Andy Craig

Been working my way through this thread from the start over the last couple of months. Been interesting to see peoples progress over the years.

Haha at that point I wish it was. Swinging a 25" bar is no good.

Couple more pictures from last weeks horse chestnut to show a bit of scale

Hi everyone I found this on a large beech yesterday, I think it looks like kretzschmaria and it was quite brittle/crumbly. I always thought it only grew around the base though and this is about 10 feet up the stem. There was also a small growth around the roots when I first went to see the tree in late summer. I thought it was maybe the start of a meripulus emerging. Does anyone have any other ideas or suggestions? Its a big tree and right next to the house so would like to get it right. Thanks Andy

Would have done so but there was a lot of weight towards the house and the base looked questionable before we cut into it, at least at that height if the hinge crumbled it wasn't going to hit anything. Could dig into a lot of it with just my finger

Big horse chestnut removal this week, riddled with honey fungus, base wasn't as far gone as everyone thought though. Loader coming tomorrow to take the stem away.day one day twoday three plenty of spectators to put the pressure on VID-20211208-WA0001.mp4

Use what you've got mark, it was roped up but I figured if it went it wouldn't take me with it.

One for the weekend, nice multi-stemmed mess that already had a previous large tear out and neighbour was told about the rest of the tree being not in best condition. Aw well.

You don't really need to make up schemes, if they are working hard and the money is building up a bit tell them that and give them a bonus from time to time

Or the one where you spend all morning getting it just right because they 'want it smaller but still look nice'. Then by the time they are finished telling you what else to take off you're left with a skeleton and it's your fault it looks bad.

Probably nothing new just thought I would share my double throwline cube I whipped up this morning.

Over do it with the signs, make sure they're very noticable. If you're really worried make the stack long and low if you have enough space. Could drive some stakes into ground on either end as well to stop them rolling

New akimbo came in the post the other day

I have the cut and climb but it's more for warmth as I find a lot of water gets in through the cuffs and collar. For the really wet days I use a kayaking 'kag' as it has rubber cuffs and collar and doesn't let anything in (water and sawdust)