Trailoftears

Its a bit like seeking out the holy grail really,a lot of boots including 'high end' ones,are obviously aimed at fell walkers with too much dosh with too many issues for daily work,too heavy/no toecaps/need loving care and so on.Still, I'm grateful for the progress that's been made over the years.No more frankenstein type,ludicrously heavy boots that suited deep sea divers more than outdoor workers.The placcy/composite toecaps plus midsoles make these so much nicer to live with.

I shy away from buying proper chainsaw boots due to all the points made by the o.p.Are they REALLY worth the price premium,are they heavy,will they last,are they viable to comfortably wear on a daily basis?etc.It would make more sense for me to buy decent chainsaw wellie type boots to wear when needed.But again,coming from a farming background I know only too well their drawbacks-hot ' n sweaty,poor ankle support,tend to lead to flat feet issues due to non-existent arch support and so on.

I'm not one for defending ins.companies,but they have some excuses at the present-lac k of parts/semi-conducters/the electric vehicle costs given a prang due to compromised batteries etc.But really,the advice is simple-walk away.They rely on customer inertia/lack of time/effort.This applies to all insurances/broadband etc.Insurance companies are exactly the same as betting firms-they cheeerfully take your 'stake' then move heaven and earth to avoid paying out.With insurance its all 'Actuarial',the science of risk and probabilities.This explains why,if you ask for your renewal quote a good month before its due,you will get a significantly better quote than if you ring them 3 days before the policy ends.In their book,you look prudent and careful by asking early.Equally,they see you as feckless and reckless,if you only worry 3 days before your policy lapses.Equally,this explains why it lowers your policy cost to add your good lady to it-even tho she may never want or expect to drive your works vehicle.Insurance companies see all male drivers between,say,20-65 as potential drink drivers.

Not quite on topic,but summer boots vex me too.I always aim for plastic/composite toecaps/midsoles which really makes a difference when you're doing God knows how many steps per day.Portwest do a metal-free boot for 35 odd quid which are lovely and light,but due to spending far too much time on my knees-and I'm not talking about worshipping Allah here-just split at the welt/split along the sole every summer-and waterproof they aint,so not so cheap as they seem.Went the other end of the scale and bought 2 pairs of cofra boots @£90 odd a pair-no metal/lightweight and dryplexxed.Made my midfoot ache a fair bit,and the leathers just seemed 'cheap' and seemed all soggy in wet weather.So still seeking the holy grail of summer work boots.

These have hugely impressed me,now done 3 winters in wet conditions i.e.streams clearing out trees from a redundant railway line.Utterly waterproof thanks to the e.s. version of goretex-dryplex.And I'm pretty confident they'll do another 2 winters too.By Engelbert strausses standards,these arent silly expensive either about £100 all in.Classed as Winter boots,but no interior fleece involved.As you can see from my pair-I'm not apt to go in for polishing or dubbin! Doesn't bother them in the least.Normally at this time of year I'd be switching to lighter boots for the Summer,the way the ground and weather is here, I'm more than glad to keep wearing these stalwarts for now!

I think pleasants bang on the money there.the reg /r has a larger tooth gap and lower/slower gearing speed-designed to do more rugged,hard back cutting.Where the t/trim version is designed to run faster and do lighter cut work at faster speeds.

Phew-glad to hear its not just me!My fave go-to ****************up is B/cutter related.Machine placed on the drive at a customers house/handle assembled/choke engaged/petrol tank v.carefully topped up to avoid overspill onto tarmac-then it can break down-sometimes talk to customer/grab helmet and proceed to last pre-use check-lift up strimming head vertically and re-length cord/clip ends of cord-then look with huge horror at the best part of a mug of premix fuel flooding the customers drive due to a complete dickhead forgetting to replace the petrol tank cap 😳

A double-edged sword in many ways.Many moons ago I was an employed engineer in a factory and the clocking in/out cack and being penalised for being 3 minutes after 9 say 3 times in a month did my head in-and also stupid,taint how long your in-it should be about HOW much you get done whilst there in my book.On the other hand,having been s.employed for 35 yrs+,it sometimes strikes me that I drive myself harder than I'd ever accept from an evil uncaring employer!Also I dont like how I feel guilty when on Hols seeing other people working whilst I'm idling about!

Really useful chart that, I'm looking to replace a rotten trellis structure that divides the ornamental/borders area from the working raised veg beds area with a couple of espalier apple trees to create a living fence divide between areas.So looking at that chart, I'm thinking the m9 rootstock looks perfect.Given the customers will want eating apples and they have russets already,can I pick any eating var,or do some vars do better on this constrained growth pattern? As far as I understand it,summer pruning is better/leads to less uncontrolled regrowth on this system 🤔

I'm glad its all sorted.Just out of curiosity,why are some circlips tanged and some not? Is it just to help with fitment problems?

Hmm,Prunus lusitanica (the portugese laurel) a much nicer version of the cherry laurel so often used for hedging.Lusitanica has a narrower leaf with red petioles and the usual white candlebra type flowers-quick growing and would screen well.

Looking again at your piccy-the 2 lower spindly horizontal shoots look surpless to requirements,but dont be tempted to cut them off flush with the trunk at this point.Leave 2" on each one for the mo.When you're creating/forming a standard/half standard tree the laterals are quite important in encouraging the trunk to thicken and mature,they can be taken off flush further down the line.

