daltontrees

Please keep going, I am learning so much and the quality of the debate is beautiful.

Somebody been salting the path in frosty weather? Go to McDonalds and get some chips and a sachet of vinegar. Put some of the powder on the chips and trhe rest in the vinegar. If the chips taste better it's salt and if the vinegar fizzes it's chalk. If you snort it and start telling everyone how great you feel, I'd keep the location quiet.

Ahhh... disappointing.

I had no idea this was so complicated. I am far from sure there is anyone near me that can do non-farmer welding. I can get a fake part form the States for £30 all-in, and if I figure in my time spent taking to welder, discussing, picking it up, etc. it probably works out cheaper to order a part and wait for it to cross the atlantic on a steamer. I don't need the saw back in service right away so I can wait. It is good to know tha there are people whose determination greater than mine wouldn't let this problem beat them. I shall ponder for a day and then go with what I decide. Thanks everyone, but keep firing away with anything else that comes to mind meantime for the furtherment of the common good.

It shoudn't be about Salmond, it should eb about 20 years' time. I have said it elsewhere on Arbtalk, but if England had the decency and humility to admit that it needs an english assembly ina federal UK we wouldn't even be having a referendum on scottish independence. Why do the english settle for scottish MPs voting on english-only matters? Is it because the scottish vote never really changes anything anyway.? Isn't that the driving force for independence?

You are breaking down my resistance. IS there any cost-effective alternative to importing one of these handles from the States. Any time I walk into my Husky dealer, I am sure they have got the door mechanism wired to make a ker-ching noise like a till.

Dare I ask what the F stands for?

Sorry guys, my posts keep crossing with yours. What about reinforcing the repair with fibreglass tape and resin to prevent rivets working loose?

That's a possibility, the handle is hollow at the breakage point so I might get something inside.

I never would have thought of welding, I didn't know aluminium alloy could be welded.

That's what I am trying to avoid. It's not so much the expense, it's just an instinct to try and fix first.

I wonder could anyone help me out here. I havehad a look in the froum to see if thius has come up before but don't see it, aplogies if it has. I have a Husky 181, an old girl but still very capable. 2 weeks ago cutting some really big stuff I was forever hitting metal and I think when I hit a nail the jolt was so severe the top handle snapped at the base. I can get a replacement form the States (£40 after postage) but I am tempted to try a repair. Thing is, I suspect that area takes quite a lot of force and the repair would have to be pretty solid, like a short metal stripped drilled and bolted. Anyone know if this is possible and worth doing?

Och go on Tim, tell us what you really think! England might not let us in after independence. You at least would nneed to change your name to English Oak. Or you could stay and be the first tsuga tsar of Scotland adn make sure the tree insustry up here stays sensible.

I think it just goes to show that in the playground of the Houses of Parliament souinding posh and being able to treat the country's woes as a win/lose of a public school debate is more important than substance. And I said I wanted to keep off the politics. Seriously, I hope no-one makes up their mind based on Salmond's personality except insofar as it might reflect the national personality, and likewise Osborne. Personally it's that last bit that makes me want to push scotland out in a rowboat and take our chances, rather than stick with Westminster pomposity. So back to the debate. It seems that the consequences of independence for the tree industry are highly dependent on what pans out on currency and border controls. Does anypne south of teh border want to speculate what will happen if the Tories get in next time around by selling their souls to the UKIP-sympathisers, then have their much promised referendum on Europe in/out for the UK. I mean, wha happens if UK votes to get out? Won't that create problems for trading with europe (transaction costs) and could we effectively shut the borders to imported plants and infected timber?

Har har! More importantly, who gets Gordon Brown. I'm not offering, by the way.

He asked who would climb it. I would have. He did. Doesn't have to be a massive top knock out, just a steady strip, definitely no rigging. It's possible to knock tops off without twanging the stem like a bass string. I'd have undercut Mr Blair by 1/2.

It's still standing, isn't it? Probably will be for a few years. Spike up it, knock the top off, knock a feww lumps off onto the crown then fell it (afer getting out of it). 1 hour max.

LAYING chickens? They're worth twice the broilers! I can see we would need definitions for this bartering system to work. Seroiusly, I am struggling to think of many areas oif UK law that aren't already devolved. Obviously Planning is already. And it wopuld only take one piece of legislation to state that after independence all laws that had pertained to UK now pertain to both Scotland and to the Disunited Kingdom. Should only take a few pages. But the deviil's in the detail as ever. There's another 500 right away.

And thanks for your time, I enjoy a civilised cerebral debate. So what does 'ARB' stand for?

Laurel burns OK but I would definitely definitely not store it under the stove like that. What cyanide it has left in it will come out with the 10% or so moisture you drive out in teh final indoor drying.

Nah, I've got quite a piercing whistle from up a tree. The guys can usually hear it overt a Husq 395 on full revs. There's no way I'd let them listen to music. Aren't the sweet tones of a saw and achipper endlessly charming enough?

Nonsense, everyone knows that a sheep equals 12 chickens and a chicken equals 16 mice. Easy peasy. Ok, you might need a cart instead of a wallet, but it's do-able. No it looks like Scotland will need its own currency. Like Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Catalonia and the Basque Country. In gaelic the pound is the 'Not' and the penny is the 'Sgilllig'. That should do for a while

Never! How you gonna hear the warning screams?

Only in Alex Salmond's dreams! But it's a good point, you would have to pay a fee for converting £s to euros, would that make Scotland less competitive? Or would Scotland have all the trees and a captive market?

It's not clear which sentences you mean. But take me for example. I did my CS30/31, got a taste for it, set up a small business (sole trader), got my CS 38 and 39, took on a business partner, got EL insurance (and PL) and grew the business, taking on subbies, to the point where I nearly had to go VAT registered. I never knowingly broke the law once or cut corners. I take the H&S very seriously. I passed my AA Tech and have a good understanding of it all. Still no membership of any organisation at that point, but I could call myself and my company an arborist, an arboriculturist, a tree specialist, a tree doctor, a tree worker, a tree cutter, a tree surgeon etc. And still not done anything wrong. These terms mean very little as they are ambiguous, vague, have no formal meaning and no restriction on use. Now, add Certified or Chartered or Consulting and you're starting to sound mighty fancy. But only in the minds of the public and cients who have a perception of what it says about your business. The fragmentation of the industry is to me fairly damaging to it reputation. You know my thoughts by now, have one ICFA and one AA. And I suppose we'll never stop the americans thinking they run the world (a la world series baseball mentality) so we'll always have a ISA.