jaime bray

Have you got further details about this tracker you have please. That sort of item is my kind of item. Thanks jaime

These are all the words you need Mr Bolam!!!

If you were to make a list of what skills, initiative and level of conscientiousness a good worker had, then added to that list the additional factors related to each job, be it grounding or climbing, there would inevitably be some crossover of skills between both. An inexperienced or poor groundsman can very quickly make a climbers life a nightmare, and vice versa. What makes both of them value for money is conscientious, hard working, treeworkers with good common sense and an ability to work as part of a team. A climber that can drop a poplar into a postage stamp sized garden whilst; direct the roping procedures, ensure that brash doesn't just rain down in any old fashion and makes a ground crews job easier, communicates effectively and then when he gets down and QUICKLY puts away their climbing gear, assists in the successful completion of the days work, including raking, chipping, loading the vans, closing down the site and filling up the chipper when you get back to the yard with red diesel, is worth their weight in gold. A groundsman that sets up a job site safety equipment in alignment with the risk assessment and traffic management, then proceeds to set up the ladders and fills up the saw for the climber whilst giving it the once over for safety checks and chain sharpness, then proceeds to communicate effectively with the climber, the client and other team members, whilst managing public safety, keeps the climbers ropes clear of rubbish, highlights to the climber any potential issues with ropes, or the running of the job, lowers, processes, drags and chips brash until its break or is safe to leave for a minute or until job completion, then performs the same site closure tasks as mentioned in climber role, and also at the yard is also worth their weight in gold. All of the above would be beneficial if at the same time a sense of humour and good personality were present to make the day go by a little quicker. If Carlsberg made tree crews that team would be mine and bought a pint, by me, at the end of the day. Some groundies are mustard, as are climbers, learn your trade, do a few days/weeks/months with said company, then say, 'Do you think you have had a good opportunity to assess my capabilities as a treeworker? Over the longer period he certainly will be able to ascertain your value to him persoanally within his business setup and may adapt pay accordingly. Good luck, and remember, its a vocation hehehe

Get yourself the army waterproofs. the hood is designed to fit over the soldiers helmet... ooh sailor!!! The chap at apf and arbshow; bournemouth military, does full set, trousers and jacket £50 all in. Very good, and the hood allows some movement whilst working. Trousers are broad at the bottom too so they fit easier over chainsaw boots than most, resulting in you not having to take boots off to get them on.

I would love to hack your account and put his picture as your avatar. Oh moderators....do you have access to Mr. Bullmans avatar?

Hahahaha, loving the reference to 'young'. Thought you would have hammered him for that comment steve. Or at least get one of your moderator cronies too.

X-factor, you on it Steve?

I have one of these, hardly ever use it. The throttle keeps jamming on after a little use. Had it rebuilt by a stihl dealer. After a tank full it does it again. Wish I had never bought it. Purely personal experience, but thought would throw it in the mix. Was genuinely surprised that others rated it.

Haha very good. There's no I in team but there is a me. Forgot how pedantic arbtalk was. Your 'her' recognition sums up the nature of some people and the way they are molly coddled in todays society in the working world. Prima Donna arborists. Champagne wage demands, lemonade work ethic. Lol

Wearing them down the blue oyster club doesn't count as arduous terrain, wearing to the café to increase that middle aged spread could be dangerous. You'll get fat feet and they wont fit next time you climb lad

theres no I in team but theres a me in there

Steve, is that two years of wear, or two years since you last climbed due to arbtalk commitments... is that mould on them?:001_tt2:

Haha, just checked, that's the total length-ish. Sorry, 3.54. Must have been a quick glance.

Reg, at 6-6.25secs you cut a piece and your are attached to a 2inch stub. You have your main line etc obviously, but I had to double take. I would have dropped side strop to next fork. If you look back at it, do you think that in hindsight you would have repositioned? Or genuinely not phased by it? It must be a confidence thing, but I hate the thought of slipping off little stubs. Especially if the tree jerks through lowering or the weight loss of limb causing some stem shake. The first is confidence in ground crew not putting the anchors on the lowering rope, but the second is probably familiarity with such situations or lack of on such sizeable trees. Many will probably not see any problem, but it made my stomach wince and my smoked salmon began to digest a lot quicker at the prospect of being in that exact situ. As for retrieving rigging line etc, do you often attach it to your main line to enable you to hoist up directly to your particular position in the tree? Also reg, what was the title of that video you did when you had to insert loads of round type hooks in timber to attach the lowering rope to allow trunk to be lowered to? Was very tight site, think was in the uk, and some time ago. Just interested to have a look as have similar job to do.

