Dan Curtis

Does that mean you don't need to wear trousers either then? Can't see the sense in non ppe work gear personally.

It was reminiscent of "The Road" if you've ever seen it?

Came across a wood falling into the sea this morning. The beach is fairly strewn with stumps, some of which still have felling cuts visible in them

Wouldn't entirely agree there, my bfg at's don't want to let go on the ice, even if you try to make them. Stopping can be interesting but I'm far happier on bfgs than I am with general grabbers

There's not a huge amount you can do unfortunately. You could try reducing some of the end weight of the remaining branches, but be aware that it will not flush new growth from bare wood. Live foliage needs to be retained to keep the branch alive and functioning. You may also lose the spiky habit of the tree if you prune the ends of the branches unsympathetically

I'd say almost certainly it's due to increased, altered wind loading caused by the other side being stripped bare. The coincidence being wet is the water held by the foliage is increasing the weight. Looking at your photo, the majority of the foliage left on the branches is at the tip end of a long branch, which creates excessive leverage and increases the chance of limb failure.

Good luck with that should the proverbial ever hit the fan.

Cheers. If you're lucky you might get a pink rubber band:rolleyes:

The first part is good now. Going in for another op on the same shoulder in the next month or so. Bloody tree work

I can't say for your particular op, but I had my shoulder socket put back together earlier in the year. Surgeon said 3 months off, when I got to see the physio I ended up with 5 and a half months off. Take your recovery day by day and don't push it. They do know what they're talking about so however long they say is how long you need. I know lots of people go back earlier than their told but a little short term gain isn't worth a long term problem. Best of luck with it

Ash pollard, finished by 1. Cup of tea with the inlaws on the way home then washed and hoovered the land rover for it's week off

Today's customer "the reason trees have deadwood is because squirrels run along branches and wear out the bark"

The other firm's insurance

How come you're using the Stein bollard over the treeworker?

No, keep the retrieval ball on the end of your rope, but also add a throw line onto the end of your rope, so your cambium saver can be lowered to the ground. Pretty much the reverse of how you set a cambium saver from the ground

Why not retrieve it with a throw line? Virtually eliminates both scenarios and saves you going to get it

Open window, buy proper boots, but shares in oil companies. Sorted

But then you'll moan about fuel consumption:rolleyes:

I've got a 2.4 tdci, it goes well and having a sixth gear is great. But I don't want to be getting into diagnostics software, and the parts can be expensive. For a work horse I'd want something you can fix with a hammer and duct tape, hence the 300tdi suggestion.

Mine gets the passenger seat and sulks if I have a human passenger.

If you've got £25k to play with.... 300tdi 130 Ali Tipper 300tdi/td5 90 hardtop with tool lockers internally. Ifor TT126 Assuming your work requires two people or more daily, one driver per vehicle, passenger in the 90 first if needed. Tools in the 90, chipper on the 90. This'll keep you more legal payload on the back of the 130, with the Ifor behind. 7t train weight for the 130. I reckon you could get all that for 25k

Yes!!

Yes, depending on the candidate. If they're willing to listen and learn. One problem I encounter is repeatedly having to tell someone the same basic things, one person in particular the same things over more than a two year period. The same basic things that imo should have been taught from day one. If they're starting their learning with the college, get them working efficiently from the start. I know there aren't time pressures in a learning environment but you could get into them the idea of a tidy site, tidy wood, brash cut and stacked from the tree in armfuls. If they start off by knocking bits all over the place and under no pressure to keep things moving, it'll be harder to adjust once they get into a commercial environment.

And when instead of trying to burn their way through the day because "it's quicker than sharpening on site"

I've worked with people from your college Martyn, and several other colleges. They all seem to leave on a similar level whichever college they've been to. From an arb perspective, there seems to be a lack of understanding that we're production cutters. I'm not talking the same lines as forestry, but pace in this industry comes from working efficiently as a team. It's one thing being able to knock a branch off a tree, but there doesn't seem to be anything ingrained in any of the students I've worked with over the last 5 years or so that suggests they understand the whole picture. For me the whole job is about logistics, how fast will this branch be gone and chipped so I can get the next one down pronto. Most of the college lads/leavers I've worked with will either take an age to cut nothing, or bash bits off all over the place, without consideration for where they'll land, facing what direction and who has to pick them up. They'll cut things off that are small, but won't go through a chipper because they've cut a 6" stub instead of snedding from the tree. Log wood will come down with dirty great stubs on, making stacking and handling a pain, as well as being dangerous once stacked. If you cut a branch off, cut it flush! (Obviously I'm not talking pruning here) From a forestry perspective, again, they can't sned. It's a basic skill that can make all the difference to the pace and safety of a job. Get them to understand the fundamentals of moving brash and snedding timber properly and they should be able to transfer this to working from a rope and harness. If they understand how things work on the ground, it'll make them better climbers because they'll know how to keep the groundsmen's tasks manageable, therefore making the climbing work easier and quicker. Sorry if this is a bit of a rambling rant, but it's the basics that are missing imo.