Dan Maynard

Cake is worth a lot, flour and eggs a lot less.

Super glue is the best I've found, I made some Airstreams last until the tread wore off by keeping them glued up tight. My theory is if you let the bottom sole loose at all then it wears the soft middle, keep it stuck on there's no movement. Medium viscosity will fill small gaps, no brand 5ml on Amazon has been fine and only a couple of quid.

I think modern pads are harder, takes more like 50-100 miles.

Power is force time speed and you're limited in how much power you can pull from a 13 or 16 amp domestic socket. Upping the budget to 1k doesn't quite get you out of the Chinese weeds, you need around 1500 to get something from Posch, Thor, Oxdale or the like. I'd keep an eye out for good secondhand though, better off with repairable quality than a cheap new one I think.

That answers my question. Otherwise a safe is just more keys in sequence, if you know the combination it's not stopping you from getting van key out immediately plod leave.

Looks like you need a mountain bike to go back and fetch the van!

That bark looks like it's dead and flaking off. Get a recommendation for a local tree surgeon to come and have a look, difficult to say off photos but could be whole branch died back. It happens, sometimes it's the start of whole tree decline or sometimes just one branch.

Its tricky starting out because everyone will ask what's your day rate, when you don't really have one yet. Own PPE is pretty essential, own saw less so. Depends what sort of firm you sub to and what jobs going on, some days you could be clearing and dragging all day, some days on the saw all day. If you don't bring one you're at the mercy of someone else's saw, sharpening, etc so nicer to bring your own. The nearest to an industry sheet I know is find a freelancer https://arbtalk.co.uk/find-a-freelancer/#close More climbers than groundies, but you can see rates vary by area on there. Subbie climbing rates reflect the gear needed, rough guess groundies half to two thirds climbing rate. All depends though. Last thing, if you have machinery tickets that could be you find a fairly mechanised firm and become more machine operator than groundie - then your rate could be much better.

We can answer this question: no it's not.

Does it burn cleanly or is there smoke? If it flares up and then glows like charcoal then I don't see a problem.

I wouldn't thin smaller suckers, if anything I'd take out the thicker ones. Problem with this kind of tree since it's been topped is there is likely to be rot pockets at the big cuts, you don't want the long shoots breaking off. I do tend to agree though, it's a lot of work to keep a lime tree small. Probably not the right tree for this location.

Probably use a silky for that, pole pruner for the sides.

It was a scout summer camp. Starts with people gingerly paddling around, then games and messing around, ends the only way it can with everyone in the water including leaders.

And increasingly green wood is worth money as firewood anyway, quick turnaround.

That's brilliant, we had coracles one scout camp. Initially feel really wobbly but are actually surprisingly stable and hard to tip someone out if they don't want to go.

Lower water content in summer causing the wood to shrink (and hence build internal stress) is my pet theory for cause of summer limb drop, but obviously no backing for that.

Its unusual but @gobbypunk struggled to shift it as I recall, not easy to get people to part with actual cash.

Summer chip usually has leaves in, I'd say that adds air space.

I think the tall bloke who did green giant sweetcorn ads was inside the suit.

As far as I understand, Predator was a brand name applied to Laski grinders made in Czech Republic . Laski themselves still going strong.

Ah maybe I don't notice that as I'm always using 5.2 rather than 5.5 files. Stihl recommend 5.2mm for 3/8 chain, I was sent 6 boxes instead of 6 files by FRJones, so that's what I use for all 3/8 chains.

@Ty Korrigan if anyone has

Got a few EXL, not noticed them being hard to file but maybe a bit grabby new. What files are you using?

I got cotton ones from moo.com, uncoated so plastic free and recyclable/biodegradable.

I guess like a lot of people starting out I underestimated my overheads and lacked confidence to charge enough. Some of my earlier customers got a real bargain but I got experience, so no regrets. One old chap I still work for at the same rate, hedges and odd tree but he's 92 I can't put it up now. Comparison is the thief of joy, I'd say if you're making a steady 250 without all the driving of forestry then you're happy , they're happy , you're making progress in your aims. You can do a pile of work at that rate, it's low risk if truly day rate rather than priced up jobs. Once you've done a year or two of your own jobs you can assess machinery replacement and maintenance cost, breakdowns, insurance etc. I guess you'll want to put it up a bit but you have to decide whether to start investing in machinery etc or just keep it small and work with other people if you needed a chipper or whatever.