One of the first things I would be looking at is what is known as your personal survival budget. Calculate all your own personal monthly outgoings. Multiply this by 12 months, and divide by the amount of weeks you reasonably feel you will be able to work, considering holidays, wet weather and other commitments, divide this further by the number of days a week you wish to work, and then the reasonable amount of hours you would be on site in any one day, time of year and length of days considered, this may give you an hourly rate to pay your personal monthly bills. N.B. Remember though that this will not take into consideration the other aspects of running the business that need to be costed into that rate. Once you have this I would be looking at what equipment I need to operate in a capacity that enables you to provide for your lifestyle, regardless of how much a chipper, tipper etc make the job easier or appear more professional, I would say you need to operate, and provide to the customer the service they wish for. This is usually to provide a quote, carry out the work entailed within that quote, remove the rubbish, tidy up the garden, and when all that is done, whilst you're here, cut off the extra branch from the other tree...lol, its that simple. Then there are the legalities of running the business, what insurances do you need to cover yourself from being personally sued and potentially financially crippled for a long time... insurances? What tax considerations do you need to be planning for? Plus a multitude of other legalities to operate a business and be compliant with the laws of the United Kingdom. I started out when I was 19, by borrowing a family members tipper when ever they weren't using it. I had a little escort van that I used to fill up to remove rubbish on smaller jobs. Operating with vans has numerous benefits, in the sense that you can do other types of work if times are hard, as you could if you had a tipper too. But you need to purchase a vehicle that will be suitable to how you feel you would like to operate. A transit tipper with plyboard sides will provide the basis for you to operate at some capacity in tree work, it will be laborious and annoying as you throw branches on one side and they fall off the other, but if that gets you the money then so be it. Additionally though, if all you have to is tip the rubbish up at the other end then its so much easier than removing it all by hand again!!! If you get a huge job to price, and you know its going to be a true nightmare throwing it on the back of your wagon then price in a chipper. For many small jobs, the type you are likely to get in the first few months, even to a year, you will get by with a transit or a van plus a trailer if you wish. Find a green recycling plant nearby and cost up what they charge per load etc for tipping green waste, you may find that 2-3 days work of tiffling jobs will eventually fill up your wagon to warrant a ton of rubbish dumping at 10-20 per ton. You may have earned 300-400 quid by then though, so whats 20quid in the grand scheme of things? Advertising is Russian roulette these days, so many opportunities and outlets. You will possibly find that you work harder at your marketing than you do at work for the first few months/years, and still will after 20 years of business. Tap into what your customers want. What are the benefits of your company rather than the services you provide? Why should they use you rather than the current supplier of tree management they use? What is your USP? Unique Selling Point. I am not sure if they still do this, but Barclays bank used to offer a little free Business school course for new business banking. Get in touch with your local chamber for commerce. if they still functional, or check the Federation of small businesses. There are so many places to find info on how to run a business. Remember though, that you are running a business, you are not a tree surgeon solely, you are a businessman. Running a business, regardless of what industry, has the same duties, pitfalls, requirements, so find out what they are, and ask yourself, do you wish to be burdened with them!!!! All industries have particular niche aspects to consider, tree work is no different. It would be lovely to be handed a cheque with the sentiment, go and get what you need lad, but when you are not born with the silver spoon in your mouth, it tastes sweeter when you succeed, regardless of what degree success is perceived. One of the most important parts of the practical duty of running a service provision business is the clean up of site. You may make a cock up, but clean up properly, be courteous and fair, and your good name will travel.

Just seeing what you all think of these, or if you have used them? I got one about six months ago, and having previously used the km130 with extension and chainsaw head on, and many moons ago using the stihl polesaw,I am quite impressed. It runs on neat fuel and has a small engine oil compartment, saw oil as per others. One thing I like is the balance. Feels relatively light for the size and length of extension available. Takes a while to get used to not pouring two stroke in, but its so quiet and fuel efficient, that one fill often lasts me a few days with occasional use as such. I hear that Makita are looking to bring out a new top handle next year, I will certainly be looking closely at this. Anybody else delving into the deep blue sea of Makita use recently?

