Tim Stobart Tree Surgery

Cheapest one, and with a lifetime guarantee (that I know that they honor through experience, as lets face it, it's silverline)

It does make me think, as an employer........... should I ask my staff to use such a tool! It's ridiculous, the world really is so scared of being sued. I did a manual handling course a year or so back, I concluded that I wasn't allowed to use anything other than a silky in a tree, as even a wee saw is to heavy to use outside your core lifting position. oh, and as for branches on the ground representing a trip hazard, each must be removed to keep a clear path, roots/uneven ground must be leveled and the entire world must be wrapped in cotton wool. I could rant for days on this subject. The packaging on that made me laugh mind!

I got a new post driver the other day. Bought it off t'internet, and when it came I nearly cried laughing.

If you were a dishonest cheating scumbag , you could put the winch on the line, snap it, and claim that the tree took it out as it came down. By the time they turn up to fix the line, I guess that a good natured law abiding firewood provider such as your good self would have cleared up the mess of the fallen tree, leaving a pile of saw dust under the break and them with just the line to fix. You've got to hate people like that ;-)

Loving this, Firstly, reading through this, I first mis-read it as HSE not HSS which made me chuckle, then the photo has a huge split in the face of the previous cut, which you can see is from the lack of the undercut from the cut he's in the process of completing. After that, it doesn't state if it's a hand axe or a full length axe for the height estimation (I can see a **** up there alone). After that, I'm lost on the second cut, the fourth seems odd, and I cannae get my saw back in for the final cut because the pry bar is blocking the cut, oh, and it's been knocked in by Timmy Mallet. I reckon that whoever wrote this had a book, but no idea what it was telling him or he to do. I doubt they've ever knocked over more than a sapling.

Mines ordered and in the post (metaphorically). Had one demo'd and it's a great bit of kit. I cannae wait. I got a spare set of blades thrown in, but I paid an extra few quid for a hour clock. As for second hand check out Greenmechs website, there's one there at the mo, Pre-Owned Machines from GreenMech Dealers | GreenMech . Personally I've had a bed run with a second hand chipper before (a 5" camon) so this time I've gone new.

Just to look to improve, would it not work better with the saw inverted, pulling the wood to the dogs?

Aye, the last two for me to get was fig and gum, I was trying to shoe-horn Ash and Box (buxus) in there. Then Gum came to mind and Fig fitted.

Got it, Struggled with ash not being in there, eventually got to fig!

I had similar advice, but I've ordered a CS100 (greenmech). Check out the wee chipper club thread.

I'd hazard a guess, to get the phone out to take the photo.

I bought an old faithfull 16ltr backpack a couple of years ago, (having been used to CP and Berthoud). It was only twenty or thirty quid. I can't fault it apart from it not being too comfortable (having said that, I got through 5 tanks on tuesday no bother). Stihls new products are so popular these days, I'm hardly surprised. The problem with be in a sticking/leaking o ring somewhere. I had a Berthoud do it a while back, took me ages to find the problem. Best to just replace the hose and lance, if you can be sure that's where the problem is.

I was 7 living in Uckfield, East Sussex. It was if my memory serves me correctly, the 17th of October, and we got away lightly. I slept through it and we lost one slate of the roof. Carnage when we headed to school the next day, trees everywhere. The school however lost it's entire roof and was shut for ages, followed by lessons in church halls etc. I remember a big yew being uprooted in the church yard and being able to see skeletons beneath it's plate. We had a caravan that was sheltered and undamaged. We lived out of it for a while until power and gas were restored. I had the misfortune of sitting on the horizontal stem of a large chestnut a day or two after (maybe that was the 17th), and my obese sister was climbing the tree (as my parents had specifically told us not to do). When she fell, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and she landed on me, shattering and dislocating my elbow. There was an X-ray of my shoulder that showed my forearm. I remember a doctor telling me that I may loose the use of my right arm (the most terrifying moment of my life to date), but after 2 operations and it being pinned, it's now pretty good. I cannae touch my shoulder with it mind, and it's a right pain if I ever go rock climbing. By the time I was using my right arm again, I was better at writing with my left hand than my right. Took me ages to get used to using my right arm again. The other lasting memory; Going outside before I went to bed. It was hot. Not warm, but properly humid HOT. Michael Fish got it sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo wrong.

