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Dan Maynard

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Everything posted by Dan Maynard

  1. Dan Maynard
    Maybe another option would be to hire someone in with a portable bandsaw? If you've enough timber to feed it for the day and equipment to move it. Or, what about Lucas mill? I've not used one but they seem in between in terms of cost and performance. Certainly you could get someone to come and set up in your yard.
  2. Dan Maynard
    The difference between 4.5 and 4.8 will be small, they will both produce a sharp edge which will cut wood. What I would say to check though if the Stihl file is designed for a bigger saw is the depth gauge setting, as if the rakers are filed too low then the chain will be trying to take too much wood with each tooth and the engine will struggle to get into the power band, you end up cutting slower. Personally I would get the correct Oregon filing kit rather than the all-in-one, it will cost about as much as sending it to sharpen twice and you can give the chain a couple of light strokes every few tanks of fuel to keep it razor sharp without touching the depth gauges every time.
  3. Dan Maynard
    Does it happen every time? On the bright side if the fault is consistent it is easier to tell if something you change has fixed it. Sounds electrical to me, possible relay contacts sticking, that's cheaper and easier to swap than any hydraulic components so I would start there.
  4. Dan Maynard
    I'm interested to hear from people that have the tripod ladder, I went for A frame as more versatile being triple extension as well, but when I'm wobbling around at the top on uneven ground I wonder if it was the right choice.
  5. Dan Maynard
    That is a lot of claims, true, but I reckon there are still more people than that being worried about it. Most tree flyers that drop on my doormat raise the subject.
  6. Dan Maynard
    I was really surprised by the twin towers in there, you'd have thought modern system on such modern buildings but loads of deaths.
  7. Dan Maynard
    Have a look in the garage, you've probably still got the rest of the tub of P38. 'they don't make them like they used to' is a good thing in relation to car bodywork.
  8. Dan Maynard
    If I need a tower I use me dads which he bought with his father at least 40 years ago. Steel galvanized, thick steel and flipping heavy is the downside. Your choice depends how you rate portability vs longevity.
  9. Dan Maynard
    Sounds a bit rum, on the other hand it was 6pm and he still had half a load to chip and a long way home - clearly not having a good day so maybe difficult to be cheery.
  10. Dan Maynard
    I think this will be a personal choice. Myself I would not spray anything to protect against insects, the tree will do a good job itself and the environment is better the less we spray around. Consider good formative pruning, mulch if possible and don't let the young tree dry out too much this summer.
  11. Dan Maynard
    I agree it is possible to sum the two rope force vectors to get the red one, but as this is the sum of two forces the red force is bigger than the rope tension. The force across the stump to pull the tree over is exactly the same. I would consider it from the digger end, a certain pull on the rope has to be resisted by the tree no matter how it's tied on, what changes is the loading within the wood.
  12. Dan Maynard
    It's absolutely true you can use force vectors to describe the situation. Or, as the fork doesn't care what is on each end of the rope or what is going to happen next you can count the ropes and say the situation with two ropes going to the fork will put more load on it than only one. In this situation I doubled the rope round the stem and back to the tow point, as it halves the load on the rope. I guess depends what you think is most likely to fail.
  13. Dan Maynard
    I also have some friends who live next door to a house called The Cedars, except from their back garden you can see the cedar is dead as a doornail. Apparently they were advised it would be safe for 20 years like that so in no rush to take it down, naturally decay resistant. I was thinking it would be a nice log to mill though...
  14. Dan Maynard
    I tried to read up about this as I worked on a few cedars over the winter. As far as I got to, the old atlas ascends is only _usually_ true but cone form is a reliable indicator. One of the trees we did the customer swore there were no cones but once we took it down they were there on the branches.
  15. Dan Maynard
    To answer your question, no it shouldn't be a deal breaker if everything else is right about the house. It is quite tall but not really a big tree, probably younger than the house. Good access and nothing underneath so very straightforward to remove. I think there are a lot more scare stories than actual cases of subsidence. In the end of there was a problem it will be for insurance to sort out so you should just make sure you have declared it to the insurers so that you are definitely covered, and complied with whatever they say to do. Quite likely take it out, but that's a guess not advice.
  16. Dan Maynard
    Could just be duff plug and that's the end of it, they do fail sometimes. Had em go bad when hot too so engine starts fine then plays up when warm. If it's running fine then maybe after a few hours pull the plugs and just check it's not going black again.
  17. Dan Maynard
    I was trying to figure out whether a weak spark caused the fouling or the fouling with carbon caused the weak spark. Either way I'd start with checks and easy things. New plugs, check air filter clean, check plug lead condition, check fuel filter.
  18. Dan Maynard
    This is pretty common, definitely add it.
  19. Dan Maynard
    Could also go 3/8 narrow gauge to reduce the strain, I've not done a huge amount but I put a 36" bar with Stihl ripping chain onto my 365 and it did fine on 24" cedar. RobD sells a nice kit with all the bits.
  20. Dan Maynard
    Looks scary in the picture, work on the basis that branches are conductive and that high voltage can jump air gaps, looks like parts of those are potentially live. By the book you should not work within 9m of the line/poles to stay out of the proximity zone, probably not a bad distance until you get proper advice from someone on site.
  21. Dan Maynard
    Hmm, I may be learning that in slow time at the moment.
  22. Dan Maynard
    I have a tree next to a similar H pole to do, I checked specifically with Trust and they said working near power lines is not a problem, doing powerline clearance would require specific insurance though. I did UA1 in the meantime, I think worthwhile to find out about how to identify the gear and how far away you should keep from everything.
  23. Dan Maynard
    Has the decayed limb on the ground come from the stub in the main crotch? If it has then I would take it that decay has progressed down the wood as well as up, if you give it a sounding might be quite hollow so as Mark says those are very liable to break. And yes you are right that increasing lean is a bad sign, normally you'd start looking at the roots for decay, or ground movement, to see what is going on but obviously these are too far down to see. My guess is that the stem is not decayed yet or it would have already fallen over but the roots are decaying under there so the bottom is not secure. Is it showing normal signs of budding and sprouting like healthy trees around? That would be a sign if the roots are dying. Whichever, silver birch decays fast so it's not a tree you can leave a few years while you think about it, will turn to mush inside the bark.
  24. Dan Maynard
    I tried exhaust assembly paste once, just a drop. As alkaline as bleach apparently, scarred the eyeball. But nothing is good, it's so frustrating having sore eyes and can't rub or scratch or anything. Hope you clear up soon.
  25. Dan Maynard
    Do you need it in a hurry? We have aspen in local wood which will be felled but as it's SSSI not possible until September.

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