spuddog0507

Thats very smart that, thought i had made a good job of one several yrs back out of some very tight grained larch,, but yours looks 100 times better,,

usually done with a forwarder with a brash grab on it, one site a couple of year back they had a 20 tonne digger with a brash rake on it and only thig they left was the needles,,

thats sweet chestnut, mostly spruce and a bit of dougles up here,

They leave nothing behind today on most harvesting sites as the brash all gets collected and chipped,, i not even seen any fence posts on harvesting sites for i bet nearly 10 yrs now as most of that all go,s in the brash matt then collected at end of job,,

think that could be past its best TBH, Ash is not a very durable timber outside and it looks to far gone to me, i have some big lumps of ash that have been inside 3yrs and 18mth outside before that and cutting it up for fire wood ATM,,

Still a few of you older boys climbing and every credit to you for still being able to do it, my climbing days are long gone, not as I ever did that much, but did a hit here n there, climbing today consists of getting in n out the cab of this Ex MOD truck and getting myself up on to seat to operate the crane,,

You say energy levels and strength aren't what they were, but it's like Mick Dempsey said, experience, and that accounts for a lot in today's world,,

Just turned the big 60 and still doing plenty and enjoying it, had 2 days with 2 of us on site a couple of wks back sorting some windblown out which i do enjoy doing and over the 2 days we sorted just over 70 tonne out, OK i did not feel up to much the day after 😂 but i did go down yard and cut n split a crate of logs in afternoon,, i go to yard most days if nowt else to do and cut n split logs, Most enjoyable thing in recent yrs has been working on a Leyland DAF T244 Ex MOD truck that i bought 5 yr ago that i have set up for moving timber with and now out n about in it moving timber back to yard from our own jobs and a bit from some local estates,, way i look at this now is if i can still do the job in 5 yrs i will do and if i can still do it in 10 yrs i will do ?? but i do know the job takes its toll on your body and the aches are not getting any less as the days rush by now,,

i tend to think that trailer was off ebay 10 12 yrs ago as back then ebay was flooded with cheap Chinese and eastern European ATV trailers, i bought a small crane off a guy in Huddersfield who was importing them from eastern Europe, crane has been worked to death but still going and got a few hundred tonne to extract with it this summer,, the trailer in the photo i thing just came in a big wooden box and you assembled it yourself, if memory serves me right i think they was about £3800 delivered, the crane i bought complete with spool, grab, rotator, legs and a 6hp petrol power pack was £2200 and when i collected it i did look at a complete trailer but the trailer was not up to much and i thought i could build a far better stronger trailer for about half the cost,,

The big blue jobby is well man enough for the job,,

My thoughts exactly as well, been reading every comment on this issue and TBH some of the comments are yet just another accident waiting to happen,, knowing the right cuts, winching experience and experience in dealing with trees in this situation all go a long way,, people on here saying do this do that as they have probably done it once and got away with it ?. one smart arse i worked with a few times knew every thing about tree work and you couldnt tell him any thing at all as Collin was one of them that had swallowed the map and shit the dictionary, hence poor Collin been in a wheel chair now for several yrs as he got pinned against a wall taking a big Willow down on a council job, There was a HSE investigation and Collin only had CS30/31 and the relevant climbing tickets, what the full out come was i not to sure but will make a phone call or 2 tomorrow,,

Glad you said that you have questioned climbers a number of times,, because I have over the years,, will probably get slatted for this next comment,, over the years I have worked with a lot of climbers, and still do, most are just average sorry to say, I know about 20 lads who climbe and TBH there is only 4 I would employ and there age range is from late 20s to mid 40s but all have one thing in common they come from a forestry back ground, so if it don't need climbing it don't get climbed,,sorry to say but some of the younger climbers i know think they are the dogs nuts and someone like me knows F- - - - - - l because I am just a silly old bunt (only 45yrs in the job),, the attitude needs to change, when I was learning I listened to the guy I worked with as I respected his many years of experience and I am still here doing it un scaved, As others have said HSE will be all over this and some serious questions will be asked ??,, I think the industry needs a big shake up ATM to avoid accidents like this and far to many people pushing the boundaries to far, Sorry this incident happened but yes accidents do happen and i wish the lad all the best and hope he makes a full recovery and goes back to the job of climbing a bit older and wiser,,

That's the video I was sent on the 6th Feb and I have watched it several times, and as you say just should of severed root plate and winched on to the deck and delta with there,, the tractor would of dragged it down the Rd easily,

i was sent 2 videos on 6th Feb one of a lad up a hung up tree over a road that ended badly, and another from a lad who works with me now n then, he was dealing with a tree they had just felled and he had a close call with the tree rolling towards him,, i wont comment much on these issues as i have my own thoughts on both incidents,,

Was this the 6th Feb ? Lad doing video stood next a 150/ 200hp tractor ??

