RobRainford

Ive been in the same position guys, absolutely bricking ti on my first few attempts, it doesnt help much when the instructors are egging you on rather than helping you. because when your nervous everything seems negative. When having a safety line installed try to keep one step ahead of it, or even tell the belayer to keep it loose, as then you will be in the spikes and not on the main line. Remember to straighten your legs! i still have that problem now but when you get it straight its easy. make sure you are confident with adjusting your strop, if it is a clean pole, even if there are small burrs or decayed branch collars, there is always something there to stop you sliding, usually a foot will catch and you will be on that with one knee in your face almost. I found that trying to spike on skinny stuff was better for confidence as when you got to bigger stuff you just felt more secure. Ive been in your positions before and when i dont do much for a while it still gets me nervous. A way that ive found to help is to use my hands on the tree, not to support myself, but as i step up i use one hand round the back of the tree to pull my flipline up and to keep balance, sometimes if your hand is on it you feel much safer, instead of stepping up and trying to flip the strop, just reach around and pull it up, thenyou know its staying there and that its not caught on anything.

Thanks for the concern about choosing the right companies. I would look for some time over there but it's whether funds allow. Plus is UK equipment legal over there if it's lolerd? Does it just need an inspection over there? What's the average cost to get over there too? I suppose that would depend on time of year. I would like to get into the proper companies who do things properly. Like the big arbor companies and not foresters. I've never had much interest into forestry. I prefer the care side of things. By the time I have funds or anything to do I'll have 2 years climbing experience and an fdsc behind me for the knowledge. I would just get atemp visa if they are possible?

id be looking for work experience of some kind in NZ, got the tickets i need and by the time ill have a chance to go ill have my rigging aswell so i will be qualified for it. Are there any companies over there which are taking on? id be looking to take a +1 too.

Mine says basic site skills only which covers making tea and warming seats in the induction room I think. But it allows me on construction sites. They ask for my nptc cards when I've been on and they accept those together. I did the test not long after I was 17 and passed my driving test. Didn't even read up on anything. It's all common sense.

the first one is Ganoderma australe, as you can write on the underneath, in picture #3 it looks like there is also felted beech scale Cryptococcus fagisugi

heres one from a job i was looking at while ago. a perfect hole where the beech has grafted together. In another part of this job there was a piece of scrap metal which was up in the tree, it must have been thrown up there, it was crossing two branches, they had both grown round it! couldnt get a good enough photo of that one though.

IME, pruning is a way of sorting some sort of failure or hazard as pruning out a dead branch or section mitigates the hazard as you remove it, but bracing the same section would be pointless, as you know it will come down at some point, so why hold it up there when it can just be brought down and forgotten about

i would say top it too, remove the hazard, cable bracing only admits there is a problem, you are only slowing the failure down.

that will be intense! the constant saw use will be a good start as you wont forget much because you use it all the time, but just dont get complacent. It happens.

thanks a lot david. I am always careful, even when theres nobody near me im shouting 'clear below' and making sure my position is correct before the saw is even brought up to be started. I plan to keep these arms and legs for a while yet! yeah, pruning is cs40, 41 is sectional fell/dismantle. Im looking for work for over the summer, i need 180 hours work for myerscough next year and wouldnt mind finishing the project before ive even started the second year, will make my life easier!

Hey guys just got home from college, they assessed me for my CS39 today, and i passed, they said i was very safe and did well. im chuffed to bits! been waiting for just over a year for this assessment! have to wait another for CS41 though, as that recommends 2 years experience before going for that!

very cool john, id love to get out on my bike more, but ive got nobody to go to, the girlfriends is a 20 minute car jouurney. used to bike to school a couple of years ago, 4 miles there and 4 miles back, not much but i used to have to get a lift to the bus stop because that was a faff getting there. Its a mountain bike i own, decided to get one with just front suspension and stiffen it up, i run the tyres at a very high pressure so only the centre was touching tarmac, the first time i did that my average speed doubled, so much less resistance. Ive got a friend who rides in competitions and has recently been training in lanzarote. would love to get out on my bike again

Congratulations mate Thats some great news and a good choice of name! they get better until they hit 13!

I've got a friend who's mum is trying to get back from Dubai but is being held out there. I've heard it's not really a volcanic eruption. It's the cleaners at everton. They opened the trophy cabinet and the dust blew out!

like i said, thats an old picture, ive got a radio in there, not taking kindly to damp air though, and with it being a steel container, it messes with the radio signals. giving me a weak radio experience. Ive got a bench chain grinder, but thats all smashed to bits. need time off college to fix everything, in the meantime i have two wooden blocks and i knock a field vice into one, and have a guide bar sharpener, gives the best sharpen i can get from anything. all angles are perfect. Theres an airline there aswell, its inside another workshop so theres loads of tools and things already there, this is not getting much attention due to my college work.

i cant fault mine, even over spikes it works well, the scabbard does slip out sometimes but if you get the velcro really tight it never budges. best £25 spent, makes things easier.

surprisingly no, the container used to house an old generator, so there are a few big vents, one in the roof (look in picture 1) theres a small hole for an exhaust pipe at one side, and two huge air intake vents either side but ive covered them up. It seems like moisture might have got under the paint, but i never checked the roof when it arrived so idk if its happened recently. i dont use a heater in there anymore although i would fancy a small one. the big halogen one i had was good for drying ropes as it gave out loads of heat evenly. but it got sold. Im currently in the slow process of building shelves to put saws on so then under the bench is clear to store kit bags and stuff

heres mine before it was all properly finished, it still looks similar, need to update the photos.

i keep telling myself that, ive popped my shoulder out briefly twice now, and it leaves me spinning for a couple of days after it, i fell off a little scooter when i was a kid and landed quite hard on my right shoulder. its been a bit loose around the joint since, now my left is starting to play up. the left is the one that has popped out twice, and its painful after it happens. i still need to get my body properly into climbing, ive always been physically fit from growing up on a farm ive always been active and got good body strength. Stamina is the worst thing though.

I'm 19. Just getting in to more regular climbing. I've got a lot of respect for the guys hitting 50 and still being regular climbers. I have some joint problems so sometimes I really ache. But I'll get used to it.

If your that worried about your gear. Change it. Find a different landy. Or change the current one a bit. If they have your reg plate you could get a private one? You just have to put up with them. I'm forever told my the other half don't go shouting things to people because you really do NEVER KNOW what they can or will do. Bar all that, keep a blunt instrument I.e a small log. Oak deadwood maybe as it's so bloody solid! You can justify why it's in the vehicle, you work with the stuff all day. And it's a good self defence.

i was expecting something that was caught from a dodgy night out!

Id put myself at a 2. I do say I'm envious of the knowledge of hama and mokeyd regarding the funghi ident and general ident and also their skills at work. Although I do have some knowledge thanks to the fdsc course so far. I just want to learn so much more.

some beech a before and after, large branch wanted removing, will be monitoring this as they wanted two fair size branches coming off, will be popping back during the season and next year to see how she grows. Had to do a bit of rigging, it went right, but i was a bit naughty with it. Didnt think i needed to lower anything, but then realised i had to, used what i had in my kit, if i didnt lowe anything he would have had a destroyed pond, fence and garden furniture. I used my head for everything went perfect, although i would have preferred some proper rigging gear. I was careful not to overload everything!

even that, scousers back in the day could have made it possible! a stolen car woul dhave just been littered everywhere, as per usual