polish pete

Makita 4300 sounds like what I need! I remember few years back at Apf there was a Makita rep for north of England who was keen to do demos and sell gear at introductory rates, anyone has any contact details? Also is anyone using 43cc Makita brush cutter? Any good with mulching blade and clearing saw? And battery top handle saw- how good are they? Cheers for all advice so far ?

I have 170 for coppicing, nice and light but not enough for felling small stuff. I'll look at 230!

Hi everyone, I'm looking to buy a general groundie, small felling saw that my subbies can use. I'm fed up with one of the guys coming with another ebay saw that takes him half an hour to start just to blow up after a couple of hours. Something hard to break and easy to fix. It would be nice if it was Stihl or Husky so I can maybe use bars, chains from my usual saws but I'm open to any suggestions- Echo, Makita. Something around 40,50cc good enough to fell 15" trees and cross cut. cheers Peter

Also check Lowe Maintenance Training, they are in Settle, a bit of a distance from Carlisle but Phil is ex-army and offers discounts to fellow ex army guys. They also know lots of people in the area and can potentially give you some contacts.

Hi, from my own experience: talk to local tree surgeons, forestry companies. Most of people will want you to have at least your cs30,31 (chainsaw maintenance, cross cutting, felling small trees). Without this ticket you can drag branches to a chipper (although there is a ticket for chippers as well) and lift logs after someone else cuts them. I think if you're willing to spend days grafting you'll be ok. Stay positive and keep asking! I'm based near Kendal and sometimes need extra help but as stated above I expect you to have your basic chainsaw tickets as a minimum. Good luck!

I'm looking for occasional help with mainly arb jobs. Some rigging experience and aerial rescue. Work is in South Lakes, North Lancs. cheers Peter

I'll be visiting the site in a couple of weeks to look at the details (access, density etc)

Yeah, I looked at other stewardship grant rates on jobs I'm more familiar with and they looked like they won't cover the full operation.

No machines it's a SSSI, everything by hand

Hi guys, I've been asked to give a quote for 5ha of Rhododendron and small trees control on Natural England reserve. Rhodie and trees to be cut, burnt, stumps treated. Previously I worked on smaller jobs with agreed budget or on day rate. This is quite new to me to give a full price for everything. Is there a going rate for this type of work? I've found the rates for Countryside Stewardship grants on FC site. It's £2800-£4400 depending on slope, ground conditions. How does this relate to contractor's cost? Thanks for any help! Peter

I have few days of brash burning work. We've got all the cutting done, now we need to tidy up the site. Work would suit someone who wants to try this kind of work. No chainsaw qualifications required, you just need to be happy being outside in all sorts of weather (bonfire friendly weather), fit enough to drag branches and feed the fire all day. I also might have some chainsaw work, I'm looking for someone with some experience and lots of enthusiasm and common sense. Work is mainly in South Lakes, North Lancs

I had some work cancelled other one not certain. I'm based in South Lakes, I have my Insurance, saws, climbing and rigging kit, L200 tipper. Cs32,34,39,41, forwarder and skidder FMO. cheers

Scott at Tree Skills in Kendal

I'm heading to Scandinavia in my campervan at the beginning of July. I'm planning to drive all the way to Arctic circle and down the other way (Baltic States) to Poland. Mainly mountain biking, rock climbing etc but I'm keen to get some experience of tree work in Scandinavian countries. I'm 41, been self employed for 10 years. Mainly tree climbing, conservation woodland management, occasional commercial forestry, some tree trimming for telecom. To be honest I'm interested in every aspect of this job, specially small scale extraction and milling as I'm part of a co-op that got grants for Logbullet forwarder, mobile mill etc. I'd be interested to learn few tricks before winter season. I have my felling large, single windblown, assisted fell, climbing and dismantling, forwarder and skidding tickets. Rfs cert arb, Lantra PTI certs, my ISA has just run out of date. I'm not looking for long term employment, just another experience on my roadtrip with potential for regular short term contracts.

