Guide
Gallery
Store
Freelancers directory
Everything posted by Mark Bolam
-
The heartless bastards eh?
- 56 replies
-
- 13
-
-
-
Hope your recovery goes well mate. Will regular stretching help stop it happening to the rest of us? I worked with one old boy who would regularly bend down to put his saw down at bait time but when he stood up his saw would come with him again. His hands are basically like permanent fists now. Years on big saws with no AV at all.
-
Absolutely Mick. But leaving 30” dia poplar poles with basal rot at 40’ isn’t pollarding, it’s idiocy.
-
It’s shit work when the leaders are 40’ on rotten sockets though Joe. Ever had one pop the whole socket out when rigging? I’ve had a few, with damage. You’ve been there. The last one that was really bad we priced a heli in flying from Oxford. No crane access. £13k. ’Way too much!’ OK, we’ll just leave these 90’ shit repollared at 25’ trees hanging over your £1.2m property then. Still there if any hero fancies a climb?
-
He was young, dumb and literally full of cum Mick, he was a teenager in an Alaskan logging camp! I’ve had an 880 hanging off me a few times with a 4’ bar. Never fun. The bar flexes when horizontal so the cuts aren’t straight. Used to make the cuts with a 440, then go to the big saw into the cuts, but this is time consuming and energy sapping. Like everything about an 88. I’ve been doing arb in the UK for 22 years and have got by without one. Joe and Alex have summed it up pretty well. I have a normal size penis as well, which may be a factor.
-
Well you are looking downhill!
-
Looks great from my house Don!
-
Why not just put a massive blade on a 261? All boxes ticked. That’s what I used to use in the Sahara forest.
-
‘It’s future work isn’t it?’ This idiotic attitude can be witnessed all over the place. Always specced by someone who isn’t the unlucky bastard who will have to climb them next time.
-
Lapsed pollard heads aren’t much fun for sure. Don’t be scared to price a MEWP in if you need one, you didn’t let the tree get in this state. I did some crack willows for a mate a few years back over a fibre board roof of a commercial garage next door. It was seriously risky stuff. I told him to never let them get like that again. One was so bad we had to fell it. Guess what? They’re even worse now. He’s cost himself £500 extra for a MEWP next time he wants them done.
-
They shouldn’t be given a choice. And housebuilders definitely shouldn’t.
-
I bet I could steer it no problem.
-
That tree is always going to cause bother to any fence, same as any tree planted right on the boundary. I’d be brave, fell it, then plant another 1m further in to your plot. Laurels grow pretty quickly, and you wouldn’t have to spend a fortune.
-
Not yet mate, got to have a sort out in the workshop first.
-
No, I meant the pop, in jest. I milled a bit once when I was practicing with my Alaskan years ago. It moved, twisted and warped so badly I could have sold it to Wickes for their 4x2 section.
-
What a shame. Should have milled it.
-
Funnily enough I used a mates Titan breaker today to gun the sides off some existing concrete plugs so I could fit a couple of concrete replacement spurs. I was very impressed with it. Vibes aren’t great, but it would be fine for jobs like this. Depth wise I went about 2’6” in a spade’s width hole, so not too bad.
-
This whole TPO next to buildings thing is ridiculous. There is no way a TPO should be allowed on a tree that has grown near an old building, and there is no way planning should ever be granted for a building anywhere near a TPO’d tree. The whole close proximity thing causes nothing but pain.
-
You’re lucky mate, could have been Dunelm.
-
@Mick Dempsey isn’t this your old stamping ground?
-
I’d say bang for buck freelance climbing is the best game in arb, but it’s a short career akin to professional sport. Not many over 40.
-
You come out with some mad stuff my Russian friend, but I’m kind of with you on this one. Far too much breeding going on with utterly no thought for the already saturated market. Eggs is a dog man, and I’m sure he knows what he’s getting into, but I’d echo Arborist’s sentiments about vetting potential owners. My mate James has one, he’s ex-forces and worked with them a lot. Mia is a lovely dog, but he’s with her all day and she gets a minimum of 2 hours a day hard exercise. He’s a fitness nut. Not for the hobby dog owner.
-
Cain, kit that sits around doing f-all is totally irrelevant to your day rate even as a very good climber with a selection of saws. You need to get that kit out there making money.
-
Cain I feel your pain, but the truth is you are in a shit industry if you want to make money. Good climbers SHOULD be on £300+/day, but they’re not for a reason. The market won’t stand it. Buy £50k+ worth of gear and run your own show, then see how many jobs you win. It’s a shit underpaid industry basically, and only the top 10% of the losers in it post on here. I love it though, that’s why we’re here. Arb masochists. If you don’t like it do something else.
- 116 replies
-
- 12
-
-
-
Why wait that long?
