Ariel rescue kit

So when not working with a second climber who has their own climbing kit I have this kit set up ready to chuck in the van

The Petzl bucket bag comes in useful once again (35lt)

Harness at the top of the bag ready to put on straight away

Then side strop/second line and spikes

With the main line loosely stacked into the bottom of the bag with a blakes hitch pre tied. Attached to the harness are a couple of slings, some extra crabs and a folding knife, first aid kit is on the list of things to buy. 

Ant one else have a dedicated ariel rescue kit, or do you rely on spare/second climber kits?

Rigging kits

This is my current set up in terms of rigging gear that I take out on my own private jobs. 

I've talked about these petzl bags before, still can't say enough good things about them.

First up in the large (35lt) bag I have 60m of 16mm Sirius Bull rope and a 4m long 16mm dead eye sling with a small ISC cast pulley attached, this kit only comes out on big jobs or if I don't know the job (i.e.  freelancing) then I may chuck it in as well. 

Then in the first small (25lt) bag I have a selection of things; 30m 14mm sirius bull rope, 5 m dead eye, small ISC portawrap, small woopie sling, large woopie sling,  Medium ISC swing cheek lowering pulley with steel dmm crab,  2m split tail, large loopie sling, x2 petzl tandem pulleys, another smaller woopie (orange) , small mallion, small rigging plate,  2m tape sling and crab, 10m length of xtc line, couple of lengths of hitch cord. 

The idea with this bag was to have everything I'd need for small/medium scale lowering, as well as all the other trinkets you occasionally need for complicated lowering jobs. The 30m rope is usually sufficient for most small trees and also comes in handy as a second line if using the bigger rope. 

Then in the other small bag are some other bits that go out with me on almost every job now. From left to right: in the black bag is the Mini MA system, 22m of 12mm sirius bull rope (tag line), 5m multi sling, 4.5m dead eye, rigging gloves, and big shot/trigger set up 

The tag line has come in handy on numerous occasions, especially on those jobs where I've been told there is no rigging to do and then discover that there definitely is!

I'm pretty happy with my current set up, It covers me for a large range of rigging scenarios, the only major thing I need now is a decent bollard, something like the Stein RC3001 that I get to use for my current main employer 

Husqvarna T540xp - ongoing review

I've been using this saw now since the end of January, I had one little blip that turned out to be a missing breather, and other than that it has been faultless

 

I am continually impressed with the power and torque of this little saw, I'm running it on a 12" bar and it really flies through the wood, the stump its sat on was a douglas fir I dismantled last week and I was happily chogging with the husky down to about 16 - 17" diameter stuff until I switched for a bigger saw.

 

The power is there straight away with none of the lag you get from a 201T, as soon as you start squeezing the trigger the revs are there. Its well balanced and with a choice of 3 handle sizes it can be tailored to suit most climbers.

 

The main metal strop attachment point on the left seems a little flimsy but is holding up perfectly well and the rigid plastic one on the left is an absolute stroke of genius and allows the saw to be readily clipped to a caritool. I've always been able to clip a saw up short and one handed, by having a large HMS style crab at the saw end of the strop I could clip it onto a caritool relatively easily but this additional clip makes it so much easier and keeps the saw nice and close into the body, which is exactly how I like to carry it.  

My only real negative comments are that firstly the bumber spikes could maybe be a little bit larger (this I think is a common husky flaw) and I'm not a massive fan of the chain brake action, but that is me being quite picky.

Only time will tell to see if this saw will last like the old 200T's used to but for now I think they are the only real option for a dismantling saw for the professional arborist. And the real test; would I buy one with my own money? - Well I've just spent a Saturday smacking down poplars for a friend with my own new husky after both my old 200's decided they'd had enough! And I'm very happy with my purchase.