My work for next couple of weeks got cancelled so I'm on a lookout for extra few days. I'm based in South Lakes. I have: climbing, rigging, large, single windblown, assisted fell chainsaw tickets, cscs card, spraying, recently passed tractor based forwarder, skidding fmo. Public insurance, Lolered climbing and small rigging kit, RFS cert arb,Lantra PTI, saws: ms200 up to ms661, micro chipper, 10 tonne log splitter, tipper L200 (no high sides though). I'm happy to do any work for next couple of weeks before my own work picks up. I'd prefer to stay local but I can come in my campervan to stay away for few days. Thanks for reading

So far I was fortunate to work on smaller contracts easy to estimate labour time or on day rate. But tomorrow I'm going to look at a bigger area, where costumer wants a quote for the whole job. Are there "magic formulas" to estimate labour time per area? I know that it depends on type of growth, operators experience but is there anything similar to blue book in timber mensuration- putting density, area, tree size etc to get a figure?

It looks a solid machine. How heavy is it? Last time I had to use Portable Winch it was 20 minutes to carry it to the trees and another 20 to bring it back.

Eder Powerwinch looks cool but about £1000 above my budget

Hi everyone, I'm looking for the best capstan/chainsaw winch. I used Portable Winch 5000 (more powerful one)- I like that I can use rope of any length, power seems to be ok for what I need, but annoying thing was that the engine cuts out if the winch tips sideways. I know there are trays to attach to trees but I like flexibility of slings, where winch can move around with a line of pull. I keep on looking at Lewis Winch- I like the fact that it's light and my saw becomes a multitool, but I'm less impressed with fixed wire. Will it pull as well as capstan type winch? There are also: Simpson chainsaw winch- capstan on a chainsaw, sounds like ideal option but you have to press the trigger with 1 hand and pull the rope with the other. And Powerhouse Winch- Chinese version of Lewis, cheap and light but how good? Riko also has another one advertised on their website but I can't find any info, reviews about it. How would you compare Lewis to Portable Winch? Has anyone used Simpson, Powerhouse or Riko?

I'm looking for a couple of cs31 operators with some experience. I might also need one cs32 guy. Few different jobs- coppicing, felling. Next project is near Carlisle starting on 20/11/17, then some work near Kendal and Lancaster. Pm for details. Thanks for reading

Self employed Cs31 and chipper operators wanted for Rhododendron cutting and chipping work in South Lakes. Work starts next week and it will last potentially till end of November. Send me a message for details. Cheers Peter

Hi, I'm looking for someone to assess 2 of us for forwarder ticket. We're based in south Cumbria, have access to a forwarder and lots of woodland to play. I would like to get it done at some point in June, ideally over weekend as work is pretty busy at the moment. There is 2 of us but there might be a third person if local estate agrees. cheers Peter

Hi, I'm looking for few people to help with some woodland improvement work- thinning, coppice and occasional arb work. Work is based on few estates in South Cumbria /North Lancashire. Requirements: basic felling ticket no older than 5 years or fisa refreshed, own saw, fuel&oil, handy if you had first aid as well. For arb work aerial rescue. Thanks for reading Sent from my D2303 using Arbtalk mobile app

mine is in it's third year and suddenly everything starts to go: apart from usual av springs (x3) and brake bands (x2) I had clutch issues (overall in 3 years I had to replace every part of it), cracked exhaust, and recently it lost power and my local dealer spent ages replacing bit by bit to sort it (piston ring, gasket). When it runs (first 2 years) it's great, well balanced but when it gets to a point of me waiting for another problem to appear I'm starting to lean towards Echo. I have 2 other mates in similar situation, almost as if saws are made to reach certain age/ hours on the clock and then go bang

hi all, I got asked to quote a job that involves gorse cutting, fencing and planting. I can more or less see how long it will take to cut things down as this is majority of my work. I've done few weeks of planting for somebody where I was paid piece rate. I put up temporary deer fencing from time to time. But I think I need a bit of advice about how to quote a job that I'll be fully responsible for. fencing is: 700 meters stock and 300m top of the wall. Planting is: 5000 spruce and 4000 mix of native broadleaves. I know there's no magic formula but I'm looking for some pointers how to tackle the whole quoting process and what are the going rates for this type of work. I don't want to start another argument about what people should be paid, I'd like few opinions from people organising these jobs, so please pm if you don't want to put any figures publicly. cheers