Dan Maynard

And yes, subscription for Microsoft Office is an interesting one. You can pay £249 one off fee for one computer now (£120 if no business use), so you're not forced into subscription. Or, in my business I used to pay £7 per user per month for hosted email and buy boxed copies of Office. These were expensive so we were still running Office 2010 until a few months ago when we bought the new laptops. I now pay £9 a month per user for hosted email, and each user can install Office onto up to 5 PCs. So Microsoft Office is now so cheap it's a no brainer. For home or single user though I would look at LibreOffice, it is pretty good. My kids didn't like it because the PowerPoint equivalent is a bit limited but if you're just doing quotes and spreadsheets it will be fine.

Careful there Les, in the last 5 years Mac's have got a lot more mainstream. Of the things mentioned AutoCAD, SketchUp, gimp, Microsoft Office, Libre office all available for Mac now. I still stand by the statement Mac are a premium product. They are good, but expensive so it's a bit like buying a Mercedes when a Ford is cheaper, more economical. I buy Lenovo, I picture them somewhere around Volvo, my 9 year old one is solid and dependable. I've upgraded to SSD like Spud and had new batteries every few years. We bought a load of the £500 ones earlier in the year and they are cracking machines. One other thought to chuck in is whether you have iPhone? If you do and so have all your photos, music, mail and so on with Apple then the MacBook becomes even more attractive because everything will share across nicely. If you are happy to pay for it then the user experience is great. I believe this is one of the main reasons Mac's are so much more popular now, they used to be really niche. If you're on Android then I would do a £500 Lenovo i5 8GB and SSD. Dell always had the reputation of falling to pieces when I used to travel around commissioning machinery. And don't ignore the refurbished either, these often come from large companies who upgrade in fleets every 2 or 3 years. It's a case of the right thing coming up at the right time though. And like car brand it's a personal thing, you won't get Les off his HP.

Do we reckon Don is going to haul that up a big tree later? Maybe not.

Looks vinyl sides to me too. Worth a question under warranty, they might say fair wear and tear but if you do the repair kit and it gets worse no chance of a claim. What about a nice seat cover, with wooden beads?

Remember, 95% of fuel problems are electrical.

I sometimes say to people if you ask three tree surgeons you can somehow end up with four opinions. I would be cautious, fruit trees which are regularly cut do seem to thrive on it but on the other hand sometimes old fruit trees just suddenly die. My take, I doubt you can reduce it hard without it dying so I would prune to maintain about that size. It looks like at about 7 foot up the stems get thinner, you can selectively remove one or two branches per year at that height or just above. Or decide that's it and plant some new ones spaced out ready for the day it falls apart.

I have a suspicion it will be harder to push on solid wheels, but easier than a flat tyre. What about arb trolley solid wheels? You can buy these as an upgrade, they would be strong enough for sure. I don't know how big the CS100 wheels are, maybe these could be adapted? Clarke PF395 Puncture Proof Yellow Tyred Wheel 395mm - Machine Mart - Machine Mart WWW.MACHINEMART.CO.UK

Sounds like you could get together with Spud and start a "smoky saw" thread.... Need video.

Spikes like harnesses don't fit everyone the same, definitely borrow some until you need to and have a chance to work out what you like.

Yeah I'm going to leave the jumping from tree to tree until after watching the advanced chapters.

When mine has done this it's dirty battery terminals or loose battery terminal bolts.

I made some out of cedar, as I had some which was a bit knotty and apparently is rot resistant. Only a year so far though so can't vouch for durability yet. Researching was easier to find info for deodar as everything American comes up with Western Red Cedar.

Least it's not raining and cold, nice green wet slap across the face wakes you up.

But if SBRR went from 100% to 75% they would neatly collect cash from exactly the businesses that got the grant. I am reminded periodically of Mrs Thatcher, and her saying it's not government money it's taxpayers money. It all comes from us one way or the other so if the government are giving an advance it'll need paying back.

Branches in the way means branches to climb on. Push through.

There's an old saying "an inch is as good as a mile in the right direction..."

This is the spur, I'm going to buy the Schultz effect and look at SRT seriously while I have a bit more time.

I had some Scots pine like this, the stuff that was unsplit took in a mouldy look down through the timber. It burnt fine though (once dried), seemed more a discoloration rather than decay of the wood structure. I don't think there is much you can do apart from get it split and dried as quick as possible, once it is dry any decay will stop anyway. Perhaps the ideal is to spread it out more so it gets the sun but that would obviously be a lot of hassle emptying the ibcs. Can't remember the exact thread but someone on here posted a research paper about commercial forestry use of Scots pine as a crop and the blue mould tendency was one of the major barriers.

Patrick, Educated Climber website/channel is also worth finding. Good knot tutorials.

I owned a Marlow rope, used it dismantle a tree with chickens living at the bottom, in the rain. Never could get the smell of chicken shit out of the rope. So yeah, I don't like Marlow ropes either. XTC solid choice.

I would have said our arb rope is generally kernmantle though, the word comes from German Kern=core, Mantle=sheath. As opposed to older style braid or twisted rope.

I've only briefly used a Spiderjack, had a couple of hours on a zz. I definitely wouldn't rush to the Spiderjack if you can't try one first, they are definitely love or hate (I didn't love it). Using the zz was ok but didn't persuade me to give up the hitchclimber. I'd wait, the chance to try them will come along.

Switch from years of petrol to aspen will leave the rubber hard, that's a known issue due to the effect of the petrol. Afraid it possibly needs carb service.

Scots pine a menace for mould. Is it recently felled? Nice sugary rising sap not a help.

I would email the manufacturer and ask for an official opinion. Maybe they won't answer but worth a try, it's a safety question. Ideally you would have a small torque wrench and check the bolts periodically, taking them out and in isn't quite the same.