Haironyourchest

Fatal accidents happen every day in the news, but we're quite distanced from it most of the time. When it happens to someone who does EXACTLY the same thing we do on a daily basis...then it hits hard. This news sent me on a dark little meander through the internet, reading up about other chipper tragedies, youtube etc. Stumbled across this clip - a demo of just how quickly a drum chipper can suck a rope in. I was genuinely astonished. I will be much more respectful of these machines in future....

I have the fiskars it's lighter but better, longer handle, good tool. There's a Finnish made one, the x3 brush axe, and a Chinese fiskars which has a more traditional rounded nose. The real brush axe is a kind of weird shape, but that's the one to go for if you buy fiskars.

I had an account for 3 months...got into a feud with someone and ended up with ZuckerFace deleting my account for using a false name. I'm pretty sure my nemesis shopped me to the admin people out of spite. I feel it brings out the worst in (some) folk. Good riddance, glad I'm gone.

The problem is that the British armed forces may become part of the EU army, regardless of Brexit, if the vote goes the wrong way - that's my understanding of the issue anyway. If that happens the British military will be subject to EU control and may be forced to participate in wars initiated by EU leadership. Would you be ok with that state of affairs?

Nigel was talking about an upcoming UK vote on the EU military union, on Monday. I forget the details, it's all on LBC the NF show from last night or the night before. Media blackout around the issue, but it's critical.

What are the citation levels like on the 150? The spec sheet says 5/5 which is a lot. How does it compare to the 200/201T in this respect?

"I wonder if he hit the garage...he's alive.." Yup, priorities .

Why do some models do this - prematurely wear out the crankshaft - and other dont? It puzzles me, can anyone give a technical reason for this?

Pulled a windblown tree out of a marsh with my little tirfors recently, guy wanted it crosscut and stacked and this is what I came up with. We bought three 8x4 panels for €75 total, and made an open box, 8' wide and 4' tall. This was going to be far too big, so we cut the panels down to make two smaller boxes. I put several wire stays in as I filled them, to stop the bulging. On reflection, I might have been better to bend the panels onto a circle, more volume per panel. Handy things, never rust, light to move around, stores flat, zip-tied together they easily modified.

I am going the deep end cowboy route as well, from necessity rather than inclination. Climbed and worked on 8 - 9 trees now, still trying to arrange training courses to get qualified. In the works but distance and other unforseen events causing delays. The trees that need to be climbed are not the kind of trees you would want to climb for fun, that's for sure. Get nixers, do jobs for friends. If you have tickets then there's nothing stopping you (except H&S req. Second climber on site) just take your time and be careful. I find I learn perfectly well working on my own in my own time, without having someone at my shoulder interfering. Make embarrassing mistakes, recover, figure out the right way forward. But with this job there is no room for error...as Reg Coats said, especially if you are alone. Learn to visualise forces and predict outcomes. Best of luck.

Re. the liability aspect, just wondering if the statute of limitations, usually 7 years, would apply? It would surely take a few years for a tree to produce new weak growth heavy enough to cause serious damage. If the hypothetical regrowth broke off later than 7 years after the topping, would the liability stick? Like, most building work is only guaranteed for ten years. Makes you wonder....

Just remembered, I watched a thing on youtube about Alex Honnold, the world's foremost big wall freeclimber. He can summit El-Capitan in three hours, no ropes. The guy is like an android, but to look at you'd never know it. Not big, not really ripped even. Just phenomenally strong muscles and connective tissue, flexablity, and stamina. He lives in his van year-round, and spends hours every day doing pull-ups and hanging from a bar mounted to the roof.

Ok I watched the Climbing Arborist video. Ouch. Partially severed tendon, top of offside hand. Very common place for people to cut themselves, or whack with hammers etc. Glove with kevlar pad might have helped. But then, who climbs in "proper" gloves???

