Tom@EVA

Thanks Fungus. That was the closest looking thing i could find picture wise on the internet but cant seem to find any info on it... what would be a probable/possible prognosis if it is that? You said its a slow developing white rot of the heartwood. If there are only a couple of them on the stem what sort of damage has it/will it do, what sort of time scales are we talking and what would be the best course of action for the tree? Thanks again.

I didn't have a camera with me so i removed this from the tree and took photo at home... can anyone ID it please? Searched internet, could be Phellinus Robustus ... conk But can't find any info on it. What does it do and what should be done about it? Thanks First one is outside, second is the inside

Thanks but I didn't post this thread to hear how great people are at sharpening with a file, by hand, in a field, in the rain when it's minus 10 and you've got 3 broken fingers or under whatever circumstances! I can do all that pretty well as it goes thanks... What i asked for was sensible opinions by people with knowledge and experience of electric chain grinders about which are the best ones (quality, ease of use, price) and what makes other people are using!? Hope this clarifies... Thanks

Is anyone using bench mounted electric chain sharpeners? If so which makes and models do you recommend or should you avoid?

Mine is about 2540-2580 empty (double cab smiley with cage and ply). max weight is 3500 so can carry 900/1000kg give or take legally. Depending on your licence you can tow up to 750kg (post 97), so total legal gross road weight is 4250

Anything that you carry that can be sold/is a product, i.e. Wood whether logged or not and wood chip is not waste and cannot be deemed so by the EA. I know people who have argued this and won. Other waste requires you to have a waste carriers licence AND a waste transfer note (piece of paper with address where it came from etc. on it. ) They can also be a*seholes about weight as its easy to overload a tranny with woodchip!

I'll let you know. I've just brought a KM100R but I ONLY brought it as a long reach hedgecutter and did so over the HL100 or equivalent 'purpose built' hedgecutter purely because I wanted to be able to add the extra shaft for more reach. It seems excellent. I already have an HT101 pole pruner and did buy that as a 'purpose built' tool rather than the combi and probably would do again but for an extra long reach hedgecutter the combi is great. I would still rather want a dedicated pole pruner and dedicated strimmer/brushcutter though out of choice.

How do you boys always manage pick dates that I'm busy! gutted. It's my birthday Saturday 29th so there are plans afoot which I wouldn't be able to get out of. Sounds excellent though, have a awesome time. I will definitely make it along to one soon.

I think I uses the same guy on fleabay, no problems. Quick delivery, helpful and no probs with my 346xpg since. Friend on mine fitted it and he said it looked like a decent bit of kit and was a third of the price of genuine husky (could go through 3 if they don't last and still be quids in!)

Thanks for the responses guys, the 266 side plate would be excellent if you have one Matty. If you could PM me if you find one that would be great. Tree Feller, I'll PM now to get some details thanks. And Bomag, I'm no expert on the Landy front, I hope my mate knows what to expect, I didnt ask him what he meant when he said "reasonable"!? I think he has his heart set on a MK1 though so I'll just pass on any info anyone provides. Thanks.

Hi guys, a friend of mine is after a few bits so I said I'd put a message up to see if anyone could help. He's after a Husky 266 side cover with a decent chain brake band, a trailer for his ride on mower, preferably twin axle, braked with ramp. Weight at least a tonne. And finally a MK1 Landrover, goodish condition, reasonable money. He doesn't want to travel miles so only stuff in the Kent area or nearby please. If anyone can help please PM me or call 07892974698. Thanks, Tom.

Yeah I agree, I love my 441 with a 20" bar, it rips thru everything rapidly. great for logging up and slightly bigger stuff and good on fuel but a bit heavy for snedding/day to day.

Hopefully if the kit is 'hardly used' like you're looking for then he will have original receipts and if the gear is under 6 months old you're fine. If the kit is more than 6 months old one would hope the seller has had it lolered and so would be providing the appropriate paperwork with it. If there is no paperwork I would be dubious about buying it (especially over the internet without actually seeing it) as it would require an inspection before you would want to use it. However as long as the kit isn't obviously past it's shelf-life/working life then it can be lolered at any point and if safe, used. I'm only in Elham so give me a shout if you want any advice or gear inspected.

Ha yeah climbed all day yesterday in the snow, blizzards and all taking down a big cedar but couldn't finish clearing up cos we couldn't see the ground! Had to tell the lady I'd be back as soon as it was clear. Don't like leaving jobs that way. Managed to get home before it got too bad about 5pm. Didn't even leave the house today tho! My bro and his girlfriend both had to abandon their cars, they had about a foot down in Folkestone!

Only going on what is taught but it's good we can discuss this so people do know what's involved and what the requirements are. Based on the Lantra qualification in the thorough examination of arboricultural equipment... as this is the qualification that LOLER inspectors in Arboriculture need to have to undertake inspections on our kit. (One would hope that Lantra base their training on legal directives ... LOLER Regulations as applied to arboriculture). So having passed a written AND practical exam an inspector is deemed a 'competent person' - someone who has the requisite knowledge and experience, both theoretical and practical, of the type of material under examination. As far as the HSE LOLER Regs state: The HSE LOLER Regs 1998. Introduction point 2: 'This document contains an approved code of practise and guidance on the duties in LOLER and existing regulations which are applicable to the use of lifting equipment ... these regulations are principally the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 and PUWER'. MHSWR (Point 12 LOLER Regs Intro) MHSWR requires a risk assessment to be carried out. Point 17 LOLER Regs Intro: The risk assessment may well id significant risks not addressed by LOLER. For example ... personal protective equipement. 'In such circumstance you would need to consider Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regs 1992.' So: HSE Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 2002 (and CE marking) Point 34: Employers should ensure that any PPE they buy bears a ‘CE’ mark and complies with the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/1144) The Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) directive is a CE marking directive which is intended to ensure that all PPE meets common standards of quality and performance. It also sets out basic health and safety requirements. The directive came fully into force in June 1995; non-compliant equipment must not be sold, even old stock manufactured before the directive came into force. So: LOLER 1998 includes MHSWR 1992 and PUWER 1998 and consequently MHSWR means we in our industry must use PPE and so covers PPEWR 1992. It all seems to follow on/go hand in hand and be linked ... as one would hope it would be? Also we are also specifically taught that if an item does not have an EN number then it cannot pass a LOLER inspection. What a way to spend a Friday night eh! Ha