Here's Beinn chasing saw dust.

I hope not:-s

I thought that traditionally brooms were made of downy or silver birch. Whichever was available. I'll bet it's the American one, and it's come through bushcraft in the states that it's the best birch out there for it!

I know the seeds are poisonous, but the berries from a yew are tasty. just be sure to spit out the pips and stop when your tongue goes numb!

I've the MS460, which is a stunning saw, it runs a 25" with ease. It's a joy to use when I stick an 18" bar on it.

It's a big question of how much kit you have/need for the job. If you have a van full of toys, then you need to charge for them, even on jobs that don't need them, you end up pricing yourself out of the little jobs. The lower your overheads the safer you are in terms of survival if the work slows, but then you'd struggle for the bigger jobs. As for the fair wage, I saw an add on here the other day for groundsman (CS30,31, 38) nationwide, (I can't remember the firm) offering an hourly rate of between £8-£9 an hour. That's not even the living wage. I live on a small island (6000 people), and have to do lots of different things to keep myself ticking over, some days I use a pair of secateurs and a silky, and I can charge as little as £80 for it. Others a full rig and try to charge that what it's worth. I'm pretty sure that on the basis of doing 50 climbing days a year (one a week), I need to be charging more than £300/day for two men to make it worthwhile.

It was bone dry, so no, there was no fuel to come out, although I did get a wee spider out of the tank.

Cheers, I'll try that.

You've got a good point here, I work on a flat day rate for what I think a job will take to complete, but some jobs, the big dismantling type, are stupid days in comparison to a bish bash bosh, knock over an 18"dbh type job. Given the choice of the two, 3 days on a tricky dismantle/tidy up or 3 separate simple days, and you would always choose the latter. I think I need to alter my pricing to reflect that. It's not an easy field to get it right in. We can all compare our daily rates, but what we achieve in a day will be the biggest difference in price. The speed you climb at, size of saws and chipper, efficiency of your team, fitness, and dare I say the corners you are willing to cut/risks you may take to get a job done. All in all, I'd much rather do less work for the same money, than work my tit's off for the same. Under pricing is a good way to get yourself established and make a name/reputation, but you can't afford to keep at it. At least in this game, you can put your prices up from job to job, rather than having to go to your regular customer and tell them you're now pricing jobs at £100 more a day!

Hi all, I got given an old JCB mower yesterday by a customer who I know cut the grass for. He's not used it for a couple of years (as I've been doing it with mine). Needless to say, it didn't start, even with fresh fuel. What I'd like to know is how would everyone go about getting it going again? My fairly simple approach will be to drain and change the oil, change the spark plug, and maybe the air filter. If that wee lot doesn't get it going, what's the next steps to try? Cheers.

A flat £300 here on Bute, that's £100 for the groundie (no kit), £150 for the climber and £50 for the Kit, insurance etc. Just ordered a chipper, I'll be looking to run that at £75 a day, which is less than the £90 I've been paying the farmer per load of brash in a tractor trailer, and I have use for the chip (as I no bugger sells them on the island!). I think I'm running too cheap. I certainly am in terms of gardening work at £12/hr (which is flat out at the moment).

I'm in a similar trap, though have the fortunate situation of having got on the ladder while in employment. It's now 5 years on, S/E for the last 3, and I can't face getting a new deal so I'm just rolling with it. Ironically, I'm now living 500 miles away, and the rent from the tenants pays the mortgage, it's SFA to do with me. Her indoors has now bought up here (in here name, as I'm dirty dirty self-employed) and that's the mortgage we worry about. I almost forget about my place! If you're in a job, get on the ladder. If you're out there on your own, then you may as well give them an application in the name Nick Leason. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I guess that helps no-body, but again, a chest cleared!