Essential tools - Pole pruners/hook

This is one of those tools I went for years without and now wonder how on earth I managed, I now take them to every job

They may not get used on every job but I'd sooner have them and not need them than need them and not have them!

I have x2 4ft poles and x2 6ft poles which gives me a good range of options for height, I may think about adding another 6 ft pole at some point.

The pruners are perfect for the finishing touches on a medium reduction or for virtually every cut on a small one and the hook comes in equally useful, whether its freeing hanging branches, pulling over small trees or lifting phone lines clear of a branch, I wouldn't want to do some jobs with out it.

I also use the poles for my Big shot, which again may not get used very often, but makes life a lot easier when it does.

My poles are Frank Marvin, but they look identical to Jameson poles and are interchangeable with there accessories. I've been very impressed with the quality and build and seem to take any punishment I throw at them and show very little sign of their age or use

First aid kit - personal

I've never really climbed with a first aid kit, I've always founf they got in the way, and to be honest was probably a little complacent about it. One of the firms I've been working for recently provided me with one and figuring I had nothing to loose I thought I'd try it out

 

Well, after a couple of weeks I was reminded as to why I never bother wearing one, as it promptly started falling to pieces!

 

The Velcro and press stud combo is strong enough to hold it on the harness for about half a climb, or until it comes into contact with a branch or limb. The trouble is it just sits in such a way that its bound to catch on stuff, the only flex or give in it is when it pops off

 

 

Then if you look at the actual contents the only thing that would be of any actual use in a tree is the large wound dressing, the waterproof plasters don't stick to anything and had gone mouldy and the first aid guide had disintegrated  

 

 

Time for a rethink...

 

 

 

 

Lirios Armor hitch cord - first impressions

Picked up a couple of metres of Lirios Armor hitch cord at the APF on the recommendation of Honey Brothers, at 3 times the price of the Sirius I normally use I was initially doubtful and it was going to have to seriously impress me

Only used it on 2 climbs so far, one large (SRT) and one smallish (Double rope) and I have to say I was very impressed, used it with my usual knot - distel. Its very smooth, holds well and tends nicer than any cord I've used before. So if it lasts I may well be a convert! I won't speak to soon though, its early days yet, more later...

Tree Runner P500 - First Impressions

Had a couple of opportunities recently to try out the new Tree runner rigging bollard I picked up for CTC's lightweight rigging kit from the APF

Rigged down this smallish sycamore last week 

Nothing overly massive or complicated but still needed rigging

The ratchet holds the bollard well, and there was no sign of any movement, even when rigging some pretty hefty lumps (kind of size lumps that need cutting into 3 - 4 pieces in order to lift them onto the van)

We were using it with a 16mm rope, which is technically bigger than recommended (14mm) but seemed fine, just needed less wraps than you'd need with a thinner rope. 

As a secondary device for reductions/limb removals it would more than sufficient and a definite improvement on a portawrap or similar. The main advantage being the user friendly nature and how quickly in-experienced ground staff can pick it up and get to grips with it. 

Being rated at only 500kg it is no replacement for a Stein bollard, but would be a good device for small crews and start ups. or as a secondary device for larger firms. 

Husqvarna T540xp - ongoing review

Been Using this saw almost exclusively for at least 6 months now.

Things I love about it:

- Feels balanced in the hand
- The power is definitely there, maybe not quite as quick as a good 200t, but its definitely there, you notice this especially when chogging down larger that bar length timber
- The clip on the back that allows one handed clipping to a caritool or similar

Things I hate:

- Not entirely sure I'm sold on auto tune yet, don't like how the saw runs when its ran dry
- The general build quality

This was the handle after it fell 1m out of the truck and hit concrete, not quite all the way through and not completely un usable but still not good. 

And this is the rear AV spring after I went away for a few days and one of the other climbers took it out and must have been dropping it on its strop rather than clipping it short. 

I do like this saw but feel they may have slightly missed the mark on build quality...

Going off brand... Echo PAS 265ES

When it comes to buying 2 stroke tools there are really only 2 brands I would look at, husky and stihl, I don't really have a favourite between the 2, I probably own a few more stihl items, bu generally I'll reasearch and read lots of reviews and buy the best tool for the job. And your normally pretty safe with either.

