Starscream

Loads of them here in south London mate.. Franchises I believe. Green Thumb is one of the bigger ones around here

An air compressor on an air filter? Really? When i did chainsaw maintenance that was the one thing we were taught NOT to do!! Warm soapy water will suffice

Can I use this 11mm rope on a zigzag? Are there any other nut bars out there who go against the recommendation on a device that already has a shaky history

Hi, I want in on some of this please. Bought loads of tickets last year but didn't win anything, but that's cool, you can't keep a good gambler down.. I'm gonna buy double this year.

Peaky Blinders was brilliant, really raw. An alternative for me was Stranger Things on Netflix. Very well made and I love anything 80's so was a winner for me

I was in Bruges last weekend, that had a pretty good Christmas market. Very attractive part of the world. Also a lot of pollarded trees around. Seemed to be the choice technique over there, and in France.

Low wages are the reason this market is so saturated. Everyone wants to go on their own now chasing decent money, which then makes quoting more competitive and drives prices down, which in turn drives wages down; a downward spiral ensues. People are working for very small companies, with no real job security and rubbish wages. If ground staff and climbers alike, knew they could reach, say, £120 a day and £160 a day respectively, they'd be more inclined to work harder, stay loyal and not want to set up on there own, for example. If a groundsmans potential earnings are only £80 a day and some holiday days, well it's no wonder this is an over debated topic. People can earn that sort of money stacking shelves. This is a dangerous, skilled and hard industry and I for one think wages should reflect that. A brash dragger starts at £80 and a competent groundsman who can handle rigging, help the climber by pointing out pruning points on a large reduction etc etc should be able to command good money as they are a valuable resource/asset.

Ahh don't think it works on mobile devices because the music is copyrighted.. Doh

Oh yeah, how strange, I just tried it on the wife's phone and it says video not available!? Any ideas?

Oh.. Just tried on my phone and laptop and link worked both times!

Short and sweet, nothing special! Was one of those jobs that was nice and straight forward, loads of tea and loads of time! Wish every day was like this! Set to HD!

It's interesting you say that, but it's in the contracts that we have signed. I could pay it all in one lump or he could take a tenner a week, what choice do we have? He makes the rules and we agreed to them. Is what he's doing illegal then?

Where I work the first breakage is free, the second you pay half and the third and any after you pay for. He takes £10 a week til it's cleared. Bit of a bone of contention with a lot of us though

I seem to have lost an interest in climbing.. Not sure if it's a phase or what. I won't do anything big anymore and just use a subbie where I can. I seem to have some mental block on big stuff, not sure where it came from as I've done some pretty big trees in my time. Maybe it's laziness, maybe it's because of my 2 little babies and wife, maybe I'm just being a fanny.. Not sure. But in reference to your question, it's not the industry I've lost interest in; I've invested too much time and money into getting where I am, I love tree work and I feel I'm good at it, whether that's supervising and doing ground work, climbing (small stuff!) even stump grindings quite therapeutic!! Point is I think perhaps you're fed up with a situation as opposed to the industry itself. Perhaps try something different within the industry; surveying maybe, tree officer for council etc

Could you have dismantled that tree without the plethora of crabs, rigging hub, 2 pinto pulleys, prussiks for tensioning plus more pulleys, loads of rope and a blooming impact block? Or could you have prob got away with a 50kn pulley, a Lyon tape sling, rope and a strong groundie?

Having watched this video I can't help but notice the amount of hardware that totals a small fortune just seems, well, unnecessary. What was wrong with dropping the branches, or lowering them, and have the ground staff drag them round the house. This seemed time consuming and expensive. Has anyone implemented this type of setup or is this video just an advert for DMM?

Underpriced a massive conifer.. Had to lower nearly all of it. Ended up working for a pittance. Took out an asbestos garage roof once, had to replace the lot.

Usual stomping grounds Rich. Bromley. It's rife round here

Yeah I appreciate what you're saying. Realistically there was only 2 options. Do something and suffer consequences or let them rob the van. Rock and hard place springs to mind.

So are we to have let them crack on through fear of repercussions? They are sign written. We're no mugs and they can come for us, they'll have a big surprise. In fact I hope they try something else. I'll be waiting for my crack at them. Too many times have I had my livelihood taken away from me, too many times have I had to foot a bill that I shouldn't have, too many times have I ended up in negative equity on a job because they've crept on to site and taken something or smashed a window and stolen my bag. It's not theirs to take, we do everything to avoid theft but sometimes you get caught slipping. Take my means to earn money and you may as well take the bread from my daughters mouth. It's personal. I'm fed up and I don't care. There are many others that I know share this sentiment.

Hi, Thought I'd share this story as it's normally the other end of the stick.. So today a groundie caught a couple of 'ne'er do wells' trying to break into the van. He ran over shouting at them and they proceeded to flap around not knowing what to do with themselves... Wait, what's that driving by? Ah, traffic old bill, excellent. The groundie flags them down with waves and screams and they duly pull over.. Groundie explains everything and the coppers cuff the pair. You're nicked! Whilst in cuffs, and in a thick Irish accent might I add, the big one looks at the groundie- 'tell them you've made a mistake mate'. 'Tell them to drop the charges mate'. Yeah right, at this point the groundie gets right in his face and screams at him that he's not made a mistake, calling him a theiving 'C-bomb'. 'But I'm gonna have to spend all day at the police station now'.. At this point the groundie walks away laughing. Hopefully the guys got previous, but because he wasn't caught actually stealing anything I think he'll be charged with interfering with a vehicle. Not sure what type of punishment that carries, probably not a lot, but a triumph none the less. Get in!!

I had this on a 420.. turned out to be the ignition coil.. It seemed to have taken a knock somehow.

My next blower would def be the 700. I have a 600 and it's an awesome bit of kit

Yeah I loosely know about this place but was told its £60 a load, not sure whether you can confirm this?