Dilz

does this include driving inbetween sites on multiple job days?

I think most people charge a lot more money than they did 15 years ago - I know i did - i earn the same in 1hr as i did in a day when i first started dragging - just over 15 years ago... actually... I understand that its different for different situations - its kind of how I work - I live in Sweden so drives can be very long - so, for example, a very well paid gig that was 500 miles away - the agreement was a minimum number of days to make it worth the while. Another gig that was for a few months work but a 12 hour drive away was a two way fee to cover fuel and coffees and food for the trip, but any extra trips home I paid for out of my own pocket. Short stints at distance have been full expenses plus extra for my time. But more local work is different - when on my own jobs i factor in payment for fuel and travel time - but often when subbing i don't know where I'm going to be from day to day, and it's pretty easy to rack up over 100 miles in a day.

Just wondering what people think about a) being a freelance climbers / subby etc or b) hiring freelancers / subbies and charging /paying driving times and mileage? There are times when doing both where I have only charged or paid for time on site. There are times when doing both I have charged or offered a lower rate of pay per hour or distance for driving. There are times when doing both I have charged or paid full rate for driving, both hourly plus a mileage fee. (this is my favorite to get paid but least favorite to pay if I'm honest about it) The clock sometimes starts from when I and whatever crew leave my yard or if needed from the yard of whatever company I'm working for, I dont charge time and mileage for getting to another yard but i start the clock as soon as i get there. Day rate / job rate is agreed upon with no additional mileage or driving charges asked for or given - though now for me most stuff is done on an hourly basis.

Im down in the south so its a few hours of darkness. You need to be north of the artic circle for it to be full on 24hr daylight. And thats nuts. Doesnt even try to get dark.

Yeah and no - Ive worked in some grim trees in grim conditions, and I can hack it as well now as I ever could - I guess i've just been spoilt by 3 weeks of wandering around Stockholm University doing an inventory in my shorts eating ice creme to be that keen to be back out in the dark freezing my nuts off because after this weekend - it starts getting that little bit darker on an evening and winter will be back soon enough.

I agree, this job gets into the blood. At least the climbing and felling part...stumpgrinding just doesnt give the same buzz....and i sure dont feel so blessed 30m up in a sleet gale in January...

work to live not live to work

In what way is the avant 313 like nothing else? I like the look of the 313 as its light enough to fit in the back of the van along with other gear.

Im looking small loaders and skidsteers. Small enough to load into the back of a panel van and access small gardens. The avant 313 ticks most boxes so woondering if people have experience with them, reliabilty issues etc. Also considering sherpas 100s as they can be fitted with a little timber grab and things like muctrucks but lifting is still involved with those and not sure if they would be good for dragging brash. Any feedback much appreciated.

The majority of my work right now is as a subby / climber. A friend showed me his set up of a LWB transit van with a sherpa mini skid steer in the back - he likes it that way as he can take it to every job when subcontracting as you never know exactly what to expect, but it usually gets used and parking in town isnt a hassle as no trailer, and he rarely has to drag brash. To me, not dragging brash by hand seems like a very good thing, and to be able to do it at any job i turn up to seems also a very good thing. Was wondering if anyone is using any other types of mini loaders? Are there ones that are both narrow and low impact? Have thought about the micro arb truck type set ups - though technically not a loader its looks good for tight access - but a machine that can do the lifting is going to be better. Any thoughts or feedback much appreciated as I never bought owned a loader before (infact i only own saws and and my van machines wise) but figure its time to start working a bit smarter...

The client is rather keen on keeping this tree in some sort of form. So one option put forward was to hammer off the top down to the first or second brace point and leave the lower canopy intact. Talks about bringing the stem height down below the old braces made me bit concerned about exciting things happening at the included union when they are taken off. THe client understands that the level of pruning involved in that kind of operation is in no way good for the tree however by retaining the lower branches it would hopefully allow the tree to stay standing in some form for many years as well as providing habitat.

Thats what i have heard about such banding - that the tree snaps at that point. There was talk about removing the banding and rebracing with a dynamic system but im pretty much against that for this situation.

