martwizz

Good forearm/wrist exercise - not necessarily reccomended for injured wrists, but good for general strength Get a stick roughly 1ft long, 1"diameter Tie a good price of string to the stick, roughly 36" long Tie a weight to the other end - 5kg should be more than enough hold the stick like bike handlebars, wind the weight all the way up and then all the way down, then do it again using the opposite motion (wrists towards you rather than away). Kind of hard to explain, but once you set it up, its obvious. 10 reps up+down, and your forearms will be burning

Personally I don't worry about what other people are going to quote. I price based on how long I think it will take, how much effort and gear will be involved, how many bodies are needed on site. I often find that a friendly and professional conduct during the quoting process creates client confidence in you; I am open about my thoughts, I don't 'err'. I explain why a job may be difficult to price, and give an indication as to why I have provided that price, and I explain the process of the job in detail. Clients are often more than happy to accept the job on the spot, even if I don't particularly want a job it can be hard to convince them to start calling other contractors to obtain a few more free quotes. Work out what your costs are, how much you are paying your staff, how much profit you want, and how long it is going to take. Price it at what you think is fair for YOU. If someone low-balls your price and wins the job, they might have massively underestimated the effort involved, and they may have a couple of absolutely terrible days as a result. As far as long-term gains; If you win this job with a low price, you're going to win the rest of the jobs and the client may have expectations of more low prices.... not necessarily something you want! Its better that you put in a fair price, do the job professionally and with no damages, and win praise and further works/recommendations as a result.

I would go in at £12-14 p/h considering your lack of experience (although your FDSc should put you in a fairly good position for the job) and then try to build it up each year based on experience gained. Make sure you put your best previous surveys and reports into a portfolio, if the landowner consents

I often find that people are simply too stubborn to try something new. If it doesn't make life easier straight away, they aren't willing to try it any more. familiarity with a system is a commonly used excuse, 'weight of gadgets' was another one I heard recently. Its a shame, because there are great climbers who have so much more untapped potential if they just modernised a little!

I've dabbled with SRT but I'm sticking to DRT here for pretty much everything. Less gear required, and one consideration is that people I work with are familiar with my climbing setup for rescue purposes. Its hard enough getting people to convert to hitch climbers and pulleysavers over here, let alone SRT!

I got mine on gumtree, certainly worth having a look on there!

This phrase totally made the thread for me

I'm afraid that I'm not selling any of my books, but I did get a few good deals with Books on botany from Summerfield Books. Worth a look! Good luck

Thanks man!

I'm so used to writing down all my outgoings, I keep wanting to put my income tax payment as a tax-deductable expense for this year Somehow I don't think it will fly!

Please can somebody record some footage and slap it on you tube? It'd be good to see some more videos of the 2550

Thought its worth mentioning, if you ever use a blower to stoke a fire, don't overdo it. Melting the nozzle even slightly will result in the blower blowing to one side forever more. It doesn't sound bad, but it's an absolute pain in the bum!

Without going into too much detail, the things that come to mind are: Not all tree seeds require a period of cold to germinate (stratification), and every seed has a different required temperature tolerance. If temperatures do not satisfy the requirements of a seeds germination, it will continue to be dormant until next season. Seeds can remain dormant for many years! This way they only germinate when it is right for the species. Regarding climate change, the only interesting points I know are that global warming results in an overall drop in photosynthesis. There is MORE CO2, but that means less available nitrogen. This means less amino acids, less proton pumps, and basically less photosynthesis. More light is a factor, but the limit of photosynthesis is capped by the amount of CO2, so the only affect that has is to increase temperatures, and therefore transpiration (which means stomata close resulting in less gaseous exchange, and again, less photosynthesis) I'm not sure what the effects of a reduced dormant season is when there is a mild autumn/winter, however when leaves are dropped, the useful elements are recycled and reabsorbed by the process of senescence, so I cant imagine that there will be a great net loss... if anything if it has been in leaf longer, it has been able to build up and store more chemical energy from photosynthesis! Hope this is somewhat helpful and not completely incorrect

I'd get a 660, we barely ever break out the 880. Plus the chain is the same gauge/pitch as the 460, so you can share 20/25 inch bars + chains with both saws

Can you elaborate slightly on this? what kind of incline is unsuitable? Do you just cut the level with a spade, or build it up with some soil? Do you think the narrow version with the dual wheels on will be less prone to tipping? Cheers!

Flashing should always be interpreted as 'I'm here' and treated as such! I failed my first driving test because I made a turn after somebody in the opposite direction flashed me, because I didn't wait for them to completely stop! (And no, it wasn't a near miss )

This doesn't seem to be covered on any major news source worldwide. Ukraine is currently having several mass protests (including violence) due to the decision by the already controversial president to sign a deal with Russia rather than the EU (the most basic explanation as i understand it) Things are looking likely to kick off again tonight, protesters have spent the day rolling over buses and setting up more barricades. Livestream videos are here: #EuroMajdan on USTREAM: Dear friends, we've been on air 24/7 since 27 november without a single break. To continue broadcasting, we need your financial hel... or [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrZcAsPKK74&feature=share]espreso.tv Live 21.01.2014 - YouTube[/ame] Last night there was a trebuchet, rocks, molotovs, and the police were throwing molotovs back at protesters. Today they have been go ahead for use of lethal force (as I understand it). Over the last few weeks, the government has been removing more and more rights from the people. There is a great deal of information on this thread on reddit: Ukraine's Capital is literally revolting (Livestream) : worldnews

Arbjobs.com | find Arb jobs / Tree work This is a good place to start making enquiries!

Funnily enough I always wonder about it when watching the show. Getting into a stumps, I do find it tempting to rip a couple out, sand blast them, level them up and plonk a bit of glass on. Unless you have all the gear yourself though, it sounds a fairly lengthy and expensive process. I wonder if its worth it! Will have to try and do a couple sometime.

BACK to the tax... I'm not entirely against the idea. Always asking about how much tax is left when buying a car shouldn't be a factor. Buying tax should be the responsibility of the owner, and part of the process of buying a car. You can do it all online, so its not difficult. If you are that worried about losing part of a month, try to time the sale appropriately. Interestingly I have also heard that cars will have to be insured by law unless they are SORN'd. That means even if you aren't using it, if its registered and taxed it has to be insured!

I never realised how much work was involved until I saw that thread! I assumed it was just a couple of holes drilled and some fiddling with screws

[ame]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Snow-Shovel-Mucking-Out-Scoop/dp/B000MGQFVA/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1389811520&sr=8-17&keywords=snow+shovel[/ame] This is my favourite shovel. Makes shovelling sawdust and woodchip a dream. Long handle at the perfect angle means no more bending over. Other shovels don't come close!

http://cdn-4.psndealer.com/e2/dealersite/images/moderngroup/Model2550-0812.pdf According to this, the 2550xp comes in a 35hp diesel and 35 / 37hp petrol options! I expect the price is still steep though.

TY, how much have you looked into the bigger bandit grinders? If all goes well with my HB20, I might be looking at a 2550xp in the next couple of years. Still fits in the back of a swb transit! Sounds like the stump game is doing really well for you!

I think the one of the points that John is trying to make is that you cant buy a good 27hp self propelled machine (like the HB20) for £2-3k like the thread requests. Although I agree with all the advantages of the bigger machine, I can see the benefits of being able to manhandle the smaller machine around difficult obstacles.