Jump to content

Log in or register to remove this advert

Matthew Arnold

Veteran Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    4,149

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Matthew Arnold

  1. Matthew Arnold
    A friend of mine phoned me up in a panic as a hire chipper he picked up this morning had been stolen from the back of the van. He was refueling at the other end of the van with ear defenders on and only knew something was up when he heard a screech of tyres. Its a TW75 with Whitebridge Hire on the sides. He cant beleive someone stole it only 3 metres away. I'm keeping an eye out for it as i'm in the area all week. If anyone on the North Dorset/Wilts/Somerset borders sees anything that looks familiar let me know. The police and hire company have been informed.
  2. Matthew Arnold
    Will be finding some mud post MOT as its going in early next month. Should pass with no problems apart from a horn which is too loud ha ha
  3. Matthew Arnold
    Been treating "Betty" to a bit of polish this weekend. She hasnt seen any since we've had her. What a difference. 90% of the scratches have gone just the deep ones left.
  4. Matthew Arnold
    The aftermath. THere is something at play in the tree but not sure what. The limbs had no signs they were going to fail but the rot was minimal in the stem to trunk unions.
  5. Matthew Arnold
    We had a volunteer who was with us for 3 months who had dreadlocks down to his knees. We didn't recognise him after 1 weekend as he had them lopped off for Macmillan Cancer Care. He had been sponsored not to cut his hair for 10 years then to have the resulting hair chopped off. I shall get one of my colleagues to forward me the picture of him. Just as well he was out with us for the "summer" as we wouldnt have let him anywhere near the chipper.
  6. Matthew Arnold
    My cousin is on boat number 4 at the moment called Pugwash 4. We normally go for Bass and Makerel but also do the odd bit of wreck fishing for Pollock, Haddock and the ocassional Wrass and Eel. We take a back up boat which is only an ex RNLI RIB that we inflate when we get out there and drag it behind Pugwash 4 incase we have any problems. Pugwash 4 has one 700 bhp engine and is jet powered. The RIB has two 225 bhp outboards. When i am out fishing i shall get a picture of both boats.
  7. Matthew Arnold
    A rather spectacular failure of 3 limbs off one of our big Beeches. It failed this morning but was only reported at 5 this evening. We have deemed it safe (although we have closed the footpath off) as the limbs have settled to their final resting position. There was no warning the limbs were going to fail. Now we will be thinking about a reduction of the far reaching limbs and crown lifting the very lowest limbs.
  8. Matthew Arnold
    Todays job was to reset a bridge which had been swept off its mountings (see post 165). The farmer realised this morning he couldnt be much help with his tractor so he went on and left us to it. We had a well placed Alder which we used as a makeshift lifting point. My colleague wasnt convinced the trucks winch would lift it high enough. It did and pretty much into the spot we wanted. I was the poor sod in the chest waders as my feet were the only ones who fit in them. The river was rising all the time we were there which made my life interesting at one point.
  9. Matthew Arnold
    As the area falls in the town council area the district council have to ask for the town councils permission despite it being in district ownership, The trees are all selfseeded except one. There are atleast 200 trees on the site so taking 18 small things won't affect the site in anyway.
  10. Matthew Arnold
    You can plant oak again if you wish that fungus has probably been in that tree for over 30 years judging by body language in the picture. The joys of Inonotus dryadeus is the fungus rots but the host tree can adapt quicker and put on more wood than the fungus can "eat/chew through". Feel free to check out this sadly closed thread about how to manage said tree. http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/fungi-pictures/29509-inonotus-dryadeus.html
  11. Matthew Arnold
    Best way to manage this tree and fungus IMO is to remove the dieback to the healthy growth and do so over a number of years (every 2-5 years depending how quickly it is dying back) and make coronet cuts where possible to turn it into a nice oak pollard.
  12. Matthew Arnold
    Jacked the old mans 110 this evening to try and identify a rattle which sounded like it was coming from underneath. As it was sat on axle stands all round i started it up and left it in 1st gear just idling to listen out for anything unusual. Need new rear calipers as they were rattling/clacking/tinkling when the wheels were turning then clicked when i applied the brakes. Just ordered 2 off the tinternet as well as two sets of shoes and rear hoses as the previous garage replaced the front lines when they did the front brakes.
  13. Matthew Arnold
    Tried the breather test and its the coil. We have another older 101 and we ran them both at the same full revs and listened for the different engine notes and smoke colour. There is a good spark on it but not as bright as the older 1. Got a new coil on order ready. It should be here by thursday.
  14. Matthew Arnold
    Yup still good compression when hot. Although when it has been running for more than 30 mins flat out it doesn't want to start so we have to leave it for 30 mins too cool enough to start. There is a bit of carbon deposit on the exhaust gas exit. So will take that off this week and give it a good clean out. I'm as confused as you about the reason for it dying when it is warm.
  15. Matthew Arnold
    Our HL101 is being a right pig at the moment. I changed the air filter and fuel filter and then reset the carb to the manual. It starts from cold with no problems but when it is running at full throttle for more than 15 mins it just dies. It dies on idle and when it coughs and splutters it is belching black smoke. The compression feels good and the spark plug is a healthy biscuit brown. Any ideas what is causing it to die?
