Thesnarlingbadger

Yeah I will do when I speak to him tomorrow.

Hi Matty. Yeah I didn’t like the winch fell idea at all not with that much force already in it. The rig tag line idea was my favoured but the I’d have to get out on the main low branch as it was to close to the roof the rig in one go and I don’t like the idea of that much weight shifting on an already externally springy tree over a roof. Another idea I tried was to winch the leaning tree at about 8foot up from the base to get it away from the roof a bit (the amount we were able to pull the tree up with the winch was a good 15ft across but if the winch snapped or I accidentally dropped a limb on it the result could have been terrible not to mention tensioned winches around the ground staff, not my cup of tea. Thanks for the input.

Other climber didn’t want to go near it. And with the risk of putting the roof through I wouldn’t want to put anyone else in the position. I’ve always said I’d never ask anyone to do want I couldn’t/wouldn’t. I’m sure there are climbers out there who wouldn’t bat an eye but the older I get the less I take risks. Money comes and goes but I only have one life.

Thanks Khriss that was my thought.

Just not able to climb high enough or out far enough to cut and chuck. I’ve been climbing several years but didn’t like this one bit.

This was a plan but once up there with the spring of the tree I thought I don’t want to climb any higher (there was a good 5ft bounce when I was at the main junction of branches. It take a lot for me to say no but this one felt very wrong.

I was recently asked by a landscaper if I could nip out and take down an ash for him, he would do it himself but has a knackered shoulder, he said it was half a days work and there were a few beaches hanging over a roof. Now I haven’t really had time to look at the job but said I’d do it and invoice him once done. This part isn’t an issue. I turned up to do the job and realised it was going to be a bit of a challenge, not an issue as I like a challenge and a good chance to set up a interesting rigging system. Anyway the idea was to put a pulley block up in the trees behind and myself to cut stuff and swing it through with a tag line on the branches to pall them away from me. So I sent my other climber up another tree to put a block and rip in while I climbed up the Ash. After stripping all the ivy as I spiked up I got to the main branches and realised that there was a lot of spring in the tree. I didn’t have a good gut feeling as the whole top half of the tree was over the tiled roof. I then put and a cover in another tree to come down on to it but the angle was awkward and would put me right in the way of the rigging system, so that option was out. I had a 3.5 tonne winch on me so I winched the tree so it was bolt upright and the plan was to fell it back in to the woods behind but there would have been so much tension half way up the trunk where the bend was there was too much risk. So that idea was scrapped. I have left the job without doing it as I don’t want to put the roof through or risk my neck. I’ve only ever walked away from one job in the past and this was due to the fact it needed a MEWP and my previous employer didn’t get one in. The only way I can see of doing this job is also with a MEWP. But I am keen to see if anyone else has any ideas. I doubt I’ll be doing the job as I have suggested to the tree owner that he gets a company in who own a MEWP and have told him of one I know in the general area. He was happy that I was honest with him and was fine about the whole thing. Better safe than sorry as they say. I hated not having the guts to do this tree as I am a competent climber and have always found a way around tricky situations as plenty who know me will know. However this job just didn’t sit right with me and something told me that even though this was a healthy Ash the tree wasn’t going to behave itself. Even though I feel pissed off with myself I am going to bed tonight without an insurance claim looming over me. I’m really just seeing if anyone else hand any bright ideas on how to tackle it. Just as food for thought. Pictures of the offender below....

In all honesty though I think this may be a helpful course. I have a good team of lads and I always make a point of going through any minor jobs and laying our roles for people in the morning. However I have worked for a handful of people where it’s just a free for all on site and no one has a clue what they are doing, jobs like this do make a day stressful and dangerous. I’ve seen near misses such as someone cutting a trunk and and it’s rolled with someone on the other side.

Or start swearing.

I’m in a similar situation to you so I’ll be keeping a keen eye on this thread. In the summer I had 6-8 weeks booked in advance with a bit of freelance climbing thrown in. At the moment I have about a week booked up and am hitting my fingernails a bit. I’ve just sorted a new yard so setting up everything there will keep me and the guys busy on the quite days and I am getting everything up together for the busy period. I panic a lot about not having much work but I know a lot of the more established business I have freelanced for and worked for in the past have all and still suffer with quite spells so I’m keeping my head up and hoping it starts to get busy again come February. I think next year I will plan ahead for January and book in work for now earlier in the year.

Hi Bill. Yes this was the one. The 66 was not even half way through the main trunk. So it was lucky I got an 88. It was all 88 work from about 20ft down. Great fun

6243D462-8B33-4A71-8FC1-4B56AC5BACB0.mp4

So here are a few pics of the Sequoia we took down earlier this week. Was a great job to do. Unfortunately I have been told by my doctor that I have a hernia and have to take it a little bit more easy than usual so I had to run the job and let the other lads climb but I did the felling once it was down to around 30ft.

