JimM

12 year old Glengoyne this evening. Nice drop too.

Found mine struggling in the heat a week ago. Running no problem, but warm starting was diabolical. Been nowhere near as bad up until then. 346 came out to play. Will check the intake areas in the morning.

I reckon you've nailed it. Great job.

Sorry Woody, but if you throw up such a comment, the reply above is insufficient. You need to back it up with documents or links. Otherwise you're scaremongering. Plus you have any number of people on here, who may be new to the business, spending (wasting) time online trying to find the info, or worse, ditching a business idea/plan they may have had. So please back up your comment. Cheers Jim

Gotta throw my tuppence in. Used a Greenmech 13/23 for the last year. Bought it new after I got the Scottish rep to lend us one for a week. Same boat as you. Household jobs and lately a lot of Leylandii destruction. Instead of the petrol version, I went for the diesel and twin roller in-feed to give it a bit more oomph. Last winter we fed it Leylandii for nearly 7 hours solid in one day. Pulled it over fields behind the Ranger. Light enough for two of you to manoeuvre easily on a driveway once off the hitch. Eats even wet Leylandii happily unless you go out of your way to choke it. Starts every time. Easy daily/weekly servicing, and the disc cutters are a piece of wee to rotate when they start to blunt. Anything that is too big for this is firewood size anyway. The new version is the 130 which I believe is diesel and twin roller as standard? We looked at all the other equivalents at the Cirencester arb show and for ergonomics/ease of use etc we kept walking back to the Greenmech. All I changed was the jockey wheel (too flimsy) and put on a locking hitch. Talk to the Greenmech rep and get one for a weeks demo. I don't believe you'll regret it.

A great move, Paul. Hope the day goes well for the pair of you.

I like the " they want it so they pay for it" but can you see the forestry commission voluntary paying for it ? Unless of course all the forestry firms say no thanks, and refuse to submit tenders. Which isn't going to happen. Not in this real world.

Went last year and will certainly go this year. Well worth a visit.

From my perspective, in terms of forestry skills (take 38 upwards out of the equation as tree surgeon quals) you are looking at assessing 31,32,34,35 (equivalents). Common sense would say that if I have a wind throw job I'd call the assessor to come out on one of those days and do the update then. He sees the highest qual demonstrated, discusses and highlights any new theory and then goes on his way. I make money of some kind on the day and get written up into the bargain. No sense losing a days wage. If you start thinking of the refresher plenty in advance, then perhaps there is scope to make it work for you.

Like that a lot. I've got a nice block to use, but this certainly brings some new options to the table.

Local dealer (MacGregors, Elgin) not expecting mine in till mid to late August. I think they've just sold one from the Inverness branch.

Will be in Edinburgh on Monday with the wife and binlids. Have a great time!

Thanks

Have you got a picture of that system, Paul?

I've always thought that statement is about as useful as "If she doesn't drown when we dunk her in the pond then she's a witch" Open minds are required. Who would I rather work with. A recently ticketed bloke with a cautious approach to how he uses a saw, or the "Done it for years, mate" bloke, who has bad habits that just haven't either injured himself or others yet. I want to work with people who have open minds, aren't full of themselves and can listen to youth as readily as listening to the elders. Are always up to improving themselves and can take criticism without a "harrumph". There are always new tools and techniques appearing that just might make the job easier or safer, that a refresher course could make you aware of. Ultimately though it is about the cost of this plan to the business. The content has to be right and the time-lost/cost element has to be reasonable.

I was looking for somewhere to tie up my horse.

Whilst no royalist, some of my mates work with William on SAR, and I was overhead Afghanistan working with Harry down below, where it was anything but fun, with lots of contact to deal with. You'd have to be deaf and blind to state that the principal members of the Royal family don't work hard. But I concede that they certainly have a better bank balance than us..

Pm sent Si.

You guys have been cooking down south. Don't envy you. Hope you avoid those downpours forecast for tomorrow.

A sunny 20c up here just now. Nice and pleasant.

6 miles along the coast from Lossiemouth. I was at Kinloss for 22 years which was good going. Didn't want to go to the rigs and didn't want to move from Moray, hence the tree-surgery. More than happy for anyone to come along and get some experience of the job.

That sums it up pretty much for me and how I planned leaving the RAF. I'm doing ok, as are my two colleagues who work with me up here. But i left after 25 years and invested heavily so that I could be my own boss. We've just had a young Army lad do 4 days with us last week to let him gauge the type of work we do. I reckon he could make it as an arb as he put the effort in. The lad mentioned earlier who was glad to get back to Army life; well I reckon he will come out and be an underachieving car park attendant. Not all the Forces guys are up to it. Of the 3 mil lads who we did some training with earlier this year at TKF, one runs his own business and the other two walked straight in to arb jobs, beating a lot of civilians because of their work ethos and dedication. So it can be done. If you are up to the challenges. I take exception to the comment about being treated like dirt and regarded as tramps. I have yet to meet a customer who doesn't respect what we can do. On the contrary, they take pleasure in watching us and interact with us through the day. I can only think that if an arb turns up looking like a tramp, moans about the work, appears sour-faced, then of course he'll be looked down on. I'd look down on him!

I'd want my bath a bit warmer than that Jon. ;-)

To hot for me Jon. I'll stick to living north of the Antonine Wall.

Looked at Honey Brothers, but with postage I would be paying 10 more than my local dealer.