Dan Maynard

And "surely there's a ton of logs in a ton bag?"

I do have pretty long arms but not that long, luckily with the cunning of a fox I hold the rake part way along.

Similar method I guess but I usually use a rake handle, line up to my eye and the height of tree, and then pace out the distance between me and the tree. Can't really imagine a phone app working that well unless you're up 200 feet and use an altimeter. Maybe though it can be measuring the angle up to the tip? If you type in distance that would give an estimate.

I've tried sharpening the zubat though, it did cut better than before but not really sharp. Maybe my file could have been better, I decided it wasn't worth the time as the silky earns it's place and I'd keep a spare blade in stock.

Not seen one come close, no - they usually exit sharpish and then stay away. Reds must be friendlier.

I have put steel roller shutters on since my last break in, the chap who fitted them reckoned they are good because there is no quiet way to break them. He works in London a lot and does places like motorbike shops, where they have roller shutters on top of bars the thieves have gone in other ways, such as knocking a bit of wall down or through the roof. Only other thing comes to mind, I've read to use motorcycle chain and anchor to floor under the trailer/chipper so that it's hard to attack the padlock with a sledgehammer. Those chains with 19mm links can't be bolt cuttered, obviously take a while with a grinder.

You can see the driveway but don't know what they dug or indeed what heavy plant they parked on the roots. Big problem with root damage and secondary infection etc is it takes years to develop. I had a discussion with a builder on Friday, cedar being kept on a site being developed. He mentioned bringing soil levels up round the tree which I tried my best to put him off. The lawn in your photo could have been higher or lower before, either of which not great for the tree. In the end like everyone else said, you need a really good impartial opinion from someone who looks at the tree and the site to get all those factors weighed in, can't really be done from photos.

Shipping containers seem to crop up quite often as broken into. Cut the lock off, cut hinges off, cut a hole in side. Then again, you can't judge the security just from how many are broken into, you need to know how many people use them.

Look at the Treerunner, had mine out again yesterday. Have to admit seems to have gone up in price quite a bit, sure it was under £200.

Unless you've spent a huge amount the you'll be well under annual investment allowance so just charge it all in first year. Google AIA if you're having trouble sleeping one day.

I heard a story from a tree surgeon who was asked to make all the willow from a job into nice habitat piles on an island in the river near us. River floods over winter, logs all disappear....

Think of Gloria, you'd end up regretting it and having to buy it back.

Postage cost has gone up to £600!

Good point. Think long term.

I reckon you can tell the client Leylandii and they won't argue 99.9% of the time, whatever type of conifer it is.

Rather than one big heap I think it might be good to put some pallets across to divide it up into bays. This would end up with no log more than half a pallet away from the wind, or similar to using IBCs which work well for me. Other thing might be hoops of stock fencing, you can go two high on a pallet and point the conveyor in the top. Sure there's got to be no need for stacking individual logs.

I haven't seen that much which I am absolutely 100% sure is dieback. I did read that trees in woods are more susceptible, in gardens where people sweep up the leaves it tends to break the fungus lifecycle.

I am very curious about what caused the initial damage, but we can see it was a while ago and the tree has survived so far. In your second picture there is a nice ridge of callous on the left, where the wood is growing back. How are the leaves on the right hand side? My opinion this is one of those trees which depends on your garden. There are three options really: 1. If you want everything perfect in the garden then fell it and replant, it's never going to be a nice neat perfect tree. 2. Cut the right stem, this will remove a lot of decayed wood but probably unbalance the crown and leave a huge wound at the base. This will decay, as you can see cherry is not naturally decay resistant. 3. Do nothing, the tree is already reacting to the damage and could survive for years. I've seen cherries hollow so much you wonder how they stand, in the meantime it will be a haven for invertebrate and bird life. I don't see any point in option 2, it moves the problem but doesn't solve anything. There is probably included bark at the bottom but close to the ground this is less of an issue as both halves anchor to the ground. If mine, if there are decent leaves on the tree then I would just keep it like it is. When/if it dies back then I would fell it. But my garden is not the neat and tidy type and I'm a wildlife enthusiast.

Game changer always has me asking that question too. Surely at some point it will end up across a branch where a rope one would just bend?

I'm also on hitchclimber and been intending to do this for ages, not quite got round to it. I did buy the Schultz effect though, and it's really good. He explains a lot of different approaches to things and reasoning why, and also a section comparing approach using SRT and DRT to move around the same tree. I would say it improved my DRT climbing already.

I think it's unusual to use ash for cladding but it could be ok, it will only decay if it's damp. Plenty of overhang on the roof and nowhere near the wet earth. TVI in East Anglia will have as many wet days as Les has dry ones in Wales.

And just to add, whether it's been briefly in a kiln or not I'm afraid the bottom line is that it's wet and isn't going to dry well tightly stacked in a cellar. Only options I can see are to take the wood out and stack it where the wind can blow round it over the summer, or else turn your cellar into a kiln with dehumidifiers and fans (but that will take weeks and cost a fortune in electricity).

Conventional wisdom is that the cost of extraction will not pay back, it's so bulky it's hard to move around. Price has been fluctuating recently but maybe £10 a ton? If you clear the trees into a whole tree chipper with a shear/grab then leave the brash on, this is what they do with road building type clearance.

Surely when milling the pulling chain is doing all the cutting, so the nose bearing is just pulling the slack side of chain back to the tip? It doesn't really make sense to me that this should cause nose bearing to go. In normal cutting use you would expect to knacker the nose by boring hard or perhaps using pushing chain because then all the cutting tension is applied to the nose roller. I am thinking either kerf is a bit narrow or load caused by sawdust getting dragged back round must be making it difficult to pull the chain back to the tip? Otherwise what's overloading that roller?

Now there's what you can do if not trying to keep to 3.5 tonnes.