Andrew Reed

Hi The location of the practice tree(s) is close to Petersfield.

Hi Please is there a CS38 ticketed trainee climber interested in serious practicing of climbing with another young trainee groundie/arborist wanting to practice for the CS39 ticket later this year? It would be on maybe couple of weekends through the summer. You would need their own climbing equipment. Maybe team up next year for occassional work, as the experience is gained. Please PM me. Cheers

For mainly large garden waste to compost I use a Eliet Maestro which I find is very good. Max branch size is 40mm. Though it does not like a 40mm knotty lump on a branch. Easy to shapen the blades with a grinder wheel on a small electric drill. Great for my annual hard cut backs of willow, dogwood, and large shurbs, and even does veg waste. I throw very dry leaves in it as well to mince up for quicker composting. Has swallowed tree prunings from thining up to 40mm as well. Everything else bigger goes for firewood. Manual says it will do "12 wheel barrows" an hour, but you would have to feed it pretty efficently for that. It has a highish feed chute, and fills up a large bag underneath. I tend to layout a very large plastic sheet and often turn out the bag onto to that to create a pile of the sheddings over a few hours, then shovel the pile into compost or wherever. I hear you can get an exit chute which would be useful throw sheddings straight onto a sheet on the ground. You can easily push it onto a trailor or pickup bed, and it even fits into a large estate car (on its side). The larger Eliet Major copes with more throughput but has a lower output point which would be more of a hassle to clear. There is an option for a more open grid for wet leaves and mushy stuff such as kitchen veg waste. Because wet fallen leaves clog it up very quickly.

Tree grows around fence pic's. On the edge of a small piece of local scrub, I guess left fallow for 15 years.

Apparently deer cannot see the colour Orange, so you could run the risk of being accidently speared with an antler from a grazing deer :-)

This one maybe: T22. Richmonds Cheers

£135 for a recommended harness, now that sounds good. Just checked on Willians web site and there seems to be a fair few. I'd be interested to know which model was your choice? Cheers

I have noticed the mid 2000s year 1.7 (CDTi?) astravans have an eco engine of somekind which means the tax is only 125 a year.

I visited Antrim a few weeks ago and noticed in the woodland many notices concerning P ramorum, and a fair number of diseased Larch along side paths. I found five minutes to google what it was all about, and found this interesting report. http://www.forestryjournal.co.uk/pdf/Cleggan.pdf

Ah yes the RD400, that brings back memories. Runs just fine on standard exhausts, but I guess most of them have been dropped so replaced with expansion chambers. For two strokes my favorite was the the little Kawasaki KH250 triple.

I think it was more than just deer, read somewhere it was any livestock. Fencing was required if the woodland was coppiced. So pollarding must have been less hassle. The Royal Forest of Bere was a hunting area, and pollarding was apparently more popular. Though most of the Bere Forest first went up in firewood, and then a lot more went into building naval ships of the line in next door Portsmouth. Not a lot of it left now, and not much of the navy left either.

I notice alder seems to season quite quickly. It is then very light to handle, seems to burn OK, bit like willow, quickly but nice and bright.

Mainly willow, Silver Birch, mixed with some rather smokey pine from limbs that fell off in snow last year, and mixed with builders softwood timber offcuts (which last no time at all). The willow is fine, burns clean and easily, as long as it is kept dry because it soon soaks up the water, and I think it takes up more space. Left over clean pallets make great kindling. Next will be Ash and Adler.

I year ago I bought Meindl Borneo Pro MFS for hill/fell walking in most seasons. Wanted a pair that would last a very long time, hence almost all leather. Gave Gortex and all that stuff a miss to avoid getting too hot, and it breaks after a while anyway. Disadvantages of the Borneo are fairly heavy compared to some newer build types, and they took a very long time to break in. For summer lowland and downs walking I use something a lot lighter, but they hit a limit for me at about 12-13 miles in one go. I always like good sturdy ankle support as I tend to stride though and over anything without looking too much about where my feet are landing. The grip from the sole is good on them as well.

Here is mine. Brompi Oxford. Note the cracked wall. Burning Birch, Willow, and I think Dogwood.

I reckon the new Nikwax is to cater for the breathable gortex boots. Dubbin, the old Nikwax (in tin), and Grangers tinned stuff probably over years of application completely seals up the leather and stops the breathability working. Anyway, for the new Nickwax I am sure I noticed on one very wet day, with constant movement in deep puddles all day, the new Nickwax washed out of the seams. A few days later after using Grangers/dubbin type wax, it seems to stay waterproof. Ever since I have been suspious of the new Nikwax.

