Bolt

sums it all up. when-I-were-a-lad we used a map, a compass, and our eyes. young-kids-these-days have to be told where to go by some stupid electric gadget so they don't have to think for themselves. you would never catch me sitting infront of a pile of silicon chips all evening staring dumbly at at screen!

Or a wine glass (a nice full one).

Fear not, odd bird, First, don't worry what the others are doing. You are not in a race, or competing with them in any way. Second, Its not doing good cuts on your training course that matters. Make all your mistakes now (and learn how to get out them / not repeat them). Third, make your mistakes early in the course, so as you get better, your confidence builds. Fouth (as toprotter said) "enjoy it". When its not going 100%, stop for a moment. take a step back from the tree, think how much you want it, and how much hassle its been to get this far, and ENJOY IT. The only reason to do tree work is that its fun. Fifthly, be glad that you are not "using up all your good cuts on the training". This would appear to ge a genuine problem on training courses. I have had candidates on training who were model pupils all the way way through training, but on the assessment, the assessor has contacted me wondering why I put such a hopeless case forward for assessor. I have also had candidates who were above average for the start of the course, and seemed to go down hill on the last few days, not leaving you enough time to correct the multitude of "day1 week1" errors they are making. I have has candidates who were nothing but, errrr "not good" through out the training, and never seemed to "get it", but for the assessment, they sailed through - so much so you wonder if its a different person (ooops, did I say that out loud) being assessed. Finally Your assessment is the only day it matters. Listen hard to your trainer, and get as much experiance as you can on your course (I guess you are only a few days in). :-)

Have Husky put emissions before performance? I reckon they have..... I also reckon we will all be sticking with the 200T.

The point of shooting pheasants? 1) Clays taste pretty lousey, regardless of how you cook them. 2) Pheasants fly really really high (sometimes) which makes missing them much more entertaining. 3) A well trained and excited spaniel is not required for clays. 4) I find clay shooters far too 'clicky' (but then they look down on me as I am rubbish at clays anyway). 5) Don't like the outfits clay shooters wear.... hmmmm, the list goes on.....

Great, simply stop the chain by waving your gloved hand at it oooops, right upto the day it stopped working. now my fingers are all gone And thats the problem with PPE. most safety equipment 'fails to safe' but PPE always increases the danger when it fails. All that aside, nice idea! Trying to work out why I didn't think of it.

Words of wisdom mate, words of wisdom!!!!!!

There, there, there. You did just the right thing. If you had helped him, he would probably carried on, not taking responsibility for his actions, and careered off the road at the next sharp corner. rekon you saved his life, and just before christmas. you may sleep the sleep of the just tonight.

...... or snowdrift......... or jacknifed Stobart truck.

60mph forward speed..... 750kg of chipper..... relased from truck...... Brakes fully applied...... And thats going to lead to a controlled stop? who makes this rubbish up. Even Clarkson and that hampster chap wouldn't try it. Short breakaway cable, slightly longer chain, sorted! Plod need not apply (of couse, if you did get stopped, you could just assure the old bill that you were nicking the chipper, in which case they would let you go on your way so they could victimise proper law abiding citizens )

Not legal to secure your trailer to the back of your truck? Where on earth does it say that. I thought it was illegal NOT to secure a trailer to the back of a vehicle :confused1:

Well, not a whole one. Over at the Inlaws this year in Belgium. My good lady informs me that they are quite into all that out there (this was following a conversation where I ranted "what good are horses for..... you can't eat a horse - can you!). Turns out she knew better.

Horse this year I think. Never had horse before, really looking forward to it.

