openspaceman

Cheeky whippersnappers should take note of their elders if they have asked for advice

Swot I sed

Not really, yes the aim is to concentrate growth onto one vertical stem up to 20 foot length, this keeps branches out of the way of any work underneath in the future. Not cutting the co dominant stems completely is so vigour is not reduced by removing too much active leaf area. Obviously trying to anticipate formative pruning from a 2D photo is not going to translate well to what one might decide to do on site. Not every tree is going to produce a good form and you cannot odds a weak fork once it has developed, those trees will come out at a thinning. By year 50 you probably only want a tree every 25 foot and not much crown competition then (unless you are aiming for something like the french system of forestry with gun barrel straight sawlogs 40' long and 200 years in the making). The english tax system post 1945 meant that you are unlikely to see the quality of broadleaved woodland that I earned a living felling, from 1978 to 1995. My point is that establishing trees in the manner of traditional oak and beech plantations or coppice with standards will produce a tree with full crown and clear stem which have a high amenity.

Just to disfavour branches that may become co dominant.

Back in the day I used to check transits that had been issued to the troop of subbies engaged by gangmasters for our work. I decided to charge the said gangs for my time emptying their rubbish. No backing from the bosses who wallowed in the profits made for them by these utility workers would teach me a lesson, they would put their rubbish back into the orange plastic bags from the local express mini market and chuck it out in the lane leading back to the yard. I soon decided it was better for the environment for me to clean the trucks when they were in the yard.

Yes I understand. The thing is IMO that trees grown the forestry way are likely to survive to a ripe age whereas stunted knotty widely spaced trees are unlikely to because somewhere along their life the large lower limbs are going to get in the way of something, especially as they grow out over a drive, that they will be poorly cut off leaving a wound open to decay which will affect the tree's health. Also as the canopy closes those large lower limbs are going to get shaded out and die, leaving large dead knots which will never heal over. We saw this a lot in oak standards and coppice woodland that had been left to grow on with no cyclical removal of the standards. Instead of majestic oaks with short clean boles and a huge live canopy sitting like an island in a sea of underwood the crowns closed canopy and mutually shaded out the big branches which had developed over the underwood, killing them. The first picture in my post above is of a plantation of a wealthy old chap who had bought arable field next to his very large garden and planted it with oak, beech, cherry, hornbeam and ash ( it was interesting to see how far the ash had been infected right down to the stumps when felled). It had been well established and mechanically weeded between the rows over a period, so no other woody plants had become established in between, hence the coarse branching, then squirrels found it. I was asked by his regular arborist to help thinning this 25 year old plantation, unseen until I got there last month. It was a dilemma, especially in view of the ash dieback, there was no reason to thin and as we were on a day rate we did the best to start recovering what we could. One thing we could see was the oak were likely to be the only final crop and the only ones that had good form were those that had been suppressed by more vigorous neighbours as their branching was finer and they were looking more drawn up. Like you the owner said he was doing it for posterity yet he had been poorly advised on post planting treatment that would be necessary when there was nothing left of the planting grant. Attached picture of one of your trees to try and illustrate what I would do, red lines are cuts and the two vertical lines to show which branches need removing for a first lift (cuts at branch collar).

If you think about it planting at 4 or 5 foot spacings, as most mature woodlands were, would have had one or two thinnings to be at the spacing of modern 10 foot planting.

Measure the average top height of both species, this will give you an idea of the yield class from which you can see when you can start thinning, then you can initially halo the best stems. Also squirrel damage tends to start low, often at a branch and go up, so a pruned stem can have benefit in limiting damage to higher in the crown. As a rule of thumb in oak and beech you should prune before the stem diameter at the branch exceeds 4" and cut the branch on the collar before it exceeds 1" diameter. Stem length after pruning should not exceed 60% of the top height. Weak forks above the pruned height can be shortened to limit their competitiveness. I would aim for a clean stem of 20 foot in 3 or four lifts over a few years then leave the rest of management to thinning.

They do not need thinning yet, they need the competition from their neighbours to maintain apical dominance and height growth over growth of side branches. That said they would benefit from some formative pruning to achieve a length of clean stems, this of course is for clear knot free timber but it is also better for access, if it is done at this stage then the wounds are small and occlude rapidly. Left till later the side branches get much larger and either die off or get cut off and compromise the stem. This is a big problem with modern widely spaced planting and ends with a situation like this: Or later still this:

Probably Prunus lusitanica then, portuguese laurel

They often do come under the definition of waste but at one time the environment agency made a position statement excepting most arb waste but though it included "virgin timber" this did not include hedge cuttings or soil contaminated bio waste so most firms would need to have a waste carriers licence. This discussion was from 9 years back and the EA have probably moved the goal posts since.

If it was loose in the housing I wonder if the pump body may have rotated and the inlet and outlet become misaligned with the ports. Thinking about this the inlet to the pump does not match up to any port, it is the outlet that has to match up with the port that leads to the groove on the bar mount. The pumping action is the pump shaft oscillating very slightly up and down with each rotation. IIRC you cannot pump oil through it because the D shape of the pump shaft is what seals the ports as it rotates.

I've been retired nearly 10 years but on the last firm I could put up to 50 quid on a B&B and 16 quid on a meal ( and asked them not to put the two pints on the receipt), inflation since then must be running at 15%. I used a company van and fuel card. I never got extra pay for being away but tended to travel on company time. Similarly the job before where I was a labour only subbie, except when I stayed in a tent ( for security of the machine) for a few days near Norwich when I got no allowance at all, so I never did it again.

Not really as the square tube could have a slot into which a set screw could locate, the slot allowing the square to articulated in the tube. How are these things put together and what currently holds the square shaft into the tube, I cannot believe it is just friction?

Are you an optimist? Is the metal pump inside the plastic like this ? If so you should be able to screw an M5 or M6 pan head screw in and tap it out with a slide hammer. It is very important to line up the inlet and outlet ports to the plastic housing when you put it back. They were about 15 quid when I last fitted one to a petrol chainsaw about 9 years ago.

I remember one of the firm's trailers losing a wheel on the M25 but I was busy elsewhere and never found out the cause. Spectacular tailback in the rush hour is all I got told.

Do trailers under 750kg legally need suspension. I would like to know what the point of failure was, was it steel breaking or the stub pulling out of the rubber suspension component?

First set look like sallow to me, second set definitely a willow.

Any damage?

Similar with mine. I guess I might try the recipe to make the most pf a pig if I butchered my own but the time is long gone for that.

I had a quick look at the ingredients of Tesco faggots and they have several extras. I doubt any local butchers make them.

I thought it was pig offal: heart, kidney, liver and possibly more, minced up and fried with onions and herbs but never tried making it and have not eaten any for decades. I like most of the offal dishes, black pudding, haggis etc. but finding them with no artificial ingredients is the problem. For some reason I cannot face tripe.

Homemade?

yes

Yes looks likely for hot dipping creosote. The dry wood was loaded into tanks, normally in steel crates, cold. Then heated to expel air in the wood, then cooled to suck in the creosote. I think they may have heated again to expel excess creosote. If the wood was wet it would foam over, like potato chips into hot fat, and the lot would go up.