All Thank you for the advice. I have going around in circles with trying to sort out a vehicle that will suit 3 year plan to be a climbing arborist, with options for other work such as small time landscaping/gradening and occasional small residential work on the the way. Anyway finally settled on a 2006 diesel Astravan. Why? New eco engine with cheap car tax, group 4 insurance, reportedly very reliable, ecomonical for driving long distances to be a groundie or climber subbie on a weeks contract, service intervals very long, can tow approx 1500kg, and can load carry approx 700-800 kgs, can take roof bars for steps/ladder, and usable as personal transport. I concluded if you want decent load carrying, then you need a proper truck anyway, which is not so good for all the other uses you might have for a vehicle. Thanks again

I tried a few of these, from a manufacturer who produced them as a bi product from specialised horse bedding production. 1st point is they have to be kept very dry, sealed the bags they arrive in until you need to open a bag for use. Even left in my dry store in an open bag, they still seemed to pick up some mositure. But that did not make any significant difference. On the fire they light easily, and burn with a low flame, fairly hot from what I could tell. Not very attractive to look at in the fire. It remimded me of my old coal fires burning furnacite. I used them mixed with other various wood. Anyway, i could not see the point. Maybe you get more heat per cube, and maybe it is good/green to re use waste that otherwise would be landfilled, but you still have the pastic bags left over. My samples were free, as is my wood for burning anyway. I guess for most punters who just want as much heat per £, the it's price compared to decent hardwood to decide how popular it would be.

£2300 was the cheapest I could find. Interestingly NFU were very close to this figure as well. Series 3 on a classic I think might be the only cheaper similar 4x4. But to me I could not see how an insecure 50 mile an hour max speed very old vehicle could be a reliable trouble free work horse for serious work. Suggest think about insurance costs in years 2 to 5 when the no claims kicks in. The Discovery is group 11, but a small/mid van is group 4-5. Sadly even the mid sized van is still £2300 for a 19 year old in the first year. I fact I reckon anything above group 3 results in a leap to £2200 for the 19 year old. BTW, I have not checked out the HiJet 4x4 mini truck insurance yet, it might be in the order of £1600 and maybe similar probably to a Fiesta van insurance. I think the only answer is to bite the bullet and work harder to pay off the insurance!, or better still team up with a buddy who is a few years older and has a big truck (and keep the aygo). Good luck

I did something similar myself a month ago. I would throughly recommend the Kentmere Round walk, and Bowfell (via Climbers Traverse) and Esk Pike from the pub at the end of Langdale.

This may be of interest: Directgov jobs and skills search - Job details

labiaoplasty, hmm, maybe that is a bit like a crown reduction, but upside down

I visited the Wood Fair this weekend, on the A3M near Petersfield. Very good as a family day and an excellent location for a walk in the QE Park at the same time. Not a serious trade fair, more focus on traditional wood crafts for the public. Impressive for those of you like big toys was what I think was a Woodmiser demo of a portable bandsaw and a monster tractor fed chipper producing for the site visitor centre heating system. If you are nearby, probably worth a visit next year for a jolly. I reckon missing from the trade stands were: Firewood/log producers, local timber products manufacturing or installation such as fencing and decking, and an domestic arborist could have picked up some business as well.

Not an "Arb" show, but slightly woody: There is a "Wood Fair" on this weekend in Hampshire, next to the A3M Event details QECP Though not shown on the detail, i think there will be a few timber/forest related trade stands such as Firewood, forestry management, South Downs produced charcoal. Maybe there will be a horse logger there, because there is some one that turns up occassionally at local shows such as this.

I would agree, large estates provide good opportunities, if you can get in. Suggest just get on the phone to them, and be prepared for a large phone bill to mobiles during the day. I noticed the FC are keener on training and apprentices in Scotland at present. I think Health and safety issues are probably quite a constriant, because it will take up an awful lot of the area managers time to do the job as is required. In my area the FC sometimes end up with Work Experience students who are not interested and it does not work out at all. I guess that is what "work experence" is about, to find out if it is for right for you, so always that risk. Whereas what you are after might be something more than what is often called Work Experience. I suggest a very personalised approach to the prospective employers (FC/Estates managers), and make sure you have your own PPE. If you have a chipper ticket first, then you are immediately useful to some arborist companies to help with clearing up. Also, if acceptable try thinking about work experience is a related work area such as, some aspects of horticulture (tree nursery), landscape gardening, forestry research. Remember, if you do work experience with the FC in the forests in populated areas, you will probably be fly tipping removal on at least one of the days, and boundary fencing on another. Good luck