jfc
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Everything posted by jfc
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Sorry to state the obvious but have you checked the bolts are properly screwed in. There's some info on the safety sheet that came with it. Also, we tightened the capstan, as it was a bit loose on arrival. J.
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Smart winch info.
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Yes. People will store stuff for you in exchange for logs, treework or use of machines etc. Try asking small farmers, estates etc, some will say no but surprising how many will help you out. Make sure you keep supplying logs etc and both parties benefit. I drop off whiskey, booze, biscuits etc at Christmas to the folk who help me out, which seems to go down well! J.
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Just used the smart winch which I have been really happy with, winch works well. Bollard is really smooth for lowering off.
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Just to adding to Steve's info reducing weight on the end of long branches takes a lot of stress off the branch. Try holding a 1kg bag of sugar on the end of a polesaw horizontally, the strain (moment) is multiplied along its length (force x distance). Take 10kg off a 5m branch is 50kg less loading. I also think there is a psychological benefit to all concerned that the tree has been pruned and is now safer as a result. It's generally impossible to know if this kind of pruning does increase safety but it makes everyone feel that way. This also means people are happier to retain the tree and live with the (lessened) risk. The other options are do nothing or removal.
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I pay £150 to £200, on the rare occasions I need someone else. You might get a bit more if you are really, really good or bring some fancy kit. If you can get jobs done faster and better than me I'd pay you more than 200, however not seen anyone do that lately. I'm fife based.
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T rex is great to splice, i found the approx 16mm and 18mm really easy. I used a metal coat hanger as a fid, there's so much room inside it passing a fid up is dead simple. I uses Marlow whipping twine no 4 and smith and son sail makers needles. Cost about £13 for both. Tommy_b is the main man on here for splicing info. J.
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I'm not self employed, I'm an employee and director of my Ltd company. I think it's important to make a distinction between work hours and outside work. I need to switch off from work, else it could take over all my life and for me that's not what I want or would make me happy. Not saying others are wrong for taking calls til 10pm at night, but it doesn't work for me.
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Only thing I am working on at 11pm on a Friday night is a bottle of something alcoholic!
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Generally I don't but still riles me. Send a text or email instead.
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Smart Alecs pointing out my bad English hack me off too! [emoji6]
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Happens most weeks but why do people ring for a quote at 8.30pm on Friday night? Someone else rang at 1 o clock Sunday lunchtime. This is not for emergency work to dangerous trees btw. From memory I think 10pm is latest some has rung like this. Does this boil anyone else's p!$$ or am I just a grumpy old man! J.
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Looks like western red cedar, thuja plicata to me.
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51 also and climb several times a week. Plan is to do another 10yrs. Joints seem to be holding up ok, but I came late to arb at 40 ish.
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Website says Stirling area.
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Why rip into someone straight away when you disagree with them. Why not just make your points in a more reasonable manner? Have a wee jokey dig if you must. This kind of thing is bad for the whole site, the OP isn't a professional arb, others see this and either won't post in case they get ripped to shreds or think that this is OK too. I think we are better than this. Maybes I'm wrong and this then isn't the place for me, although I've been on here a while and learnt loads from it. Cedar trees shed limbs anyway (storms, snow, just cos they feel like it) the crack looks old to me. I tell my clients not to park under these trees or put stuff underneath like swings for kids. Jan.
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I, like most on here don't buy logs, I supply my own logs from my work. Apart from the ridiculous carbon footprint from transport, how do you know these logs are responsibly sourced. Bad on so many levels.
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New truck build where to get materials? Alloy planking etc
jfc replied to swinny's topic in Arb-Trucks
Osb turns to mush in my experience, never bothered trying if for truck sides. For greedy boards use decent marine ply, painted. Mine are falling apart after 5yrs. But for about £70 a side it has lasted well. Total cost under £200. Going to get Ally sides next, about £150 a side plus welding a frame. I figure you can take them off and put them on a new van when the time comes. J. -
Got the husky polesaw, it's great. Gets used 2 to 3 times a week , the battery stuff is so good I bought a top handle too a few months later. I believe the husky is better than the stihl as the motor is positioned so you can see what your cutting. I saw that on a review vid somewhere. J.
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I've been with treesurgeoninsurance.co.uk for a few years. Costs about £2k for pl, el, plant and tools, on about £90k turnover. Never made a claim so no idea of how good they are paying out! J.
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I don't know anyone who has got their climbing ticket without the training element too. Not saying it's impossible, but if I were your assessor and knew you'd had no training I would fail you at the drop of a hat. That might just be me though... BTW nothing wrong with cutting with top of bar (pulling chain), the upper part of the tip is the kickback area but again fine to use by a competent trained user. J.
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I now run a three man team, which works really well for the mainly tree work we do. Taking on guys to help has been mixed results, young guys in 20s have let me down more often than not, although most recent one was very good. Older guys in 30s with family have been most reliable for me. One thing that saved me a lot of admin time was paying for accounting software, I use quickbooks. Much quicker than spreadsheet and emailing typed invoices, also allows me to check I've been paid as it links to my business account. Hope that's some help. J.
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If you live near(ish) a shop I would go try a few harnesses on and pick the best fitting. They are expensive but you should get 5 to 10yrs use from it so picking the right one is worth paying more for. There's a current post from someone who is having problems with a new harness, worth reading that post too. You may find you replace or refine a lot of early purchases as you do more and start earning better money. I tried one harness that I couldn't get on with but it was years ago and can't remember the make, it's a personal thing the fit so one man's nut crusher may be comfy as for someone else. Good luck, J.
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I did the basic at a similar stage of experience. Learnt a bit and could get professional indemnity insurance to do paid surveys. I then really started to learn my fungi etc and a few years later did my pti. Really glad I had 5yrs experience behind me before sitting the pti exam, it's quite tough and they get a fair number of fails. If you are keen buy some books, Principles of tree hazard assessment, by Lonsdale. Arb assoc Arborist Fungi guide or dave humphreys new book which I've not got round to buying yet. There's a few more too but those will get you well on the right path. All the best J.
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I use a cambium saver as described by Paddy, but with a triple lock krab instead of the large ring, which means you can advance it up the tree. If you are canny with the size of krab it is retrievable too. J.
