Dan White

Hello All, I've been away from both trees & these pages for a while, but due to personal circumstances I'm back and seeking employment so I thought I'd stick my head back into the Lounge and say 'ello. Long story short, after a sort of mini gap year after leaving the Navy I was accepted into the University of Cumbria to study Woodland Ecology & Conservation and I had moved onto a yacht on Windermere as temporary accommodation. Unfortunately illness in the family has led to minor financial troubles so I've deferred my place and moved back home to support my folks as they look at selling up and downsizing. I've posted a job ad in the relevant section if anyone needs a spare pare of hands/saw in the Welsh Borders!? I see all the banter is reassuringly the same, and I hope to catch up on the gossip, drivel, news and other unread posts in short order! Cheers, Dan

Hello Arbtalk, I'm an efficient, hard working and good humored 28 year old ex RN Navigator looking for Forestry Work in the West Midlands and Welsh Borders. I'm also willing to travel if there's space to sling my hammock! I've CS 30, 31, 32, Lantra Chipper & Stump Grinder, B+E trailer license and in date First Aid training. I have my own saw, felling kit, PPE & winch fitted Landrover. I qualified at Kingswood Training Services in Kent where I took their Arb start up combination course. I completed the CS 38 & 39 training but did not take the exam due to inexperience aloft. Instead I topped up my course fee and completed the CS32. Inspired by their training and assessment staff, namely Jim Chatton & Tony Lucas I've focused on a career in Woodland Management & Forestry rather than climbing Arboriculture and was accepted onto a Woodland Ecology & Conservation degree course at the National Forestry School, University of Cumbria. Unfortunately I have now had to defer my place and return to Herefordshire due to family financial & health issues, so am urgently seeking work for the winter season. I've gained a brief but broad range of experience since leaving the Navy in June 14, working mainly in felling, milling and processing Sweet Chestnut and Ash Coppice for fencing and gates etc for Toby & Aly Allen's 'Say It With Wood' in Herefordshire. I'm now in the process of becoming a sole trader and setting up a small limited company but am open to all forms of employment, either in Forestry, Arb or Groundskeeping. I'm available either via PM here, on 07595723600, or [email protected] at any time and can start work immediately. Many Thanks, Dan White

Here's my old one, HMS Dumbarton Castle, with a spurious Arb connection. I took that photo off Grytviken/King Edward Point in South Georgia, Antarctica. On a previous patrol down there she'd helped clear a large amount of drifting timber, BIG old logs presumably lost overboard from someone long before, that was blocking the abandoned whaling station (and cruise ship destination) of Stromness Bay up the coast of South Georgia. What could get craned onto the flightdeck was removed back to KEP otherwise the really big stuff was towed round into another bay. Quite nicely, some of the timber found its way back to the Falklands where it was milled by some ingenious army engineers on a homebuilt mill and used to furnish various messes, including DC's wardroom and SR's mess bar tops!

Dude, you're about 3 months ahead of me! If you do find anything (and its not too much of a guarded secret), please let us know! I'm hopefully spending a bit of time traveling from Norway to Morocco this June-August and my climbing gear is definitely coming too! As a side note (apologies for any derail) I've just read this: [ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Wild-Trees-Passion-Daring/dp/0812975596]The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring: Amazon.co.uk: Richard Preston: Books[/ame]. Some of the writing is a bit daft and/or cheesy but its a good book overall. Could be relevant to your interests... if you've got enough rope!!

Brilliant bits of kit, ancient one I have is home made from some heavy steel tube and a ground down coach bolt. I had an idea for a homemade pickaroon/axe combo not long ago but my blacksmithing skills aren't really up to it and I haven't got a forge any more. Would forging a pick/hookaroon into the poll of a splitting maul make small scale splitting easier? Like an American style firemans' axe but more dangerous? Thought was to save my dad's back from bending down to pick up logs before splitting them.

Lots of forums and blogs about this out there Rich. Some more 'left wing' than others! I've put a lot of thought into becoming nomadic over the last year or so, and its a topic close to my heart. A permanent pitch can get dodgy with planning laws unless you have a friendly landowner and neighbours. I'd go for a campervan, or if your budget doesn't stretch, it could be cheaper to build your own from a panel van - better for 'stealth' if you do have problems with long term parking too. This guy has done it since 2011 Living in a Swift Kontiki Motorhome - Living in a Motorhome SBMCC The Self Build Motor Caravanners Club! Living In A Motorhome – The 10 Best Things UK Hippy As I said, a tad to the left. Not really my politics, but once you get past the veganism, some very good stuff on living under the radar in the UK! Or howabout a Narrow Boat?! How to live on a canal boat Good luck!

