Kenty

I remember years ago a bloke wired his Sierra Cosworth to lecky supply. He did get prosecuted though when someone tried to nick it. Just a thought.

Any chance you could reconsider rehoming. She looks like she has a good life with you. So many dogs need good loving homes at moment & gets worse year on year. Both of your dogs are still pups so there will be tension from time to time until they sort out their places in the pack. I have extensive experience of dogs that do not get along, I live with three large snow dogs, two could not be within ten feet of each other without wanting to rip each other to pieces, & our breed will fight until one is either dead or immobilised. But with treat based reward training & agility & cani cross & pulling we taught them that if they work together life can be good. They now have a mutual respect for each other & know when space is needed, they even sometimes play together. If you put the work in the rewards for your dogs & yourself are incredible. I'm not a dog trainer or behaviourist but have had around eight years experience with mine, if you would like any advice, pm me.

Sorry to hear that fella. Will keep an eye out down south. Its an unusual colour so fingers it returns to you.

The logs are for his own use & so condensate dosen't form the roof vents are left open. The nursery poly tunnels are a fab idea. I store mine in an old canvas car port with air flow at both ends & gets super warm in the summer.

I did some tree work for a customer a few months back & he seasoned all off his logs in a huge victorian greenhouse, & I thought what a blinding idea, eco friendly, quick seasoning. Just wondered if anyone else does.

No matter how big or small the job always provide a computer generated quotation so there is no confusion when it comes to payment & shows professionalism. Always have your name or business name & address on the quote along with landline & mobile numbers even if its your home phone & address so the customer has several points of contact. State the species of trees & shrubs along with a detailed description of the work to be undertaken so there are no disputes. Always contact the council by email to check for conservation areas & tree preservation orders no matter how small or big the job is & inform the client you are doing so on their behalf, that way you have a written record of the council's reply should you need to refer to it at a later date. You really should have public liability insurance at some stage as you progress as there are customers out there that will try to get you to pay for something you did not damage. You do not need employers liability unless you are employing people or sub contracting in labour. With regards to costing a job, it depends what equipment you are bringing to the job, size of the job, complexity of the work involved, how long to complete, & be realistic, what would you pay for the job. With regards to charging for fuel to & from a job, most companies do not pay travel costs for staff to get to & from work. You will always come across some jobs where you should of had a bit more or a bit less on. Fair price for a fair days work. Bear in mind your overheads are low unlike established firms where they need to price higher to cover costs. Every job you quote for you have the potential to win so don't price yourself out of the market. Hope this helps & good luck.

Tree is on the ground, no injuries, no damage, job done. You can speculate, opinionate, conotate, we all have different ways of doing the same job. I also said I wouldn't post on this again. Hey ho.

Its a good little ground saw, but you have to be quite gentle to get all the power. One issue they do get after prolonged use is the choke switch can pop out from the housing clips but easily put back in by removing the cover. I've had a 170 since 2006 I use regularly for snedding, logs & carving.

Hi William, I have a Timberwolf TW 125 with a 25hp honda engine instead of the usual 20hp. They are good entry level machines & will chip 2 tonne an hour if needed. They weigh around 625kg so easy to manouvre on your own & can be picked up second hand refurbished for around 4 grand. I have used all other makes in this size range & found TW to be the better and it shares most parts with the TW150. I did like the greenmech though.

I'm guessing it was an emergency job as the tree has clearly been hit by something large & heavy & both trucks are loaded with chip. The contractors were probably asked by the LA to fell asap. Not normal practice I know & hardly likely to cause any damage to underground services given the size of the tree. Been on a couple of jobs in the past where that was the safest, quickest option & the less inconvenient to the public.

Dog theft is on the increase, I'm down south & it's rife. Some are stolen to sell on & some are stolen as bait dogs for fighting dogs. They don't seem to care what breed they target. I've heard reports of dogs being lured when out on walks with their owners & off lead. Recently a car was spotted parked up with the driver squeeking a toy to see what house the barking was coming from. Be vigilant & don't let them out of your sight or too far from you. So glad you got your family member back.

Its quite simple, if you don't own it, don't take it.

One of my boys looking after the logs

Hello gents, I don't post on here much, bit of an info voyeur, anyway my local mitox retailer asked me to have a look at one the other day & was impressed at how light it is, does feel plasticy & has no strop ring, it would make a useful backup saw if you had a breakdown on site to finish a job. They are not trying to compete with stihl or the likes but offering a more affordable option. This is their first attempt at a top handle so can only get better. I have heard that their tools will be using kawasaki motors in the future. At £169 its worth having as a back up but not for everyday climbing as it wouldn't take the battering.

