Bing!

I replaced my gaffs about 6 months ago, the office ordered long tree gaffs by mistake. As I was about to start a week of ivy covered monsters (take downs) I stuck with them, fantastic.... great for getting through ivy. However, on smaller diameter stuff its a pain, a lot tougher on the legs when your feet are off the wood, spikes only in the timber. The shorter gaffs allow you to keep your feet in contact and stop the leg pivoting on the spike. Would love to have two sets but have chosen to stick with the long ones, gotten used to them on smaller diameter wood now, still have to be a bit more carefull, but hey.....

We had a few potatoe forks some time ago.... We shed some company tears when the last one "disappeared" (Tipped), never replaced them. Boo.

That particular model or that style? We have had that style of grinder for many years, they do the job very well but need a lot of physical effort, we use a larger hydraulic grinder now which can get through smaller gates/passages and can handle bigger stumps. The added benefit of the hydraulic one is that even the smallest of our chaps can smash through big stumps. The man handle grinder requires our "Mongo" to do a proper job on big stumps and he's getting on a bit. (and now suffers carpel tunnel in both arms).....

Rubble & Debris Shovel - Garden Hand Tools - Garden Hand Tools & Accessories -Gardens - Wickes Try that one!!!

Just thought I would big this shovel up, got one for myself a few weeks back and now I never let it out of my sight. Piling up the chips on the truck or scooping sweepings, lovely job. The groundies approve of its extra wide blade and durability. And less than a tenner. Rubble & Debris Shovel - Garden Hand Tools - Garden Hand Tools & Accessories -Gardens - Wickes Any other must have tools you wish to recommend? Bing!

Nene overland is not far from you, you can pop in and ask Andrew Harrison-smith himself. Be prepared for a shock though, so many people are converting them now it's difficult to get a sensibly priced one, secondhand ones tend to be well used!!! My biggest issue is volume of chip rather than weight so I looked for a 130, single cab and have the tools on the back. The add ons are the perks, winch on the front and how about a towable hydraulic splitter run off your PTO. What stopped me was 20mpg towing a chipper and load, if your lucky, the starting price and other running costs. EG: R reg 110 with heavy duty 3500 chassis, 90K on the clock, flat bed pick up perfect for conversion... £8500 no vat.... Before conversion! What sort of transit would that get? You've got to really want one or have enough off road work to warrant it.

I removed a Cedar of similar size about 6 years ago, we could get the crane to within 20 metres which worked out nice to swing round to the waiting chipper/lorries. £7500 plus vat. 2 days for the crane, a day for a serious lorry with lift to move the BIG wood (10 ft diametre at base), 5 blokes on the ground to process everything. We saved some money as we had 3 of us qualified as slinger/signallers a year or two before, they wanted to charge £450 for a signaller!!!!! Took 4 days to remove and clear completely and we only broke even...... Bloody good fun though. Bing!

I remember chipping a few monster Laurels a few years back, hopped into the back of the boxed in lorry to shovel the chips forward, 10 mins later I had a pounding headache that would not shift, I swear it was the laurel. I love the smell of chipped laurel........

The majority of voters here never use SRT, what are the reasons if you don't mind me asking?? Most likely reason is that the climbers have been taught Ddrt when they started out, got used to it, became good at the job with that technique and dont want to change. It is extra kit and a different method of route planning, different anchor point methods, different retrievel methods and requires you to put yourself on a learning curve again, It's a big step to take when you may have spent years/decades perfecting your style and work method, and it may end up being the wrong 'thing' for you. There will also be a number of folk who will put it down to being 'just another gear junkie fad', and will not even entertain trying it out. I took the plunge a while back and found it didn't do it for me, I don't have the time to really persevere with it so probably didn't get the full potential out of it. I use a Bulldog on Ddrt 100% of the time and find it does the job of a friction hitch exceptionally well, but with added advantages. Bing!

As Drew says. Swap the alpine butterfly for a small prussik and you have a very useful set up, I climb on the 'O' rig in trees where a lot of up and downing is on the cards, You get your full arms length of pull, very easy ascents. There is an 'O' rig thread, check it out. Bing!

I too have been up and about on dead trees, the first thing I do is look to see if there is something close by to anchor in and come in from, if not then it is down to your experience and tree/timber knowledge. No one else should make that decision for you.......... If you have been sent to this job by your boss, and it's your first view of the tree, then you need to ask yourself what he was thinking! Don't be pressured into it. I did the macho thing once, for the glory, and the company of course, regreted it within minutes but carried on anyway. Lucky to get away with it really. If anything I looked more of a numpty than a rock hard man 'o' the trees..... Bing!

Hmmm, maybe I'll stick with the Tachyon.

I kind of assumed that the PI being .2 thicker would still be ok. I guess you've tried most ropes by now Gordon, what made the difference? Outer covering? Or does it stretch, causing a change in diametre? Bing!

I use a Bulldog OAR and have both Tachyon rope and the teufelberger version, they are both lovely and I would happily get them again. I have a rope which is in need of replacement and was just looking to try something new, I don't want to end up with a bungee rope, less stretch the better.

Thanks for the reply Kevin, looks like an Audi V Bmw thread is about to break out!!! Was just trying to compare stretch. Bing!

Sounds like not that much difference, May try the Ivy for a change. cheers, Bing!

Has anyone got any real world comparison of these two ropes? I am about to retire my Tachyon and replace with ivy/Hi-vee. Which has the least amount of stretch? Before I spend the hard earned (ish) cash..... Bing!

I have some extra time off over Christmas so I should have time to get in the workshop, a pair of longer arms is now on the list. Although my current Bulldog setup is running without a hitch (thats a pun, see what I did there?). Keep the ideas coming, the Bulldog gets more and more versatile. Bing!

You could take up Surveyors offer of a Bulldog OAR on trial, no major cost just postage. Not often you get a try before you buy offer. Bing!

I've not used Corona before so I'm not up to speed on there quality and price, I've just taken delivery of this pole: DP1570 Darlac Expert Tree Pruning Giant Telescopic Aluminium Pole Oval | eBay Seems pretty sturdy and the blade doesn't look too bad. And for less than £100!! I'll review it at some point, eventually.....

I remember being told that pruning should be done in the winter...Never summmer... Then I was informed that we pruned in winter because "back in the day" when tree surgeon was a new fangled term, the tree work was done by the gardener types. Nothing much to do in the garden in Autumn/winter so the trees got done. Thus in was ingrained into our pysche that trees are to be pruned in the Autumn/winter. Either way, we prune all year round, species dependant and sometimes any species, because the customer wants it done and if we don't do it someone else will.

My groundies would lynch me for even thinking about that "technique"!!!! : 0

I use the exact same knot when I climb.....

Have been living with the Harkie ascend for a month or so now and am enjoying it. I had dragonfly before that but fancied a change. It's not as comfy as the Dragonfly but not as ball busting as a petzl, nice inbetween harness, the freedom of the petzl but comfier, and light. With all my previous harnesses it has always been a gamble, in an ideal world you would spend a few weeks getting used to the kit before buying but that aint gonna happen. Read the thread about the harkie review and my thread asking about the ascend a while back, it helped with my choice, remember that it is a very personel thing and in the end it's your choice, and you will get used to it whatever you buy. Happy hunting. Bing!

We have use of the company saws as part of a deal many moons ago, all the climbing kit is bought by us but the saws are the companies. Never been an issue until they swapped some of us over to the 201s.....