AHPP

Yeah. I get that. You'd find a way to balls it up though. In any event, you've probably now been pretty helpful to the OP.

There was a thread about reducing cedars and affecting wind flow and sail characteristics in the last three months. That contained some pertinent material. I’m pretty sure I posted in it. Look back through my posts. The site search engine is fiddly so google AHPP AND cedar AND reduction site:arbtalk.co.uk

Bolam is spot on. And regardless of what a reduction looks like, you’ve still got a walloping big tree you still won’t trust and it’ll cost pretty much the same as removing it once. I’m sure Matty has seen artful cedar reductions but I haven’t. The majority of climbers will make it ugly. I even did one once, against my usual good judgement. Absolute butcher job. I’ve got photos. You’re not seeing them.

Four stroking?

If you want to justify keeping it: Weight looks to be in the right direction, away from the house and over the rip. You've lost some wood on the side of the trunk that's probably under compression most of the time. Would be a bigger problem if you'd lost tension wood. Think about wind on the site though. That can change everything. If you want to play it safe: It's lost a massive bit and it looks like other bits could reach stuff. Fell, enjoy the heat from the fire, plant another. Teach your kids about death before it's a grandparent or a pet. £2-6000. On advice: Mick's plain. He likes killing trees. Khriss is a fanny. He likes paperwork. Ben is perhaps the worst businessman in the world. I only do what I'm told, usually removals. Unless you get someone very impartial (a paid professional who ONLY advises and has nothing to gain by advising any course of action) to look at it and they really do have a strong opinion either way (that they commit their liability to), the decision is always going to be yours.

I don't know enough about it to say firmly but I'd anecdotally guess that's your problem if I had to guess. I use MotoMix. Try a can of that, Aspen or the Husqy one and see if it makes a difference.

Both new fuel? The E10 stuff?

Fuel?

Nice rigging.

Another interesting top in the wind and a good learning hinge. Lombardy Poplar. Leaning straight back. Wind coming from behind and left. Had to avoid trashing a fruit tree forward and right but wanted to use the wind to push it so gobbed it straight. Started back cut and got wedges in as soon as possible (white and red marks visible on picture). Finished cut from the upwind side of the tree in case it let go. Was careful to leave the hinge fat that side to resist the top breaking off sideways. Buried the little climbing wedges as the wind came and went. Stood up there and watched it for at least five minutes, mindful that getting impatient and thinning the hinge would be a bad move. Eventually reached an impasse where the wind wasn’t advancing it any more. Nibbled the core of the hinge and thinned the downwind side to get a wedge in at 4 o’clock. Same wind as before was just enough to take it. Fibre pull on the left (upwind) side of the hinge shows the situation nicely. I cut the hinge disc off to take home as a teaching aid but it got tidied into a bonfire pile. Errant groundie let off with only minor chastisement on account of being unusually attractive for a tree worker.

Trousers. Or nothing. Have you thought about milling some of these big logs? Could be a few quid in them or just some nice/useful timber for yourself if you have the need. You’ll still have plenty of waste scabs and cutoffs for firewood. Your 36” bar could live in the mill and you could monster through firewood with a 20” or 25”, which are quicker to sharpen and more pleasant to use.

Stick it up your Cornwall.

Thank you very much indeed.

Extremely interesting. Please post the list.

Pay attention. We're on the same side. And I've been eating two cream teas a day for the last five weeks (with only occasional respite when the shop ran out of clotted cream for 20p) so I'm not sure what you think you can tell me on the subject anyway.

Part of a forthcoming series on cooking by virtues and traits. My coconut milk curry for example rewards preparation whereas omelettes reward industriousness.

I did pizzas tonight. Cranked seven or so out in a row while throwing back box Malbec. Happy guests. Restraint and minimalism is key for pizzas. Thin base, don't overdo toppings, enjoy sloshed while trying to speak Italian.

I read fine print too. Most of these sorts of financial products aren’t worth a wank and the people selling them are usually clueless spivs at best (and sharks at worst). Insurance is the main culprit, equipment warranties also very bad.

How much did you charge her for those 35 minutes?

For work aloft, weight is most important. Stihl of Germany, my brand selected, An MS two fifty, or thereabouts; The frame and crankcase, is slightly slighter Than the two sixty, the full thoroughbred. In the forest, you must strike the balance Twixt weight and vigour; the greater import, To most cutters, always the lattermost. So two, three, four sixty; choice does abound, Bar lengths dictate, the model exactly. My assumption, that you do not ascend, Would bias decision to the power. But for leisure, who cares for production. Go lightly, lest your back ache unduly. That was harder than a limerick.

It was a hole in the tree big enough to lose a fat man through. The top of the trunk was at least the size of a beer garden umbrella. My Hobbs strap needed extending to go round the base. Maybe slightly easier to see in this one. Phone was in the chest pocket of a jumper with a zip pocket. I sweated like a bastard all day just to have it to hand.

Poplar pollard. Neat little zig zag predirect to keep the rigging all slick and in-line. Little things like that set up in the first half hour of the day make rigging for the next six hours of the day nice and boring.

I enjoyed the peak version of that last week. Was booked to climb. Ended up just watching a lorry grapple saw snip down trees, occasionally ringing up logs held by it. Felt like cheating.

You do rub people up the wrong way (and I should know…). I don’t mind much because your contributions are usually pretty well considered, however brusquely put, but it is possible to be uncompromising and still convivial.

I’m a well above average penny pincher and I winced when I saw the thread topic. Besides tyres and brakes, I can’t think of anything worse to skimp on. Pay for OEM.