Sunflower27

I am looking to put together some employment contracts for full time arbs and wondered if anybody has an existing blank template or just an existing example contract I could look at (obviously with all the personal bits removed)? I can get generic ones off the internet but am particularly interested to find a template for an arb role? Thank you.

Splendid! Thank you very much Darrin Turnbull!

For those of you looking for NPTC training, I have just completed the latest in several modules with Roland Heming and thought that I would make a recommendation. Don't let Dorset put you off (!), havng had such a good time the first time around, I have travelled there from Worcestershire to get some repeat training twice more. All the guys are still very active 'doers' and excellent trainers also. They were thorough with the syllabus and extremely flexible to my particular needs...they will also throw lots of stuff in as and when, that is really useful to know out in the real world. Excellent value for money and much riproaring, knickergripping fun to be had all round. Thoroughly recommended!

Does anybody know the dimensions of the mini combi spanner that originally comes with the MS150? I have lost mine and want to replace it with another mini one that I can take up in the tree?? Thanks

I have a couple of ropes I need splicing, near Redditch. Is there anybody nearby who can do this for me? Looking for experienced splicers only, many thanks.

That's really helpful, I will have a look at these. Thank you!

Lovely, thankyou. The links don't seem to work directly but I will go onto the websites and see if I can find those products manually.

Have all tickets to CS40. CS41 and PTI are on the way imminently! HGV Class 2 but no trailer licence. Hard working and reliable with own kit. Travel around West Midlands and Worcestershire. Happy to do project work or fill in for holidays / sickness. Please PM me or call below. 07884 110735

Well, I need to invest in some of my own rigging kit (not done so before) and I'm a little swamped by what I might need. I will be rigging medium sized stuff and need to know which are the best blocks (anchor) and pulleys (redirect, that I can also use on the ground as a winch redirect pulley) I should have. I am also not sure what the most typical sized rigging rope is (12-16 mm) for medium sized stuff, what length of rope is ideal or what tonnage slings need to be? Can anybody help me to unpick this and help me spend my money on the right things?

Yes, I make a decision on where I think the tension/compression is and where I think the most load sits, however sometimes the wood does something different to what logic suggests it might. I doesn't happen often as usually I can see or feel if the kerf is closing but when it does, I don't really have a good system for freeing it.

I get my saw trapped every now and again but cannot seem to find a consistent method to free it. People often advise:confused1: me just to make a new set of cuts further up the stem or further out on the branch to relieve the pressure and take the weight out, but this seems to me to be repeating another version of the same cut that got my saw trapped in the first place...hence two trapped saws! I have seen others use some kind of v cut on the top side of a branch but don't understand how this really works. Does anybody have a neat explanation or some pictures of the best way to free trapped saws (as a general principle)?

Thank you all very much. Yes, I apologise that the pictures didn't give you much to go on. Does Kretz spread through its roots to neighbouring beech trees?

My neighbours Beech tree failed this morning at the roots with no obvious outward signs and a healthy crown. Does this look like Kretzschmaria? Meripulus? Anything else...? Also, can the fungus spread through its roots to other tree roots close by??