The Tree Hunter

Whereabouts in northumberland mate????

I'm new to climbing too mate, how much did you do at college??? We had whole days spent on different trees branch walking, cross overs and limb jumping, a few of us came out quite the worse for wear from it the first few times, in fact one night when i was laying in bed i thought i may have broken a bone in my leg, it took 3 weeks for the bruising to fade!!!! But now the few of us that kept trying and trying and trying, are now able to access the parts other lads cant!!!!!

I dont think she's gonna replant as she doesn't live there at the moment, its got out of hand for a couple of reasons, she's recently been diagnosed and suffering quite badly from MS and as a result is no longer living there full time so cant manage it!!!! Think she just wants it away now and no chance of it coming back!!!!

Well i just gave her a cal and she's the guilty one....lol....... when she bought it, the guy at the nursery said it'd only grow to 15ft....... Anyway she's happy for it to be completely removed, can i just leave the stump at ground level or will it need to have a grinder on it???

Cheers, yeah it is the tree in the picture, dont know if she planted it, or if it was there when she bought the property???

Took this pic of a tree today, a friend wants me to prune, i've looked at it and through my book and cant match the pieces to ID it, the bark looks like it should be a birch????

Well it all went ahead and it all went well, so one down!!!! One of the lads being assessed today was made redundant from Northern rock and is working through his tickets, by doing the week long courses, so far he's done his 30, 31 and his 38 today, spent £1500 so far!!! He said a few local firms had said they'd take him on with his tickets, and he rang to check with them and they have all said they aint got the work for him now!!!! Gutted....after spending all his redundancy money on his tickets!!!

Ha Ha Ha........it wouldn't surprise me if it doesn't take place tomorrow!!!!!

Well this is the second time its been re scheduled, and it's booked for tomorrow morning, so touch wood it'll take place this time!!!!

Alright mate, i'm not wanting to fly any planes, so thats a start!!!!! Was more just a query really, people were talking about viaduct work and the rope access course, saying there were big opportunities in it, so was just wanting to try and find out what it all was, whats involved and whether its worth considering as an option to boost income if things get quiet!! For the moment i'm happy with getting my first lot of tickets and getting some experience under my belt.......walk before running and all that stuff!!!!!!

Can anyone tell me off the top of there head what ticket you need for viaduct work???

I'm looking more towards a 3 to 5 year plan, to then look at it and see if its 1: worked out and 2: if its a profitable business. Like i say though i have a bit of an advantage in that its not the sole income i'll be relying on straight away.

Well i'll tell you what i have in place so far and then it might give a better idea of where to move on to...... I've got climbing kit and ppe, set for climbing and set for ground, horse box (which is just for now to remove logs etc) a couple of chainsaws, top handle and ms260, which i know will prob be a bit small, but will add to these over the coming months, business account opened with 18 months free banking, VAT number in place, business phoneline, commercial insurance, website name reserved and website being built now, letterheaded paper done, business cards being done, printed t shirts getting picked up on tuesday, am currently looking at finding the best quote for liability insurance (any advice of good companies much appreciated) storage space for logs to be seasoned is sorted, got contacts for a few people that can do work with or for me who have all the necessary kit for larger scale work. I guess i have the advantage that i dont need to start turning over huge sums of money to live and have some desposable income each month to keep adding to the kit i already have.

I've installed a second phoneline for my business and my mobile is silent till i'm awake, but having a 6 month old baby means a 7am wake up call 7 days a week for me.....Result!!!!!!

Thanks for the advice!!!

Cheers!!!

>You're prob right, but i guess there'll always be reasons not to do it, if you dont try you'll never know!!!!

That really takes the piss!!! You've got all these companies and schemes set up to help and encourage new businesses and then they do stuff like this!!!!! It'll get worse too probably, they'll be needing to make the money up for the billions they are spending bailing outy folding banks and gordon browns cock ups ten years ago!!!!

My sister does web pages, she's doing me one at the minute, PM me your contact details, she'll give you a competitive quote mate, she's good at it too, has a good eye for things!!!!

So if i am taking logs away to store on my own land to then sell on, i need to have a waste licence, and the same for woodchip??? What if i'm delivering a load of logs or chip??? It'd be a huge grey area, i get pulled transporting logs or chip and say i'm selling them, surely i dont need a licence to do that??? wouldn't be surprised though in this day and age!!!!

I'm in the process of getting things in place to start up my own business. Can anybody give me any pointers on hidden costs that might crop up, or things i'll definately need in place, or things i might be able to put off in the short term?? I'm currently looking at insurance quotes, got a business account opened and am waiting for a VAT number, got a website being built and t shirts getting printed as i type!!! Any advice whatever it is would be appreciated, cheers in advance!!!!

We've got that at ours, although i wouldn't say he's an instructor, but helps out the instructor that teaches us. I think most people on our course that are serious about a job in Arb, are quite realistic that we are only being given the basics, from which we can start off, you'd have to be very naive to think that fresh out of college, anyone would have the proper skills to start cracking on with some of the jobs shown in the video section on here......hopefully it'll give us some good footings to start off with and then progress from there!!! Well at least thats how i see it!!!!

yeah i imagine i'd have more leg than elvis!!! like i say we've not done anything i'd consider high yet, but already you can see a few nerves kicking in with people!!!

Yes mate at Kirkley, seems good so far!!!

Being new to all this, i haven't obviously had the experience of big heights, but so far at college and whilst out practicing, i dont seem to have any problems with being up trees. A few peopele at college do seem to freeze abit, when getting up higher, and branch walking, cross overs etc, but so far i feel happy and confident, so how's it been for all you experienced guys, does it get to a point when you realise just how high you are and the nerves kick in, or just it just progress as you go and you stay confident as you get higher????