brisbane trees

Thanks, those resources were really helpful.

Hi I already have an equipment and safety sheet to fill in but I'm looking for more of a work plan form to fill in before starting work. I don't know exactly what it is called, but does anyone have one they would share for me to customise, please? Is there a generic one I can download somewhere? I'm in Australia so your customers won't see one the same

Best looking bar I've ever seen. More seriously though, how much do they weigh? It's the "lo-pro" 14 inch bar for the Husqvarna T540XP I was looking at. It's promoted for its low weight but it's not specified anywhere.I'm always looking at how to save some weight from what I have to carry up trees. I'll be comparing it with the Husqvarna chainsaw bar which weighs 540 grams, by the way. Also, are the lighter bars weaker? Are there any guarantees with these, by any chance?

Here's another one, alas I don't know if it would be legal outside of the wild west:

So, the best story I've heard in the tree business was when I was fairly new to the tree industry about ten years ago. I was at my local chainsaw shop when the old bloke there told me about a job he'd done as a young bloke. Years before, he been contracted to remove a large Eucalyptus from a vacant block of land overlooking the Brisbane River. After walking around it a few times they decided they could safely fell it. A bit more discussion and he scarfed it and did the backcut just right. Unfortunately, they weren't using ropes and a big gust of wind came along and sat it back on the cut behind. It fell the wrong way, so they thought. It landed on the edge of the cliff and, after teetering for a full minute, the weight of the foliage overbalanced it and it slid into the river. They watched as the current took it into the middle of the water and it sank, never to be seen again. He reckons they blew the tree's leaves into the river after it and were down the pub ten minutes later. It was their best earn of the week, all done by eight o'clock. True story, so he says....

^ me too. It's been the go-to line placement tool for a long time in our industry (as time goes for us, what with constant climbing technology improvements...). There's definitely an option for line placement now, and one that's going to be even more fun that a giant sling shot: the APTA: Air Powered Tree Access. It's an air gun. You stuff the throw bag in one end and pump it up, either with a hand pump or I think you can use a compressor, maybe? Anyway, it's from those loud folks over in the USA. I saw it on Treestuff and they do ship to the UK, and most other nice countries. Disclaimer: I haven't actually seen or used one, but I reckon they'll take off before long, knowing how arborists like new, shiny things, especially ones that fire stuff out of a cannon and over trees.

good stuff, mate. I saw a guy on Youtube splice a rope in like seven minutes and thought why pay $50 for that? Are you satisfied your first effort is safe to use for climbing trees Tom, or is the first one just for practice? Also, since I'm planning to do some splicing myself soon, what resources would you recommend to learn rope work? So far I'm planning to use ebay to buy a set of fids from the UK (I'm in Brisbane, Australia) and Youtube for the tutorials. Does that sound right?

I'm in Australia so my busiest time of year is summer because we get higher rainfall which, combined with higher temperatures, makes the trees grow fast. I don't know how you poor pommies go waiting forever for your trees to grow. We can get a couple of metres growth in some trees in a year.

I made my own cambium saver out of electrical conduit yesterday: poor man's friction saver. It's been done before, of course. I got the idea from a post on another forum. I'll put the rope saver on my wishlist, to be crossed out either when I get one or when I go SRT exclusively.

Five years? I can't see anyone using a climbing rope for five years, nevermind not nicking it with a chainsaw in that time. By then it would be frayed, shaggy and filthy. Maybe some tree climbers keep their ropes better than I do? That's besides me wanting a later model rope, and they have been getting better over the years. Personally, I don't think I'd ever use a rope for more than two years without demoting it.

If a job could take one day or could take three days, I'd rather quote as though it will take three days rather than giving a day rate. If I get the job I'm happy whichever way it goes, and I might do very well from it. Tree work requires great marketing, just like any business. Doing so means there will be enough customers to not take chances on quoting low.

Second like from me. Lime tree? I thought lime trees were citrus. I guess it's the problem of using common names, again. I wonder if we should stick to botanical names on an arboricultural forum, being arborists, and all.

Has anyone used the 12V winches from ebay? They're plentiful, cheap and rated to pull very high loads for their size. Legit? Also, do you put the winch on your truck or your wood chipper, please? I don't have any winch at all at the moment and I'm considering my options.

