Paul Jenks

Just use Meindl's and be done with it. Waterproof, tough and comfortable. There shouldn't be any need to dubbin boots these days. Work the cost of them into your day rate, same as you would your saw and climbing stuff.

http://www.confor.org.uk/Upload/Documents/37_ForestryworkersemploymentstatusDec2012.pdf

Good luck to him. Not sure the balance would be all that great. As for the momentum being stopped when you hit the wood, I thought that was the idea with most axes. If you hit it right. You've still got to hit the wood with the funky side bit over the ring for it to work. I'd have a go with it but wouldn't buy it until I felt it was better than my Gransfors.

One's blue:001_tt2:

One of the fundamental challenges with a market economy is the short term-ist attitude adopted by the budget setters and demanded by the shareholders. Alas, with top end, professional chainsaws we are in a product economy, having little choice and sometimes poor availability/service. Stihl and Husqvarna seem to be making the transition from product economy to market economy and focussing on the bad aspects of both. I.e. poor availability/service and cheap, shonky products. If more companies allocated funding to inward investment, products and staff, the brand/company would survive for longer and with a commensurate increase in ROI. Sweating the assets, (machinery, employees and brand) is a typical way of momentarily increasing the sale value of a company.

Blimey. I thought they looked ok. Maybe it's a European conspiracy to stop us using chainsaws in a tree. Perhaps if we wrapped the handles in duct tape prior to issuing them they'd last a little longer.

Following our, now not so recent, break-in we have a number of new model saws. One aspect of this is that we have nice shiny saws. The fundamental issue we have discovered is the very low quality of the materials used. We've all seen this gradually creep into the products. Brake handles snapping, carburettors' failing etc. Now Stihl appear to have gone for all aspects of the saws. The plastic parts are risible in their robustness. Our work practices have not changed and yet the handles, not the brake handles, on the 201s break with the slightest crunch into a tree. 4 have gone, including one today. When accountants are in charge of a company they rape the brand and the end user suffers a loss in quality. It happened with Mercedes and with M&S. What an opportunity now for the competition. I'll be looking seriously at the Husqvarna climbing saws.

The best climbers are the ones who know how to regulate the workflow. They work harder to make the groundies lives easier when the groundies have it hard and cut off bigger bits when they have a lot of guys to keep busy. Being quick and neat around a tree is a given. They have to work as part of a cohesive and supportive team. Anyone who makes a big mess has no place with us.

I worked for a company where, before my time, a Prima Donna was playing up. The older, and more cantankerous, groundie dipped the end of his rope in the fuel can and set light to it. On another occasion he tied off the end of the guys rope so he couldn't descend while they enjoyed the tea and biscuits supplied by the client. He learnt eventually, apparently.

What they said. Save your cash and avoid spending too much too soon. When you're ready there are plenty of lenders out there apart from the banks, who probably wouldn't loan you money anyway, (unless you mortgage your soul, family and house to them.) Speak to Chris at Asset Finance Solutions & Commercial Mortgages | NGI Finance I've known Chris for a number of years and he has given advice and sorted some good deals for asset, vehicle and growth capital finance.

I did notice yesterday as I went over a large limb that my optimum position meant the ZZ was sideways across the branch. Conscious of the sideloading on the friction assembly I adjusted so it was just over the edge. Easily done if you don't check the thing often. Be aware, just as you would when in a tree and you ought to be perfectly ok.

Adding to the above comments; Watch the other climbers and try to predict the route they'll take and how they'll go about the tree. When they go the way you thought you've embedded some of the information. When they go a different way, assuming the way they go is the best way, you'll learn a bit more. Question them about how they pick their routes and how they cut. Most of us who've been doing it for a few years do stuff subconsciously so when we're questioned we really have to think about it to try to put it into a form of words that are clear and impart the relevant information. Don't try to do stuff you see in a tree, or on the ground, without first challenging/questioning their thought processes. They'll most likely have a good level of competence and experience that allows them to monitor hazards whilst doing tricky, seemingly risky moves. To improve in any aspect of life one has to push the comfort zone. Done in a progressive and planned way is good. Done without care is bad. Care from the one doing the learning and care from the one over-seeing.

I very rarely give a day rate. It frightens most people. Give them a cost for the job. If you think it'll take 2 weeks, tell them it'll be £2k. Give them an approximate idea of the time it'll take, otherwise they'll feel hard done by if you bang the work out in a week, even if you've worked your nuts off to do it and need 4 days to recover. If you know what you're aiming for once you've got the job you can incentivise yourself and perhaps your crew to get the job done a bit more quickly. Working hard out for a meagre day rate is demoralising and we don't do it. Been there tried it, didn't do it for long enough to get the t-shirt.

The challenge with the likes of 'Business Vendors' is they give the vendor an over-inflated idea of the value of the business to hook the vendor, then look for a mug to buy it. A business only has value if it runs, profitably, without too much or any hands on activity by the owner. Otherwise all you're buying is a job. A standard benchmark for the value of a business is 2-3x profit plus the value of assets. I'd go with a sale of the bits. You might get someone to buy your database. I wouldn't. Nothing personal. It's just that without you introducing and hand holding I'd just be A.N.Other person.

