Andrew L

Might be best to quietly chat to him and find out if something is wrong? Is this new behaviour in an otherwise good worker or has he been persistently slow? Employed or subbie? Usually best to start quietly, offer suggestions to help and then if no improvement, set targets with defined outcomes if he does not meet them.

Got to say as someone who suffered a broken leg from a hung up tree, I think anything that keeps the operator further away from suddenly moving massive bits of timber is a good thing. I personally go for the longest bar and lots of hard thinking/talking about possible scenario's with team before going for it very carefully. Hate them+++

Going to stick my neck out here but I think you cannot judge any race or group of people and label the whole group as such. In both my NHS career and during tree work, I have met some decent gypsies. My experience is generally: if you treat people with respect, you will be treated respectfully in return. Having said that, we also caught 2 blokes in a white Transit on our Farm "looking for scrap". They were prevented from leaving, and the police called. One known to the police. They got a verbal caution for trespass and that was it because they had none of our gear on their Transit. We were advised to keep the main gates chained going forward: which at 6am in the dark on my bike is a pain in the arse but??? Same crew turned over a big house about a mile away about 6/52 later that was unoccupied except for the builders,,, Same Transit and id meant the police had something to work with. A

Hi You don't say what your current level of experience and/or where you are with ticket "collection". You'll need to hold NPTC 30/31/32 (old numbers) before you can apply for the 34 as I understand it. Windblowns are known as widow makers for a reason,,,

Own 535 536 and 540 top handles plus a 535 ground saw. No issues with the earlier saws but have had a battery drop out of the 540 and multiple issue with batteries not being inserted fully home with inexperienced groundies. It appears to be one battery only out of 3 that seems to be causing the issue with the 540, probably just wear n tear. Velcro strap from new rope purchase is our quick fix but it soon gets lost. There will be a lawsuit sooner or later and a Husky recall but as it stood 2/52 ago FRJones had 150 batteries on back order and an unknown wait time for new batteries, (I have been waiting since Nov) so any new recall design will not be in near future IMO. Its a shame, 540 is otherwise very very good. A

Invested in 3x brand new Petzl lids which were sent from FRJones to Coventry where they were expertly fitted with a Sena 10 comms system back in Sept 21. They have been awesome on the whole, literally life saving on occasion but also makes the job much more enjoyable cos you can chat as well. We won't be without them. Easily the best bit of kit I have bought for some time. BUT 5+ months down the road, they are starting to reek. So anyone got any suggestions on how to, er, "polish yer helmet,,,"🙄 but without damaging it/them? (Cue inane comments,,,) Cheers A

Where are you based? A

Thanks. It's an old machine (2004) and a touch temperamental but when its working, it does do a good job. Changed cutter belts, time will tell. Cheers A

Grinding a number of fair sized S Birch and oak stumps today. Brand new drive belt and teeth but I (perhaps foolishly) decided that the cutter drive belts were ok and so didn't replace them. All good until the end of the day when I noticed one had come off whilst grinding an oak stump. On refitting it, I noticed that the grinder drive wheel had got hot, almost too hot to touch. I supposed this might be transferred heat from the friction of constant grinding, particularly on the oak stump. But maybe because of this stored heat on the wheel, both belts got spat off almost instantly or maybe they were just worn out? Or are the drive wheels getting hot because the belts are getting worn and are slipping? On my machine, if there is too much pressure on the cutters, the belts offer a screeching protest, so I try to avoid as much as possible. Thoughts? A

Hi Pete_08, Interested in your quest but I am failing to see what useful data you are going to elicit from this survey? Also, if this is really for a Uni degree, why is there nothing about the ethics of asking random strangers questions? Has this survey gone through an ethics committee? If it has, why have you not given a reference or link? If it hasn't, what on earth are you up to? Which University and what course please? Andrew Linney MSc

I am still present and correct. Your concern for my wellbeing is most touching, not. Update: business continues to grow, investing heavily in kit. Just completed SRT. About to undertake HGV medical. Once that completed, prov licence application will wing off to DVLA. Probably will do Class 2 but we will see, new options now available from HM Govt in light of current HGV driver shortage. 140 poplar contract is underway but modified to fell and re-plant. NHS work only occasional atm, which suits me. Ta for advice, again A

I think "maybe" but probably no. IMO having a secure base for all of the above the probably one of the most important factors in deciding on your start up. Ideally you also want a burn site for all the non-chippable arisings. It depends on how risk-averse you are but again ideally you'd want it to be where you live because when you start up, everything is down to you, so you might as well be physically there to reduce the commute! When I started up, the guy I bought my truck from had been hiring out a lock-up in the centre of a city which was near where his truck was parked. Everything had to be walked back to the lock-up from the truck at the end of every day. Reason for sale: missus had pulled the plug cos he wasn't making enough money. My insurance specifies the chipper must be secured to a immovable object and in a secured compound or its not insured. Bottom line: find somewhere as a base for you and your gear within your chosen work area to minimise commute etc. Good luck.

Apologies for the out of order photos. IT is not my thing,,, Hope it makes sense anyway? Thanks again A

Thanks to all for comments and advice: the timber is safely moved! Please see below, the learning curve was vertical but actually the worst bit was driving it all back home,,,

I Thanks. Yes it is to be milled into planks (sorry for not making that clear). 2x other smaller 10ft sections to go plus a lot of Poplar lumps to be shifted elsewhere on site.