But when faced with the task of choosing a new long arm hedge trimmer or multi/combi tool, one name kept popping up in the forums as being the best or at least coming very highly recommended: Echo. 

So I decided to take a punt and 'go off brand' and brought myself the PAS-265ES engine unit and hedge trimmer attachment. 

Fairly conventional design, first impressions are that it's well balance and has a reassuring weight to it, but not overly heavy. 

The cutter head has a range of settings and a simple pin/ring combo to easily alter the angle of cut. It looks significantly less robust when compared to the stihl equivalent (hardly a surprised when you look at the price difference) but is of a similar weight and size, although the cutter bar is slightly shorter. 

A nice touch is the inclusion of conventional sized grease nipples, meaning you can use a normal grease gun rather than relying on the expensive stihl tubes.

Another nice touch is the fact that when folded flat against itself for storage the cutter bar clips into the handguard, providing extra security from damage when storing in the truck with other tools. 

Here's a size comparison next to an old style stihl HL75, not much in it really. 

Initially negative thoughts are that it does seem to lack the overall build quality and feel of stihl and husky machines, but having only used it for a day it's way to early to judge it too harshly. 

The trigger assembly inparticular concerns me as both the trigger and dead mans seem very flimsy and exposed, I suspect if anything is likely to break in a hurry it will be these. 

Having only used it for a single days hedge trimming I can't fully comment on its use, this is only a first impressions review, though it cuts well and seems balance, the power is there, leaving a nice finish on thick conifer hedges but definitely lacking when it comes to cutting anything bigger than 10mm. And you certainly wouldn't want to give it the abuse that I've given my stihl over the years.

More to follow...

Stein Arbor trolley

Been used a bit more in anger this week.

Was actually a bit of a life saver as we turned up to do a job that had been booked in a while, with parking permits sorted and everything, only to discover that the road was closed and the closest we could park was about 200m away!

Fortunately it wasn't a huge job, just a smallish cherry to fell and a fig to reduce, and with the aid of the arbor trolley we managed to get it all to the truck in 4 trips, 3 for brash and one for logs. 

This is fast becoming one of my favourite tools, I just wish all garden gates were a bit wider!…

DMM tool bag

As anyone who has been following this blog will probably gather I'm a bit of a bag fiend, especially when it comes to organising my climbing gear.

I keep this one in my main climbing bag to keep all my SRT stuff separate 

Saves everything getting caked in sawdust or lost/damaged, also makes finding stuff much easier. 

Not a huge amount of point in saying too much more about this bag as I think Dmm have done a bit of a redesign and discontinued this model. 

Throw line set up

Trying out a few things with my throw line set up lately

Been using this DMM tool bag for a while, but its not really big enough to loosely spool the throw line into it, 

So rather than splash out on a cube for £25 I've brought a couple of pop up laundry bags for £1.25 each

Line spooled inside and tied onto one of the handles to keep from loosing it

Folded up with line inside

Then fits nicely inside the DMM bag, along with:

A 14oz weight (for those thick barked trees) and an 8oz (for those long shots)

I also keep a cheep reel of cord in there as well (£1.50 from Lidl) I have this if i want to leave a line up in a tree over night or over the weekend, or if I'm not sure when I'll be back to finish up, as its so cheep I'm not too worried if its gets lost or pinched 

Another new toy - Stein Arbor trolley

Another new toy picked up at the arb show, only used in anger once so far but initially impressions are good, seems very well made and bomb proof. should hopefully save some back ache over the upcoming months….

New boots… kinda - Meindl Airstreams

Picked up a new pair of Mendl Airstreams at the Arb show over the weekend

My last pair of these lasted about 18 months, which is about all you can expect from a pair of boots that have a pretty hard life and spend a minimum of 40 hours a week being generally abused!

I stupidly switched back to Hiax after they wore out, as someone had a new pair going cheep, but worked out more expensive in the end as they only lasted about 9 months and were never really that waterproof. 

Putting these on again was like getting reacquainted with an old friend, I forgot just how supportive and comfortable they are. the memory foam inners actually mold to the shape of your foot, making them  pleasure to put on in the morning. 

They have changed the design slightly since my last pair so I shan't sing their praises too much until I've given them a good amount of graft. 

Although obviously a massive fan I'm the first to admit the red can be a bit much and is not for everyones taste, so I've switched the laces for black ones, which tones them down a little. 

