Haironyourchest

Once you experience the incredible cleansing power you will never go back. Not as a primary cleansing meduim, more of a final polisher. Also substitute for a shower after a sweaty day in the trees, when you just can't be bothered to bathe. Never flush them though, just ball up and bin.

Same. My grandfather worked for an insurance company. He never insured anything that he wasn't legally obliged to. Spend the saving on more and better safety equipment, and take more time to be more safe.

Yeah but "Human" is a head-the-ball. He did time for threatening staff at a convenience store with a shotgun, because he was 'depressed'....in short, the guy has issues, bless him. The fact that the OP is enrolled for extensive training tells me he's starting with an attitude of caution. As he said, there are very few arborists around his area, so realistically going it along might be his only option..

Yeah I follow him too, not my favorite, due the the hammer and sickle tattoo on his arm. But fair dues, he does put it all out there. The broken TIP = broken pelvis episode was an eye opener!

It's all back to the old toss-up of time vs. money isn't it? If one has time, but not much money, then all of these things become worthwhile, but if one has loads of work then it's a waste of time...unless it's something the kids can be put to work at.

Modified hydraulic log splitter (vertical) - time problem solved!

Hmmm. Very good question. I do believe you have me checkmated there!

You could also vlog your progress week by week, take a go-pro along with you etc, and become a Youtube star like Reg Coats, Hunicke, Billy Ray etc? I'd quite like to watch "The Rake's Progress" as it were, a total greenhorn learning the ropes more or less on his own. I think it would make brilliant content!

Give it to your local New Age Travellers for their compost toilets?

Welcome! Be prepared to hire bucket trucks, spider lifts etc. For the jobs you don't feel up to climbing yet. Use every trick and crutch at your disposal, buy Bereneck's Fundamentals Of General Tree Work PDF at Educated Climber. Slow down and think, it's easy to get tunell vision in the tree and forget stuff you learned - you can get on a single track of how to proceed, and not notice other options, if you know what I mean, at least that happens to me.

My thoughts exactly. With the general decline in religiosity, people still have a built-in need to fear an apocalyptic "something", it's been in our genes for hundreds of thousands of years. And something to feel guilty about as well. Add it to the long long list of failed predictions. of doom..

Can you take and post a picture of the worms and other invertebrates? Or better yet, a video. Then, if we can see them too, we can rule out hallucinations.

Pulling small hung up trees, too much for me physically, but the Track-Barrow didn't even notice. I pulled a stone out as well, didn't take a picture though - roundy bastard, bout 150kg. Levered him loose with a couple of branches then pulled away with the Barrow and chain, again, no problem. Next project is to fabricate a light dozer blade or somesuch, so I can push stuff.

Just been using the Track-Barrow/Mini Dumper to great effect the last few days. Clearing a trail for horses through overgrown Sitka plantation, it's a five minute walk through the trees to the site, and I need everything: several saws, chain pullers, chains and rope, petrol, bits box, water, lever bar, slings, etc. Would mean walking back and forth from the van five or six times. With the dumper it's one trip (two for the polesaw). Saves a pile of time and energy.

Yeah, nah. I'll just spectate, thanks. Actually, could you get someone to video it and upload to youtube? - Tripod and landscape view, please.

The hawks nest tunnel was way worse than what the graph shows. The number of deaths from acute silicosis was around 300 at the time, but basically every man who worked on the tunnel died from silicosis later in life.

I have a medium duty aluminium one. Very light, I can move the whole thing around myself, on wheels on level ground, if its only built up to twenty feet or so. It can go up to nine meters I think. Really got to tie in to the wall, as the outriggers are often as not un-deployable due to space restrictions. If possible, I will open a window and fix a small g-clamp to the frame, then tie onto that - or failing that get permission to install expansion bolts with an eye. If you site them under sills and remove the eye and thread after, they're pretty unobtrusive, and then they're there for future maintenance use. Also good for securing ladders. Mine mostly gets used for house painting, the odd chimney access, second-story gutter cleaning and fixing, shop signs, facia, roof repair, window fixing, etc. Anything that you need two hands for, or two people, and a place to put your tools and materials. For arb related work it doesn't get much use, but is good for tall and deep hedges.

Maybe they had removed trees in a hedge before and the customer pulled a fast one and refused to pay "Because you killed my beautiful trees and I said to only do the hedge!!!" - so they are very careful not to get stung like that again? Maybe their boss stipulated absolutely leave any trees alone if you find them, no excuses. P.S I'd actually fly to the UK to watch the fight at the arb show! - please update closer to the time to confirm ? ??

I read a thing a while ago that there were zero deaths or serious injuries during the building of (I think) the statue of liberty, which one would imagine was conducted along the same H&S lines -ie. slim to none. I think people were just more in tune with their body's back then, more fatalistic, more confident and therefore more safe. No hesitation. Like Fred Dibnah. Mind you, I don't have the casualty stats to hand!

Left me without words. Respect to these guys

Tried it - delicious! Better than rhubarb. The Japs make tea from it as well, supposably has health properties.

On the subject of battery powered equipment, this is just out - a battery capstan winch!

Kind of a moot point whether it's cheaper or not, since arible land under oilseed rape or ethanol corn is not useful for food crops, fodder crops or grazing, thus driving up the price of food. So even if it was cheaper, you'd pay more for food. Now, it's true they do make cattle feed out of the biproducts from biofules. But there's still processing, transport, extraction and a whole massive infrastructure to refine the biofule. With crude oil, it's under the ground, so the land footprint of the extraction sites can be very small, or offshore, and some of the places it's found are not suitable for farming anyway, like deserts and tundra. I don't like the idea personally of using fertile land to grow "food" for cars. It just feels like the wrong way round, somehow.

My set up was shoestring, before LEDs, li-ion storage and brushless turbines. The tech is cheaper now, but for reliable supply it's still a massive investment, unless you have a very dependable River or somthing. Too much power when the wind, rain, sun is in force and not enough storage is also a problem. Some people heat huge water tanks, but that's an investment too. In the end, I was still using fossil fuels, parrafin candles, deisrl for driving, gas for cooking, (wood for heating). Not for ideological reasons, I just wanted to live remotely. Never bothered with a gennie, too expensive to run and noisy