jose

The ironic thing was they were the ones that said cut back to boundary , then they changed their mind! The thing is i can drive a mewp up to the tree, i can also drive a car or truck there. to me its the "we wont let you on our land to do the work " bit. So they going to hold the home owner to ransom so to speak that unless he does the spec they want they will stop all access! As said its really not my problem, i can walk away but i would like to know for any future similar situations. The other side of my thoughts are that the tree isnt under aTPO and i can cut it the boundary line, stuff them im not breaking the rules. But im crazy busy so not going to but i would think some would. Cheers

Got a customer that has a oak overhanging badly over his garden. Its a split stem at the base and one half is virtually all over his garden. Its a council owned tree but no TPO or conservation area. Customer wants it down ( and will pay) but the council said no way. They did say however he can cut back in accordance with common law. Fine he says i will will have it cut back to the boundary line. They now come back saying this is too much and he has to reconsider a less drastic reduction or else they wont allow access to the tree. The tree spans the whole width of his garden and anything less doesnt do him any good. See the picture below. Access is via a open grass area and adjacent foot path. No barriers etc and its not a council fenced off area in anyway. I personally dont have anything to gain or lose ( except lose a job but rather that than fall foul of the council) but i would like to know can they do this? any advice welcome as not sure how to advise then to proceed. Many thanks

could be mistaken but thought i heard ford are doing new transits with a limited slip diff and 4wd? may be interesting to see what thats all about

FSI b22 Awesome machine. i ran predators for years, had a 450 and 460. Good but flimsy. Ate belts and guards at a stupid rate and the cable system is beyond useless. Had good dealings with Max who used to work there but the owner lets just say i will leave it there. FSI is build like a tank, havent had to change a belt or guards in nearly 2 yrs. Its a smaller engine which i was worried about but its proved its self so many times to be enough! Dean at Global sells the Bandits, kindly gave me a demo on a few, i didnt personally like the HB20 , but it was a more than capable machine, the ZT is a animal, just couldnt make the numbers work for me at the time otherwise id have got one. Hes a really sound guy so give him a shout.

ive not done it yet but often though about glueing or some other way to attach some rubber to the bottom. Ideally the kind of rubber they use for stump grinder guards. Then it would last forever!

Not sure if this is the right place to ask but apart from tip master where can i get some rear light guards for a Vauxhall Movano ( aka renault Master). Tipmaster is £210 for a pair which seems pretty steep! i dont have a welder and some rebar or else id know one up myself! Based in Berkshire Cheers

you would think so but he actually told me £90 , when i said it may be a mistake he clarified it was £80+VAT. But yes £800+VAT wouldnt be a million miles off what they are worth! I am not negotiating. In fact i often say can i have their number as i could sub them in and make good money off them doing all the work!

still too cheap surely. Ive seen the big grinders in action and seen it destroy a 4 ft beech and a 6ft chestnut stump in 20mins while the operator sat on a bench ( remote control) but it cost him £40 in fuel just to get to site ( his van that is)and a fair amount of time setting up. And a full set of teeth was about £400! plus machines fuel. Not to mention the investment of god knows how much to buy the machine and oh mans wages to operate. on a side note quoted for a pair of stumps, be a decent day ( Ash and hornbeam ) 3-4 ft each. Crap access so small pedestrian grinder. Guy came back today on email saying i was too much. He got a quote of £80+VAT. doesnt even cover the cost to go there! teeth and fuel alone is got to be £40+, mans labour got to be £80-100. Wear and tear? i told him to get some more quotes as it cant be right!

Well i went for it, had the briefest of plays today. Straight off its no replacement for a ms261 or equivalent sized saw. More a battery 2 handed version of a 201 i would say. So far like it but as said i used for a few minutes before i had to run up a tree. I think perfect as a smaller ground saw but cant see it going up a tree much because if im sending down the 201 i want a bigger more grunty saw to replace it! But never know until you try it i guess! Cheers

HI all. Got a silly desire to get one of these. Dont really need on as have a couple of ms261's that just dont die which is great but really fancy a battery one. I have some battery hedge trimmers which are great. Thing is the saw with the promo offer ( 2 bat and charger) is £656 +VAT. i could buy just the unit alone(285+) but the batteries i have are old so may lead to a bad experience. SO has anyone got one? is it worth it or will i be let down? I run a small tree team, not a home owner. Love to actually use it to chog down mid sized timber if possible amongst other things. Cheers

i love the petrol version (though i cant for the love of it get it to idle! its nearly new still and it either runs to fast of cuts out. cant win). But at £800+ i think they are asking too much for a small saw!

