Andrewmpalmer2003

Hi all, I left 20-30 Laylandi tree logs for a friends dad on his Indian slate in his rear garden. Now I'll always put this on a sheet or on the lawn. From the title it's stained his Indian sandstone slate, he has tried most things to remove the sticky sap and stain. Any advice would be very welcome indeed. I'm going to contact HG international on Monday however any help or tips would be great. Kind regards Andrew

I'll take all those last comments with a pinch of salt. However, I will come back with a few paragraphs, it obviously unsettled your nerves, or you wouldn't of written them. I do not run a fire service or am not the chief fire officer of the LFB on mega bucks - I'm merely a hose squirter and have been for 5.5 years. I tried 7 times to get in. I work very hard on a 2 days, 2 nights, 4 off shift, helping those who get into unfortunate situations - sometimes having to put my life in danger - so please pay me an ounce of respect for that. My full time job gives me £32k. I don't feel is a great wage, to irk life, travel into London and live here in the Home Counties, but I accept I chose that career to help people and like many public sector wages they don't pay a wage to reflect the cost of living here. As for having a tree company as well as gardening, I could never do it all. I know a full on tree outfit must be 50k, by the time you have vehicle, chipper, equipment, courses etc. I'm merely just enquiring to be safe and sound for the small bit I do. Anyway myself and my wife hope you were just jesting....I attended a RTA (road traffic accident) only last week involving a local large tree surgery co. near me. I actually rang the Guv of that co. to ask how his blokes were. Good job I never asked for advice from him, I may have got a mouthful about taking grub from his men's mouth... I know most of joe public don't like that some public sector workers have a few days to earn an extra quid. My wife is a secondary school teacher and gets regular stick for the holidays she gets. We both hold the opinion that everyone else had the choice to go into teaching/brigade... She is about to leave teaching to focus on our one year old and hopefully our growing family. It is for those reasons I want to earn a tad more. Nothing major. Do not, however, knock me for my work ethic of working any spare minute to help bring up my family a little better in life. Maybe some of the dossers in this country need to take a leaf from my book. Anyway, as Cameron says, "We're all this together..."

Hi I understand that these are the first courses to be aspired for anyone venturing into the tree surgery game. I have looked into these courses at the 2 local colleges to me (capel manor and writtle), are these the cheapest places to complete these courses, or do I have other options. Ps I run a small gardening commercial and domestic, but over the past 2 years I have slowly got into very minor tree surgery. I have no formal quals as yet. My Exp is as follows, full time firefighter so hence H & S is paramount, I have all the ppe, and only do stuff unto 20ft max, and have just purchased a tw13/75g to help. I have our in depth First aid course, that's a joke calling it first aid it's written by the LAS and a very in depth 3 day course, not that I plan to put it to use with a chainsaw injury. Anyway I'd like to have some formal quals behind me, just in case that little acorn grows faster than I liked it to... Any replies would be much appreciated. Andrew

Cheers for all your tips, I have to go to a local metal fabricator for a few amendments to my trailer, like a small winch, for sole work with the chipper, it may be the smallest but pushing 188kg up a ramp, to much for me on my tod, he may be able to make me a simple gizmo !:-)

Hi all, I've just purchased a TW13 as i run a garden. Maintenance. Company doing commercial and domestic. I've used for the 1st time today and I'm sure it's a learning curve. The large peices no issues at all. However the smaller peices of the large Pyracanthia hedge i was cutti g were to light to drop into the chipper. I was thinking of making a pusher, something that would push the smaller stuff but would only go down to 6 inc from the blade! Any tips or advice would be much appreciated Thank you Andrew

Hi, I'm v new here, and now in the market for a small chipper shredder, it has to be able to do, small trees, shredding, hedges, ivy and other smaller matter. I've got the chance of very hold of a very good condition one of the above apparently it's got a 13hp engine, slightly used at £300, but not sure if its still any good. Any Advice would be much appreciated.

Hi, Another piece of equipment that I'm looking for would be a trailer, I know everyone seems to go for the Ifor Williams. I'm looking for a cages/Mesh sides, ramp not essential but would be preferable. Slighly bigger than the bog standard square shape, any suggestions, I'm activel looking on eBay and gumtree, just if anyone new any second hand trailer co.s, or bargains that they got elsewhere. Thanks Andrew

Thanks for all your replies, we used to have v large transparent sacks for decontaminated fire gear etc, but for some reason were replaced with smaller and flimsier ones, I was gutted, they were made especially apparently for us!!!. I will ask the decon local station and thanks for the plant tub, that's a great tip, I never thought of that idea. I'm also on the look out for a large trailer with mesh sides, you know the sort of thing. Enough room for 2 mower or a lot of rubbish!!! Any ideas of second hand ones, I've tried eBay and gumtree no luck so far. Andrew

Can anyone help, I have recently purchased one of the above second hand in very good condition for what I though was a very good price of £220.00 My problem is the short adjusting handle has come away and lost in a recen hedge job, Stihl want a stupid £19 for a small part !, anyone recommend anyone that I can get the part at a fraction of that cost. I've looked on eBay no luck at all, it's the short 3-4" metal rod that used to angle the blades to cut at 60, 45, or 90 degrees. Your thanks in advance. Andrew

Hi, Let me introduce myself, Andrew, Firefighter and I run a small gardening concern, over the past year, seem to be getting more into hedge work. Although I have the petrol tools, husquavan chain saw, steps, tripod ladders etc. I have no chipper, an at the moment have no plan to buy one. My problem is bag to rubbish up with. If somebody can help, I have 1 ton bag, however his gets too large and heavy to me on my own, does anyone know any supplier wher I can get hold of large plastic sacks, very large, with strength to match, I've had no luck only too small sacks, waste of time has to have certain capacity. Your knowledge and advice would be much appreciated. Andrew