kram

The thimble is also loose which could rub and cut the rope. If you use a thimble it needs to be held securely in the knotted/sewn or spliced eye and the bowline needs a stopper. The rope looks clean enough, if its double braid I would splice the eye, or a scaffold knot. I dont see any point of a swivel carabiner on a rope lanyard as they are not stiff against twisting like a wire cord. I'm yet to find a swivel with a shape I like, they all sit badly on the harness ring. Why cant they make them with ovals?!

Looking to get one, unsure what length or whether to have an adjustable prussik type, or just plain ring on each end. I'd be fitting it as a retriveable anchor when I get to the top. I dont generally bother with a throw bag. I remember being told that they work great over limbs but difficult to retrive if around a stem. I imagine I would use it mostly around the stem at the top. I currently use a small sling and steel carabiner for the purpose but its not retrievable.

Ah, the unreliability of tree workers, bosses and general ****************wits of this industry. It will never work.

Ignoring the law for a moment, will your business insurance cover you for moving cars? Could be expensive if it goes wrong. I would also be quite irritated if anyone touched my car without permission. We quite often place signs/notices up a few days before a job if needed, but they are "Please do not park" rather than official closure of the parking area. For street parking you probably need to pay the council to close it, they put the yellow signs up, and only then could you ask the council to move any the cars. No idea if its a private parking area. One flat/car owner was on holiday so car couldnt be moved, so we chucked a load of ton bags over it and guarded from drops using a rake. If it was more than one car it could have delayed the job.

I have not used a tipper trailer. A manual tipper likely comes with a single action ram and lowers by a release valve back to the tank. Often that release valve on manual stuff is along side the pump so you might need to get a valve for that. Commercial electric pumped versions might have a double acting ram where it will lower under power.

Forgive my stupidity, whats the difference? What do you gain from this upgrade? Could these be made to fit an old 020T? Mine was playing up a bit today, working in the rain it took ages to warm up and occasionally a pain to keep running. Likely it needs a bit of adjustment.

Sold out now, was on amazon. They are Chinese 20" .325 0.58" chains although they came as 76 link, I had to break and rejoin them to 78 links to fit.

Saw is running great, including the cheap chains. One annoyance it has an open exhaust with no baffle/spark arrester or anything like that. I find the exhaust heat is burning the wood and on connifer, painful to breath ! Is the proper 372XP exhaust different? Maybe I should get a genuine one or add a baffle. Thanks Mark.

How did you do that? A little bit bruised, Im guessing no lasting injury? Part of the risk of being a climber. I think I'd prefer better grip so I can be more stable while cutting. They all seem to have Vibram shite outsoles so no grip and will be near the same whichever I choose. My mate said his Scafells are 4 years old and they still look decent, soles not delaminating, they look pretty good - much better than the rest of his kit! Honeybrothers list a few unknown brand "climbing boots" that do not seem to be chainsaw rated safety boots. To be honest I think the toe area is most at risk of being cut and any cheap pair of safety toe cap boots would likely provide adequate protection. When I hit my Andrews it was just a nick in the outer rubber before I realised, right above the big toe. Are boots like gloves where the protection is only a tiny area on the back of left hand? (I should probably know this).

My pair of Andrews are not worn out, not comfortable but I'd likely wear them for spiking and general ground work, so really after a boot just for climbing. Seems to me that for climbing you want shallow tread not the deep blocky tread for mud that is on most boots. Ideally one wouldnt reach down and cut anywhere near foot level - hopefully I have learnt that lesson now.. ! So perhaps cut and crush protection is not too important in the tree but perhaps I'll get more experience before I get boots without. I'd disagree, its a compromise on cost, if they use decent rubber it will last. Years ago I have resoled motorcycle boots with Metzler Racetec tyre rubber and the grip is huge improvement and it lasts. These were Aplinestars and one of their best and more expensive pairs, the grip was dangerous in wet conditions as standard! I also resole my rock climbing shoes with the same tyre rubber. Very good grip. I dont want to be resoleing new climbing boots, it wont look great and might mess with foot puncture protection. I had a decking nail in my foot months ago, doing my brothers tree. Finished climbing and changed into crocs for the cleanup!

@manco@pedsr @rapalaman What do you use?

It appears they blame the oil change interval for most failures however plenty have gone bang with oil and belt changed early. I was lucky that a Honda dealership salesman warned me not to consider anything of theirs or otherwise with a wet belt when I returned to car ownership. Ended up with a pretty good 2010 Mazda 6, low miles in great condition. Too small for arb work tho.

