Stephen Blair

you need a bigger chipper mate!slippy pole central there. yikes that is a big hedge

i used to run a couple of vehicles and a few lads, i changed my ways a couple of years ago. i am one of the one man band, low overheads, one groundie guy that works hard and fast and undercuts my opposition..today i worked out my van and took nothing off site, i only got about 2 hrs earning time, made 400 quid less wages for one, before i would of been stressed out my nut because i drove a 50 mile round trip for nothing and didnt start till about 11am. some weeks i can make 3k others 500 quid depends what comes in and what goes out..if i want to take down a huge ash tree just for the firewood i will, if i want to work all day just climbing for a 100quid then i can also, i am not going to be stubborn and feel above this...we have bills to pay and mouths to feed.. be it a guy up a ladder with a bow saw making an arse of a lovely birch or someone running 50 guys and 20 vehicles, i respect them both..because they are not sitting in the house sponging off the state, they are providing for their families..in the grand scale of the world habitat, a few butchered back garden trees dont really matter imo...people come first..

tomorrow i will be mostly eating cake and drinking coffee watching the rain

businesses that work for nothing cant go on for long, if they are big they will go down the tubes, but then a high percentage of the workers go it alone, but some will go big, some will potter about with a wee van and others will chuck it and get another job in something else..

non chain break users terrify me:scared1:

i think i have the same list as you mark, the stuff gardeners cant handle and real tree surgeons turn their noses up at, but it is easy cutting, mostly with a 046 and pole pruner, then the usual horrible drag and tidy, but work is work and i dont miss ringing up monster stems and handballing tons of tree..

howdy mate,what age are you and what is your financial situation..if you are 18 and live with mum and dad then go to college and have a blast..if you have bills and family ties then get a job and just get stuck in and work yourway up, start labouring dragging brash and if you are good you will be encouraged to pick up a saw etc etc, then its a matter of sitting your tickets...when you are ready

never drawn a sketch in my life on applications, never had any problems, not always had permission but that had nothing to do with lack of drawings, i have only ever been knocked back on 3 trees, one later fell and cruched a house, then the other had to be taken down..and the other is still standing but i wouldnt be living under it, its only a matter of time though, i just hope know one is in when it goes

stihls can take it, that is what they are designed for the drums and springs will give before the clutch ever will, i spend a lot of time with my groundie very close to me while i am cutting, passing branches holding bits of hedge, there is no issue of danger when i am on the break as quick, i tell all new workers not to come near unless the here the break going on, the same with working at height with the saw, when the groundiesa here the break going on its safe(unless told otherwise) small branches and twigs can jam the throttle quite easily while working in tight spaces, if you get in the habit of it you will be ok..

thats a farmers stab topping special, horrible huge things, it will run like a volvo with no exhaust..

its like the plane out of madagascar 2, tommer has bought the plane from penguin airways:001_tt1:

we are just part of the big bargain machine, everything is cheaper than ever before, my mortgage is half the price it was going to be, my insurances are half what they were 11 years ago, saws are cheap as chips and so is most arb kit, think how hard justin has to work for his money, at the aa show he was making 4 quid on a saw, 4 QUID!!!i sat down just before chrinmbo with a sore back, expecting wife and owed 5k from someone i thought wasnt going to pay me..i went through all my bills and outgoings..saved 3k straight away on insurances, 600quid on phone costs. the good lady cut our food budget to 50 quid a week and gas+electric by 150 a month, and a 60quid lawyers letter got me my 5k...i even put some threads up about it and i know a few others saved some money aswell..you might think what i am about to write is nonesense but it is all about frame of mind and how you look at things, and also how you operate, if you dont need it sell it or leave it in the yard, cut things back to the bare minimuim...speak to others, just like you are doing here, it really helps...when i went to the AA, i picked up skyhuck and spent the weekend with him and others, he has an amazing can do attitude and lets nothing get him down, also mike hill made a big influence on me, once again confidence, i came home and have looked at life very differently and i am a lot happier than i was and have changed my ways and tweaked my working methods too. just now it is pouring with rain and i couldnt be bothered all day, the first job was a waste of time and i lost 3 hrs did one job and came home feeling pretty sluggish, but found my new boots had been delivered and i am feeling well chirpy now, they are so comfy..take it easy mate and try and chill out, put all your problems and money issues on paper, and then look at it, never seems as bad as it is, good luck

heres my third and final pic, todays 10% reduction an a cracking little fir

my mate ran a computer programming business called RTFM.....ringing any bells mat:001_tongue:

full rev chain break all day every day, thats what it is there for, if it starts to get sluggish renew it and the spring.

cant you leave anything alone mike?you should be tidying out your shed mate:001_tongue:

looks great john, personally a good pollard would of wiped the smile off the fancy ashes face:001_tt1:

i worked for a guy that used the diamond type, holy moly, what a difference, we used to tickle the chipper blades with it aswell and it made a diference, maybe that would get them sharper, i only ever tried sharpening once when i first started climbing but never bothered after that..

can i have another guess, i feel it could be nearer 17k now:blushing:

do you use a diamond tooth file or just the usual saw type?

you guys are right about the lightweight not as hot stuff, but i was wrestling through horrible conifer all afternoon, and the thought of my lovely big ears getting scrapped to bits gives me the heebyjeebies:ohmy:

tbh mate i just fell it if its marked now, the guy must reckon its dangerous, and i suppose it is, it just looked cool i thought, but the rest of the woods are a bombsite, regen sycamore and mismanged coppice from the war, we couldnt believe there was actually a mapple in the place, now there isnt. there was an empty bottle of pills in the stump, maybe something else has gone on that i dont know about, but i buried them just incase:sad:

do as the consultant tells you,this cracking norway mapple was about 40 feet high in the middle of the woods, no paths or targets within 200yds...

cheers nick, i think that is amazing

interesting bob, very interesting. i could really feel it for just the few seconds i tried it