The footpath is part of the highway so you should technically apply to the local highways dept for permission work on it. There may be a charge for this. You're not allowed to close or block a footpath without permission. Getting a closure is an 8-12 week process unless it's an emergency and costs about £600. You will need a good groundie and lots of signage. You need to consider wheelchair users too.

Conserve cash and spend wisely. Only buy what you absolutely have to until you have a reasonable sum in reserve. You don't need shiny stuff when you start out. You need energy and enthusiasm and a propensity to make mistakes(business ones) and learn from them. You need cash for when the unexpected bills come in or work is slack or a client is late paying. Cashflow is sooooo important. There is usually a time lag between when you invoice and when you get paid. If a job is half completed and you have to pull off for planning or weather or nesting birds, you have money invested in the job and you may not get any of it until it's complete. If that takes 6-8 weeks it really hurts if you were relying on the money. Your working capital is a really important figure to bear in mind. It is made up from adding your money in the bank, the money you have invoiced for and are awaiting payment and money owed for works not yet completed or invoiced less the money you owe to suppliers. This figure should be equal to about 20% of your annual turnover to give the business resilience. You should learn how to complete a budget forecast spreadsheet and a cashflow spreadsheet, easy in Excel, to show you how payments going out for that nice new chipper affect your cashflow. Your accountant should be willing to do this for nothing. When you start out do anything that earns you a legitimate shilling. Then begin to focus on the work you enjoy and the customers you enjoy working for and the rest should be easy. Yeah right.

I think the first 2 are over-exaggerated and the latter 2 are under-exaggerated. There is always work around, even in depressed times, it just depends how smart one is in securing it. Tons of money; hmmm. some of us on here have enough to buy kit when we need it or invest in training. Others go on lots of holidays and have big houses and bigger cars, (not that many I suspect). Others have very little and struggle. We all have bills. Our motoring expenses were £54k last year. Hassle is a state of mind. We all get it. It's how it's dealt with. Look at 'problems' as challenges to be resolved. Change your vocabulary. Listen to yourself if you find you start moaning. A person has to put good into their life to get good out. A person has to change what they're doing if they want things to change. "If you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got." -- W. L. Bateman Read more: If you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got. by W. L. Bateman http://wildfitness.com.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/if-you-want-something.jpg

In ten years; still doing what I like, only better, and doing even less of what I don't like. I also hope to be able to still converse with my kids in coherent, structured sentences, though this may be a pipe dream as they'll be 15, 17 & 18. I do have a bet with my son that I'll still be able to carry him on my shoulders when he's 18. The stake is only a pint of beer, though I may stop feeding him 6 months before his birthday. As for the 2 girls. When they get to the age when the boys start sniffing, I hope I'll be even more sanguine about their choices than I am now. Teach them well, help them to learn and make the right choices for themselves.

I enjoy most aspects of my role. I think being able to do all the mundane and sometimes crappy jobs without whinging enables one to delegate more effectively. We have systems that are managed by others within the organisation so I only have a light touch on them. As a director, I'm not technically self-employed, though I own the company. As I develop as a leader my strategic role develops and I move into different aspects of business management. I really enjoy helping my team to develop and grow as we grow, both operationally and strategically. I have a supportive team at home and a supportive team at work. This enables me to deliver for both.

What he said. If you need it to be exact, measure the volume of your truck body, fill it up and then visit a weighbridge. Volume divided by weight.

I'm sure there are certain aspects of his position that are laudable. And hats off to him for his research. However, he uses many of the systems my taxes pay for. So whilst his zeal appears to be founded in the emancipation of the proletariat, his efforts are costing me money, so he doesn't get my vote.

We use static ropes, less stretch. Rock climbers use dynamic ropes, more stretch, 'cos they fall off stuff.

The system we live in and around is a system. An imperfect one and a system nonetheless. We could spend the rest of our lives endeavouring to change certain aspects that directly, adversely affect our purpose or we could sit back and expect others to do it for us and bleat about the lack of progress. We could spend the rest of our lives endeavouring to change things that matter little and make no difference to the colour of the universe. As is the way with any system, no matter how well engineered, there will be winners and losers. With no humans there would be ebbs and flows in the balance of flora and fauna across the globe. I feel it's highly conceited to think we, humans, are able to create systems that are any better than those that evolve in nature. Therefore, I'll concern myself with the small systems I am able to affect and through an iterative or Newton-Raphson process arrive at better, though nowhere near perfect, solutions. There will, inevitably, be winners and losers here too. If any of my companies or the companies of folk I know have the misfortune to be raped by HMRC I'll be indignant and upset and possibly angry enough to post righteous condemnation on a web forum. I will also move on and start again. Life's too short. Sh*t happens and sometimes it'll happen to me. I'm sure there must be an insurance policy for being raped by HMRC. I wonder which financial institution underwrites it. Probably one based in the Bahamas.

Must be an Australian import

Have you spoken to predator yet?