Yes I will be trying them on. However trying them on the ground does not mean they will be any good in the tree. Many times I have been to Honies and the items I wanted were in a warehouse 30 miles away and not available in the shop so a wasted journey. If I know what to try on in advance, I can check they have my size, UK10-11, stocked. As an example I once tried on and purchased a £400 goretex textile motorcycle jacket, warm and comfy in the shop, one if the big well known brands, I had no experience buying textiles. Horrendous wet weather at the time. 5 minutes in the rain had my wallet, phone, cash and everything else in my outer pockets soaked through as the goretex is only on the inner layer. Straight back to the shop as not fit for purpose but it was not returnable. The inner pockets were inadequate. I still have it tho rarely used. I stay dry but then the outer layers drip for hours on the floor, holds a good amount of water.

£12.5 a day works out about £3k a year. With a newer tipper likely far more than that 3k premium. The question is if your happy funding Khan and ginving TFL a penny more than you have to, which for me would be a big nope. However, I believe older tippers, without wet belt engines, are more reliable if you can find a good used one.

Rather not travel half way across the country just to try on some boots. I was hoping a forum of experienced climbers would have a recommendation.

Arbortec Scafell any good?

I want to get new boots. What do you use or recommend? I'm currently wearing a pair of Andrews and while the protection is good, nothing else is, including the fit is about a size too big, but thats all they had at the time. Main annoyances are the lack of grip while climbing and the toe box is huge, often my foot wont fit in the gap between branches. Its like wearing a brick!

Recently I've been using cheap mini saw chains and join them to 60 links, but yesterday and today I had issue with two that were either not sharp to begin with or dulling quickly (normally last me weeks between swaps or sharpens), and I dont generally mess about sharpening when I want to be climbing. We were retopping a large leylandii hedge. I swapped a new genuine echo chain. Its immediately noticable on thinner drier/dead wood that the rakers are perhaps a bit too agressive out if the box. I suspect it will cut nicer after a sharpen but leavjng the rakers as they are

We do have insurance its just I dont believe I would ever benefit from it, and I hope it is never needed. If I injure myself using my own gear I dont think I have any right to. Its a bit different when your employer supplies the kit which may not be up to standard. Anyway if Im dead or seriously injured, they can fine me all they like as I wont be able to pay a penny! Insurance is, after all, only about money, nothing more, keeping the bankers rich. While I like climbing with multiple tie ins, I have never seen anyone else in the industry do it and is likely the best example. I've also never seen a written risk assesment by anyone I worked with - thats a big HSE fine just waiting for an excuse.

Your the one in disney land Frenchy.

Im excempt from the LOLER bolllocks as Im a recreation climber, mostly doing it for fun and beer monies. My boss tells me insurance is never worth the paper its written on which is true, no one climbs with 2 ropes to the HSE specification... And so many other issues that would void a claim. Most of my kit is well past its LOLER date, however I am more competent than most LOLER testers that I've met and I do check it myself. I'd like to see HSE try me in court! I also do my own splices.

Two a day, he generally does only two at a time. Some of the training we had 6 of us but he bought in a couple more experienced climbers/trainee instructors whi were also pretty good. My only complaint with him is organisation being poor and not always brining all the kit. Thats mostly due to me having my own and saying Id prefer to use mine.

He is a good instructor, lots of knowlege just not expensive (or well organised!) I used the phone on his website at various hours also left a message, I can only assume he didnt want more customers, anyway doesn t matter I have all my tickets now. Seperate ticket but usually taught as a course and assessed onthe same day.

It has arrived! My opinion the quality is good and would happily use it. I cut the heatshrink off one end to check the crimp and visually it looks good. The outer cover is resin bonded to the wire and covered with a generous amount of thick heatshrink. Carabiner is a decent weight of alu but is a twist lock rather tham triple locker. Swivel snap hook seems good but heavy, again its two action rather than three. I'd likely cut this off as I prefer carabiners. There is no overall ID/ ratings label for the wire core although the hook, grab and carabiner are marked.

Theres an instructor near me who is likely a bit cheaper and good enough, in Crawley Down. Scott Fraser was recommended to me, could I get him to pick up his phone? These tickets only give the minimum to cover an employers backside, rather than make you any good at it, very much like learner/new drivers. I wouldnt want to be relying on a new climber for rescue. Are you not doing chainsaw from harness at the same time, which is normallly together with it?