Bacillus thuringiensis is not a chemical; it's a biological control agent. I'm using it on poincianas in Brisbane. You might like to have a look at my write-up at that link. It's a bit casual, but it's for property owners here. You'll notice I use tree bands with horticultural glue. Is that what you mean by 'collar' traps? I'm surprised you are injecting the Bt. As far as I knew, Bt isn't systemic and needs to be sprayed on the foliage not long before it's consumed. The problem (so I thought) with using Bt systemically is that it is then concentrated in the sap, so caterpillars don't injest enough for infection to occur. I'm ready to be corrected, though. Edit: ...because caterpillars eat foliage rather than being sap-suckers, I mean.

Yes, colour is very important. All risk assessments should contain red, green and a bit of blue. The red indicates the danger you want to avoid, green shows you are a tree expert and blue, well, blue just goes really nice against the black ink. Checkboxes are also known to be vital to risk assessment because they provide such nice alternatives to just reading all those hard paragraphs with big tree words. It also helps to draw a sun in the left hand top corner of every page, and don't forget to draw a smiley face on it.

Local government bodies usually list the tree species they plant, so you only have to choose from a list when you want to identify one of their trees. It's a good way to learn different species of trees if you are starting out.

Following your posts with great interest, Sean. I hope you believe in God, as He works everything out for the best for those who regard Him as we should. Thanks for your great courage in posting. It helps to remind me of the risk I take working at height. I know I'm not safe enough at the moment and you inspire me to take better care. Thanks sincerely and my real best wishes. David.

Has anyone used ply to make a bin, by the way? Are there any other issues with it?

Thanks, I think I'll run with your advice. I would have thought that to start with, but I had a couple of 9mm lying around that I use as hungry boards on the truck atm. I was just trying to save a few dollars, but I guess embarrassing myself on my first run with the wood chipper wouldn't have been worth it.

Thanks for all the replies. I have four 192 chainsaws in the shed in various states of repair, so it sounds like I had better get one running. I agree about the build quality, that's why they've been retired. Which saws? You can't mean the 192, can you? As an arborist I find them far inferior to those one size up: The 200-201 Stihls and the Husky 338/540. I haven't tried the Stihl 150 though. What do you think about using the Husqvarna 540 for carving, please? You're a chainsaw carver, so I didn't want to lose the chance to ask. Bear in mind my knowledge is limited to tree removals and pruning in Brisbane, Australia (some tough wood, here) so I don't have your perspective on saws, yet.

Much more important than when is how. Poor pruning techniques really can murder trees. I know it wasn't the question, but the answer is tenfold more important. I've been attending half a dozen trees suffering from caterpillar invasions where I live over the last week and every one of them except one had been badly pruned within the last two years. It was an eye-opener to me about stressors leading to other problems for the trees' health.

Hi Everyone. I just got a wood chipper, and I want to build a temporary bin from plywood until I can weld up a longer term one. Would 9mm plywood hold? The tray is only 3m long and 2m wide and I'd use the 1220mm width of the plywood as the height. It works out to be ~ 5 cubic metres. I'd use decent pine framing on it. I have some trees I'm trimming and removing next week and want a quick fix, but having it collapse on the road wouldn't be a good look

Australian here. I don't know anything about the visas and so on, but I have been working in the tree industry for enough time to know about that side of it. If you go on facebook, like the page of QAA (Qld Arboriculture Association) or one of the climbers groups and ask for a job. If you just want a job as a groundie it shouldn't be too hard. If you want a job as a climber they'll want to know what you can do. Like someone said, being here helps. It tells them you aren't dreaming about coming to Australia to work in the industry. Um, you do realise how big our gum trees are, hey?

I'm in Australia, and we get gouged on chainsaws and other tree equipment, too. I bought my last Husqarna 540t from the US for a 30% discount over buying here in Australia. Husqvarna dealers can sell online, while Stihl dealers can only sell over the counter. If you go to Husky (better antivibe, for another thing), you can buy in the US and use a mail forwarder to send it over. I don't know about UK duties, though. I'm looking at buying another saw soon, and asked about it on a US arboriculture forum last night. Last time I just bought off ebay, so I asked if there was anyone better and was referred to Treestuff. Google it. You can get a 10% discount if you are in the ISA, or a 7% discount with a coupon. Let me know if you want it and I'll look it up for you.