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ERWIN PHILLIPS TREE SURGEON

 

Update this is an old blog from 2007

 

Erwin still does logs see below but is mostly engaged on Forestry Contracting with his v exy mulching machines

 

 

Finding a Tree Surgeon...

 

... is not difficult. In fact the dodgy ones who appear on TV in programmes like Rogue Trader find you. You are minding your own business when the door bell rings and a bloke with a white flat back Transit says he was just passing and he noticed that your wife's bush needs a good trim.

 

Tempting though it is to let him tidy it up with a nicked chainsaw for £100 cash you'd be wiser to seek out a skilled and reasonably priced bloke like Erwin.

 

I met Erwin's Dad...

 

... John first, as soon as I started doing the wood in early 1999. John had some London Plane to sell me. Being a townie and knowing even less about wood than I do now I had to take his word for it that it was a good bit of timber.

 

He was right, it was beautiful - some of the best timber I've had. Sadly John died the next year and although Erwin has come up with many great trees including Walnut , Beech and Cherry he hasn't got me any more Plane. I've chewed his ear about it and he's on the look out. I didn't realise until recently that Erwin had worked with my Dad and planted quite a few trees in the new bit of the wood in 1985.

 

The first wood ...

 

... Erwin got me was a lorry load of Oak from a site in Basingstoke that was being cleared for building. When I went to see it he was 60 foot up up a tree doing his thing. For quite a big bloke he's pretty nimble up the trees.

 

If I don't hear from him ringing about a little gem he's felled I'll usually see him hurtling along in his Landrover or Unimog with a trailer loaded with firewood or his monster stump grinder on the back - I wave, then drive into the kerb to avoid being rammed!

 

Erwin below putting about 6 times more on his trailer I have have the bottle for on mine

 

Erwin does all the usual tree stuff...

 

... and has some pretty good toys. He's now got a timber trailer so I'm expecting a few more of the little gems he has supplied me as in the past big stuff has had to be cut up for firewood as it was too heavy to handle. The Wellingtonia he got me in the summer of 2010 was a monster.

 

You want a proper tree surgeon...

 

... when you have a big tree that needs felling and if a cowboy cocks it up it could land on your house. Admittedly it's not so bad if it lands on your neighbours house or a passer by, but the ensuing legal problems suggest a more prudent approach and using a professional, with a bit of public liability cover.

 

I've badly felled a tree or two in the woods where it doesn't matter where it lands but reducing the big buggers and dropping the trunks in a tight space is a job for someone who knows what they are doing.

 

Pictured below from the Old Barn Grange Blog- a bit of Erwin's handiwork in a very tight space.

One of his most impressive...

 

... bits of kit is his stump grinder- it ought to be as it cost more than my business, stock and machinery. He also has a new 9" chipper and a go anywhere, pull anything Unimog. I'm not jealous I'd only kill myself trying to use them.

 

Pictures below is Erwin at the helm of his stump grinder which is available for hire for stumps, castrations or digging holes in the neighbour you don't like 's lawn.

 

Probably pretty good at trimming your toenails too !

In the past couple of years...

 

... the price of firewood has gone through the roof. One of the causes is that during the summer of 2008 when Oil prices hit 150 dollars a barrel many people bought and installed log burning stoves to save on heating oil. Consequently demand for oil went down and there was a shortage of logs!

 

Erwin has persistently been one the cheapest suppliers of logs. He has a good log processor and is adapting his Landy back to get an additional half load on. During the snow at the start of 2010 Breakfast TV did a feature on Erwin as 'one firm who like the cold '... smiling through a foot of snow he stated:

 

" I'm almost at full capacity ".

 

His 2020winter price for a load is £115 for a 1.5 metre load - good value. Don't leave it 'till it gets very cold to order.

 

Phone him on 01264 737655 or email me delivery address etc and I'll forward.

 

I like to take pictures...

 

... on bright sunny days, it brings the colours out and creates an impression of a good place to be. Of course often the work of a tree surgeon is just plain graft. Stones blunting the saws, other breakages and regularly pouring rain.

 

It does help when you have a decent chipper and somewhere for the chips to go. Erwin's Unimog not only looks the part but is very practical too.

 

Peeing with rain but the job's almost done.. all he needs now is to get paid.

 

The best recommendations are always...

 

... from satisfied customers and every time I've collected a tree form an Erwin job the customer is glowing with praise for the excellent job he has done, whether it is posh places like Farleigh School or posh blokes like John the Magistrate, they are all glad they chose him.

 

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