Matthew Arnold

We have just been borrowing a TW150 from some colleagues down in West Dorset. Appart from the corroded exhaust top it is absolutely brilliant. Last week i noticed that when we had been putting 2-4 inch thick branches through for 20 minutes or so they would fix at about 2 inches apart. So if we put a 1 inch branch thru it wouldn't grab it. I came up with a solution which my colleagues thought was rather clever. Put a 6 inch piece through so the spring goes to full stretch and then it goes back to normal gap. I have greased the sliders and checked them for gunk but they were clean. It has done approximately 6000 hours. Any ideas what would be causing the slider jam?

When i am down at my mums cousins in Somerset i shall get some pictures of their duel fuel (oil/wood) aga and their 4 foot wide wood burner which runs the central heating. They have the copper piping done throughout the house to take the heat of the smoke flue as it goes through the pipes and heats the rads throughout the house then it escapes out the chimney.

This is gonna sound so damn simple from me but i am simple minded. When water freezes it becomes a solid and thus expands causing the "freeze-thaw" effect. Each time the water freeze it expands the crack further and further until the water reachs a criitcal point freezes and boom the limb drops. But in extreme cold the water inside the trees can also freeze and cause them to become extremely brittle. Yet in periods of drought the trees "retract" their phloem from the surface giving the bark surface on smooth trees a wrinkled appearance. This can also cause a brittle fracture as the water becomes a natural lubricant between the natural fibres. So when there is not sufficient water the cells can crack easy Think of it like a green twig. Freeze it and it snaps easily. Dry it and it snaps easily. But enough moisture and its flexible.

That is low if people are taking other peoples pictures and putting them up as their own work just to make themselves look the dogs danglies in tree surgery.

The pics i put up on here are genuine and i use them in my line for work and i put them up on my facebook page. It sounds a bit dodgy but if ya want my facebook link feel free to ask.

Above that fungi it looks like it has a split running up the trunk.

My colleagues and I started at 7.30 and i've only just got in. We dropped someone off in the office to listen to answerphone messages and let us know if there are any more reports for trees down. We had 45 to clear up throughout north dorset. The truck and chipper have certainly earned their fuel today. Didn't get any pics as camera battery was flat and the camera in my phone decided to go on strike until we finished the day. 8 large trees, 28 medium trees and 9 lil'uns down. One of the bigguns needed to be double cut even though we had a 24 inch bar on our 440.

We got a 2 in 1 file to sharpen our chains. Some of them are beaten up but the majority of them are just a case of spending 10 mins on each chain. 3 passes on each cutter is normally enough. The worst chain ive had to sharpen was on our 341 when my boss accidentally hit a chunk of steel that was part of the railway heritage. It took me 30 mins to get it all level n sharp again.

Every month we put a tank of premium diesel thru both trucks and out chipper just to clean the system. It keeps them running more efficiently and makes the the engines last longer.

QUOTE=Hodge;378707]blowing like a fatty running up a hill in the lakes:lol:

We have 3 saws all with atleast 3 spare chains. We sharpen them whenever we use them to keep them in top condition. Even if we dont hit any stones we sharpen them. Sounds a waste of time but a sharp chain is better than a semi sharp or blunt one. We had a massive sort out of chains a couple of years ago as our big boss had sharpened them after smacking concrete and big stones. They cutters were long of oneside and short on the other. the assistant threw those as they were not safe to use for felling or snedding.

We got 65 mph gusts at Dorchester i live 20 miles from dorch and its must been blowing about that everynow and then. I will be doin a tree check tomorrow morning before we do anything.

