maybelateron

Spent all my weekends and school holiday working on the dairy farm over the road in the 70's, loved every minute of the hard work. First experience of chainsaw use was being shown how to stand on the tractor bonnet and cut back badly overgrown hawthorn hedge around the field. No PPE, no chain brake, no mobile phone, 1/4 mile from nearest house, farmer left me to crack on alone after showing me how. SORRY, DID YOU SAY HEALTH and SAFETY?! Lol Parents felt I should go to university, dad was a surgeon in NHS, older sister gone to medical school, I ended up doing the same. Coped OK with it, but always aware I took the more practical/pragmatic approach to things compared to many of my peers. Went into full time general practice for 14 years after a total of 9 years training. Late 2000/early 2001 had to take time out to sort out my head/depression. In the very lucky position of my wife being part time GP, so we could make changes and allow me to change to part time GP and set up my small business doing groundcare and tree work. Did part time GP for 12 years while also doing trees, at age 53 decided to quit the desk and go full time on trees etc. Regarding the medical job I feel I need to make it clear that I feel we were well paid for what we did and to my last day I still loved doing what I actually trained to do - dealing with patients, even the few difficult ones. It was the "constant change" of moving goalposts pointlessly that made me quit. It is the same for teachers, police, and many others. I realise that I was in the lucky position for 12 years of having a stable good income to live on while investing in kit etc. Even with this fortunate start in the trade it is difficult enough to invest in really decent kit. For three years we also had a grounds maintenance contract for a nearby up market housing estate, and this allowed me to invest further in kit. Having managed this I eventually packed in this contract, so we could focus more on trees. I am now 59, well past my prime, but still climbing and loving every minute of it.

I find that when the cabin fever starts kicking it is is time to get outside again. I can reverse the fever by going out in the yard (which I am lucky enough to have at home) and doing some logging or machinery maintenance. Short half day outside and then I can cope for a bit longer on the festive season. When we do start up again for reaI I have never know any of my workers say anything but "it's good to be back at work". I think this is just another indicator that many people working in the arb sector enjoy their work to the extent that they accept/tolerate the relatively low wages it pays. We all know that arb work is not generally reimbursed either for employees or business owners at the rate it should be, considering the skill and dangers involved, the sheer hard work, and for businesses the investment in kit. End of rant on behalf of all of us!

Forgot to say that my insurance gives £5M PL and £10M EL. It also gives a some legal fees cover in the event of claim having to be defended etc.

I have a guy who has set up recently on his own, and he subs for us a bit. He was told by his insurers that he would have to have EL as well as PL, in fact he says they declined to provide only PL. I guess although it will cost you more, you will have the comfort of knowing it is one less loop hole insurers can use to avoid paying up if a subbie working for you gets hurt. Regarding cost, I am with Trust Insurance, who specialise in arb insurance. Premiums are priced on the basis of turnover and what types of arb work you do. I am a very small firm, turnover varying between 80-120K per annum in recent years, and my combined cost for PL and EL has been around £950-1000 for several years.

Forgot to add that with the ZZ or the ART positioner (I guess same for various other mechanical devices) the problem of resin on the rope when working on Conifers etc is nothing like as bad as with rope hitches which refuse to run smoothly once they have sap/resin on them.

Definitely go the ZZ route. I used Blakes hitch for years and was slow to change to slack tender pulley. Then moved on to ZZ, would never go back now. I also love the ART positioner with swivel for my strop. Any kit like this can can help me keep climbing at 58 is a good thing!

I have a MS 160T and it is great for pruning/light dismantles. I have also briefly used a Stihl rear handle leccy saw for a few cuts on the ground. Impressed with that too. Opted for the bigger battery capacity in my 160T and a spare. Surprisingly good run time in fact. Take two fully charged batteries out to work and you wont need the charger for the climbing saw in the day. When lithium ion saws can match the 261 or 460 that will be a real game changer.

What's the condition of the joint between the co-dominant stems? Any included bark?

My 2014 Iveco daily single cab tipper with large toolbox is about 2800kg with tools on but chipbox empty. Within weeks of buying it from new I had helper coil springs fitted on top of the standard leaf springs. Did the same with my 04 LDV convoy. With the chip box full the back end still sits nice and high. Also I have a fairly high top tailboard which makes it less obvious how much is in the box.

For years now I have only ever used bio oil, not experienced any problems with it. I was using Buxtons own brand which was good, then tried 20L of Oregon Bio as cheaper. Lots of gloop in the bottom of the container, so never used it again, went back to Buxtons brand. For the last couple of years I have been using Stihl's own brand of bio, more expensive but I trust Stihl's judgement. Also bio oil pours much better in cold weather than mineral oil.

I have found (as have two others who work with me) that Buckingham steel irons are much less prone to gaffing out than the Gecko carbon ones I have eventually changes to. This applies to both my own Gecko carbon ones, and a pair a lad working for me had. I have found I just have to make a more conscious effort to drive the gaffs in, but Iu would not dream of going back to the Buckingham ones, as the carbon ones with velcro straps top and bottom are so much more comfortable and stay in place. No more of the steel shank trying to move in relation to your calf.

Cowboys need to be reported in my view. The more of them that can be put out of work the better.

I have no experience of a drying floor, other than leaving logs out on the concrete in my yard in this summer's heatwave period. They seasoned very quickly doing this. I am sure that whatever method you use to dry/season your logs they should be split first. Generally I find logs split more easily when still fresh, and this is using a decent hydraulic splitter.