I saw a tree surgeons van locally the other day, the company was called 'Arbour Tree Surgery' and my first thought was 'he's spelt Arbor wrong!' I think possibly it's a Canadian spelling so maybe he's Canadian but it just seemed a little odd to me so checked his website and he's definitely called 'Arbour Tree Surgery'. Assuming his name isn't actually 'Joe/John Arbour' does anyone know if there's an alternate spelling or have they made a mistake maybe?

I would agree with educated arborist, an mbs of 8164kg ... 8000kg and in our industry we use a safety factor for ropes of 10-1 so swl = 800kg. Just a note though that I think Yale themselves use a factor of 5-1 to calculate their working load from their strength approx. average which would be give a figure of 1632kg but we work at 10-1 for LOLER inspections.

OK bare with me this is a little long but I'm going to quote from the Lantra 'Thorough Examination of Arb Equipment' guidelines. LOLER is built on many other regulations including PUWER - Provision and use of work equipment regs 1998 which states that equipment must be 'appropriate for task' thus manufacturers take this into account when designing and constructing equipment and so they provide a 'declaration of conformity,' to say it conforms to the relevant standards. However its also requires/ is based on PPEWR 1992 - personal protective equipment at work regs 1992 which states that all PPE must be maintained, in a good state of repair etc. etc. AND that it has a 'Certificate of Conformity', indicating the standard to which the equipment conforms to (which prevents it having to be tested prior to first use) AND a CE mark. So LOLER requires PPEWR and PPEWR says Certificate of Conformity AND CE mark. 'CE: is a mark present on PPE and other items to certify that a product conforms to the European Directives and is therefore appropriate for use within Europe.' EN: 'European Norm - indicates that an item of equipment has to be manufactured to conform to the relevant standard for that equipment.' and in the UK this is a UK BS EN number. The EN number is more important than the CE mark because ... PPE - Type III or Complex PPE protects against mortal danger (This is our climbing PPE) and must undergo independent testing to European standards or 'Norms' So a sit harness which protects against falls from height (Type III/Compex PPE) MUST have a BS EN 813 number or it will fail a LOLER inspection. 'This system is designed to protect against trade barriers within the EU and although not a mark or quality, its presence on Type III products, which are independently tested to a standard, may be taken as such. ALL items of PPE should conform to appropriate CE standards.' Also 'repairs, alterations or modifications should only be carried out by the manufacturer otherwise the CE mark will become invalidated' ... So LOLER says NO after-market splicing at home etc. because as an inspector we cannot be sure that it is safe, we cannot see the internals of the splice. By passing such items as 'safe to use' the inspector is taking a risk because they cannot be sure and so would find themselves in trouble should there be an accident or failure. You would be shafted in court me thinks! Hope this clarifies the situation a bit.

I know firewood is at a premium these days but no one down this way seems to want conifer, willow etc. when we sell fire wood. The all ask for 'seasoned hardwood' fussy so and so's. I sometimes mix a bit of poplar in but have way too much and willow is large, hard to cut/split which takes time and costs money. Got a big stack of it that i want out the yard so it goes where ever i can get shot of it as long as it doesn't cost me. I dont bother storing/selling the chip either, too much time/hassle for the money, that goes to farms, customers or whoever wants it! If anyone wants my rubbish wood, PM or call me!

I just stack up the Conifer, the 'not so' poplar, willow etc. stuff I dont want for log and they will come and take it free of charge. They want it for chip for the biomass power stations. They will take chip too if you can store 27 tonnes on hard standing and it is clean, not contaminated. They will pay for chip, £5-6 a tonne.

Yep, they will come in and clear our 'rubbish' wood. Softwoods etc that we don't want for log. Got to have fairly large quantities though. They need good access for large vehicles and pref hard standing too.

Always interested and I know some others that might be too down this way so it depends on your distances, quantities/volumes and time scales. Already talking to another company offering a similar service, they will come in and clear our yard foc when we have 50+ tonne of log. Would take chip too but we would have to store that as well and provide loader so may be limited for space.

Any Qualified LOLER examiner can inspect any ones' kit as long as they do it 'without fear or favour' this means employees, bosses, independents, even your mum (as long as she is qualified i.e. deemed a 'competent person' having passed the exams and does it without fear or favour!) We all hope that nobody is stupid enough to pass dangerous kit that they, their employees or anyone come to that will be climbing on or lowering with, just to save them selves a few quid. If you test your own kit would you want to pass something and then climb on it if you know is dodgy!? exactly.

I've been working in a similar way to you dobermamdave, selling work byproduct and splitting on quiet days. last year or the maybe the year before I brought a 'leccy' vertical splitter. An ALKO 5500; 5 and a half tonne hydraulic. It does a good job but yes it it fairly slow and needs both hands on the levers. Retail was close to £700 but a paid a fair bit less. It's a quality bit of kit and dont regret it but i do still use the axe a fair bit cos its quicker. If you're looking at fire wood production on any sort of scale I would get something more professional (QUICKER) which will probably cost you more £.