Shane

Husky king - that's a fair point - they don't say they are specifically for Timberwolf but the pattern looks the same. They are advertised as 5mm thick. Just thought its better safe than sorry.

I can't say too much - Ifyou buy your tools in Monmouthshire (or anywhere else) just make sure you but the genuine (not cra@@y Chinese) parts.

Best thing is to search ebay for chipper blades -price range £38 - £40 You'll see

Just browsing ebay and found a company (must remain nameless under house rules) selling timberwolf blades (for 6" chippers) for 39.99. They are 5mm thick! Thats half the thickness of the proper ones. The countersink holes in the piccies are almost all the way through! It would also mean the cutting is taking place 5mm further away from the anvil. I've contacted Timberwolf and they are investigating. Their tecchie says the blades would just shatter. In the mean please time Don't bid! Happy arbing

Mrtree - hi, whereabouts are you in the country? I trade under the name Mr Tree (in Worthing, Sussex) and just want to avoid confusion if youre nearby - If, indeed you use your tag as a business name? Shane (another Mr Tree)

Stupidy apart - how awful is that? Lucky it wasn't an unfortunate thief getting his fingers caught while trying to steal it. Please... no more Sussex disasters.

What would you need to be doing to hit the back of your left hand with the chain anyway? I agree that vibration induced diease and the aggressive bits of the plants/trees we work on are far more of a safety issue. During 1975, for a few months, the safety legislation actually stated that grinding wheels must be fully enclosed! So why are people cynical?

I reckon I know a few round here (and know of most). Theres one guy I've shared monster jobs with and we both put in good words for each other if we are too booked up to meet a 'short' deadline from a prospective customer. Another guy I sometimes hire my stumpgrinder to. We often discuss enquiries and flag up dodgy customers, TPO evaders etc. It's good to have people you could call on in times of need - and to share ideas/resources. In fact, Mr. Jammydodger, I'm sure weve met a couple of times - was it Bognor 2008? Good luck and keep up the goood work. Shane (AKA Mr Tree)

The only logic I've ever worked out is that the numbers are 100 times the hp output (or pretty close). No idea about differences across the range - won't Stihl be able to answer?

Can you get at them with a mewp? would that be quicker than climbing? Can the top halves be felled? Is the side to be cut back easily accessed? Can all waste be chipped or is some too big. If the tops can be felled - any risk if they go the wrong way (winch needed?). Can you use the land-rover to pull them over? etc.etc. How long for each one? How many per day? How much do you want to earn each day? Other quotes? - how much do you want it? Not meant to sound blunt - just put your figures into the equation and you get the answer - Good luck

Ya beat me to it!

Ask your customers - until 2 years ago I was using a 1994 VW LT35. In 6 years Nothing broke on it! It was slow but always reliable. Only problem was tin-worm on the edge of some panels. For the last year I owned it I asked customers about the appearance factor. The overall view was.. If you turn up in what looks like an old wreck you may appear to be one of the 'travelling' fraternity, but at least you will not be expensive. If you turn up in a gleaming crew-cab tipper with lots of shiny bits you may be seen as 'obviously charging too much' - but maybe doing a better job? It depends on the customer - some don't care about the truck - ususally they care about YOU and your attitude. I usually use my land rover when I go out quoting so they don't see the van till we do the work. Over the years we've had tons of repeat business and loads of enquiring neighbours (they ask for a card while you're there - then phone you after you've finished the work and they've spoken to your customer). A decent van is undoubtedly better than a nail - you feel better driving it, but its YOU and YOUR WORK that matters the most. Go for something you are happy with running/maintaining - then you can relax and enjoy the work.

That sounds outrageous - that's almost BMW dealership prices. Like they said above either have a go yourself or shop around. Round our way theres a good place where they charge about £20/hr max. If things are a bit slack they have been known to spend a few minutes tweeking the carb for no charge (if they can get it going OK)! I wouldn't go anywhere else.

A few thoughts: I need to get a certain amount of money in each day just to pay the overheads of insurance, advertsing, vehicle depreciation, loler certs running out etc. I do not let this force me into working for stupid money. If we all did this the day rate for tree work would tumble. there will be jobs we don't get bcause someone else is desperate and the customer just goes for the cheapest. Some 'jobs' are just cases where someone is wondering what it might cost... so they get a couple of quotes but don't get it done by anyone. In any year there will be a few days when the weather prevents you from working and there may be some days when there in just no work. Average these out and accept that you may work say 4.5 days a week. That gives yo about 48x4.5 earning days. Apply realistic costs then add greed factor, subtract anxiety factor (desperate for work, local competition, sleepless nights etc) to get your day rate. Have the bottle to stick to it. And finally ...Haggling customers - If they try haggling and you reduce your price, you are admitting you were trying it on. If they haggle at quote stage - what will they do when you give them the invoice. If theres little work on and they say 'do it for £xx and its yours' only you can decide. Personally I always walk away from them - I'm lucky I've got loads of 'good' customers happy to pay a fair price for a good days work. Have faith in yourselves! From what I've read on this forum a customer should be happy with the attitude and work from anyone here.