RE "lantra card". Training is simply 'them' telling and showing you stuff. Assessment is you telling and showing 'them' stuff. You want an NPTC assessment if you want to progress in this industry. Training can be given to you by anyone. (your mum, your boss, a college or a national organisation line 'LANTRA'). If lantra do your training, you get a discount for your NPTC assessment, but to get the discount you need the training course ID number (called a HO number). Lantra issue you with an dedit card sized card, which have the details printed on them, but you wont have that card yet because you havent been trained yet - have you! They may simply be asking if you have already got a lantra card (from woodchipper or brushcutter training for instance) in order to streamline the registration part of the course (i.e. please bring your lantra card if you have one, no worries of you don't) Does that make things clearer??? all the best :-)

FRET WORK! I knew there was a proper word for it. Finger work is something quite different........... ...............that involves the yellow pages .

And on the subject of being sharp, that was supposed to be a 'play on words'............. tuned......sharp.......yeah?...........i'll get my coat. Oh, by the way, nice finger work (or whatever its called )

I do like to see a properly tuned saw. That one clearly wasn't sharp.

I believe this one does a bit. :-) http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/members/slack-ma-girdle.html Maybe give him a PM....

Or whatever the randomly numbered Stihl equivalent is

Re: Pollards and Bog Brushes.... In my humble, it depends on the effect you are after. This isn't pollarding, its simply loppin-n-toppin. Maybe, over time, something good will come of it, probably not. In the UK, street trees are more likely to simply be felled and replaced by some overpriced oversized sapling that either sucumbs to summer drought or Friday night hoodlums. A genuine, proper style pollard will see it all come and go, and probably outlast it all. There is some good stuff (IMO) on this link (other pollard posts are available - terms and conditions apply - the value of street trees may go up as well as down - you home is at risk if you don't maintrain a tree whos roots its secured upon (in clay areas)). http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/picture-forum/5149-way-they-pollard-limes-glasgow.html The photo on Post 1 of that link (TCDartmoor) isn't of what I would call a pollards. These are incompleted 50% dismantles. However cut to page 5, post 41 (JHancock) now this is what I call pollarding. Its not a natural tree shape, but its not pretending to be. There is not a lot in the western word that isn't managed to a certain extent. I don't think its butchery, I like it, but I understand some don't because they like the illusion that trees in developed locations are 'natural'. Of course, on the continent, they do it with a whole different style. I am sure that they aren't all wandering around wringing their hand wondering if they should self flagellate. Page 6, post 54 (SBlair) has some cracking Italian examples. Look at the shapes - Mega Bonsi - there is no way these shapes are achieved by a grunt with a saw, this is years on careful and attentive pruning. They are a bit more worthy of a photo than the bog standard 10% thinning here 30% reduction there rubbish. These are worth driving to see! Page 6, Post 55 (RRule) Has another fine european mainland example. Page 7, Post 63 (JJ Gairn) Has more fantastic knuckles. If you kick around provincial towns and villages, you come across allsorts, much of the pollarding is done by old boys who have been doing it, unpaid in many cases, for years. In the village where I used to live, all the trees in the square and the churchyard were pollarded on a rolling 5 year cycle, and the arisings used on the Nov 5th bonfire night fire. That was a tradition that went back further than anyone can remember. The trees looked fantastic, and they looked just the same in photos from 20years back, 40 years back, 60 years back. Are we really so arrogant as to think we now whats for the best, when this kind of activity has been conducted (one way or another) over hundreds of years? where has my cider all gone......

Dadio

The only time i have handled a Dyson was when I lobbed my wifes in a skip. However, I have never handled a miele (and I had to check how to spell it) so I'm giving the Dyson my vote

As there is an elm tree protection zone around the southdowns in Sussex, imposed by enforcing authorities, maybe they will be congratulating Gavin?

...And just to think, 3 old boys from the local lions club (and a whippet) manage to light the massive local display bonfire on time every year (and thats made of damp old pallets, some rotten chipboard kitchen units and half the village's tree prunings)

It's strange how people don't consider things. On that forum, posters instantly state that a low profile 3/8 would be no good on a ms441, and that a 'full' profile would be no good on a 338xp. Well we all think that. .325 is handy for those saws not suitable for either. Well this is also true. I just wonder why an 'intremediate' profile 3/8 chain hewasn't developed for saws in the a 40 to 55cc range.