Bloom

Anyone can cut down a tree. Do it once with dodgy techniques and no experience and you may well get away with it. Use these same techniques everyday and you'll eventually be found out.

9 hours ago, treevolution said:

 

 

I have found that since I have gone over to the cordless hedge trimmers if does not really get used.

 

 

What cordless trimmers do you use? I have two AP300 batteries for my MSA160T. Was looking at the HSA94R/T but was disappointed to learn they need a battery belt. Don't like the idea of having a cord attached to my clippers. I have good petrol short and long hedge trimmers, so don't want to replace them until they're broke. Thought the ELH would maybe ease the burden in the meantime.

Anybody had longer term experience with these? Read a few of the older threads. Would just like to know if anyone who has bought them still uses them regularly. Seems like it would be useful but I can see it not even making it into the van for the day. Most the hedges I do are awkward bastards, so its up ladders, poking about, switching from long to short clippers, balancing on fences, overstretching, clippers down, clippers up.

Looking for something to make it physically easier but also, and most important, quicker. Don't want to be fannying about adjusting a harness.

My woodchip pile seems to be erupting a bit. Any ideas what this is? It does look a lot like puke.

Depends on the size of job. Couple of days, pay on completion. Bigger jobs where it'll not be a cash payment,where subbies need paid, stump grinder hire etc then I'll take a cash deposit on the day work starts.

Hi

Anyone had any long term experience with bark.com? I read a couple of threads from 2015. I've just starting getting emails from them this week. I hadn't signed up to the website. Jobs where basically anything to do with gardens but I changed the settings to only tree work. You pay to receive potential customer's contact details, but I must have got a few free credits, so I got to quote for free and have got a days work booked from it. However, now I have to buy credits to 'see' customers details so I can arrange a quote. Ranges from £3-£5 per customer, but you buy a pack of credits at about £30.

30 minutes ago, Wendelspanswick said:

the bar of the husky round the ash, putting a 90° bend in the bar.

Anyone want to cut around corners???

Just get a rotatech chain on it, it'll cut straight then ;-)

'The Sunday Times reports that under a complex (perverse) incentive system, Heathrow is encouraged to spend as much as it can on developing the site. Heathrow’s investors earn returns based on the size of its “regulatory asset base” (RAB), under a formula set by the CAA.  So the more the airport spends, the more its owners can earn. It gives an example of £74,000 to cut down 3 trees, which is at least 20 times the normal price'

The other side of the coin.

10 hours ago, Carl1991 said:

I'm not qualified to rig

But you're speedling a Scot's Pine up a 3-tier garden. Don't sell yourself short. 

Thanks guys. My main concern was that it was something wrong with the saw, but the majority seems to think its some chain/bar anomaly. 

I'll get a husq bar/chain on it, if the problem continues I'll replace the AV mounts.

Pics below of the setup pulling left. 

I changed the bar to a husky one with a new Rototech chain. Got me through a days work.

Looks very similar to a scots pine we took down this week. The customer also had one snap at about 3 foot in a storm recently, with the same problem.

I'll get pics later. Bar and chain are rotatech - correct chain and bar.

Hi

I took down this Scot's Pine yesterday. The ground at the base was concave. Another one, which looked similar inside, came down in a storm a few weeks ago, snapped about 3 foot from the ground. Any idea what it is? Customer has 11 more which are bigger and also closer to their house. There are cracks appearing on some of them at the base. 

My Husky 555 is pulling to the left. I've flipped the bar, tried new chains, tried new bar, different users but still pulls to left. When I put a new chain on it, it cuts straight for a while but then the left pull starts. Any ideas?

9 minutes ago, Gary Prentice said:

Sorry, I didn't read it like that. 

No worries. Just meant, if you didn't know what the wood was and placed it on the fire, you'd think it was some sort of conifer the way it lights up and sparks. It's actually my favourite wood to burn. Gets going quick, burns hot and I've tons of it round my house. I wish I could sell it, but the public are idiots, educated by uneducated stove sellers.

8 minutes ago, Gary Prentice said:

Eucalyptus is a hardwood. (a dicot angiosperm tree)

I'm aware of that. 

I was comparing it's burning qualities. 

22 hours ago, flatyre said:

How well does Eucalyptus burn and is it hard or soft wood? Have loads of it in the shed but made the mistake of not splitting it immediately, like concrete

I really like it for burning. Gets going like a softwood, spits a fair amount, but good heat like a hardwood. Other parts of the world view it as premium firewood. Just need to get it split quick and let it dry for a long time.

I sell my hardwood and burn my softwood. Really impressed with softwood burning. I take the odd bit of hardwood from my pile. I'd near prefer soft to hard. Been burning a lot of well seasoned Euca - it's sparky but burns well and very hot.

Thanks for your advice. Tree is in Belfast. Not a fan of Pitto's but this one does look good. Really don't want to kill it, I'll aim to reduce slightly and thin. 

Have to prune this pitto. Customer wants it significantly reduced which would leave it with no foliage. I've suggested a thin. I've removed these before and cut them in hedges, but never pruned a larger one. How do they hold up to a hard prune?

12 hours ago, Vespasian said:

The beauty of a wooden handle is you can buy or make a new handle if it breaks, not to mention less vibration on the hands and arms...

 

I've got about ten axes all told, my favorite being a re-purposed Bucking billy double bit....  

 

 

Oh and if your wanting to chop firewood its a maul you'll be lookin for...   I've one or two of them as well....

How much do Bucking Billy's cost?

Just spent 45 mins today. Still didn't hit my target and had to settle for some dodgy dead branch and round the trunk, then shimmied up it like I was going to collect coconuts. And now my nuts are aching.

Anyway, do catapults make this any easier or is that just a different way to be frustrated?

Did one of these last year. It was really a row of trees that the neighbour had managed to get called a hedge. Council was called in and they said 18m down to 6m. There was an option to do it 18m to 12m then to 6m, but the customer didn't want to pay twice. I think I recall that 6m was the maximum height allowed for a hedge (unless both sides agree to higher), but I may be wrong on that.

There should be supporting documentation from the council saying exactly what is to be done. 

I'm struggling to sell mine (split hardwood) at £15 a bag.