Tim Stobart Tree Surgery

You may well be right, it could be. Just out of interest, what do you mean by 'jobs for the boys'? From what I know, it's only just getting going, and it's working on a timescale that seems IMHO fairly short to get it all going in, but such surveys are key to getting it 'out of the house'. I know some new directors have just been appointed to the organisation that is running it (Scottish Rural Action). Whether it proves to be a waste of the tax payers money or not will probably not be clear until a few years down the line, but it's an interesting project. I only know what I do about it as my good lady is the project coordinator, though her background is from running an outdoor activities charity, to managing a community forest then onto this role. Again definitely not 'one of the boys', nor is her assistant, the other paid member of staff, who like us lives over here on the Isle of Bute. If you've got any suggestions for how you would promote it then I will pass them on, as I know that they are really only just getting into this phase of the project, so any idea's are appreciated. They and I will be at the royal Highland show in a couple of weeks. Tim

I do use it to give customers confidence in me/my product, but it still gets me every time, in forestry/arb we should replace the question 'how longs a piece of rope?' with 'how heavy's a ton of logs?'.

If you consider yourself to live in, work in, or have an interest in rural Scotland then this year there is an interesting event taking place. In November, Oban hosts the inaugural Scottish Rural Parliament. An event to give people from rural communities a platform to voice views and discuss matters with policy makers. There is currently a survey being conducted to set the agenda for this event, please take the 2 minutes it'll take to fill it in: Themes for the Scottish Rural Parliament Survey Forestry is not on the agenda, but land use and reform is, which may have a huge effect on some of us. If you want to know more about the event, check out the website: Get involved

Selling wood by the ton is one of the things that pisses me off most. How wet is it? If the moisture content is 25%, then a ton of wood has 250 liters of water in it, if it's 50%, 500 liters (a liter weighs 1kg). So do you weigh each load, subtracting the moisture content from the load to get the mythical ton of wood, or do you, like most people call it a ton because it's a ton bag (which is a bag that has a maximum load of a ton, if you fill it with lead, you'll break it, if you fill it with feathers, it won't be a ton). If it's seasoned delivered logs (?), and you're selling a ton bag (either 0.8 m3 or 1m3 depending on the bag) then you're under charging. Wood weight varies so much by species, moisture content and piece size that using a weight is just a joke. Sorry if that's a bit of a rant, but you know, a customer phones me up and asks for a ton of logs, I bite my tongue all the time!

PeteB's the man to ask.

ditto, not worth the hassle.

I'd go in at £600, two short days for me and my groundie. Maybe try to get it done in one, but there's a lot of tidy up to 'neatly stack', so two groundies makes sense.

A random one, but worth its weight in gold on a hot day or when you've got wet feet. blow air through your boots with the blower, it's sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good. Buy two pairs of trousers, if you get wet through one day, you'll need the dry pair the next. And repeating, never make a journey empty handed.

Sounds nasty, it also sounds like you have a very solid claim. Get a good solicitor not a no win no fee idiot. You should get 66% of your costs back. If your boss asks you to do something, he should be prepared to do it himself. If not then you're better off working for yourself. On a slightly different thread, a firm In used to work for had an old hedge cutter with a bar brake on it (I think it was a modified chainsaw) that got used when needs must. It was a heavy thing to use but safe. The problem was, when the new one got back from being fixed one time, muggins here took a chunk out of his thigh as i brought it down and flicked my wrist for the non existent brake to stop it. I know that one was my fault, but hedge cutters can be very nasty if you get on the wrong end of them. Throw it a long way if you're going! I hope it heals well and you still have full use. Good luck.

I'm in a bit of a Scottish island bubble, but it's definitely worth doing even if it's just the magnetic signs you can get from vista print. My van's a transit panel van which has stars painted down the sides (it was like that when I got it, but I only paid a grand for it with 100k on the clock). It's distinctive, and it says what I do on it. It works, and it cost me about £40.

£1k is a bit low, but I had a greenmech cs100 demo'd t'other week, an amazing bit of kit. Check out the wee chipper club thread.

Using a handheld, get your strimmer harness and put a cable tie round the handle, clip it on and let the harness take the weight (it needs to be a tad bit shorter than for your strimmer). It's just as easy as using a backpack when it's going and no hassle to start it then put it on. I've a wee stihl which is fine for most things. You don't need a hurricane just a strong wind!

I know it used to make the best charcoal for gunpowder back in the day of muskets etc, I keep meaning to have a crack at making some charcoal. Maybe i will if things quieten down!

Is that how we find out who has won, Silky?!

Aye, on the cheap stihl's it's just plastic. I've had one used a few times, and they've always worked, though once it needed replacing afterwards (I replaced the entire cover)!

Ah-ha, a use of all those acres of Alder, and there I was thinking they were only useful for sluice gates. Cheers Stubby.

How is Alder as a firewood? I was under the impression it wasnae great, but the community forest project here has loads of it that could be thinned out as firewood. Birch, Oak and Ash are all great, I would happily plant Sycamore for firewood (why the expected rocks). Willow's an odd option, quick to grow, but poor to burn. Eucalyptus is probably a very good call. Keep us informed of how it's going!

I always liked 'Special Branch..... Personally I've stuck with Tree Surgeon, people know what they're getting. Arborist etc, can confuse granny Smith who wants her tree pruned because the neighbors complained.

I used a free-cycle style facebook page (it's called weebay, you've got to love Scottish islands) to advertise any such 'logs' that are too **** to sell. There were usually people waiting to take them off site by people while I was still in the tree. On one job I said come back after 5pm and help yourselves to whatever's left (it was for a call center and some of the staff wanted a bootfull). I'd finished by 3pm, and missed the punch-up at 4.30! Now I just contact a guy who came from that weebay, who has a huge trailer and comes and clears them for me, if he's free while we're dragging brash he'll happily help in return for the logs. No value in them just get rid.

I vote for a dismantle involving setting up an Alaskan mill vertically to run down the boundary line leaving the 10% standing. If it survives (there would be a decent cambium) then it would be an amazing tree!

Cheers for the advice, me thinks I'll be cutting ears each side of the hinge to avoid that pleasure.

I'm not sure, but you could talk to Godfreys on the Dicker. They are a greenmech dealer so could probably arrange to hire/demo one!

Cheers, Crack willow was what I said to the customer at the time, so i'll stick with that. I'll take care on it, there's as much dead wood as there is live. I could maybe winch it over without stripping it out.

Blonde, and Irish. Seriously no stereotype needed.

I keep mine in my thigh pocket, it's important to have on you in case of...... Also if I'm waiting on my groundie to clear the drop zone i can send an email or return a missed call. If I hear Debbie Harry pleading with me not to leave her hanging on the telephone, then by the time I've un-clipped the thigh strap of my harness and got to the phone, it's usually a missed call, but the comment of the first to respond often gets the job is true. It's in a tough leather case, and some times i put a silicon pad thing over the screen to protect it! Only a slight crack and it's 20 odd months old.