Andrew Reed

"I got misdiagnosed with vibration white finger 10yrs ago(Paul I also had 70% reduced function) that took me out of tree work only to discover the numbness/pins n needles was caused by nerve impingement" I have had the dead hands and arms problem in the morning and during the night. My diagnoisis was nerve problems in shoulder joints from a very old minor injury. To reduce and almost eliminate the problem I have, used excercises that focus on strengthing the shoulder muscules around the joint, limiting my arm movement just a little when arms are stretched up towards vertical, and extra strength cod liver oil every day. I reckon if you spend a month away from the heavy physical work, and no replacement excercise, then it will cause problems again.

Thank you Dent, very useful.

"i have a series 2 landy and my insurance is £800 and i am 17 with 1 mnth past my test " I would be interested to know the name of the insurance company that offers you £800 on a series 2. Cheers

Thank you for the responses. Very useful. My favorites so far are the small daihatsu or suzuki idea. The suzuki van with the side door being very insteresting. Then maybe an estate car with a trailor (subaru, or primeras seem good value). I'll look into the idea of a very old SWB landy, maybe on classic insurance. I have worked out on the insurance web pages (go compare etc) that typical 4 x 4 pick ups were £2500, and NFU were not interested in on young driver, unless it was wrapped up with other polices such farm insurance. Thanks again.

Help please. Have any of you younger chaps, with hardly any no claims bonus, worked out the most cost effective choice of vehicle that can carry arrisings, firewood and just a few cutting/felling tools? But it would be mainly used for short commute to woodland areas and low mileage private transport with one passenger. The main problem I visualise is the insurance premiums, i am wondering how much more you have to pay above normal car premiums to get an occasional load carrier, and what is the best choice of vehicle to keep the costs reasonable. Ideas could be small van, pickup (medium), medium car with trailor. I was thinking i might have to limit the load carrying to 750kgs, or maybe 900kgs to end up with very little extra insurance costs compared to a ordinary low cost car medium sized car.

I am just about to have a 5kw stove installed on a what looks to be clay or dense material purpose designed fairly modern chimney liner, 9 inch dia. So interested to see these comments about not using a stainless liner. My HETAS approved installer said it did not need a stainless one. I suspect it will need sweeping more often. But mine will be only occassional evening use, so may not be a problem (he hopes). BTW, My stove will be a Brompi Oxford (not so common), with a large firebox compared to the outside dimension, and narrow door so as to reduce the hearth depth into the room.

Thank you for the help. I'll use the same grease (red) in both, which makes it easy. Cheers

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/fce-woodfuel-strategy.pdf/$FILE/fce-woodfuel-strategy.pdf page 27 of this doc may be of interest. Price per Kwh of available fuels. woodchips are 1.5p, based on 5 tonne delivery. Oil is 3.3p

This is my first time to upload a .jpg, so hope it works. There should be attached a photo of this black conker like fungus 2-3 cm across. Or at least i think it is a funghi. I have seen it on wood in the early stages of decay. I have only ever seen it in a black, hard and dry state, so no idea what it could like like in full bloom. Seen it on small section standing timber in groups of 5 or 5, and yesterday a single one on a very dry cut log on open grass. It is not in my Fungi reference book, so do not know it's name. Anyway, I saw a TV programme that said this funghi can be used to help start fires. So today i tried it and put a a match to it. Not so sure it is that useful for starting fires, it kinda smolders like charcoal. But is does keep red/grey hot embers burning on its own. If a gentle breeze blowing, it could help get kindling going where a flame could normally blow out. Anyone know it's name? Does anyone use it for real to help start fires?

Brand new, supplied with a plastic grease pump tool, and a little tube of rather firm grease. Plus dealer sold me a 1 litre bottle red liquid grease for the guide bar end sprocket (which I have put in the little plastic pump and it works fine for the bar end). My question is, which grease do I use for the needle roller bearing behind the main sprocket? Manual says grease it once a week. Does it have to be pumped in with the the little plastic tool/greaser supplied, or somehow forced in straight from the tube of firm grease supplied? Or maybe not bother greasing it all, unless stripped say once a year.

If two of the six a mid sized/juniors, then a 2nd hand Merc E class estate is a nice possibility, diesel. But no room for luggage when the rear seats are in use. Watch out for rusty ones though.

Ok, thanks, I was just wondering. yep, sorry, i meant top handled, not two handed.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WaV4xx0SiA]YouTube - Beech tree felling, Knutsford, Day 2[/ame] Beech fell Knutsford. Question for you experienced guys. In the above vid, two handed saws are being used in the canopy. Special reason here do you think?

From my recent experiences with a 17 year old going through CS30/31, I would agree 16 is maybe too young. I also notice the 12 week Arboriculture course in Guildford is for over 19 year olds only.