I would be looking to address the soil and species relationship. How bad is the soil really? Would it support trees per se. If so then I would make sure that the tree species is compatible with the soil present. If you reinstate the planting pit soil with high quality soil there is a tendency for the roots to stay in the planting pit. Consequently, when the tree begins to put on shoot growth in years to come there is a possibility, not certainty, that the roots will not be sufficient for secure anchorage of the crown portion above soil level, resulting in root plate failure. If we have a nice warm bed in the winter, we are less inclined to get out of it. The same does apply to tree roots. I am a frim believer in treat them mean and keep them keen. The ideal is to encourage roots to exit the planting pit into the surrounding soil, by providing Versace soil in the pit it will take longer for the roots to exploit the surrounding soil, and they may sit in the pit exploiting the ream soil, to the detriment in years to come. Barchams are already preparing trees for hardship of urban environment with similar practices and their street ready tree stock... I think. or they were last time I visited them.

Mine was the same. I store it in a manner whereby it can slip onto its side amongst the other saws, fuel would leak out over the air filter etc. Stihl claim its a weak brass valve in the carb housing, had that replaced etc etc. Ran without the filter but only lasted half day before it became spluttering again. I ended up drilling two 4mm holes in the exhaust (kind of porting) and it works a dream. With all the emissions regs that manufacturers have to conform with, the engines after many times of use become clooged up inside me thinks. I have used hp ultra in mine since the beginning so its probably less carbon through the system and consequent clogging up of exhaust etc. Anyway, mine now is fine, if I don't use it for a week it gets bit boggy, but once old fuel has ran through the system and I top up it is ok. When drilling the holes I had to make sure I drilled in a position that resembled the direction of the exhaust fumes emission from original exhaust. My dolmar hedgecutter did the same, only when I drilled the 'release hole' as I call it, I did it so the fumes direct towards your arm, can get hot as a result. Although adjusting the position I hold it in to avoid hot fumes has stopped my tennis elbow from niggling. Every cloud and all that. Any road, waffle off now jaime

Warners, They were from Allen Fords, main dealer. When I mentioned that I was having them fitted at tyre shop they were sceptical of how effective they would be, but apparently ford have designed them well. Regards, Jaime

pm an email address and I will send you a sampling strategy that I prepared for prof dip arb revision. Not sure how to upload word docs into arbtalk

One salvage yard I spoke to said he had a woman drive in Saturday after a bonnet, she drove in without the bonnet as it got stolen the night before. Apparently audi s-line seats are a favourite at the moment too.

Just a heads up folks. Had a message come through facebook, Sunday morning, from a neighbour to my yard updating his status. Was complaining about being awoken at 3-4am by sound of neighbours garage being broken into. My garage!!!! Don't ask why I didn't get phone call etc. He rang the police, but too late nobody was around. Anyway, turns out that it wasn't the garage, but they had stolen the wheels off my back axle on the transit. 3 of the 4 had gone, as the jack collapsed on them as they tried to hammer off the fourth wheel. Unfortunately they didn't get trapped underneath the wagon. After spending yesterday and today trawling the internet and ringing around for mark 7 twin axle rims and tyres, it is apparent that theft of commercial vehicle wheels is rife at the moment. Spare wheels are easy picking as you just wind them down. With large demand for particular sizes of tyres and recession causing people to use partworn tyres, there is certain tyre sizes, namely transit mark 6 and 7s that they are like rocking horse muck. So rather than go and buy brand new it is the new fashion to steal them off other tradesmen. I have looked into wheel locks suited for steel wheels and shall purchase some, but just watch where you leave your wagons overnight, as spares are easy pickings to rob but a bugger to get hold of. Just thought would share as word of warning. Cheers

The comment is 'we never hide the natural beauty of our bars' relating to the fact that the stars and bar hide the natural beauty of the human feminine body. Maybe to prevent such opinions about it being sexist they should have asked the lady in said advert if she wouldnt mind wearing something that left more to the imagination...a onesie! They hide everything except for peoples lack of dignity!!! Mind if said onesie had a cow or fox resemblance.. hey ho,that's a whole new set of rules for rights activists to lay into.