Dan Curtis

On what grounds did the cyclist sue you Dean?

Yes..

Plane to deadwood and reduce slightly from the buildings

So, the show is less than a month away. Looks like it'll be a good one this year, we've got lots of new events, from the SRT to the secret groundsman competition. Anyone who is sitting on the fence about whether to come, do it! It's a great event with a very friendly atmosphere and competitors span a huge range in ages and experience. The main East Anglian Game and Country Fair are also holding a photo competition at the show, so any budding photographers bring your cameras! Check out the Facebook page for more information; https://www.facebook.com/pages/East-of-England-Cutters-and-Climbers-Competition/394739513952567?ref=hl

Nod had a reel of Cougar Blue, try him Tree Climbing Equipment Online Shop - Treeworker.co.uk - Treeworker home

I know it's not what you're after but given the choice of those two I'd say a Lockjack if you're doubled roping, Unicender if you're single

I don't think your link works Marcus. I assume this is what you were posting? Instagram

I wouldn't. PPE is personal.

The krab part may have been his concern, especially in a training situation. Remote krabs aren't the best idea imo. I had one mallioned onto a ring-ring cambium saver for a few years.

How were you planning on attaching the pulley to the tree?

Not quite Bob. Yes they can drive the combo but they're still entitled to a 4.25t gtw. Weights as they exist apply to the maximum permissible weight, not what you actually have in the vehicle at the time. A 3.5t transit in the eyes of the law weighs 3.5t regardless of what is in it. The unbraked trailer entitlement is another 750kgs. This gives you a max weight of 4.25t on a B licence. This is all acceptable until you're over 3.5t in the towing vehicle.

I think so. The guy who I did my felling training with was very keen to emphasise that the felling tickets 30-34 are forestry qualifications, so apply to actual timber harvesting rather than a dodgy hollow stem in a back garden.

I think it was part of the CS32 when I did it, to set a more consistent log for extraction. Haven't done it once since the course though, I love tearing roots out the ground:lol:

What course are you thinking of taking? Imo, unless you're fresh out of school, it's a waste of time taking any of the prolonged courses just to get into practical arb work. You'd be better off putting out feelers to see if you can get any work, and just work your way through practical tickets as you can afford them/need them. If you were inclined to do something along the lines of the theory side of arb, take a 1 day a week or home study course. The ND's etc all seem very long and drawn out to not gain a lot, IMO

I got mine from Nod at Treeworker, give him a try

Sorry David, I was a little disappointed too. I guess I'm not too keen on donating my chains to mycological research Agreed, could've been a lot worse than 50%, hence I climbed it.

Cheers Tony. I refused to rig, didn't have an anchor as such, I spiked up and knocked off what I could as I went. We pulled the back leant top off, then took a few sections of stem off with the backside limbs still attached.

You were right, I died:001_tt2: Decay was fairly extensive, perhaps 50% holding, mostly the decay was on the tension side and into a main buttress root. The tree had a slight lean, caused by historic movement. The customer first noted movement about 4/5 years ago, and it has moved a little further in the last few months. All of this actually helped, as it moved most of the canopy over the drop zone:thumbup1: Unfortunately we didn't go to ground with it, chicken wire and staples just weren't going to allow it, so the full extent of decay will remain unknown

I couldn't really give an answer to that. In most cases I've seen it's been fairly advanced decay, though I often have to frame of reference with regard to time. Mr Humphries may be able to give a better answer

Haha. Most of it will palm off in decent bits so it should come down well. It may not come down as far as the decay, someone has stapled a mesh fence to it:thumbdown:

Thanks Ben, I'll sleep easy tonight knowing there's a certain outcome from tomorrow:001_tt2:

There's a ditch nearby, I'm not sure how much flows in it though. Fairly wet land generally, it's getting over towards the Fens

I've got a takedown tomorrow of a Eucalyptus that has a large basal wound with a large amount of Dead Man's Fingers fruiting at ground level. The tree isn't MEWP accessible, nor will it fell. I've had a bash with a hammer and I'm thinking there's around 65% sound wood, I'll give it a go with a drill tomorrow to be sure. Has anyone got any experience of the host/saprophyte together? It's a new combo on me...

I carry a couple of cubes, have a couple of old ones at home that I'm slowly salvaging for parts when I need them. The standard in both my main cubes is 50m Skyline or Zing It, I used to really like the Marlow braided line, but after multiple dodgy ones (broken within a week) I stopped using it. There's usually a 10 or 12oz Harrison Rocket on the throwing end of the lines, a 16oz weaver on the tail end. I also carry about half a dozen other bags ranging from 6oz - 16oz. I have a Bigshot, but rarely use it. I can throw pretty high quite accurately. I favour a one handed throw, without any of that basketing gubbins, just a load of faff imo. Ivy covered/dense trees I'll use a heavier weight to blast it's way through. To join the bags to the lines, I'm settled on bowlines girthed onto the ring. I don't really see a need for slips or dropper knots. If I think there's a chance the bag will get stuck then I'll let it run to the floor and take it off before pulling the line back through. I probably throw an average of 5 shots per day, this year so far I've not got a single bag stuck. Last year, probably less than 10 stuck bags. An old krab is great for giving that extra tug on the line when you need to unstick it, just pop a Munter hitch on the top and the bottom and use the spine as a handle. I throw nearly every time I want to set a rope, either anchor points in trees, pull lines, traverse lines etc. Throwline games are one of my summer past times Take the dog for a long walk and see what I can get the bag to do, walk it up and down the tree, multi tree redirects etc. I'm also partial to a bit of boomerang throwing, I have a nice scaffold bar set 3ft off the floor for playing with. Imo, the throwline is an underrated part of our kit. I'm fortunate enough to work with some groundsmen who can set pulls in limbs and set rigging ready for you to get to the cut, massive time and labour saver when it's required.

Could you rig a horizontal traverse line between two other trees and work from that if there aren't any nearby trees suitable for a single attachment? Imo, smashing a big top out wouldn't be the way to go, it'll put a big load into the stem and potentially the root plate. Yesterday I pulled over a Euc in a similar state. It looked climbable but came over very easy on just a winch and pull line. You can't tell what's holding it up there, straws and camels backs etc Should've read the whole thing before posting!