My dad who is a paramedic with 30+ years expierience went to a job a few weeks back involving a tree "surgeon" without the appropriate PPE and equipment, He gave me a ring and asked me if my colleagues and i could help the HSE with their investigations in how this gentle who was working on his own had fallen 35 ft onto his chipper. The man had 8 broken ribs, a collapsed lung, ruptured spleen, torn liver, torn kidney quite possibly the worst injury i have heard of ... a fully torn prolapsed rectum caused by the sudden stop when he hit the chipper shute. He is now in the local High Dependency unit. The HSE has already assertained that the man did not have the correct PPE for the job as we didnt find a hard hat, gloves or cut chainsaw trousers at the scene of the accident. We were courteous enough to finish off the job he had started. The police will be having words with him when he has recovered enough as his vehicle was massively overloaded. The leaf springs on his Mitsubishi Fuso were bent backwards with the weight of the chipper and the chippings in the back. The tyres were bald front and rear, there was no ID tag on the chipper and the VIN number on the Fuso had been ground off. Classic signs of a cacker.

We had our 2 min silence out in the field today. As soon as it hit 11 the chipper was off for two minute then we had our mid morning break trading stories about our elders who were in WW1 and WW2. My grandad used to be on HMS Belfast and i currently have 3 old school friends over in Afghan now. One of our ex-apprentices is back over here for his 3 month holiday and recovery period. He flies on the 24th December and 2 of my friends come back next week.

During the year i work part time both with the Rangers Service and on the local shooting estates. We generally use the Fastrac for ride cutting as we have a nice forestry mulcher to shred everything up including stumps. We have a massive John Deere with an American make of chipper (cant remember the name but it can take upto 18 inch diametre timber). The fuel economy in both tractors isnt brilliant but we do use them to lug heavy machinery around. We also use a feller buncher type machine when we are clear felled firs and hardwoods. Shall attempt to clean them and get some pictures of them all sparkling.

Here is a another link of an event we just had last weekend to officially open a brand new bridge along the old Somerset and Dorset Joint railway line. THEY came in their hundreds to witness the opening of a new section of a bridleway created from a former railway line on Sunday.

I've posted these beauties before we were hoping to save the tree as is was estimated to be 400-500 years old although it doesnt look it. Sadly with the strong winds and heavy rain we have been having the rootplate on the top side has began to lift rather considerably. I couldnt get any pictures of the root plate as it was absolutely chucking down when we got on site. I took these photos in September. The tree was reasonably healthy. It had a very small amount of die back but quite a bit of deadwood in the crown which was removed under H + S grounds. But the tree has now been condemned. I had suggested about cable bracing to near by trees but apparently it would cost about 4 times as much to have it braced. I am hoping the big boss will take on my other option which is have it mono'd or pollarded

We use some kevlar lined gloves. It sounds a bit O.T.T but they are brilliant. Only been stabbed but the thorn once and that one went in through the seam. Been handling thorn for about 3 month with them. The only issue is the price. £40 a pair

Each year we do two newsletters saying about what we have been doing over the summer and winter. It has info about the wildlife that has been spotted on our sites and the ever increasing work load we take on as other organisations get rid of the land to reduce costs. Here is the link to the pdf file. http://www.dorsetforyou.com/media.jsp?mediaid=156137&filetype=pdf

Yep. Mature Ash about 50 metres away from a footpath so no problems with root compaction. We have a deadwood monolith Ash about 150 metres away with Honey fungus and pholiota squarosus and a few other beauties as well. Crown is reasonably healthy. Maybe a deadwood but the tree has been left to its own devices as its not in falling distance of any targets.

Bit like this then.

Whats strange is that we hadn't been on a road with any pot holes. Granted there were a few rough patch but no craters. We should have checked but we thought it would stay on there as it was a major pain in the rear to get it on the trailer as ti was held in with 4 mirrow clip type things. We will now wing nut the spare one in place.

Should be able to get em re-soled. Has it split where the fabric meets the sole or split on the sole itself?

We never burn within 50 metres of any above ground services just incase the wind decided to change direction and blow towards the cables. If we are within 50 metres we chip and leave on site.

We are currently borrowing a chipper that doesnt have an emergency brake cable and no handbrake but does have normal brakes. We have fashioned a failsafe out of some chain that has a breaking strain of 2 tons even though the chipper only weighs 850 kg. Got pulled over on the way back to the yard for no license plate on the back of the chipper. Damn thing had fallen off on the bumpy track. Never mind got a spare one but still got a £30 quid FPN.