Hello there, a good short pile rug in front of the fire surround is a must, we have a cast iron ornate fire guard which has a mesh backing to stop any embers spitting out. The rug just prevents the carpet or wood floor from getting singed. Easier to replace than a carpet.

The best one I ever saw was on a Lotus in the 80's, it read 12" NOB.

I can sympathise with both sides, the farmers have been hit so hard over the years financially but you cannot just blame badgers for the spread of BTB. It can also be spread by other animals such as foxes, cats, domestic dogs & us walking around the countryside. A vaccine is available but it is cheaper to cull a species than vaccinate.

Hello Timberbear, When the engine cuts out I usually keep the clutch dipped and change down while coasting, then turn the ignition off then on to restart the engine, sometimes it goes into limp mode and won"t rev over 3000rpm, sometimes it restarts as if there is nothing wrong. I've got it down to an art now so I only slow down by about 10mph. Mine usually does it on average twice a day. Modern motors are a nightmare, if I didn't have to work in the LEZ I would have an old tipper without any sensors or ecu all day long.

I've owned my movano for around 18 months now and found it carries the weight well on single rear wheels. Bear in mind that twin rear wheel drive vehicles are usually heavier as the rear diff weighs around 200kgs on its own. The cabin has large space and high driving position. These are basically renaults re badged and run a renault engine. There is one down side to these engines, they have a common fault which Vauxhall and Renault are well aware of but refuse to address it. The fault is that you can be driving along with or without a load and then for no reason the engine just stops. Quite scary when it first happens but you soon get used to coasting and starting but up again without losing too much speed. Diagnostics will say that it is either a fuel or crankshaft sensor but it is not, owners have spent thousands on new fuel systems, sensors, fuel pumps you name it and the fault still occurs. They should all be recalled but it would cost Vauxhall and Renault millions so thats why they fail to acknowledge the fault. Have a look on the Vauxhall and Renault forums and you will see how many owners have problems with them. If you can live with it like I do they are pretty good cheap tippers, and sit quite low so loading logs is easier.

Hello The Captain, take the air filter off first and give a good clean out as they get clogged with dust particulates really quick, also check that there is enough tension on the throttle cable, as if it is slack the throttle will not open fully, check the oil as a matter of course, and check the tension on your drive belts. Probably a silly question but previously I have tried to use mine with the choke on without realising to switch it back. Hope this helps if you haven't tried this already.

As long as there are no underground services and is far enough from property, put some boards down, rope the stems to get it moving, straight fell onto the boards/tarmac. With the factors against the tree I would not climb it, would not use a mewp as the unbalance of removing the crown could cause failure, put enough money on it to cover any damage, the worst is a few dents in the tarmac. Why risk someone climbing it or it failing into the road.At least you can then control where it goes.

Thanks for the advice Hedgesparow, never thought of the new commissioners, I'll give concorde a bell.

Just been getting quotes for my renewal, last year around 500 all in, this year around 800 all in. I know the insurers have to recoup their costs as there has been a rise in thefts but I wish the police would take these thefts seriously as it affects all of us. I had my truck & chipper stolen around four years ago and the reply I got when phoning the local nick was to give the crime number to my insurer. They didn't even come out even though I called within ten minutes of it gone & probably would have passed them. We are looking in the region of 15 grand at the least which small businesses just can't afford, I didn't claim as I knew I would be paying for it next year. If I went in the bank and stole 15 grand I'd be doing a seven stretch. I know some of you have been in the same boat as me, so there has got to be something we can do to get the police interested in these thefts and get our premiums to a reasonable level. I know 800 isn't a massive amount for the risk involved in the work we do but over half is insuring our kit from these scumbags.

I spent most of my working life in manufacturing got made redundant, retrained as an accident investigator, got the big 'c', had treatment during which time I was made redundant again, got well again and a colleague of my wife, her husband was looking for some help starting his tree company so one day a week soon turned into five, after two years started college to do NPTC's and RFS and haven't looked back. Do my own thing now, a bit of tree work, a bit of carving, I don't think I could go back to a 9-5. It has its ups and downs and there are weeks when you want to sell all your kit and do something else. When you get saw chips in your pants, its hard to get them out.

At the moment I'm travelling 40 miles to look at jobs, but I have just recently moved so trying to get established where I am now, so usually a 20 mile radius. I've given up asking customers how big is their tree as I've had some say it's huge and barely ten foot and some say it's not that big and it turns out to be a monster.