That Ruston engine will of done a few days work in its time and would probably do a few more with a bit of TLC, made back in the day when we made things properly and had a engineering empire, it would of sat there all day popping away powering that rack saw and only used about 2 gallon of diesel for a full shift,

sounds about right for todays world ,,

TBH not so many fail, i know a lot of guys with saw tickets and only know of one who failed and he wern,t safe near a saw yet alone use one, i take it you got 2 days left on felling and processing so you got plenty of time yet to correct things, just keep your cool and dont wind yourself up about it as thats when things get worse,, you will pass and as brushcutter said listen n learn,, I wish you the best of luck,,

I watched it last night and thought the same, not interested,, 4 police officers i attendance for a £700 ct off saw ??

Well Saturday I had a good day, took sone firewood out, went back to yard and loaded wagon with approx 5 tonne of timber to deliver in morning for customer to cut n split his self , then had a hour in building splitting logs,, called in aldi on way home and that's when the day went sadly down hill fast,, 4 young coloured lads 20 25 ish in front of me laughing a giggling like school girls and I presume taking the piss out of people as they walked round, then one who was stood in middle of isle with his phone up infant of him videoing and talking to phone, as I passed him he said to phone this is my new bennifit phone,, then when I was at check out they was on self check out still making plenty of noise, I looked across like everyone else did and noticed they where all dressed in nice clean new tracky bottoms trainers and decent coats, I just thought to myself it's silly c - - - s like me working Friday sat sun Mon between Christmas n new year to pay for the up keep of these people who are o a free ticket, now that got my back up, every year fir years I have made a point if putting 30 40 in RNLI box and same in air ambulance but RNLI won't be getting any this year as its all being used in the south east corner of the UK rescuing the dingy,s and I dont really want to help there case, sooner starmer is out of number 10 the better,, we need a big change ASAP,,

Looking at the amount of forestry on Mull, if you was the only one there with kit i would say you would be laughing, but you wont be and believe me your kit will never compete with the big out fits, i have a simulare set up to yours and find a bit of work for it (South lakes, North Yorkshire and in Lancashire) most jobs the tractor and trailer go on are our own jobs where we have bought standing timber, the plus point of small kit is it dont make much of a mess, I think if i was you i would spend a bit of time up there doing some home work, asking a few questions, checking firewood suppliers out and a bit of door knocking dont cost owt but you could learn a lot by this,, there probably not much hard wood on Mull but i do know there is a lot of badly managed birch and oak around loch Awe,, I wish you well with your venture and like i said above if you dont ask you dont get,,

last 260s made where in 2009, the 261s where 2010 onwards, the 260 is a cracking little saw and last for years, your problem is probably the clutch and a saw well worth spending a few quid on,,

if thats the mileage from new and it was my van it would of been changed at least 4 times by now, said this for a long time now and mentioned it a few times on here over the years, oil n filters are cheap compared to metal mechanical moving parts, perfect example is a lad i shoot with who treated his self to a Izzue pickup 19 plate i think, 400 mile past its 15000 mile service time and it snaps a con rod then 8 grand later its back on the rd, as Swinny said sod the long service times,

The older 3ltr ones where by far the best ones, mine pulls like a train and its been worked, very reliable and not to bad on fuel either, as others have said not the comfortablest of trucks but if its only short trips will that matter ?

Pissed down nearly for 24hrs here now with a slight let up between 4pm and 6pm this eve, been a lot of localised flooding and now the local village of St Michaels where Nicola Bully went missing is on a red alert for flooding with river levels rising and high tide due at 11,55pm with a hieght of 10,09 mtrs which is a big tide 😒