  16. Matthew Arnold
    Had a bridge re-setting job to do this morning. I knew how big a job it would be to sort it out. Two legs were rotting at the base so we replaced those and tightened the ground anchor cables. The before pictures were taken on 24th July. Not a bad turn around from the previous floods as it was out of the ground for approximately 3 days prior to the call coming in. Got a much bigger job to potentially do on weds. The farmer has a tractor but we may use a van and a rope and strop to dragg it round then man handle it after that.
  17. Matthew Arnold
    We've forgot to double check the tractor trailer was clicked and locked onto the towball. We have a safety chain as well as the emergency brake. We attached everything and went on our merry way. Everytime we pulled away or braked there was a big bang. We pulled into a layby to find the tow bar bashed to hell, numberplate hanging off in pieces but the chain held up. Needless to say we double check it by trying to lift the towhitch on the trailer up. If it is attached then it lifts the lot. This was after a very very long two weeks where the tractor had been sat idle.
  18. Matthew Arnold
    You should be fine then. How many rachet straps do you have? When we have both big mowers (DR 13hp Field and Brush mower and BCS 13hp flail [when its fixed]) in the trailer the BCS sticks out over the back so we rachet the engine to the tying points on the trailer.
  19. Matthew Arnold
    Should be ok providing you have straps strong enough to hold the mower firmly in place and the tailgate isnt obscuring the lights or number plate. How do you plan on strapping it down?
  20. Matthew Arnold
    Sorted the problem with the HL101 hedgecutter. It was a blocked fuel filter and a burnt out spark plug because it was running lean it had cooked the plug so now running in harmony. Still waiting for parts for the BCS flail but it is currently in 2 pieces with all relevant bolts,washers and springs in bags tied onto where they will be on the flail. Got a big notice on both pieces saying "Do not fiddle around with me, you wont be able to find my nic nacs or doo dahs".
  21. Matthew Arnold
    A large cherry on a hilltop town about 15 mins drive from us was felled by the county tree team as the "specialist arb surveryor" said it had died from bleeding canker and needed to be removed immediately. The tree was healthy it just lost all its leaves and fruit through blight. Needless to say two of my colleagues were more than happy to have the wood as it had the early onset of Laetiporus rot in the centre.
  22. Matthew Arnold
    We are doing firewood out of our Dorchester base. We have a 26 acre woodland with alot of pre 1990 fallen timber that we are clearing up slowly but surely. The dangerous trees are being felled for firewood as well and we are getting a coppicing regime going in the severely overstood Sweet chestnut and Hazel coppices in the woods. The stacked Laurel and Rhody logs are slowly being sold on too. Sadly last winter a pair of the travelling fraternity turned up and bought two nets of logs. That night we were cleared out of about 80 ton of seasoned and semi seasoned hard wood. It was all caught on CCTV with faces, numberplates, vehicles and the logs being stolen. The police couldn't charge them through lack of evidence despite the police knowing 6 out of 8 by their first names. The logs are now stored in two well ventilated shipping containers which are locked down tight each night.
  23. Matthew Arnold
    The district council own the site the county ranger service manage the site under a Service Level Agreement (SLA). Under the SLA we manage the site to the county spec but adapt it to each site. As the site hasnt been managed (only grass cut) the trees are in dire need of work. Only 18 trees are being felled as they are to far gone to be made safe (Kretz on limes, heavily leaning Grey Poplars, Aspens rubbing against 4 year old bridge and a few riverside trees for removal). The rest of the work is removing scrubby collapsing Elders and crown lifting the riverside trees as there is a path and you can barely see the river.
  24. Matthew Arnold
    On MendipLogs (jons) fave drink aka gut rot cider. No bubbles at all and very very cloudy.
  25. Matthew Arnold
    We have just applied for and got approval from the district TO to remove 18 trees from a P.O.S (Public Open Space) in the centre of town. We are about to take over the management and the majority of the trees are in very close proximity to a bridge which is only 4 years old and is covered in algae and gets slippery with fallen leaved during the autumn. There is a heavily leaning Grey Poplar next to a small bridge which will need to come out and as its only 18 inches at the base will be easy to drop. There is a Scots Pine see "Heavily leaning Scots Pine" thread which is rumoured for removal. The issue i have seen is the town council TO and many of the town councillors have opposed to the proposed tree works (Read link at bottom) Where do we stand as we work for the local county council but it is a district council site which falls in the town council area. Its all very confusing to me. Council questions need to fell riverside trees | This is Dorset

About

Arbtalk.co.uk is a hub for the arboriculture industry in the UK.  
If you're just starting out and you need business, equipment, tech or training support you're in the right place.  If you've done it, made it, got a van load of oily t-shirts and have decided to give something back by sharing your knowledge or wisdom,  then you're welcome too.
If you would like to contribute to making this industry more effective and safe then welcome.
Just like a living tree, it'll always be a work in progress.
Please have a look around, sign up, share and contribute the best you have.

See you inside.

The Arbtalk Team

Follow us

Articles

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

  I accept