Second all the above. BF Goodrich Mud terrains (MTs) are a bit agressive for day to day road use but when you need them on a wet field you'll be thankful. Even the newest ATs can have difficulty on muddy grass. General Grabber are a good second choice if the BFGs are to £££. As for size, there's something to be said for staying on the 16'' wheels and getting a bigger aspect ratio on the tyres, particularly if you plan on deflating them or they're going to take a hammering over rough forestry and tree stumps etc. If you want a bit more responsiveness on road go with a bigger rim and smaller aspect ratio.

Mine aren't huge, only 230lbf/in front and 300 rear. Which lifts the back by about 2 inches when empty but should ride level and handle better with the tent, water tank and kit etc if I've done my sums right. The old ****part supergaz rears were the nasty stiff HDs which had her up by an inch when loaded and rattled about when empty. The Koni's are £££ mind, I chose them over the possibly more comfortable OMEs as they're reputed to withstand more.

Devon 4x4 Jon. The Koni/OME mix is what seems to be the choice for guys building trucks to go down to Cape Town or across Russia and back so I reckon they'll be man enough!

beans on toast for the rest of the month, but decided to get Nessie's ride sorted whilst I'm still technically employed. 2013 BFG AT's Wheels shot blasted and freshly powdercoated Koni Raid Heavy Track Dampers Old Man Emu HD Springs New Polybushes

That price from Nene is suprisingly reasonable once you break it down treequip. Nene used to have an incredible reputation for vehicle prep, particularly their Overland & Expedition section. Rivals really to Foley, Frogs Island Devon 4x4 & Footloose 4x4. However (notwithstanding their owner's less than stellar reputation with forging V5's Dealer regrets signature fraud - Peterborough Telegraph) in my personal and from close friends firsthand experience, their workmanship and customer service is shoddy, and seems to have become more so since they opened their '4x4 lifestyle shop'. They target a certain demographic and charge appropriately. I had a £5k+ quote for some work on my rear suspension A Frame and queried the possibility of cutting the bill down by removing extra items that IMO could be reused or left for me to complete etc. I understand a professional company's reluctance for me to do so but at that point their customer service became atrocious once it was obvious that I didn't have the same deep pockets as their usual clients. I took my business elsewhere. Furthermore, a friend who had some recaro seats sourced and fitted to a new defender had his vehicle returned with damaged new seats, mismatching and inadequate bolts to hold them down and the original seats covered in greasy footprints! Of course, my opinion only and I hope someone else has had more luck with them, but until I hear otherwise I'll not use them. Based as you are in suffolk GTW, I'd try Foley Specialist Vehicles. VERY £££ but their workmanship and customer service is fantastic. But really for a tipping workhorse, find a smaller independent metalwork fabricators or as Treequip says, a mate with a MIG. Good Luck

Dont go anywhere near Nene 'Overland'!

Thanks for sharing Itzal, I'm further down a similar path to you. Currently on resettlement leave after 8 years in the RN and I'm booked into Kingswood Training Services' MOD leavers course in April. I'm going to gain the new equivalents of CS30, 31, 38 & 39, plus stumpgrinder & chipper tickets. I've separately self funded my trailer towing licence too. A look on arbjobs shows these as a good start for gaining employment as a groundy with a view to becoming a second climber, in hopefully relatively short order. In all similar posts, the big recurring theme you will see is that we lack any experience. Hopefully a decent work ethic and receptiveness to training will mitigate that and accelerate the learning curve to catch up with the college kids. I share your concerns regarding a saturated market, In the year since joining Arbtalk (the single most useful thing I have done to further my career change into this industry btw) there have been numerous ex MOD chaps appearing and asking the same questions as you and I have, and a search will show up many more before. I also seem to notice a lot more trucks towing chippers these days so I don't think the worry is unfounded. The way I look at it is that I know where I want to be in 5, 10 & maybe 20 years and I've always got those in mind as my raison d'etre, particularly when dragging brash in the rain! I have a back up industry I'm looking at which can run alongside the Arb world if things are hard and I feel we service leavers have a few different talents that could put us ahead of the remainder of the 'qualified but inexperienced' hordes coming into the industry. So I'm quietly confident. Granted the path I hope to take to get there might be a little odd (I'm very fortunate in having zero responsibilities and healthy savings at present!) but to start with each decision will not be wholly reliant on having to pay the bills and more toward gaining the most experience. Its gonna be a massive pay cut initially, but that's not the point. As you say, its outside, free phys and hopefully within a positive and friendly industry. Finally, I'm also inspired by some Arbtalk members/Arb industry professionals and their self respect. The threads about getting and pricing for work follow the same pattern and there always will be someone advocating the fact that they do a difficult job, well. Strive to be good at your job and have the confidence to charge a fair price. That (familiar?) attitude, encompassing honesty, integrity and professionalism, is one of the biggest drivers for me to get into tree work. Hope my two penneth helps, Good Luck!