Paul Jenks

We have just developed a software system for all our compliance work, LOLER, PUWER, vehicle checks etc that links in with the quote, customer data and the SSRA. This is all stored on a web portal so the office and the client can view it, whenever required, this is very important to some of our clients. With the system, for example, if an arborist signs out his climbing kit and he hasn't completed his weekly checks, the system won't let him progress through to the SSRA until the checks have been recorded. The same goes for plant, vehicles and chainsaws. What's great about it is that the office knows exactly what has and hasn't been completed. We just program in the maintenance/inspection cycles and the software does the rest. The CRM helps with timetabling and marketing.

Amazingly, when we first started working with chippers, back in the day, on hot days we used to get in front of the discharge chute to cool off. One day the blades disintegrated and the bits came out from both the discharge and feed hopper. Needless to say we didn't use the entec patented air con any more.

Unfortunately, with the demise of the apprenticeship system and mindset the expectation of newcomers to the workplace, in any profession, is that after 2-4 weeks in the job they've learnt all there is to learn and please can I have a pay rise. I know, I know, I can hear the indignent cries of sweeping generalisations. I'm pretty sure I was the same when I started. As has been mentioned before on this page and others it takes time, hard work and a degree of good fortune to get good and get good pay. Suffer the poor pay to start with but ensure good training from experienced operaters who teach you not only how to do a good job and manage others but also how to do it safely. My old man always believed that even with someone with talent it took 2 years to learn a job.

I think you could safely say that by removing the tree you possibly remove the possibility of transmission to the other tree. The arisings are supposed to be transported to an incinerater in a covered truck, not chipped, or buried on site as I understand it. Just burning on site may spread the spores as generally the fire is not hot enough.

We did a big horse chestnut recently with one of the little gravity fed timberwolf chippers. Dragging the volumes of stuff through the house would have meant a complete redec. Little chippers are ok if you process the stuff into straight lines and don't expect too much in the way of volume output. The guys call our machine Francine. I.e. It wants to be a man, Frank, but hasn't the bo***cks.:lol:

There was a posting yesterday by Rupert Ellingham with his dissertation on just this subject.

anything that's heat resistant. Reigate is ok, I think that's how you spell it. Pronounced reegate.

It can be done it's just that no sane person would try. By the time the fibres have worn a little and had a deal of work they are very tight and usually full of dirt making the job much harder and the finished product far from perfect.

Spliced eyes are great and once you've spiked or nicked the rope, which inevitably happens you can have a spliced eye short strop and practice tying your chosen knot in your long(but not as long as it used to be) rope. Yale is a good working rope. The bowline can work loose in it so I always put the extra little knot around the loop. Figure of eight is secure but sometimes a right sod to undo especially when wet.

We are told the spores are probably airborne so the likelihood of the other tree already having it are high. It may take a little while for the symptoms to present. Prognosis is not good.

Flexibility is the key. Most of us have very strong backs but apart from the lats the back is made up from lots of smaller muscle sets. We also tend to have v.strong legs. Trouble is these are made from v. large muscle sets. As mentioned earlier the gluts and the hamstrings. When these become tight they pull at the junction of the back and bum. I.e. the lower back. The legs usually win as these muscle sets are far bigger. Strecth out the hamstrings and gluts, get a sports massage, a good one hurts quite a lot, and most back pain will disappear.

Having seen the demonstration of the SRT and some aerial rescue at the arb show I can see it has its merits. The info on pulley loading and the direction of forces is very good stuff to know and again there was a good demo at the arb show. However, with the exception of very large trees with few laterals I fail to see the advantages for the day to day climber of these systems, SRT. Keeping a system simple, especially in an inherently dangerous and harsh environment, whilst retaining effectiveness and safety has to be paramount. Alot of the tree work carried out in this country is unsuitable for the use of SRT and IMO unless you are using these systems regularly you'll have to relearn them every time you get the opportunity to employ them. The reduced loading principles on the fork are an interesting concept but if I was that worried about the loading of me and working on a main fork to have to use a redirect to reduce this loading I'd be asking questions about the stability of the whole structure. Use a second rope.

It puts pressure on the rams and seals but no more than when the pump is sending the body up. The main issue would be if you are moving about on site with the body up. Then the jolting might put undue stress on the seals and would certainly stress the tipper hinge at the back of the body.

All our big Stihl saws get dust through to the carb. The filters never seat properly and don't seem to catch the fine dust. Nature of the beast I suppose.

Sad I know but it was on gardeners question time a while back. It's a phytophthora.

If it's anything like the photos it may be phomopsis blight. See it quite alot on close trimmed hedges. Typically in gardens where the whole area is protected from winds and a humid warm environment can persist.

Of course they aren't legal in this country, to use commercially that is. Dick Robinson:001_tt2:, Oxfordshire, used to have one with a 65hp caterpiller engine. Fast and furious doesn't even come close. The only safety feature was the key. Taught you a thing or two though.

Could be salt damage. Lots was used this year

Won't get many trees bleeding this time of year.

Though amcide is still available for the general public to use, commercially we are legally allowed to use Timbrel:sneaky2:. Be aware it's really nasty. Suits, goggles, mask and boots. In there efforts to make everywhere so much safer the EU imposed a raft of test criteria for chems in everyday use. As I understand it the folk that produce amcide either didn't bother or couldn't meet these compliance tests and so it had to be withdrawn from commercial use. Now we been forced from using an innocuous substance you could practically eat without side effects to using something approaching a nerve agent because the producers could produce the coshh data sheets.:thumbdown:

We used to do some 'yew cubes' at a large private house. Historically the gardeners used to climb up into the canopy and at various spots over the whole canopy they could get their head, shoulders and body though a gap to reach round and trim. Yew is as tough as old boots so you only need branches of 2 inches or so to stand on.

If they've been that defoliated then a little more will probably make little difference.

Try having kids. Dizziness and headaches are just the start. How long can you store it for? Does it go off like normal petrol? Call me a Luddite but this is the first time I've really looked at this product. Seems like a positive step forward. We tried some bio 2-stroke a few years ago and wrote off 5 chainsaws. Does it affect the Stihl warranty? Apologies if these answers are available elsewhere.

That was my point. If you want to wash your rope regularly then perhaps detergent isn't the product to use. Also the degree of safety in our climbing ropes and the taught line systems we employ mean that we could probably climb on starter cord and still be safe(ish). With the regular LOLER checks we only have to have 2 adjacent strands damaged and the rope is condemned. Easy to do when climbing on spikes.

Unless your'e going to wash your rope more than twice a year I'm not sure it matters if you use detergent, IMO. Very few of our ropes make it past 2 years anyway before they're either cut or damaged in some way. They only get washed in a machine if they are truly manky. If you don't want to put them in a machine, make them really wet and get one of the trainees to prussik down it.:thumbup: