TIMON

Thanks for sharing this Mark. It’s very concerning what is happening with regards Big Tech right now. Makes Orwell’s 1984 look like 1884.

I started on an old Dragonfly, then went to a Stein Vega, which was a very comfy harness but lacked the versatility of the ‘full fat’ TM, of which I’m now on my second. (The webbing that connects the leg loops is prone to chaffing where they pass through the lower D’s of the TM) I see a lot of different harnesses in the course of my LOLER work. The Simhargu and Kolibri types look well made, while the Petzl Sequoia seems of inferior quality, particularly the plastic connectors. Another minus for the TM is that it is designed to be worn ‘low slung’ and as such isn’t good for hanging a big saw off. Great for canopy access and limb walks, but can be tricky getting it to stay up without the shoulder straps when doing dismantles. The Monkey Beaver looks really good but not sure if it’s available with a CE mark. (Or whether Brexit will eventually mean that we will be able to get US climbing gear Lolered in the UK)

Happy New Year Arbtalk. Here’s to a bigger, better and brighter 2021.

Neither, we had the 220 TMP running off the back of a U1250. Hardly ever dipped a rev. In 4 years I think I heard the no-stress kick in about 3 times.

The exception that reinforces the rule.. my £20 Lidl chain grinder is a similar example (although that’s German) of a cheap piece of kit that performs and has longevity. I wouldn’t like to test the theory out on a major purchase like a chipper though.

We had a GreenMech PTO chipper. Bombproof build quality. In the long run, buying one of these will save you money (and, of course, the frustration that inevitably comes with buying cheap Chinese crap)

Pretty much resigned to the fact most of it would be classed as treated timber waste. Shredding it would certainly reduce it by volume compared to just grab loading the pile truck by truck. Just wondering how much we could save by shredding and ‘binning’ it. I doubt that hiring a tracked shredder and 360/grapple for a couple of days would be cheap. Then there is the cost of the 40 yard bins. Two days machine hire and processing/removal Versus 20+ grab loaders. I do like the idea of the Air burner for simplicity, but the days of burning it have long gone. Thanks guys, and Merry Christmas

Thanks Pete. If we did shed our waste it would definitely be classed as treated timber. I know companies such as SITA specialise in timber waste streams. Our current pile would take forever to put through a hand fed machine.

I did look at the TW shredder. May be an option going forward. Morbark do bigger tracked ones but need to be fed with a large 360 and grapple. Maybe hiring one once every so often and firing the shred into roll on offs could keep the cost down and help efficiency. Treated timber is a separate waste classification. Thanks

The chip we produce from tree work (which isn’t a lot now we have downsized) goes to a nearby free site, put through a trommel as biomass, probably for power stations. Probably 10% of our waste is chip-able.

Been there, done that ..... looking for a more sustainable method now.. Thanks though.

We have an ongoing conundrum with regards to a large accumulation of various landscaping waste, I.e non-arb green waste, cuttings, clippings, roots. Fencing waste, old fence posts, panels, old sheds from clearance jobs etc... Currently our yard is full of this stuff, which we get rid of by grab loader. We have around 20-30 grab loaders worth to shift.. Can anyone recommend a cheaper, more efficient way of disposing of this.. would it be worth hiring a shredder that can cope with waste timber (nails & screws etc..) firing it into 40 yard roll on off skips?, and would the extra process/man power and machine hire be worth it? Particularly interesting in hearing from people who have been down this route before. Thanks in advance.

PS, could meet in Ðerby if that would work for you?

I’m in Nuneaton, if that is any good? I have 29th Dec & 30th free..

Unfortunately but very predictably....

I went to a rehab that had a similar discipline. Two side by side bunkers with 3ft walls. 3ton of wet sand. Shovel the sand over the wall into the next bunker, scrub the bunker clean.. then shovel the sand back over into the clean bunker. Scrub that one clean. Think the designer had got the idea from ‘Cool Hand Luke’.

I’m I right in understanding the 562 has a beefier crank? And it seems the auto tune issues that were causing scored pistons have been addressed. I’ve had both 560’s and now a 562 which definitely seems more aggressive.

Not a climbing picture, but one of the oak in our back yard I learned to climb in. Bit too much wind from the east blew it over one night.

Ive always used these as a warm up for a HIIT or Tabata class at the gym. 1k as fast as I can, usually about 28-30 strokes/min is a great stretch and warm up method.. my main obstacle to these kind of exercises is the repetitive boredom. Short hard bursts or Tabata routines work best for me.

On the App.... couldn’t post then the timeline disappeared

Hi Paul, Hope you’re well. This has been my (main) gripe all along.... I remember hearing about the Utilities sector mandated ’2-rope working’ solution to their guys falling out of trees sometime before the HSE got hold of it... I wondered why they just chose to ‘mask the symptoms’ rather than hold an in-depth review of their working practices. (Maybe they did, but just introducing ‘2 ropes’ doesn’t address the root causes of accidents) Repeated falls from height in utility arb surely points to one or more of the following: Poor anchor point selection. Poor rope management Poor work positioning Insufficient management, planning and supervision. Maybe I’m wrong in assuming there wasn’t any detailed investigation into why this was repeatedly happening in that sector... but to arrive at the conclusion that climbers were falling out of trees simply ‘because they weren’t using two ropes’ seems to suggest that the real issues weren’t being addressed. It is unsurprising that the rest of the industry feel like they are being punished for someone else’s mistakes. (I know the ICOP and TG1 do cover management and planning work safely) It will be interesting to see how future accident reporting pans out in the next few years. T

I did a job a while back. Similar situation. Spoke to the TO and asked for permission to cut the offending limbs back to the stem (beyond the boundary) with decent cuts and in sympathy with the tree. Even offered to balance the crown round the other side of the tree to achieve a good result for everyone and the tree. TO said “NO... just hack the branches back to the boundary. ‘cos’ that’s what the law says’. It was a beech not TPO’d but owned by the council.