Had a little clamber around this old pine today to check out a couple of things. I have not had to deal too much with metal bracing and never of this sort. The pine has dropped a few branches, and the owners are a bit concerned. Resistance drilling and core samples have not shown there to be any extensive decay in the base of the tree. Some decay - small bird nesting holes higher up, but nothing looking too bad. The included union of the two stems seems to me to be quite sound. No one knows how old the banding/bracing is and its clearly been there for a while. The initial thoughts were to fell the tree but the wish to retain it. I have given them a few options based on what i have seen. My main concern is the tree snapping at the points of bracing. Interested to see what other people think. Got a few photos for folk to look at.

yup - in over 8 years of using just aspen I have never had that problem - not met anyone who has personally

Had a 346 sat around for a while. It worked ok but some times would bog down on high revs and needed feathering to get back up to speed - eventually just refused to do much at all, but often would start fine and idle nicely only to die shortly after putting on some revs. I've cleaned and adjusted the carb, and still had problems, a bit better but still useless (checked the cylinder and all looks fine - no scoring) then i noticed that what i think ( ) is the impulse line not sitting right. Got this sat on better - so now the saw runs great - but only when the saw is at a 45 degree angle to the side. Revs drop off on idle and it bogs down a bit when on full throttle when its in a normal position - had to leave it for now as got other things to do. Now wondering if it could be an issue with the fuel filter or something else... Wont have time until next weekend to look at it. Thanks in advance for any tips.

one reason i use apsen - your saw doesn't get wrecked when someone cocks up the mix.

Just a wondering about the life expectancy of drive sprockets. When i was first taught about using saws a rough rule for replacements was 3 chains to a bar - 3 bars to a sprocket. Based on chains and bars getting worn through use rather than abuse. Had look at 261 at a company, its about 18months old - the sprokect was really worn - my guess is the chain has been run at the wrong tension too much, a 550 has a worn sprocket as well but that saw had the misfortune of being handed to a very special kind of worker to use as his own saw as everyone got annoyed with him wrecking all the saws and just leaving them back on the shelf. A 440 thats been with the company a good few years and seen a lot of use, hasn't had a sprocket replaced on it and the one that was original is in good condition. Now is this a case of user causing the wear or are some sprockets just lasting longer? maybe built of things other than oriental tin?

i use the austria shoulder straps - the chest strap works great - run it through a karabiner on the D shackle on the ZZ and it has nice quick release feature - work mate pinched my chester as soon as i started to use the shoulder straps, - he likes not getting smacked in the teeth by mini karabiners now.

this is also nice to read - as torsional stress on the ZZ does make me twitch a bit - https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Professional/Torsion-on-the-ZIGZAG-and-ZILLON-chain

Look at the instructions for the Zillon https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Professional/Using-the-ZILLON-lanyard-in-single-mode it advises holding the tail of the rope when disengaging the zigzag in single line use, this works well when using the regular zig zag in SRT with the RW as it you can ease everything into moving alot easier. A while back i climbed SRT on the Zig zag and totally forgot to attach the rope wrench - didnt notice any problems really. Branch walking take a bit of time getting use to on SRT but one day it just clicks - lots of useful vids on You tube about different redirects - but my advice is keep it simple to start - use slings and natural crotches.

its easier to fit in the kit bag. (also find the wrench disengages a bit easier )

looking at getting some Calipers to speed up measuring on some surveys - are the Mantax blue calipers really worth the extra cost?

when i was in the uk we ended up having to have a sharps kits and box in the van on council jobs. Was much less of a problem in areas where they had free needle exchanges

Now i get what you mean!! - yeah done this kind of thing loads , often though i'll use a couple of slings and tie it off inside the cut then just grab it and chuck it. or then lower it with the tail of my climbing line, maybe even run it through a figure of 8 or a krab for better control - have been know to use the end of my climbing line . Do a similar thing with small tops as well - bit like using the old topping down stop method. - Its a method that works well in the right situation thats for sure - not handy when you need stuff to swing right over to the other side of the tree.

that would be much appreciated - i hate trying to describe stuff much better to show than tell.