Well after been off this week from tuesday i am told by the HR company i employ and the accountant that if i can work then i must. If i can work this makes myself and my guys not eligible for the Coronavirus job retention payments ( we are all employees). But non of them know for sure as the gov advice is vague. If we were in Ireland then i would know for sure as its non essential work. So back to work from tomorrow. If anyone knows otherwise please enlighten me!

i closed down last night. I know that we have very minimal contact (3 of us and our families are in lockdown already) and customers dont even need to leave the house for us to crack on. If you think about it even things like fuelling up , touching the fuel pump, paying at the kiosk etc its a risk of infection and therefore spreading it. Not worth it. So holiday at home and doing all the stuff ive been putting off for the last 10 years!

Hi There Anyone local to Bracknell, Berks that is free in the next month to do a couple of climbing kits? Cheers

Cheers for the replys! As said nothing to lose but thought id ask first. I will give it a tickle hopefully this weekend and see how it goes. Cheers guys

My guys put a new chain on a 201 top handle, groundie did up up to tight. The climber used it for a couple of days before i realised and loosened it a bit but it feels dull. Nothing has been hit and it all looks good but just doesnt cut like it should. Is it possible it got too hot which has affected the actual chain ( ie heated up and cooled too rapidly)? Or can anyone else think of why it now feels dull. I havent sharpened it yet as it looks factory sharp still and ive never been able to improve on a brand new chain. Its a Stihl chain. Cheers

had one just the otherday. cut off literally 5 1 inch thick little branches that overhung a fence by about 2ft. over a section of communal land for one of the home owners. Woman come out saying i ruined her privacy. Wasnt interested in speaking to her neighbour, or listening to anything other than her own voice. Best part of it was these branches were BEHIND her garage! no way on earth she could see them! the guys and i were all a little speechless tbh that she would make a fuss about something she cant actually see! but ive found the crazies are great in number and of all colours and creeds!

Hi Guys Thats the guy i spoke to! Kingwell. I will have a word with him and see what he has to say. Part of the timber is older and tbh probaly not worth anything as its be say out for some years. But who knows what route he will take. I am just trying to help put him in touch with a viable contact. I know the other firm, tbh not looking to put another tree crew in there or else i may lose the work myself! But thank you for the advise. cheers

Hi All I have a customer that is after loads of arb logs chipped up. Its a mixture of old and new logs that need sorting. Hes a little vague on the exact amounts but he says 2-3 days of chipping/ grinding it all up. He wants to keep all the chip as it will be used on footpaths. It would need a loader or digger to load onto the machine due to quantity and or amount. Its based in Reading, Berkshire. I did chat to someone from here once before who had a whole tree chipper but was many years ago now and im afraid i lost your number. If you want to pm me i can pass it along ( He is not into publicity !). After a rough price to give to him. Many thanks

i wear safe eyes under my helmet. Not sure if you could fit glasses under them but they are brilliant if theres fine dust flying about! Otherwise these and wear contact lenses perhaps?

No joy. I tied it all but to no joy. I think what happened was the plastic sleeve had broken off from the 2 indent holes that hold it in place and had gone down and wedged in , jamming it solid. solution? hacksaw! it was coming out one way or another. It’s now about 60 mm shorter but at least I can extend or shorten. cheers

Hi all The guys were using this the other day , had it out the maximum length and now it wont go back in. Its rock solid! cant turn it or go in or out. i loosened the bolts that are by the orange release lever that is used normally to move it in or out but nothing. I am afraid to do anything to brutal as its all soft aluminium and plastic. Has anyone experienced this and has a solution? Sprayed lube in it but not made a tiny bit of difference. Many thanks

hire van and some ply sheets. 20 minutes and you good to go to get u out the S''t for the week. or sub in someone with a van perhaps?

oh and when ur employee runs over your polesaw u can swap a load of parts over which was very handy

ive found the heads where the motor sits pushes out a bit, then its grinds the drive shaft teeth. Had one just stop for no apparent reason. Small plastic stopper inside the shaft broke so u can over extend ( they 2 parts come apart and u can see the electric cable inside). This would be a easy quick fix but didnt bother me so never bothered to fix. They seem to be permanently dry ( in terms of grease). U cant over grease as it overloads the battery and it wont let u work. So little and often but every single one ive had develops a horrible dry screech ( quick spray of lube sorted) but still not a nice sound. Makes it sound bad but by and large actually small things. Ive had 4 now and for me in terms of actually using them they r the best hedge cutter ive used. You still want a short one to compliment your set up but the extension means u can do so much more ( height wise) over a fixed standard length one. No pull start is lovely They are quiet too ( thought the short one isnt so nice as its much closer) No fumes. And u can share the battery with other tools ( ie lawn mower etc). If ur bruting ur way through thick brambles etc then no this isnt the tool. If however ur facing a tight conifer hedge, this especially when sharp is the dogs!