Dan Maynard

Solid choice. Blades should be so sharp you can cut yourself running a finger down them, then will chip like a champ. Keep the wood really clean to help them last.

Rowan is another popular one.

Full time is an interesting one. I do a regular 2 days per week for a tree firm, I filled in the same assessment to satisfy myself I am acting properly by staying self employed. Maybe the last question on the form is critical, as HMRC putting a number on the distinction between temporary and permanent: >> Has the worker done any self-employed work of a similar nature for other clients in the last 12 months? You could run it again and answer no to that one instead and see what the answer comes back as.

I reckon it's the answer to all @BigJ s problems with mud. He should definitely get one.

Maybe just which town. Paul from Greenwood put an advert recently, from my perspective (west of Cambridge) he may be in the same area as you and he didn't immediately get many applications I think.

Vega plus has nice big pads for back and legs, I like mine as it's pretty simple and unfussy, and to me comfortable. Not trendy so might get in your "slippers you'd get your grandad" clause? Reg Coates has one so can't be all bad.

Likewise Stihl nozzle fits the Oregon can, which works for me. I just have the Stihl auto petrol one, oil is easy enough to pour from a spout without spilling. That would give a clear can with nozzle that works which is what the OP is looking for.

Is that an imperial fat bloke or a metric fat bloke though?

Our village pub's just been renovated, they put a brand new 4" x 8" oak beam over one of the fireplaces. Looks a bit new but I guess give it a hundred years it'll blend in.

Interesting product, not for everyone but there are all kinds of woodburner owners. I sold 0.5m3 of logs a couple of weeks ago to a lady with a small woodburner. She didn't want to order 1m3 again as she did that once and it had lasted her 3 years. For her, this would be a perfect wood store.

I've been looking at helmets as well, there are two standards. One is chinstraps which are super strong to reduce the risk of the helmet being knocked off, the other is weaker to reduce the risk of strangulation. Petzl and some others have a strap which can be set to either standard.

More seriously, given our uncertainty of the actual tree size from a photo, road access, local market conditions, etc etc I'd say £750 is in the realm of realistic. Need to get another quote from a local firm to find out though.

Be a bit cheaper if you move the car, that's a right pain parked there.

Possibly had a lot of friends before the houses were built? Did a tree on Sunday in a road called The Spinney, area TPO in place to protect the remaining trees in between the houses.

Personally I think the gauge is a red herring, it's the different diameter that's key. Mine came from RobD of course but it's also a Stihl part. Rim Sprocket 3/8'' Picco 7T for Stihl MS250, MS250C - 0000 642 1240 | L&S Engineers WWW.LSENGINEERS.CO.UK Rim sprocket 3/8'' Picco 7TGenuine Stihl PartOEM Part No. 0000 642 1240Suitable for the following Stihl Machines:MS 250, MS 250 C, MS 260, MS 260 C, 024, MS 241 C, MS 231, MS 231 C, MS 251, MS 251 C, MS 211, MS 211 C, 021, 023, 025, MS 230

3/8LP rim is slightly different to 3/8, if you hold the two against each other the LP is bigger by a mm or two. I believe the pitch in a straight line may be the same, which is effectively along the rivets. I think the LP drum is a little bit bigger to push the rivets out to the same radius, so that each link is still 1/7 of a circle.

Don't sell yourself short, no reason to be dead weight - there will just be some parts of the job you can do and some parts you can't. Get on with the parts you can and you'll be a valuable part of the team, take home your wages for that. I've quite often done jobs with inexperienced people on the team, one of the lads I've had working for me is a freelance film maker (so he's happy for casual work this year). No qualifications in arb but he gets stuck in and things move along, earns his wage as much as the next man.

It's going to depend on the firm, the people I sub to have quite a few part time groundies who turn up with no power tools. I also climb so bring my own climbing kit and I prefer my own saws which I bring every day sharp and full of fuel. You don't have saw tickets yet so it's also going to be kind of discretionary as to how much chainsaw work they let you do. There is a lot of dragging and chipping branches, carrying wood and raking to do, some days I do no sawing at all.

Actually that's spot on, never ever turn up with a blunt saw. 50cc ground saw Sam. Either Stihl 261 or Husqvarna 550xp, the femalelumberjack reviewed them and they are both good saws, she preferred the feel of the Stihl as rear handle a bit smaller so you might find the same. Ideally hold them both to try the balance. Personally I wouldn't rush into the saw, but PPE will be good. If you don't have your own helmet and gloves you might be given some manky spare ones. I wear Showa 310 as they cost slightly more than most work gloves but last so much better - everyone will have a different idea on this one though but not leather type ones as they are so rubbish in the wet.

I'm not with you Paddy. From what I've read the IR35 rules changing in 2017 knocked a lot of people in the public sector who were wrongly defining themselves outside IR35 in order to save tax, the change in 2021 is not actually changing the definition of who is inside or outside but shifts the responsibility for defining it in the private sector. I've been through the IR35 calculator. According to that, I am working outside IR35 so deemed not an employee of the company I freelance to, so I send them an invoice and look after my own tax. I don't think it's right that freelancing doesn't exist, it is a very particular set of circumstances though. This chap being offered SE by his employer sounds dodgy af to me. It seems almost certain he'd be inside IR35 anyway so no point taxwise. And I hold insurance for the jobs where I am invoicing the customer. I don't hold it for jobs where the contract with the customer is invoiced by the arb firm. The need for employers liability insurance is quite different to the tax status, you need to hold employers liability even if volunteers are helping you for no pay and even if the other workers are self employed and have their own insurance policies.

I think I remember being told you used to have to identify a certain number of trees in the NPTC but they took it out. I have to agree it's kind of crazy not to teach this, it would do more for safety than just putting more ropes up in my opinion.

Good job, taken the initiative and paid off. I hope you will find that tree surgery is hard work but rewarding, for me it's been worth taking the plunge. I think those of us entering the industry at 40+ are never going to do certain types of work like pollarding London street trees, but there is plenty of other tree and garden work where we can do just fine. Just have to use our heads and play to our strengths. I was going to say that Rich Rule and eggs have told you all you need to know but I thought of a couple more - have a dump before work, and learn how to tie a slip knot for sending things up the tree. (Patrick at educatedclimber has a great page of knot videos)

Definitely going to spill the tea at that angle.

Reminds me of Johnny English. (although that was 24 hours)

Very happy to be corrected and have someone who knows the rules put a proper opinion. I was mainly saying there is all kinds of advice out there, even the guys who sold me my trailer weren't very sure so be careful which advice you read.