The % chance numbers are just pulled out of somewhere...not to be taken seriously, just broad illustration. The guy cut his tendon with a silky? I dont know, depends which tendon he cut I suppose, if he had better gloves or pants maybe the equipment would have spared him the injury, I dunno. Or lets say, maybe the reason he cut himself was because he was inappropriately positioned - so if he had better or more positioning equipment....Or more Experience, and more Time....thats why we should have all three corners of the triangle...

Chin and pullups, pushups, crunches and sometime some dumbell presses. No cardio, unless working a bag counts as cardio. Go though spells of dedicated training then get sick of it and forget it for months. I'll buy into the stretching philosophy, though I dont do it. Will hang on the teeter table for a few minutes in the morning though if by back is sore. My body is always sore in the morning, I shuffle around like a centenarian, but when I finally get working everything frees up and Im grand.

So I was thinking about my experiences in the trades and maintenance over the years, risks I've taken and close shaves. Came up with a little graphic to analise the likelihood of an accident happening. Very amateurish stuff, I grant - but here it is anyway. Experience / \ / \ / \ Time --- --- --- Equipment This applies to any practical trade, but we'll play with arb... If a worker, a one-man-band, undertakes a job, there is a risk of accident. The risk is a percentage chance. The job is dismantling a tree. If the worker has no experience, no time (ie. a deadline, working to beat the weather, daylight etc) and minimal equipment (ladder, blunt handsaw) then the percentage chance of accident would be high. Lets say 99% The guy will feature on Youtube. But - if the worker has one of the corners of the triangle, the % chance goes down. But it will still be unacceptably high, maybe 33% Experience - but no time or equipment. An experienced, competent guy could do it, even with a ladder and rusty handsaw, and working under pressure. At gunpoint, let's say (hypothetically). Yes, he could do it, but it would be crazy proposition. Time - an amateur with aforementioned crappy equipment and no training could do it, given time. If he had unlimited time, only worked on dry calm days, plenty of rest breaks to walk around the tree and think and plan his cuts and ladder position...yes, it coulf be done...but still a crazy proposition. Equipment - the homeowner, no experience, and no time, hires a massively overspecced MEWP, buys a pro saw, loads of brand new chains (because he doesn't know about filing) and all the PPE including the jacket. And does the job before nightfall. Yes, could happen, still a crazy proposition. Ok, still crazy, but accident chance is down to 33% in these three scenarios. So lets say the worker has two points of the tripod. Experience + Time (but no suitable equipment) - in this scenario we have a resourceful pro with loads of time to plan and carry out the work. He could compensate for the lack of equipment by using his other two tripod points to make his own harness out of ropes, and other clever tricks. Press into service equipment from other trades and modify it to do the job. Work with extreme caution and only under ideal weather conditions...Not the ideal situation, but doable. The accident chance goes down two 3% Time + Equipment (but no Experience) - so the homeowner with all the gear again - big MEWP etc. And unlimited time. Again, doable, 3%. Equipment + Experience (but limited Time) - This is where most of the pro Arbtalker's find themselves on a regular basis, I would think. No further explanation needed. Ok...So if we have all three points of the triangle, we're golden. Safe as can be. In reality though, it would be rare for any job event to have all three in high measure. Obviously, there are scales of Experience, Time and Equipment, so its more complex than my outline. My point being, that each triangle point can be increased, and if one is lacking, it should be increased. The three should be enriched equally and in balance. Its better to have all three levelled up to 2 then to have two levelled up to 3. On the other hand, having strong suits in two corners can kind of compensate for weakness in the third corner. In my final analysis, I propose that Time is the most crucial corner. With Time, the other two corners can be levelled up. Time to practice in a safe way to gain experience, study and research etc. Time to acquire gear cheaply by shopping for bargains, swaps, e-bay whatever. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts

Re. the returning citizens who have joined ISIS. It's an interesting legal and ethical conundrum. What should be the reponse from a given society when it's citizens travel abroad to commit acts that are considered high crimes in their county of origen?? If a person goes to Holland to smoke cannabis, and it can be proven they did - should they be charged with a crime when they return? What if they went to SE Asia to avail of child prostitution services? Where should the line be drawn, or should it be drawn at all? In Ireland a few years ago, a girl was stopped (at the "request" of a Priest, IIRC) by the Gardai at the airport on suspicion of attempting to travel to the UK for an abortion. She was prevented from exercising her right to travel...national debate followed. Whether it was right or wrong they stopped her, the question raised is a difficult one. Like in the Soviet Union you were not allowed to leave. Period. Do we want to live in a society like that? We could.... 1. Preemptively detain and charge people at the airport who are under suspicion. 2. Arrest them on their return for crimes committed on foreign soil, even though it wasn't a crime where they went. If they dont want to face the music, then don't come back. 3. Deny them re-entry and revoke their citizenship. "You want to commit gross crimes outside our jurisdiction? Ok, fine, but don't ever come back"...But then you have the problem of stateless people which no state want's to take, a geopolitical nightmare. 4. Rehabilitate them. Go the Sweden route, give them a house, a job, benefits and....therapy...(chuckle) Yeah right. 5. Ignore the problem. 6. If we're talking just about ISIS, try to "neutralise" the offenders while they're still abroad. Problem solved.

Well, its all over now. They saying another lesser storm on the way Saturday, but my forecast (www.yr.no - Norwegian met - very accurate) says not. Had a bit of work out of it this afternoon, oak branch through a slate roof, four slates broken and another branch hanging by a thread. Rigged the hanger and cut with a polesaw from the ridge, then lowered, then put the roofer's hat on and replaced the slates. Good satisfying job. Another one to do tomorrow, 4 foot silver fir across a private road, will be having a ball winching and levering. Condolences to the family of the Kilkenny man, that was real sad. From the reports it looks like he was attempting to clear the tree at the hight of the storm, around 12.30 and another tree came down and hit him while he was at it. If he'd only left it until later in the afternoon.....but what can you do? Let it be a warning to us.

Catalan referendum vote, reports of police firing rubber bullets at citizens queuing outside the schools.

skip to about half way - the guys are crowding round the sawyer and hes waving the thing around like mad. people leaning over faces into the kickback arc, making huge arm waving gestures over the running saw etc. Sorry should have mentioned theres a slow buildup.

Just found this on the 'tube looking for chainsaw vids. How dangerous is this kind of malarkey, or is it just me that cringes?

Ok so I got the carb off and cleaned with break cleaner. Blew out lines, cleaned the terminals of the solanoids with electrical degreaser. The strimmer works again! But the diaphram gasket was glued on, and as I removed it with a stanley blade some the material ripped a bit, leaving a bit stcuk on the carb housing. I have removed this, and reused the gasket, crewing it down tight. So far the machine is working, but I wonder if the damaged gasket will cause running issues in the future that I might not even notice but could still be doing damage to the motor, like a tiny air leak or something?

Thanks the the replies, I have disassembled it again, and will clean the carb. If that doesn't fix the issue, it'll have to go the the shop for diagnostics. Im thinking its a burned out m-tronic chip or solanoid.

Hi All, my Stihl FS460 clutch housing cracked at the shaft sleeve last week, after 2 years of moderate use. Not impressed, anyway, sent for a new part and replaced, but now the machine won't run. Dies on the least bit of throttle, will run if I keep pumping the bulb. Tried new petrol mix, Aspen, no difference. I'm wondering if I broke or dislodged something while doing the clutch housing replacement...but I'm gentle, and don't think I did. What are the chances of a carb problem appearing the same day, essentially, as the clutch housing breaking? Could there be a connection? Any thoughts?

Firebomb on London Tube this morning. Stampede, many injured. Photo of a bucket with wires coming out of it inside a Lidl carrier bag.