I have been researching this subject lately. If the arrangement is aligned with the 12 to 18 month long National Apprentice Scheme, I think it works like this: The apprentice would be aligned to the Trees and Forestry Modern Aprenticeship scheme. It has defined objectives for thoery training, practical training, and experience. See lantra web site for details. The employer takes advise from the local college or/and the county/area National Apprenticeship scheme advisor. The employer, and the local college strike up the arrangement between them to align with the scheme and who is reponsible for what. the college provides free of charge a fair amount of the training required. NVQs and some equipment training. The employer I think has to pay/arrange/undertake some of the apprentice training. Also certain objectives in the work have to be provided. Sometimes the college takes the lead with the selection and interview process, sometimes the employer. In my area the County Council are involved as well. CC or college may even conduct much of the selection for the employer. Employer takes on the apprentice as an employee and pays them a wage. In the first month the National Apprentice Scheme give the employer approx £1500 to help with wages. In the third month the employer gets about £1000 as a second and final wages grant. In my area the County Council provide a separate grant to the employer to buy equipment (PPE/Saw/Climbing gear)and to help pay costs/wages while the apprentice is training. This CC grant can be approx £2,500. The employer allows the apprentice one day a week for maybe 22 weeks to attend college for NVQs, and allow time for other training such as CS30, 31, Safe use of Pesticides, chipper etc. as is relevent to Forestry or Arboriculture. I think the employer provides paid holiday as well, but probably not sick pay. The employer gets 4 days a week of a young lad, who admittedly is an overhead/liability for the first month, and is barely useful for the the 2nd month, with I guess increasing usefulness over time. maybe by month three you just about have a useful groundsman normally worth £65 a day for the 4 days a week you have the apprentice available. And by month 8 the apprentice could be up the tree under your instruction. The representatives in the National Apprenticeship Scheme Gov department are keen to meet interested employers, they visit you. As for wage, well you could abopt the govenment minimum, which is somewhere aropund £75 to £95 a week. Which in my view is not enough for this industry to get the right level of motovation for hard work and right type of person, except maybe for coppicing/weaving or similar very low margin work/rural craft. On these wages, unless the apprentice lives at home funded by bank of mum and dad, then I don't see it being a very sustainable arrangement. Particularly as the colleges are this year withdrawing assistance with accommodation costs for apprentices. Hardworking/grafter young men I suspect will not work their boots off for a few pounds more that unemployment benefit. I think the £80 a week is aimed at different type of worker. I did hear of a company in the south of England that has employed apprentices with a college in Dorchester, and I think they paid them £135 a week. Some large national businesses have a mimimum wage policy, which seems to be around £187 week for apprentices. I also heard that for apprentices in remote areas of Scotland, wages have to be higher because of the transport and, local living challanges. I have not thought through all the PAYE tax, NI, etc implications, but personally I think £50 a day for the days they are actually working is a reasonable starting point, in effect £200 a week. Where the Gov Grant of £2.5K pays for the first 13 weeks, thereafter the apprentice has to be productive earn his £50 a day. Also, if the apprentice is good and the employer does not want him going elsewhere, then review the wage when the apprentice becomes increasingly useful. Bear in mind: if an apprentice has to live in a bedsit/loggings near your yard in the sticks so they can be there at 7 in the morning, then it costs them £80 - £95 a week for a room. Min housing allowance figure for my area is £123 a week. Job Seeker Allowance is I think about £52 a week. Hardworking young people, need a lot of calories so they have enough energy, that too costs more that for other types of work. I think a McJob would pay about 5.10 per hour (about £190 week), so some incentive to work their boots off in all weathers for this industry might be needed. But hey, I am not an employer, and new to this. What what would i know. Just guessing and learning. Good Luck.

I prune and pollard my crack willow at this time of year, every year. No later though. I plant and weave the cuttings to protect a shady river bank from errosion. It grows like a weed where there is good light, but difficult to keep it going in the shade of a large ash, an adler, and hazels on top of the banks.

Try Trust insurance, up to 5m above ground, Public and Product liability cover to 5 mil.

Mr. Randy Boni, Artist and Craftsman I thought this guys work is excellent.

For those interested, one of the better books I have seen is by Roger Phillips called Mushrooms, and is published by Macmillan. For edible fungi identification, a simple but easy to use one is Field Guide to Edible Mushrooms of Britain and Europe, by Peter Jordan. Using Peter Jordan's book I have discovered: several kilograms of Dryads Saddle which is kind of edible but rather chewey, Hedghog Fungus which is simply not very tasty, Common Yellow Russula which is very bland, but the edible Boletus types are well worth identifying to eat.

Please where will the be? Open to new young ones to come along? Only just noticed it, but a chance i could get there.

I hear from contacts that the forestry and Arboriculture national LANTRA Apprenticeship schemes are currently being revised. Even though the one I picked up from the LANTRA web site was dated for implementation in England and Wales in September 2009, and looks workable to my naive eye. If anyone wants to look at it, its called Apprenticeship/Foundation Modern Apprenticeship in Trees and Timber Framework isue 1.2. I am wondering if the National Apprenticeship Scheme financial grants to employers from Job Centre Plus might end in April, and some other scheme I heard mentioned of called something like "road to return to work", or similar will be put in place instead. I would be interested to know of examples where the National Apprentice Scheme paid out these grants of about £1000 or more to arbirculture or forestry organsitions for an apprentice? I theory these grants should be still available until April, unless the gov funding bucket for it has run out.

what experience do you require, and what equipment to be brought?