bjam1964

Here, here - thats exactly what my inspector does. Not sure what you are doing to your karabiners - mine stay clean and slick between the inspections - try keeping them away from dirt in the first place.

How about this fine specimen?

The top cover on the 261 looks very awkward to remove - 3/4 screws ? I ordered a new QuadChip three weeks ago - five week lead time so, fingers crossed, it will be here in a week or so. Will post when it arrives.

Wow, girlfriend and nurse in the same sentance always looks good! I am asked to apply moisturiser but its not for thorns . . .

Make a list of the damage and include estimates on how much to repair. Present this to your boss with an internal smile. Its just typical of spreadsheet accounting - all figures and no thought about the job in hand. Sorry to see you have been upset by it.

Spot on but not too tight to avoid a barber chair presuming the right cut and plan was followed !

With regards to the question of suitability to supervise this is a very good question. In fact it is one that I ask myself on a frequent basis as should anyone else in a supervisory position. With 25 years climbing/felling under my belt in a dangerous industry, 10 lads supervised and launched into successful careers, only a few minor cock-ups along the way , tickets/qualifications updated religiously every five years, membership of trade organisations and associations I would like to think I have a little ability/suitability to supervise. The proof is in the pudding and I hope its still tastes sweet

I felled the first stem with the lad looking on. I would agree that direct supervision all of the time would be required for a newbee but, despite calling him the lad (I am old enough to be his father) he has lots of chainsaw skill, time and practice. I have given many students work experience (it is my contribution back to the industry) and this lad was among the best in skills and confidence. We discussed at length the method most suitable for the tree, a pull line was attached and I was manning the winch and talking to the customer with only one eye on the task in hand. Shoot me down in flames if you like but the safest method was discussed, our site specific and task specific risk assessments had been completed and the discussion allowed a dynamic risk assessment to be conducted prior to felling. For whatever reason (customer watching etc.) the dogs tooth was not implemented and I think this is why he was nervously cutting the tree when it started creaking. Several lessons were learned, debrief and post mortem conducted, we both sighed and laughed and moved on - better for the experience and thankfull things turned out as they did. His confidence is still strong and I trust him more to do the right thing now he has learnt about consequences.

I believe it is a two year HND course/foundation degree - will have to check. We had spent many hours practising felling techniques (simple and advanced) in our woodland and various domestic gardens - the lad was given every suitable tree to fell. At the time of felling I was comfortable with his level of experience and he stepped up to the mark to conduct the fell. There were other mitigating circumstances: the customer was watching and had requested that the tree was felled away from his daffodil bed. The hinge was too small. The wrong type of cut was used for a leaning a tree (dog tooth would have made the grade) and in avoiding the daffodils too much was asked of Ash.

Is that a type of cocktail - can we have the recipe?

It was a case of very scared at first and then giggles afterwards. He was very hesitant during the back cut and, instead of being positive and going for it, he started to nibble at the already cracking hinge. Amazingly it all happened in very slow motion and he managed to clear the tree with plenty of time. We take on a college recruit every year for work experience; you have to let them have a go at most things in a controlled environment to gain the experience and confidence so they avoid hurting themselves when they go solo!

We let our college recruit have a go with this Ash - I don't think his CS31 prepared him for this Luckily no harm done to man or beast and the next lesson was how to dismantle difficult trees

Perhaps the honey fungus just took advantage of an already environmentally or physically stressed tree? The honey fungus cleaned the mess up adventitiously but did not kill the tree - just took advantage . . .

I leave Leylandii at least 2 years - after that there is no sign of resin and it burns in a top class way. Ideal for kindling, can be split down to matchsticks betweens whorls. I tell all my customers what they are burning and the relative merits - they love it as well (for wood burning stoves only mind - it does spit).

Any harness from America . . .

Same here - seems to go on instantly. You are doing the right thing - less food = less calories + extra activity = better waistline. On the other hand when did you last have a blood test? It could be to do with a thyroid problem or something similar.

Only a fellow experienced tree surgeon could fully understand the difficulty and brilliance of your work. Just loving that head-cam field of view - are there any out-takes?

Wish I could recommend some gloves but never use gloves unless hedge laying or dealing with thorny plants. Have tried most but always left with lack of feeling, they get wet, loose grip and generally feel unsafe climbing in them. Get through lots of handcream to keep the leather palms supple and keep onside with the missus.

What a video - amazing! It is categorised under entertainment as well.

They are great sport if you have the time - play along to the end and give them bum card details. They are not going to call you back and if they do . . . more sport. While you are keeping them occupied others will not be ripped off.

Sorry to be too simplistic - you are obviously right. I was suggesting that the loss of apical dominance, through pruning, browsing or other natural occurrences changes the natural harmony and equilibrium as prescribed by axiom and many other lesser known and poorly researched growth hormones. This imbalance, in plants that react strongly such as the Hawthorn, will result in rapid growth of all parts including thorns. Indeed their must be another 'trigger' to grow a thorn and one that can be isolated and removed as per thornless cultivars that still display strong apical dominance characteristics. Thorns have and are part of the trees vascular system. I wonder if, because of this, various toxins and waste products are stored/dumped into the thorns to give them extra bite and greater chance of causing infection? What a wonderful evolutionary twist that would be! Finally, we all see birds fly in and out of hedges at silly speeds - why do we never find dead impaled birds on thorns?

Thank you.

Discovered this on the log pile - purple in colour but not in photo!

Does that machine have H & S approval

We get this more and more - wood fever. It doesn't matter what it is, free wood is free wood. So off they go with a boot load of hard work, nowhere to store it, no tools for efficient processing but it was free. It will probably be burnt in under a year and, despite being crap for heat and difficult to light it will be the best wood they ever had. We spend a lot of time pollarding limes and willows - both burn beautifully after a year. We use a flue temperature gauge to avoid problems with blocking up - our sweep is very complementary about how clean the flue keeps.