Mr. Squirrel

For what it's worth I'm with you on many points. I'd add that at 42 with 12 years cutting experience I'd be wanting more than 120/day to bust my arse. Say you pay a subby climber 150/day. Take off mileage, say 20. Then ppe, saws (I don't want someone else's saws up a tree), kit etc 10. Then tax, you're down to 94/day actual money. PAYE climber will get how much, 70/day after tax? Guaranteed money. Plus paid holidays, plus pension contributions. At which point you're really not that much better off subbing. Just means you can decide when you work. I charge 160/day when I'm subbing, which for a qualified and experienced climber who takes the job seriously and invests time and money in their quality of work I think is very reasonable. Running my own jobs I pay my regular groundsman 135/day minimum. When it warrants it l pay him 150. When I get climbers in I pay them 200+/day. If I could I'd match European rates, but there are limits...

As said, some static lines do have a bonded core and sheath. Courant certainly do one, as do some others (I believe someone mentioned Beal earlier) As for my pal, he was caving, and a victim of poor rigging I believe. Rope had some slight rub on rock which caused the failure.

I have a pal who had the sheath fail while ascending a static rope on a frogj setup (croll + hand jammer). As said he came to a slow and gentle stop as the sheath bunched up beneath him. Then had to go up the exposed core strands... Obviously only works if there's a knot in the end though... personally I'd rather a rope with bonded core and sheath.

I don't, but really need to sort it. I was refused a a policy three years ago as I was fresh back at work after a shoulder op, while off sick I saw a doc regarding stress, and was referred to mental health folk. That plus hobbies were too many risk factors apparently. However, when I broke my shoulder I ended up being off work for almost a year, I was near financially ruined. Statutory sick pay is worthless, and why would you knowingly put the burden of earning on your partner in the case of anything going wrong? I'm amazed anyone in this industry would say no to it.

Stiffline is a good un. I know someone who had 3 Stein throw cubes fall apart before he splashed on a Falteimer cube. Meanwhile one of my Falteimers is nearly ten years old. They're worth the extra.

You like that picture eh Stubby? I came across it numerous times when searching 661/395 haha! I spoke to a few pals and went with the 661 in the end, although that 395 makes me regret the choice slightly. It's a different beast though, if I already had a larger mid range saw, like a 372, I'd probably go for it. I kinda need something big, but practical from spikes at the same time though...

It'll be rare that anybody but me uses it, so it won't be abused. I've heard don't great things about the 661 and on paper it looks more appealing. There's a great deal to be said for a time tested solid saw, without all of the electronics in there though...

I just rate the mechanic at my local husky dealer a lot higher than the mechanic at the Stihl dealer. Aftercare and service quality matters when you're spending a grand on a saw and want to make it last...

I know there have been a fair few threads comparing the two saws but just thought I'd throw it out there again to see what the latest thoughts are... Buying my first big saw and debating which to go with. On paper the 661 cm is a bit of a beast, however from my 560 I'm fully aware modern saws can be less than they're cut out to be on paper. The weight and, i believe, size of the 661 is much more appealing for up a tree though. But I think the husky dealer round here is better at putting saws back together... Any thoughts or experiences? Cheers, C

I worked with a few guys who called their ground staff 'ground bi****s' and 'stick bi***'... screams to me of people who are trying to make someone else look bad to make themselves look good. I've worked with some really solid groundys over the years, and some who were simply less experienced or ended up in the job by chance. The ones who ended up in it by chance sometimes just didn't really care. No time for that. The less experienced can be forgiven most frustrations as how were they to know... So long as you learn and adapt I've got time for you.

I hate the Vertex, doesn't sit right on my head at all, the Alveo is great though. Be careful with em though as they are easy to break if you throw them in the truck or that...

So are Red Bull well on the way to turning the small, friendly, nurturing environment of national tree climbing comps into their hyped up brand of bulls***? Personally I'm really disappointed to see Red Bull get anywhere NEAR our industry.

2 hours, big douglas with really downward sloping branches. First practical branch was at 30m. Nakerd my shoulder so bad I needed surgery, but I got the branch I wanted...

It's been a long winter alright... I did finish off the dregs of a combi can which had been sat for many moons, so might've been some moisture in that. A good clean and fresh fuel through it seems to have sorted matters though.

Soaked the air filter in petrol and gave it a good skoosh. Also took the carb apart and gave it a good clean - the gauze had a kinda creamy layer on it. Running like a dream again, cheers for the diagnostics spudulike! Cheers for the offer to take a look at it too, I'm in Scotland though, so not quite local...

Cool, the air filter is clean but perhaps blocked up with very fibre dust, I'll give that a try. How tricky is it to get to the carbs internal filter? Worth asking before I stay taking it to bits eh...

Hey folks, got a niggle with my 200 and wondered if anyone has had the same, and if so what might be up with it... Particularly when warm, starting as normal it's not got the power anymore. Cutting it'll usually bog right down and really struggles to cut. Sink it into bigger wood and it's useless. Start it on half choke though, and it's an absolute weapon. It's never run that well in the 7 years I've had it, makes any modern top handle look like a joke. I'm not sure if it's about to blow up then though. Understandably this is frustrating. Checked basic stuff, air filter, fuel, changed it to winter mode. But I don't really know... My local stihl dealer is utterly useless and charges a fortune for the pleasure, so I'm reluctant to just hand it over and ask them to fix it... Cheers ya'll

I just use a micro traxion, works sweet.

Anyone recommending Leylandii should be banned from Arb

Globe isn't just a bit more static than velocity, it's pretty much totally static. Like climbing a steel cable, but a cable you can tie knots in. Platinum, from memory, is a bit more static than the likes of velocity but still very much a bouncy rope. A good one to check out is arbocup, it's similarly static to globe, but doesn't cost a bomb. I know guys who have had bad knee problems using super static ropes for access all the time so could be worth looking at before shelling out heaps of cash. Think you'd have to get it off treekit in the UK.

Seems I'm a bit of an odd one out but I'm not a fan of cougar. Mines flattened out so much I definitely wouldn't recommend it, based on my experiences with it. Being so static is nice though. Personal favourite is Tachyon, as said it's bouncier than Cougar but no bouncier than any other rope. Plus once you've climbed on it 6 months and it's full of sludge it won't bounce that much anyway...

What like Israel/Palestine? That worked a treat eh? I have never met anybody who hates British people, let alone wants to kill us. Maybe there is the odd foreign looking bloke who thinks the odd British bloke is a bit of a ****. But then maybe both of them are. This is not major a problem... and if it WERE a major problem, it would be a problem of our own creation and to be honest, fair play. You aren't forgetting that we've dropped allot of bombs on allot of people for very questionable/fictional reasons?

I think it's pretty clear that dropping bombs on angry young men and women, who saw their homes, families and lives obliterated by Western bombs and are now determined to reap some sort of revenge, is only going to aggravate matters more. Based on what I saw of the debate (which was quite allot of it) I think very few of the MPs grasp that they are making a decision which will kill thousands of innocent people. A decision I don't think anybody has the right to make. And an answer to a problem that was created by dropping bombs on people. Intervention, by all means, but air strikes aren't the solution...

Beautiful tree round there. Definitely take a look in the Hermitage if you get a chance, it's 5 mins from Dunkeld max. I was there yesterday and the river was heaving, really cool. Also just up the river, the falls under Rumbling Bridge was really impressive too.

Hey, sorry to hear you're packing it in but hopefully you go on to do better things. I'm interested in the 020 and 66, interested to see pics/prices.