Help, I have a 10ft (long) by 3ft (diameter) Atlantic Blue Cedar log that my landlord would like back at base to put through his processor. We are a small company and don't have any heavy lifting gear. Looking at hiring 2.8t excavator with grapple to lift onto a 3.5t trailer but not sure that machine will be big enough (hire company said max lift 0.9t only). Tried the net and it looks as if similar species (white atlantic cedar) would be ~750kg, assuming I have got the measurements correct. Apologies if this is a foolish question but I am trying to avoid getting the hire gear onsite to find it won't actually lift the log,,, Cheers in advance Andrew

Heard a story recently, maybe: It had been a particularly crap and long week. Monday's grinding job had gone from bad to worse, hitting unknown bits of metal which had broken teeth and the day had finished after the drive belt broke but with loads more to do. Day 2 had ended up lasting 13 hrs after further mechanical issues which had meant getting back to base after 2130hrs but at least the customer was happy. Weds was a long drive out and back and again, the job had stretched out meaning home past 1900hrs. Thursday had seen an interesting chestnut reduction but a hard day's climbing and again a late finish. Friday was a simple but long hedge reduction with a new worker, who was well known to the boss. The boss didn't like or trust this guy but he had pleaded for work on a number of occasions and our hero's landlady had asked that he be given a chance. But having agreed face-to-face to work earlier in the week, on Thursday evening at 2115hrs the new guy had rung the landlord and told him that he had had a better offer driving elsewhere and would not be coming to do the hedge work after all. He didn't speak to the boss, just left a message. Too late to get anyone else in, too late to postpone (and the customer had already been postponed once before) the job was undertaken single-handedly. The customer wanted a lot off ie this wasn't just a gentle trim. No groundie meant the chipper couldn't be brought on site and so an extra trip back to base was required to unload the morning's reductions. Hedge finally completed and everything cleared up to the customer's satisfaction at 1900hrs. Still had 2 truck loads to clear. Anyway once home and fed, our boss decided to nip out in the car to the new guy's place to ask him in person why he had let him down. "Apparently" the conversation went something like this: Boss: Hello Michael Michael: Hello mate. B: I am listening. Why did you ring the farm and leave a message, rather than speak to me directly? M: I didn't have your phone number. B: Michael, I live on the farm, you could have rung the landline anytime and I was there when you rang, just upstairs. What time did you hear about the driving job? M: About 6pm, I'm not sure B: Ok, so why did it take you 3 hrs to ring to say you weren't coming? I could maybe have found someone else or postponed the job? M: Er, well, I'm not really sure what time it was really. B: Ok, so how much did you earn driving today? M: £100 B: Well, then I think it might be reasonable to give me the difference, since you have let me down (£20). M: (Snorts and sneers) Yeah, right: you and whose army? At this point M receives a punch to the face and a scuffle occurs until his missus arrives, hearing him squealing and moaning. B leaves. Apparently there was quite a lot of blood coming from somewhere on his face, shame. Poetic justice? Maybe. Worries about an ABH charge? Not really. It turns out Michael drives a brand new Merc because he is claiming sick benefit, so he can't call the police because that would result in the fact he is working coming out in court, so he would lose his car and get into loads of crap for fiddling the system. Just another work-shy w@nker.

Yup, that would do it.

Lots of good stuff here. Key points are: -once you have a back injury, it will never go away completely, it will always be a potential problem -lift as little as possible: get a machine to do it or lighten the load and the distance to move it as far as possible -core exercises help prevent issues ie swimming, yoga etc -if it starts to twinge: act. Your body is warning you its about to stop you from working. That pain is the bulging discs starting to press on your spinal cord. If it actually makes contact, it's game over. So don't ignore it. A

Thank you. Yours is still for sale, £320 Just learning about the difference between motion and non-motion detecting,,,,, Cheers A

Evening all, Had a nightmare with an ash tree recently that was full of old screws and nails. Buggered 5-6 chains during its take-down and it nearly meant we did not finish. I was whinging about this recently to a colleague who said he uses a small metal detector: One Allistec SC250, no less, which he bought about 10 years ago. Looked it up but it appears as if it is no longer for sale. It occurred to me that the milling forum might have an idea of what is good currently, maybe? Ta muchly in advance A

Consider yourself lucky: my '03 transit with steel floor n sides AND a 500kg tail-lift is 3100kg empty. I regularly have a long queue of cars behind me when loaded and crawling up the hills around here in bottom gear. Thing is though, its on the way home, so my customers don't mind, and it doesn't bother me. All that matters for me it that the Transit starts in the morning and gets me to the job. Got to say, tool box is fine but don't be tempted to leave any power tools in it, no matter what it's made of,,,, A

Need to do my gear as well,,, But maybe you already have a head start: won't your climbing gear have serial numbers as part of your last LOLER check? You ought to have the serial numbers of the saws on your receipts probably? That might help get you underway, maybe? Good luck with it A

My thoughts: Owned a TP 155 for past 2 years, just doing 250 hr service right now which includes anvil(s) swap. Its a 24hp diesel, 70kg flywheel, hydraulic feed but bog basic chipper that I bought with 6 hrs showing as an ex demo, weighs 730 kg braked chassis. It's been pretty good. Probably had a total of 5 days downtime in 2 years, waiting for parts. Easy to use, fairly easy to handle, very good on fuel. I would recommend it or maybe the TP175 which gives you another 20mm capacity but still under 750kg but I haven't actually used the bigger machine. General thoughts on chippers, whatever you buy,,,, -you will always wish you bought the next size up. Rather than absolute capacity, what you really need to know is the size of branch/log it will chip without needing stress control, cos that is what slows the processing down -they will break down: so how good is the warranty? How near is the dealer/service back up? -they will need blades sharpening: How easy to access? How far to go to get them sharpened? How much to replace blades? -they will get blockages: How easy to access rollers and dismantle on site? Do you need special tools? Maybe consider getting a splitter as well. This means you can then chip everything, which makes disposal easier and reduces manual handling.

Ta very muchly, just messaged him.