Dan Curtis

Hi Nick, heard the show earlier, good work! Is it acceptable to climb srt with a ropewrench for the comps? I found this on the 3ATC website, just wanted a little clarification as to whether my system was allowed; 2.2.30 Contestants may work from a static ascending line provided that a separate, approved overhead climbing system is anchored to the static ascending line. Fall-protection anchoring systems must include an approved stopper knot or hitch on the static line below the anchoring system. Techniques for working from a static line with an anchoring system attached to the static line must be demonstrated prior to use and during gear inspection, and must have prior approval of the Head Judge & Safety Officer . Cheers

Where are you based? You could either post on here you're looking, or try arbjobs and earborist

Nice, maybe you've already got a buyer/distributor then?

Firewood? You could get yourself a cheap splitter, or processor if funds allow? Or kindling? Hatchet and an armchair, the cheaper option!

Beat me to it!

I've heard good things about this site, though no previous experience Farm Stay UK | Farm B&B Self Catering and Cottages | Farmhouse Holiday| Wake up to The Country | Farm Stay

If I've got it right, I'll be joining you on monday:thumbup:

I've only got three days max left at work before I leave to move back to my mrs and family, new job stars monday:thumbup:

In a way you do climb the tree more, but you can still climb the rope of you're that way inclined. The only issue with it is that being 1:1 you have to hold more weight whilst moving in/up.

13mm tends fine once your cam is worn in

Nice vid reg. Is there any particular reason you use a humboldt cut for the last blocks? As I understand it, they help the block to fall off the cut rather than jump away. Obviously they were fairly short lumps, but I was wondering about the implications of your ropes being underneath the gob and a block dropping off close and hitting them?

Or chuck a bit of slack ahead of you on a branch, no extra gear that way.

You need 31 to do a 38 assessment, though you may be able to train without it

Fair play, but you need to have something to do with it, no point owning one that sits in the shed once you've got a job. Big waste of money that imo, could be better spent. If, on the other hand, if you have got weekend work that pays, would be worth it. Depends on your personal situation. Pos1981, are you planning on going it alone or being on the books somewhere?

Buy yourself a 38 course and assessment, it'll give you a better chance of getting out and experienced with other lads. A saw probably won't come in handy if you're looking to get into full time arb employment, neither will climbing gear. If you manage to get a good job, it should be provided. Good luck.

Imo, formative pruning should be what it says. It should be done when the tree is forming, not once it's mature, whilst trying to be create a well formed, properly structured scaffold. I personally try to keep in mind what shape the species naturally takes, ie. Not pruning a birch or cedar into a rounded/spherical canopy. A lot of the pruning I have done in my current job has been purely aesthetic, and while I don't set the specs, or always agree with them, I try to be as sympathetic to the tree as possible, whilst fulfilling the customers requirements. We are, after all,a service industry, and despite what a lot of us like to think 9 times out of 10, we're doing a service for the customer, not the tree. They got along fine without us for millennia

I think there will be a few in the south east soon ish, but don't know of any up north

May have been,i don't think so though. I'm not sure it was advertised at all. Ddrt puts extra load on anchor points, so no real change with that. Cutting shouldn't be an issue, you'd have to be working with a proper moron. Rigging could present problems with tangling on base anchors though. I guess the last bit could make issues for IBP, on one hand, if you're working properly and have an accident, you'd be stropped in and not lowerable, on the other, you're not stropped in when working so not nessecarily heeding advice anyway. Excluding accidents when moving position of course. Would be interested to see what you think of the uni, I missed a chance on it last year due to injury. I had an idea for an srt positioner today, all in one unit, it could make me millions......if I ever get it made.

Norfolk/suffolk border. I got fed up being away from the mrs. Just got to wait for the uni to get ce approval, that might add some weight to the case. Or maybe the hold up is related to srt work positioning being naughty, and approval might mean someone has to revise the IBP?!

Rumour has it the last version was a re-print despite it being widely known to contain errors! It'll get there though, and there seem to be more srt users every week. On the plus side,i start a new job in a week and my new boss has no beef with srt work positioning.

If you imagine a single piece of rope, at one end you're tied in on the rw, at the other a krab. Put a prussik loop on the rope near the krab end, with a bridge ring tied into it, either larks foot or two fishermans. Run the krab around your anchor and clip it into the ring, adjust the length of the prussik so the loop is as short as possible, but without the krab cross loading or bending round the anchor. Only works with a fork, you can't cinch it up tight on a pole as the krab will bend. If thats the bit you meant? I too have done a few take downs the way you were saying, choking slings then releasing them on the way down, works lovely and conforms with current IBP

Mostly just a bowline, got some experimenting yet to do with anchors, I've had a look at your setups. I don't know if it's one you've tried but I was thinking of trying something along the lines of a hitch tied to a bridge ring, similar to how the ce lanyard works in srt. Thats how I use my grillon when I want more length or I'm above my main anchor. I'd normally clip into it with a krab but got to work something else out for main line. I don't like the idea of leaving them alone, you never know what they're rubbbing on! I did have a dodgy top to piece down today, didn't like the look of it to attach to. I ended up tying off 4ft below the dodgy bit, then a sling redirect above as my top tip, with another sling between the two to put a better line angle on the top attachment, and load the timber straight through the compression. Worked like a treat, and though it meant a double loaded anchor point, it was loaded in compression, rather than ddrt pulling it over, lever style. IMO the safest way to do the job, and an impossible configuration to have tried with a doubled rope!

I made a breakthrough today. I'm using the rw in conjunction with my lockjack, with a short link/cut away strop as the tether. I've found that when you're returning from a limb, you can almost use the system prussik style, one hand placed between the rw and lj, the other on the wrench to tend it. It means the wrench stays engaged the whole time and slack self tends through the lj ie; no sitback, no minor descent to engage the wrench. I find this much less demanding than trying to pull myself up from above the wrench then holding myself while one hand tends slack. I don't know how well this would work with a hitch as I doubt there would be enough distance between the hitch and tether to get hold of the rope, unless you use a rather long tether. I'm also tending to go for a top anchor after the last few days of woodland grown trees not going well with a base anchor. I've repeatedly found that if you take all the weight off your line near the top of the tree, the weight of rope between the TIP and anchor tends to cause a bit of creep in the rope, meaning lots of sitback when you put your weight back on the system