Totally agree - all this negative doom/gloom stuff! I have about 300-400 'regular' customers. One of them has been made redundant. The rest HAVE NOT! But this harbinging has caused 3 jobs to be postponed in the last 18 months due to people 'holdin back' and I would guess a few of the less frequent customers may have not even contacted me because of thi pumped up anxiety. I wonder how often these things are expounded either for some political purpose or because something really bad is happening elsewhere and they are trying to divert our attention. They say that only bad news sells - maybe someone should try publishing good news - can you imagine a paper (or FORUM..) where headlines read, 'Young arborist sweeps footpath every 5 miumtes during work so old folk can walk safely by, and the old folk are really grateful' Or 'I left my car for 3 days and came back to find it still there' Or 'Instant drop in fuel prices as crude oil prices fall' Am I just getting old? I too never watch the news and don't read papers. I look at the BBC website and just read what looks interesting - don't care about biggots, racists, chavs, 'travellers', villains and coouldn't give a stuff about self publicising celebrities. Aaaaaah all this thinking is driving me insane (I'm turning into Roger Waters) Maybe I'll end up walking down Worthing High street with an MS200 in each hand and get on the news myself (Note to MI6 and anti-terrorist squad... thats just a joke).

I've been a member of the Arb Association for a few years - get the regular publications, bought the safety book/CD etc. BUT there was no easy access to answers/advice on specific issues. I stumbled on this site (no memory of how) and thought 'This is what was missing'. Very useful to get others ideas and opinions. I notice on here lots of different advice/opinions with a common comment being 'If you didn't want others opinions - don't ask'. It's that kind of honesty which encourages a broader outlook and develops everybody's knowledge. Everyone on here wants to do a better job. Perfect!

The room is where they kept battery ostriches for their eggs The tree isn't.

An interesting set of comments, many thanks. Beaing a child of the 50s I was very flattered to be called a young wippersnapper. I think her demenour (if that's how you spell it) was OK, she may have been asking a bit tongue in cheek and I would like to think that she still left in a reasonably amicable state of mind. I do not believe in being rude to people just manage their expectations, treat them like adults and concede no ground you shouldn't. The other extreme was a lady who apologised for asking if my stumpgrinder had fired a stone through her french window (using boards which were too small). She was so nice about it I was genuinely pleased to replace it. AND i've done work for her for six years since! Everyone is a potential customer - but do you really want them ALL?

Apalled to hear about the ABH - what more can we do? Anyway... She wasn't young and gorgeous, certainly didn't warrant exposure of the hose pipe (and it was a bit nippy this morning so she wouldn't have been impressed). As for her as a potential customer, we are booked up till mid March, the last thing I need is someone like that on my list. I'm only human - I do sometimes form first impressions. remember that great quote from the series M.A.S.H. Charles Emmerson Winchester (the obnoxious one) ' Why do people take an instant dislike to me'? One of the other surgeons replied 'It saves time' HAppy and prosperous new year to you all Shane

This morning we were called out to tidy up a 'fallen branch' - blocking the pavement and some of the road. It turned out to be a 12inch trunk fallen away from a 5 stemmed cherry plum. One of the other trunks was coming away and leaning towards the road (you could see the gap opening at the bottom). As ever there was a car parked right up against the pile of brushwood in the road and underneath the leaning stem. We tidied up the fallen bits but had to settle for a temporary roping of the leaner until we could get at it with the car out of the way. I was about to make up a warning sign to hang on the tree when the owner of the car appeared (from the nearby shops). When we said she was lucky the tree missed her car she said - 'Oh that was down when I parked a while ago, ... I did wonder if it would be OK to park here' I told here the other trunk was about to go but we couldn't do much with it until all was clear. She then said - 'Oh well... by the way am I entitled to have my car cleaned'? To which any member of this forum would reply.. 'In view of the fact that part of the tree had already fallen, and you wondered if it was 'OK' to park there..... Answers on a postcard please. By the way there was no visible sawdust on the car. When the car was gone we pulled down the other trunk (also 12'') with a rope and NO cutting necessary. AAAAAARGH

They are both good machines - and it's natural for owners to praise the one they have - we all think we know best. I converted from a TW 25hp 6" chipper to a GM 13-23 (34hp turbo) in April this year. It's a BEAST! It will pull through pretty big stuff and snap off larger side branches than the old TW. I can also say it has NEVER blocked - it even does cordylines with a bit of care. The TWs are good (I had mine for 6 years and loved it) but the GMs are better. I hope for TW's sake they sort out those flimsy flywheel bearings or they will get left behind. Final point - at under 750 KG I suspect the Quad chip will become very popular.

The rollers are driven by hydraulics, what the circuit does (I believe) is actuate a valve which directs the hydrauklic fluid back to the tank rather than the rollers - in the same way the panic-button (if fitted) stops the rollers.

This thread raises the issue of customers (domestic work) generosity/not with the bevvies. From my experience in sussex it seems that the REALLY well heeled and the not-so-well off supply a fair bit. It seems the aspiring social climbers in the middle are #iss-poor at hosting and tend to be arrogant, picky etc. Also (this is 95% true I promise) - trying to keep political correctness here - Blokes who 'live' with other blokes and women who live with other women just about NEVER offer any form of drink! So we take our own flasks of coffeee anf 5 litres of water.

Sold my chippit 25 last year so this is from the memory of someone the wrong side of 50 It's easy to remove them - just disconnect the hydraulic drives on the off-side, then (if I recall correctly) you undo something on the other side of the slide housing. The rollers can then be pulled out the back. The allen bolts are bloody tight - so take heed of advice above. They are a cow to re-fit cos you have to hold them on place while lining up the holes. Nothing too technical just very fiddly on re-assembly. Good luck