1: A weekend when our three grown up children all come back to see us 2: Watching something good on the box with my wife, with the stove burning logs 3: A good days teamwork on an interesting job for a decent customer who makes drinks

Goes with the territory of over ?? years

Yep, heard it all before. You can spot the newbie stove owner the moment they ring up looking for logs. They have read the Bear Grills manual of life in the urban jungle and spout such 130110X. Bloke rang me once and the call was literally like this, word for word: Hello have you got any kiln dried Oak logs? No. Oh, well have you got any kiln dried Ash? No. Ok, bye. I just wasn't in the mood to try to educate someone about the reality of logs that day, so he got monosyllabic answers. The other temptation I get is to say: Ah, well you see, you need to go to a specialist "I only sell Cherry and Beech logs" supplier. Such ignorami!

I run a very small tree firm. I used to have two full time employees, now I am down to one. I run top quality kit, and two of us can do a lot of the jobs I book in. I have a long time subby, and also a more recent one, who I use for larger jobs. One of them has a decent arb truck. This way I dont have to worry about finding enough work for a larger number of employees. I dont have the cost of a second trunk either. One of the key points HMRC make is that if you use a self employed subby on a regular basis, doing regular days, you have to put them on PAYE. My subbies do irregular sessions, can be without them for three weeks, then have them for 3 days in the next week. Totally legitimate, but this way of working gives me less hassle with staffing. Also, as I am lucky enough to have a lot of good kit, my subbies use us for their larger jobs at times. Seems like a win win.

I have a Kubota STV 40, 2009 model, with front loader. Excellent bit of kit. Runs a 5ft heavy duty flail now problem, can take underslung mower. Powers my Browns hydraulic splitter easily, runs the sawbench too. Being hydrostatic makes it easier overall, particularly for loader work. Also use to run 6 inch pto chipper with ease until bought a tracked chipper. Have used a basic rear 3 point mounted crane for dragging conifers to chipper on a big clearance job. Easy to get to site on 12ft trailer behind Disco 2 TD5. Have used it with the front loader and rear transport box at same time to extract timber pieces from sites. Agree with previous comment that towing much weight on the road is limited. If I had to replace it I would want the same again.

I think I have a solution to the problem. Westminster produces masses of hot air. Could we not all take our unseasoned logs to Westminster and ask the government to dry them in the houses of parliament during debates? Admittedly we would be burning fossil fuels to transport logs there and back, but that would be a carbon offset against kiln drying carbon outputs. While our logs were drying the politicians and civil servants could come up with legislation to standardise log dimensions. Dohhhhh!

How much is this new?

Silky Zubat when new blade fitted is fine for Willow/Poplar up to 3-4 inches diameter in my view, for a few cuts. If lots of cuts needed, chainsaw time earlier on. On the other hand if I'm getting tired and the Zubat is other than new condition time for the chainsaw for 3 inch Oak beech Hornbeam etc. Been using Zubat more in the hot weather when working on smaller trees. Means no need for chainsaw trousers. Also been using the Stihl HT131 petrol polesaw more in hot weather, as again you can dismantle a small tree with no need for c/s trousers.

I use to run a Renault Dodge/Reynolds Boughton 4x4 conversion that was 4.4 tons unladen. I did a lot of searching about o licence and tachograph regs. One exemption I found described "dual purpose vehicles, eg Land Rover" as being exempt. Another exemption was vehicles used for horticulture/forestry. I felt comfortable enough that these two exemptions gave me justification in not applying for an o licence, and not using a tachograph that the vehicle had never had fitted. I no longer run the Renault Dodge (it is now is in the Falkland Islands on a sheep station), but I take the view that my Iveco Daily 3.5T with either a 1.5T chipper or a 3.5T gross Ifor Williams trailer behind it can come under the exemption of horticulture/forestry, and also going no further than 25 miles from base, in my case. The whole issue of o licences and tacho regs below 7.5T is a but of a nightmare, and I take the view that I am not going to get a custodial sentence if I am picked up, but smile and plead ignorance/exemption clauses.

My wife does things that only women in books are meant to do: She goes to dog training with her doggy friends She knits clothes for relatives' babies She does charity work

Man takes his goldfish to the vet. Tells the vet he thinks the goldfish has epilepsy. Vet takes a look and says the goldfish seems ok. Man says: " yes, but he's not out of the water yet"

I have a Jensen A540 turntable, 2013 model ex demo, now got 305 hours on clock. It is bar far and away the best chipper I have owned. Once you have had a turntable chipper you won't want a fixed one unless it is tracked. I have had a Timberwolf 18/100G ie 4 inch gravity fed, then a Donald 6 inch 36hp diesel single roller fed, then a Gandini 05MTS 34hp twin roller turntable 7.5inch and a 6 inch twin roller Arboreater PTO chipper. I also currently run a Forst TR6 6 inch tracked chipper. Whilst the Forst is excellent in every way, the Jensen A540 has the edge if it can can get to the site. It has the open top wide feed hopper which enables you to feed awkward branches in with minor branches coming off the parent branch at awkward angles. If my A540 TT chipper was stolen/written off I would simply replace with the same again. I am a long way from you otherwise I would volunteer to demo it for you. I think the price asked by Dennis Barnes is fair. I paid £17K + VAT for mine with 13 hrs on the clock. I also think the pictures they show of the hopper are compatible with the quoted hours.