Dilz

Mike, you up in Sundsvall yet? bit nippy up there aint it!

what are the Asplund / Tree scape like to work with? might beheading over to NZ later in the year and could do with picking up some pennies whilst im there to fund general antics.

you can buy a lot of friction cord for that money...........the longevity of the device is going to be a key issue. But i am tempted....

they aint so much fun to carry through the forest all day though, but are useful in the right situation, quicker than a winch, but its easy to get greedy with em and if the angle they are set at is too steep they can lift the tree and pop the hinge, i do like my wedges though right now the wood is frozen so they tend to get spat out so the stalp is good to use, can also use it to help push out hung up trees.

your right its a JD1270 - we are meant to do use what we call the safety corner cut, bore the hinge and come back leaving the last quarter as holding, get the final ok, and then a quick cut and scarper, though there has been instances of over keen machine drivers busting this last quarter so we tend to just fan cut. a lot depends on the trees and the situation. THough now we have to winch the machine assisted trees over now which takes ages...

Its very annoying that imports of ash were allowed to continue for so long even after all the problems with the ash in Europe! I know you should never discuss politics or religion if you don't wish to offend but.... I cant help feel like this is the result of the 'Business and profits before all else' attitude of the current government, whom - please correct me if im wrong - weren't exactly elected into power.... Why is it that the persons in power who are given the information they need fail to act until its too late! Is it that they are just too short sighted? It never ceases to amaze me how moronic the UK government can be. Back to the ash trees, latest figures from the FC are Confirmed findings at 21 November 2012: Nursery sites - 17 Recently planted sites - 84 Wider environment, e.g. established woodland - 121 Total: 222 something tells me this is going to have the same devastating effect on the landscape as DED

i asked her to back up her argument - but she said she couldn't remember every thing but her tutor said so and he's really smart (but as far as i know hasn't worked on the tools full time but his dad once wrote a book on apple trees). I got irked by the 'what i say is fact attitude' that she new more about trees than folk who have been in the industry a decade or more but was then unable to back up her statement.....' but she made me dinner so all is forgiven.

alright - so there is this work experience girl - who has told me that under no circumstances should we prune trees in winter, and that the best time to prune tree is in summer..... any one wish to add their 50p's worth to this as i'm of the school that the best time for most trees to be pruned in when they are dormant, preferably just before bud burst, (though not all species)

when i did my shoulder in - it was a few weeks before i got to see some one - the chiro crunched it good - instant relief and movement, phisio and massage for the long haul to recovery. but seriously when she cracked my shoulder, man that was a relief, the fact that she is Swedish and hot as hell is a bonus! I find sports therapist are good, as they treat active people, who wish to remain active.

just found out machine assisted felling is to be banned by workers safety.....booooo!! !

Yeah it's nicer with the forwarder - except the fowarder is clearing behind the machine, which meant that it was 1km away and on the other side of the tracks. The people who make up the rules for the project are a bit nuts. one of the rules is that a machine has to be able to take the tree in a single cut. They come out and check the stumps. This driver has been warned about it before. Also the live lines make people cautious. It costs a lot of money as you have to pay up until all the trains are back on schedule and for the freight trains thats a lot! as it delays delivery, mucks up shipping, we a are talking serious money, and if the driver hasnt followed the project safety rules, well insurances dont like that. Also you cock up, you put the other 30 - 50 guys working on the stretch out of work for a month whilst there is an investigation, also the driver is banned from going near a machine for a given time. (usually 2 months) and it doesn't look good on the CV. same happens if you are a cutter of climber, so people er on the side of caution - and its by the hour and not by volume, so there is no excuse - oh and another thing is that forest trees cant be left as stand alone for more than 8 hours, so we cant leave them till the forwarder catches up. The harvesters do make me a little nervous, a lot is down to the driver. They usually have the blade on auto. so when they hit the button, it goes out full - one driver nearly killed my mate by hitting the button by mistake, dropped a rather large spruce less than one meter past his head...some of them area bit ADHD...cant sit still.

I find it depends on the tree and the cliomber - some take downs, especially if there is a lot of branch walking involved or a dense crown then spikes get in the way and there is the risk of gaffing your ropes. I on occasion use my spikes to tget into the tree and then take em off and hang them on a branch ready to put on for chogging down. seen blokes take down big trees with out gaffs and do it well. each to their own, as long as the job gets done safe and at a reasonable pace.

Who needs Wedges??? (note i am already aware that my thumb is in the wrong place and that my saw could be sharper for the cut and all the other little things that every one will point out ) ENJOY!

mind you saying that, for cs 40 and 41 i had no official training, just got put in for the test.....good job i could tie knots....

also ... i've been jammy and not paid for any of my cs tickets, got 30, 31, 40 41 and a shed load of others that cost me nothing.... well not in money but certainly in low wages, blood sweat and long hard days. If you are lucky you may find an employer willing to put you through, though be prepared to sign to a commitment of a year or two or more, so make sure you like where you are at

depends where you want to head, tickets are usually good things to get, i know folks who can dismantle who cant prune at all, and i mean not for toffee, one lad i know hacked a massive limb half way out on a lime tree for a thin....but he could dismantle, alright he broke lots of stuff when doing it....hang on, na he was just pants at the job....if you can afford em, do em.... If you want to go for employment, it helps, if it helps build your skills its good, if you are self employed as a subby, well your skills need to be top so it could help, if you are chasing after contracts outside private gardens its good.

the knees pads do stand out a bit, but give the effect on the knees similar to wearing say the stretch air class 2 trousers, and its because the trousers are so thin that they stick out so much, also got zip vents and a few handy pockets, and i dont need belt or braces due to the velcro side adjustment, which makes them more comfy in the harness, for summer climbing with at least some chain saw protection i highly recommend them, gonna see how cold it has to get here before i switch back to the stretch air class 2 all round protection - they are like wearing a duvet around each leg, and about as moveable.....

the track is Chase & Status-Can't Get Enough - The there trousers are the Husky technical extreme, only front protection but they are comfy and light and piss on the x-fit imop, and orange is my faivouret colour, had em a few months and unlike sthil x-fit, the crotch aint ripped out on em, has extra padding in the knees which is handy, I need to get a pic up of me in my full get up - orange trousers, orange hi vis, helmet, rope, flip line, spike, specs. I'm like a tango advert gone wrong. looking forward to the 540T so i can have me an orange climbing saw!

The reason for not felling is in the description on you tube. The bloke refused to let us ground fell any of his trees, and there was an area of his garden he didn't want anything landing on. If you look close you might be able to see where the grass changes from rough to lawn. the top i took fits just inside this area.

there should be a law saying we can feed scum like this through the chipper!

Where in Sweden are you?

Wrench. its easy to set up, feels weird at first but works, foot ascender and hand jammer. Thats all you need really. I use the wrench to ascend, then swap back to DRT once in the crown, I got the removable pin, so it take a less than a minute to sort out.

Almost forgot i had me Gorpro. Thought i'd get it out and have a play. Unfortunately there wasnt that much interesting in the way of work last week, so just put together a little vid of one of the spruces we had to take down. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrq1JkZkSc8]Yet Another Spruce - YouTube[/ame]

what mini rocket stoves????

Sweden is cool but very different from the UK arb scene in some ways good in other bad. The cities are the best bet for work, Mainly Stockholm and Gothenburg not much in the way in Malmo in the south. Stockholm companies are often on the look out for skilled blokes through out the the year but in winter the work can die off a bit or you end up shiffting snow all day. Best advice is get out there and get stuck in.