RobRainford

Here is a fantasitc weeping willow, i was called out to take a look and give quotes for a heavy prune and to remove, so the customer had some options. There is one pesky branch that decided to interfere with some nearby phone lines, and that was the main reason for the phonecall. Hoever, when taking a good look at the tree, there is evidence of previous pruning which appears to have been done half right and half wrong, some pruning wounds are ok but there are other stubs that have been left and also some that have decayed. There is an old failure wound on the tension side of the stem, and its fairly huge, it has ferns growing out of it which could indicate decay inside the tree. And on the reverse of the stem to this wound, there is a recess in the stem, which seems to show there is little left in that area regarding wood thickness. I also noticed a split in one of the main limbs, the one which goes out towards the phone line. Which is my main concern as could this tree be past its best and need to come out? I recommended that it was to come out as i couldnt guarantee that it would be completely structurally sound. In the pictures that show a close up of the bark, could this be any evidence of fibre buckling or any problems? i know salix sp have fissured bark into maturity but this 'crack' seems to be out of the ordinary. Further up the split branch, there is a hole, apparently there was a woodpecker who liked to go in there, could that be a factor in the partial failure? Need advice please!

I heard ryobi are closing up on stihl!

Thanks. A place as good as arbtalk I'm bound to. I think I may have! It's a simple operation. Clear an infection from my left sinus and then straighten out my septum. Pretty much a nose job on the NHS!

for the amount of work done and whats left i dont have the speed yet, i need a different situation to get my skills back up. I have an operation on tuesday in hospital so the work has to be done in a day, id happily ground for whoever comes in. BTW the location is 5 minutes from my house in st helens merseyside.

Hi guys looking for a good climber for next monday, ive had two days climbing on this job but ive figured im a bit too rusty to give it a third to get it done, i have simple rigging gear and a vehicle to take waste away with so all i need is a climber with their gear and good reduction skills. still bring you gear though. Thanks PM me or phone/text 07841128366 for details

Try doing this! It had me in tears at the end. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=364dzVsBs2o&feature=player_embedded[/ame] heres a remix! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TqBSI8ZBzQ&feature=watch_response]YouTube - Washing Machine Self Destructs REMIX[/ame]

well you shouldnt need to pay them, as they dont have an address! The last time i had contact with aliens, i woke up with evidence of being probed! hahaha

7.30 am, alarm goes off, play on phone and snooze till 8, get up, collect gear together, get to clients house for 9, finish there by 12, look at her sisters house and get promised a good amount of work. Dropped brash off at greenwaste site, came home got cleaned up went to manchester city centre shopping with the other half and her sis. i got a £1 belt from primark, they spent £80 between them. Got home, made some leaflets, went out posting those till it was dark, went to tesco got tomorrows lunch, found this thread, posted!

The rope I spliced on my harness is double braid and they are all class 1 splices on those. I found them nice to start out with. I bought a length of double esterlon 14mm and found that nice and easy to splice as it had loads of room. High scale sent me some Marlowe which I've found nice too. Might try some poison ivy next then and make myself a lanyard. Need a sailmakers palm and needle to lockstitch my splices now. Hello, my names rob, and I'm a spliceaholic! Haha

What type of splice is done on ropes like tachyon blaze and poison ivy? They look good! Makes me want to keep learning! I bought a couple of wire fids from treeworker yesterday. A normal one and an extra long one. And a crotchet hook. I can't wait till I get those!

josh that is a sexy truck! my dad has a d40 in red. they are nice trucks, and fast when you put a Tune-It chip in them and turn it up! @others: ill have a go at what its like with the canopy over it, you may actually be right.

nice job on that one! looks messy. Were you trying to do a 10% limb reduction? Im guessing some of the phrases used at the time of the accident were 'oh bother,' 'oh well that wasnt a good idea' and 'whoopsie daisy!'

I think that pretty much sums it up!

no its meant to sit outside, it sits flush with the end of the truck as it is now, its just a little bent on one corner so it needs sorting. When i can be bothered!

i remember that hedge! i like the last pic. But, HOW ON EARTH did you manage to get chip in your cab, are you turning it into a wildlife habitat?

Its not a definite point made by someone, its the way i see it from reading about it and doing it too. dont quote me on this, but from my very limited time in this industry, after reading what shigo has said about pruning cuts and looking at different diagrams, the cuts are aimed to provide the smallest surface area for the tree to occlude and also to use CODIT to wall off the decaying branch material. In a way its creating one wound as oppose to lots and lots of small wounds through the cambium

I certainly do as good as I can without taking all day to do one. As much as a pruning cut is a wound, it's meant to be a less harmful wound than a few spikes up and down the tree The afag/bog roll reference was because it seems like who did the work didn't know best practice. So the afag guides may aswell have been toilet roll!

Well they are designed for moving sheep! You are in a landy though. Thats probably still making you look like a farmer! What do you mean by the ladder rack? The bars over the outside?

These trees were in a school field. I could see the lime carrying on without hitch. Justba few battle scars. There may be a chance to trace back to the company who did the work. Steve you are right. I don't know the facts. But a few trees on the same field had similar works. But I only had a closer look at these two as I had a few spare minutes and wanted to have a gander. I know there is sweet FA that we can do about things like this. Best practice and getting the professionals in to do a proper job are things people don't take into consideration as much as they used to IMO

Wait till the chain stops before you move the saw. It's a shock when you are too hasty to do a top cut and as you draw the saw out it tries to kickback!

yeah, designed them myself and got them printed onto magnets, £35 for a pair, im pleased with them!

Not that i want to break any forum rules here, but whilst working in the tractor yesterday, i noticed these trees, a lime and a horse chestnut, the chestnut isnt in a good state, and has had some crown raising done, im not against that and the cuts seem ok, but they seem to have used spikes! Its the same story with the lime, with some impromptu fracture pruning by the looks of it too! The chessie had a really bad case of bleeding canker, brown/red goo coming out of a couple of points in the bark.

im jealous. Ive bought a box off ebay for mine. It was raining outside so i took a photo from my bedroom! Ifor williams ally box, the guy didnt have the bolts to fix it so rachet straps were the order of the minute. i think its bent on the front right corner as it doesnt want to sit down properly, nothing a gentle tap with a mahoosive hammer wont fix! oh, and it cost £9.99!

4th September. Count me in for a day on that! Kendal is about an hour and a bit away. Perfect location! Would anybody care to show me some SRT setups on the day? I can never get my head round a drawing or photo!

I was planning to do that with the big one if I use that. I'm on good terms with the guy who owns it. Plus he owes us half a tank of red diesel for the tractor. So there's a good chunk saved. Has want about £60 for a day so 20% off that would be a good saving. I what I'm cutting off is mainly on it's limit fir the little chipper so I'd rather use the bigger one