Tax is always going to get on people’s tits, who likes giving money to someone who they don’t know personally and letting someone else decide where it all goes. People moaning about their library closing down because the government aren’t doing enough to keep it open but then kicking off because they have to wait a month for an operation that they don’t need on the nhs, just for the record I think library’s are great but the world is changing and I haven’t been to one in at least 5 years (we have the internet now and if I really want a book I go on amazon and buy it. I do think that the people should have more of a vote as to where our tax is spent. I have no issue paying tax and we do need to but let’s be fair we need more money for the nhs and less being spent on keeping parliament in there 2nd homes. Yes the whole thing is complicated and gives me a headache just thinking about it but that’s what an accountant is there for, yes they will cost you money but they will save you more than they cost and if you get a good one they will teach you how to do there job to an extent saving you more money. All up for paying more tax but not if it’s used for crap nobody needs. And yes I don’t believe you should be penalised for doing well but you pay more after you earn more the multi-billion pound companies owners are still rich people they just pay more to the government. If you are that concerned about giving the government your hard earned cash then stop drinking and smoking. The first of those I am stopping as they can have my money if it gives me a fuzzy walk feeling. I don’t understand it all but I’m happier if I have more work and as long as my family are fine then I am too. Just my 2 pence.

Watch your ropes around that guy. ?‍♂️

Can you get a MEWP to it? I’d suggest getting as much of the ivy off as possible and a 90ft MEWP would certainly give you access to most of that. No need to climb if your clients are happy to pay. I would say pop some hedge trimmers a claw hammer a 150 and a set of headphones in in toe arsenal and go to town. It looks like a absolute nightmare job and by the time your done you’ll be having nightmares for weeks. But works work and if you don’t have to climb through that crap then that will take most the swearing out of the job.

Hi spud sorry my idea of time is way out then. Yes it is a 261 not a 260 I would have got it as one of the first after the change over. I’ll give it a bit more of a going over but I might need to send it your way at some point. The saw isn’t needed but it was a good saw and I’d hate to see it left on the back shelf and forgotten.

Great I'll se if I know anyone with one and make sure its a non corrosive solution. Thanks for the input Ratman.

To be honest I didn't know you could do that. those are the thing they clean jewellery with aren't they? if so I might know someone with one.

I’ve got an old 261 and it have been a little ripper. Unfortunately the piston seized last year because some plonker was using a combo spanner to jam it to remove the clutch (strong words were used). Anyway got a new piston and barrel, all replaced and in good working order but where Has been sat for so long in bits due to me not getting round to it the carb is knackered. I’ve flushed it through with carb cleaner and reset to factory settings but now it just fires up and runs when your rev it but cuts straight out on idle? Problem is I can’t seem to get hold of a 261 carb anywhere L&S engineering don’t have any (my usual go to for parts). Have they just stoped making these carbs? I should just give up and buy another 26 when I need one but this was my first saw I got 10-11 years ago and it has sentimental value plus it was a great saw and much better than my 261C which I always by pass and go straight for the 36. Any ideas where to get one I’ll get the carb model number for you next time I take the bloody thing apart. Thanks in advance people and a happy new year to everyone.

I was just a little bit sick from that last post Mick. Who are they people who think it’s a good idea to spend time making these memes and posing them? I’m with you on this whole facebook tree page crap. I saw a post the other day and it was basically 2 morons just hurling abuse at each other and making fairly nasty comments about each other’s profile pics with a load of derogatory slander thrown in. Nothing to do with trees or tree work. I personally don’t know why people can get away with it if I called some one a gay pedofile face to face I’d be facing charges but on Facebook people get away with it all the time.

Ok maybe saying it’s there fault is a bit unfair their not the ones felling the tree at the end of the day. But it is the responsibility of the person employing the contractor to make sure they are a legitimate company. If someone turned up at my door and said you need your trees cutting and I’ll do it now for £50 I’d tell them to do one. Ok some people are gullible but unfortunately we live in that world and we have to educate people of the problems that can occur due to not checking out a company’s background. I do feel sorry for some people’s house I turn up to to finish off jobs where tonnes of brash has just been left in the garden and they have already paid but at the end of the day most people would pay these vile people until they are happy with the work. I will often do these kind of jobs on the cheep side to help out a bit.

To be perfectly honest that isn’t the rouge traders fault it’s the person employing them to get the job done. If I loose some jobs to cheeper quotes then so be it but I’m not going to loose sleep over it. Some people can quote cheeper because there overheads a lower but then some people quote higher because they have more over heads, that’s life and like John P said I’d be more conserved about someone who absolutely needed qualifications to do what they were doing posing as a professional as opposed to someone who needs to cut a tree down. I’m more pissed off with people who have qualifications and quote cheep to win the work, these are the people keeping the industry prices down, not our travelling friends.

Hi Bill, It’s around 2m at the base on the short side and then a little more on the long side. The 66 will make it through going in from both sides with the 3ft bar on but I’m more concerned about the fact that there is a lot of timber to slice up and my next biggest saw is a 36. Like you said it’s an excuse and if I do get an 88 I’ll use it again at some point it’s just a fair whack for something that’s likely to come out once a year.

The Kids are 10, 4 and 1 so most of the money does on them. The Mrs said let’s not get each other anything but I’m not falling for that shit again. So I got her a couple of bits she should like. Did 90% of it on Amazon but wish I had more time to support the high street, works been to hectic and if you think I’m going anywhere near any shops between now and Christmas you are sadly mistaken.