Back to work...

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.




Stihl MS150T - First Impressions

Latest addition to my collection of saws

Little baby top handle, to be used exclusively for reductions/repollards and general pruning

Here it is next to a 200t to give you an idea of how tiny this thing is

Unfortunately I haven't had chance to use it yet so can't comment on performance, seems to weigh almost nothing and feels very comfortable in the hand, well balanced and proportioned. 

Couple more pics

Got it on a 10'' bar to stop me using it on anything too big! got a few reductions coming up next week so I'll update once I've put it through its paces...

Towa Active Grip Advance - work gloves

I've mentioned before my on going search for the perfect work glove, balancing durability with cost and dexterity, well the search may well be over...

These as the title may suggest are Towa Active grip Advance work gloves and they are brilliant, super grippy (even wet wet), close fitting and with good dexterity they are ideal for climbing.

The rubber grip is imbedded into the fabric and doesn't pull off or get caught up in your hitch like other gloves in the same style, I think I paid about £3.50 or something for these, so they definitely meet the cost criteria. And as for durability...

This is the ware after nearly 2 months work, wearing them for most climbing jobs, at least 4 days a week as well as some ground work. Needless to say I'm pretty impressed, I kept expecting them the start to disintegrate or for more holes to appear, but they just kept on going! 

That said I took these photos about 2 weeks ago and since then they have definitely entered into a downward spiral, but are still wearable, but for £3.50 I think they have done pretty well, especially when compared to more expensive gloves. 

I particularly like the long cuff on these gloves that gives you a bit more protection on those scratchy trees, and also seem to aid in keeping the gloves fitted snugly on the fingers. 

The ultimate test…would I buy them again? Well I'm currently trying to find somewhere that will sell me a box of 24, so I don't have to worry about gloves again for a long time…

Rock Exotica RockO (Non locker)

Got this a few weeks ago after getting fed up with the small conventional style accessory carabinas that didn't seem big enough to hold both of the rings on my cambium saver and still function properly, making it tricky to retrieve from the back of my harness. 

Only a silly little thing but over time annoying enough for me to want to find a solution. 

This fits the bill nicely. Feels solid and well made, no sideways play in the gate and the little groves in the gate definitely aid grip. I'm a big fan of the oval carabina, they just seem to make much more sense to me, any one else agree? 

Felco Secateurs Model 4 Standard - Review

As far as I'm concerned a good pair of secateurs is an essential item in any arborists tool box. I use mine at least a couple of times every week; on small reductions or thins, pruning young trees from the ground, formative pruning on newly planted trees even chopping stuff up smaller to bag up on 'through the house' jobs.

I've had these for about 10 months now and I'm pretty pleased with them, there a massive improvement on the pair of cheepo ones I had before.

The model 4 Felcos are a fairly no frills version but do everything you'd expect of them, they will cut up to 1" diameter branches (species depending) They cut clean with very little tearing of bark and splitting of the wood, this obviously increases with the larger branches/twigs. With smaller finger sized stuff cutting is pretty effortless and the curved blade and anvil prevent the piece from slipping, handy when your at full reach on the tips of a wet slippery Lime!

There is very little to go wrong with these secateurs, they've suffered a reasonable amount of abuse in the time I've been using them, been dropped plenty of times and have spent a lot of their life kicking around in the bottom of my climbing bag. They are showing very few signs of ware and the edge is just as keen as the day I brought them. At around the £30 mark they are a bit of an investment compared to a £5 blackspur pair, but assuming you don't loose them they should last 10 times as long. 

To be honest I don't use them quite as much as I should, often making do with my Silky for small diameter cuts that it really isn't suitable for. Having a pair of secateurs on you just gives you that increased level of accuracy and ability to leave some very tidy finishing cuts. 

I find the only down side to these is that they don't have any means of attaching a lanyard of any description which can be a bit of pain when in the tree. I've managed to solve this when I was given an old leather Felco holster that holds them nice and snug and has a fairly solid clip for attaching them to my harness with 

All in all pretty pleased with them and would recommend them to anyone looking to invest in a quality pair of secateurs. I would also recommend anyone starting out in Arb, looking to improve on their reductions to try taking a pair up and seeing if you find it any easier/notice a difference in quality.