nepia

I've done exactly that with a few ornamental conifers Ken and it works a treat. It's good to find some bits of tyre/inner tube etc to protect the stems as they'll ingest the wires if not. I haven't found the need for gripples; I just make loops in one end of the wire, thread the other through and wrap it/tie it off onto itself. Ratchet straps are good as you can then tie off the wire while it's not under tension but release the ratchet strap into the completed wire assembly. Use really heavy wire: harder work to set up but lasts so much longer and resists wind gusts better as well as cutting into the stems less.

If I get the chance I'll take a snap of the stump in a couple of weeks just before it gets pulverised.

Do these help? Some of the lilac I encountered last week.

Having broken up a similarly sized piece only a couple of days ago I reckon that's a good shout.

In general terms does anyone know if animals feel stings less than us? We have a couple of small cats that hunt insects; they regularly get stung and seem to deal with it by just shaking their paw for a couple of seconds and forgetting the whole thing. I wish I could dismiss a sting that easily.

First Class sir (the reply, not the postage service you'll get)!

Where shall I send it?!

If you can cut the limbs into sections as you say could you perhaps set up a 3 to 1 rope and pulley system? Youtube can demonstrate if you don't know.

Exactly the use that Arbtalker gensetsteve uses/used it for making on an industrial scale. Pity we don't hear from him these days.

?

Jamming feet against base of tailgate and pulling machine up ramps with a rope. A van doesn't have a tailgate but being lower I reckon walking backwards is perfectly feasible. I have a small Brenderup trailer and do just that with the machine. I could probably just do it with the ramps on the pickup but it would be dicey if a foot slipped.

The machine's width but I must have been thinking wheel centre to centre; I've just measured and width is spot on 700mm.

..Jo Beau M300 is 625mm. Easy fit. Orange Plant deal them and are based in NE13.

I'm 5'10", weigh leas than 12 stone and pull my M300 (145kg) up ramps onto my pickup with no bother. The pickup must be higher than a van I'd say.

'Lying' might be a bit far fetched; one cop may not have known another had written an e-mail but whatever I didn't read that bit (the article did ramble). You're right, it simply isn't good enough and the cops would agree with you but it happens because there are only 24 hours in a day! Following up 'non-leads'; I know what you mean but they have no choice - they have to investigate everything, hence the time factor coming into it again. And I doubt very, very much if there is an element of bent cops here; they were overworked, undertrained and just didn't have time. I can't prove any of this of course just as we on here can't prove any of what's in the article; remember we have only what the acquitted defendant has said to go on. Eggs, we'll politely agree to disagree on certain points I hope. I do get where you're coming from - it's not an ideal state of affairs to say the least. But the failings are system-based more than person-based, though no-one's perfect. I'm off on me hols in a bit so that's it from me. ?

Sorry Eggs but I don't see how it's not an excuse; they are simply overwhelmed - you can only do so much in a working day however desirable or even necessary it may be to do more. You would not believe the time it takes to do even the simplest check. If a request had been made, for example, to examine all phone communication between the alleged victim and the offender there would have been at least two forms to complete and submit through supervisors for authorisation to spend the money on it; then the phone company would take weeks to get back with a response if they did so without being chased. And that would form but a tiny part of the whole investigation. It's not right but it's the way it is. If a surgeon capable of doing only three procedures in a day was given four to do day after day and something eventually went wrong with a patient would you say 'this is no excuse' that he was given more than he could handle effectively?

if you took oak and pop pieces of equal size and moisture and the oak lasted 45 minutes I'd give the pop 10!

I've done jury service too and felt likewise but are you really happy to make judgement on just the word of an acquitted defendant?! Sure something seems to have gone wrong but at the time the decision was made to prosecute (by the CPS, not the Police) a senior prosecutor considered that a properly directed jury was more likely to convict than acquit. Much, much more detail needed to make judgements! Of course Police should have done more digging into potential defence stuff like the complainant's phone history but this is where the ethereal dream world of the courts holds sway over the real world in which each day only has 24 hours. Police, like most public services, are simply overwhelmed with work.

Hmm - I think you'd find pop pretty far down the list for longevity of burn. Oak, ash, euc, robinia, beech, syc make up nearly all my hardwood and would be well ahead of pop in those stakes. But there's no right or wrong, just preference. I think a better fuel-in-the-car comparison would be unleaded vs meths!

Er - £400 for the Trolley is a piss take but £200 for a wheelbarrow isn't?! I can't comment on the barrows personally but the Trolleys have been discussed ad infinitum on other threads. My take on it is that the thing should last you at least 10 years if you don't do completely stupid things with it. Now £40 p.a. capital investment for a tool that strong and versatile... money well spent perhaps?

I'd say it's £70 for a reason! My dairy farmer cousin bought one very similar for carrying buckets of milk to the calves: once of smooth concrete it spent more time on its side than upright. Bits bent, broke, fell off and he abandoned it in a month. I don't know how tight money is (not very if you can contemplate a new M500!); have you considered an Arb Trolley for which you could build a chip box/cage if you're determined to drag chip out in quantity? Having extracted said chip you could take the cage off and go back for the logs ?

My post below this is not intended as criticism! It's just personal choice. I have clients - one in particular ? - who have said 'lovely logs but the odd one burnt a bit fast compared to the others', the meaning being 'I object to paying top money for it'!

Oh I agree but it burns like softwood - fast - hence my attitude to it. I don't consider it 'bad' firewood, just not worthy of being included in a load of premium priced product.

Indeed but as with willow and horse chestnut I dribble it into the softwood loads. Fortunately I only get very small amounts of each of those.

Apples sucker freely and are amazingly resilient things. Those pics don't surprise me. I reckon that persistent mowing will deal with that tiny growth before long. Personally I wouldn't go down the poisoning route; they'll get the message as soon as the roots run out of the energy stores needed to generate the suckers.