To be honest, you've been a bit heavy-handed there at its age.Let it find its feet for a couple of seasons.Unless there was a grossly 'wrong' shoot growing straight into the heart,I would just leave youngsters like that alone to concentrate on growing.Apart from nipping an inch out of obviously strong upright leaders.Remember the old adage-you can always cut out whenever-what you cant do is put it back!I would think by shortening the framework/potential leaders rather harshly now-you'll get an explosion of lateral undesirable shoots from the cut back leaders-if so,rub them all off with your thumb apart from the terminal ones.Looking on the black side-you may have encouraged growth below the grafted variety,so beware of any growth near the base of the tree.

Grand to hear the old beast lives again 👍 And spuds technical pointers re: compression (or not) are of great value for those of us that dont fully understand the inner workings of these 'simple' machines.

Not sure what these are rated at,deffo 15 tonne splitters-could be 20?They don't fail on many logs thats for sure! Under the vertical nut for filling at the front end, there's a larger horizontal bolt with lets you do a full drain of the h.oil.I replaced the original rather wobbly solid wheels with pump ups,makes it a tad easier to wheel around.They're not hugely fun to load onto a vehicle-even with two of you.

That is an absolutely classic log splitter-I've been using exactly the same machine for 30 years now-via 3 different customers who pass it on to their mates (all my customers),As far as I know its history-its on its 3d engine now.just swapped out its 2nd engine-b&s i/c engine-one of their better efforts!For a loncin 6hp engine.Imo you'll not find a a machine of this quality these days-WELL worth spending a few bob on.The issues I've encountered are,the hydraulic clear hoses mate onto brass fittings which seem to thin/wear over time/the single control top actuating lever wears the valve it actuates over time-a blob of weld solves that to some extent-when new they should auto withdraw the ram/splitter.You probably know this-but at the front of the ram body,you have an upright hydraulic filling nut which can be topped up with h.fluid when cold,but a slow laborious job.After filling,reseal the nut with ptfe tape.Great,Great machine.

Just a few thoughts on your vehicle insurance,also some pitfalls to avoid.Most of us try to shop on price no doubt,but there are pitfalls doing that.Obviously you need personal business use-or your not insured.Also beware big excesses-I try not to accept an excess over £150, I'd rather the insurers pay the majority of the cost rather than myself.Legal expenses are a must have in my book-that means the culpable parties insurance co.will also have to pay for your days of work lost/damaged machinery in your vehicle,Finding a replacement vehicle etc.Plus a dedicated firm of solicitors will pursue these expenses for you with no charge.Also,I usually pay for 'enhanced' courtesy car replacement-that avoids your now trashed works vehicle being replaced by a 2 door ford fiesta!I kid you not-it happened to me.Its not always about a 'cheap' annual price for insurance I reckon.

Yep,the joys of living in a post-industrial Country where no bugger makes things any more ruled by a political party dedicated to driving labour rates down and increasing profits for the boss class/de-regulating.Where food banks are now the norm and minimum wage rates make them really angry.Once upon a time-and I remember it,you could EVEN swim in our rivers safely without getting the shits/ear infections etc....

Slightly over your desired cc but pro-level range would be the stihl ms 241 c-m coming in at 4.5 kg/2.5kw/42cc odd ,but I'm not sure thats 'a thing'/available in the U.S. market any more?Probably the ms 201 c-m is what you really want?a v.light niche stihl pro saw much beloved by hedgers/coppicers here in the U.K.35cc/4.0kg/2.5kg-but as ever with stihl-pricey for its performance level,but would lend itself well to getting into carving as a second use I would think,which would add usage/value maybe?

I ABSOLUTELY defend N.Korea's decision to censor titface.Sadly they got it the wrong way round-if only they'd blurred his top half plus muted the audio-perfect job 👍

The Ideal scenario,the beds are ready,The customer has had £1000 odd worth of plants delivered with bark/alpine grit where needed.I have a mix of shrubs/h.perennials/gr.cover/rockery subjects in front of me-as specified by myself.Now its just a matter of thinking about heights,colour combinations, appropriate positioning etc.Now THATS what turns me on/gets me up of a morn.

T.b.h,On a REALLY good day-I'd do this work for nothing-but dont feel the need to tell people that please...!

Absolutely.Variety IS the thing-money should be secondary.Personally I'm happy whether mowing/erecting a shed/laying a patio/growing veg/designing a planting scheme/putting in a hundred hedging plants-its all good,a learning experience and above all it should be satisfying and fun-never lose sight of that I reckon.

If I was offering advice to young landscapers starting out now-buy a decent basic kit-chainsaw/hedge trimmer,b/cutter,mower,handheld blower etc.Dont get over excited with a big job-let the customer both buy and pay for materials-their risk-not yours.Get an interest-free credit card-you can buy more chainsaws -yehh.Buy a decent vehicle,and maintain it well.Try not to trade on debt (apart from buying machines on an interest-free cr.Card) 😉..look after your customers and build a good rep. Locally-word gets around-and you'll never need to advertise.Work hard-and above all-play hard.😎

I can see if you're hanging off ropes/manifold chainsaws supplied/heavy plant purchase/transport and supply etc,Then you are into serious costs,hourly rates etc.Thankfully thats not me.Even as a general landscaper,I decided no staff,no ride-on mowers/trailers,dedicated mower sheds etc.Its a bit 'keep it simple stoopid',in so far as you can of course.