Where are all the hand cutters?

[smithers1603]

Whats an hand cutter?...

 

I'm presuming its manual felling rather than the harvester doing all the work

[Stubby]

Whats an hand cutter?...

 

Forestry hand cutter . Used to fell everything by hand in the old ( my ) days . Now most stuff is felled by harvesters leaving hand cutters on steep banks ( were harvester cant get ) or felling over sized in front of harvester , first thinnings , re spacing and general snot clearance. Most had cutters have got shot backs and knees .

[TheHungrySquirrel]

Most had cutters have got shot backs and knees .

 

 

Soooo true 😒

[Mick Dempsey]

i am a hand cutter but with old ticket no one is interested been trying to get work as hand cutter around here and no one wants me.

where are you based.

 

Wiltshire...Devon not a million miles away.

[Vespasian]

Forestry hand cutter . Used to fell everything by hand in the old ( my ) days . Now most stuff is felled by harvesters leaving hand cutters on steep banks ( were harvester cant get ) or felling over sized in front of harvester , first thinnings , re spacing and general snot clearance. Most had cutters have got shot backs and knees .

 

Oh I see..

[codlasher]

I'm the same as chipper080. I have the old blue book quals. The one we were all, at the time, promised would last a life-time and we would never have to do again....EVER. Bollo*s! Grrrr

Yes knackered knees, stolen big saws which have never been replaced and too far now from the trees.

 

I think the technical word for taking the buttresses off prior to the harvester is called 'legging in'.

Yours codlasher.

Edited November 30, 2016 by codlasher
extra info

[Mark Bolam]

A reassessment to bring tickets up to date wouldn't cost much more than you'd earn in a days cutting, if you can cut.

Just saying.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

[chipper080]

i think that having years of experience using a chainsaw is more important then a piece of paper or plastic it is like riding a bike you never forget.

But with the rules and regs of lovely brussells (not in my book they aren't) the ones like me have to take more courses (refreshers) to learn what we already know and this is just my opinion.

sorry if i upset anyone.

mike

[agrimog]

the real hand cutters are all getting old now, and a lot wiser, let the youngsters try working in the big sitka plantations, knees that dont work, back totally shot, and shoulders and forearms like popeye........yet to meet a "faller" trained in the last 10 years that can last a week in the big stuff, where did all the wimps come from

[Timber Man]

Its actually getting to the point where its actually not a job any longer, unless that is you want to cut timber that is too small , edge trees that are too big and rough or on ground that is inaccessible for the harvester, cutting for the skyline .

A lot of this work apart from skyline cutting amounts to the odd week here and there, involves a lot of travelling , lodging out, and tbh theres a mentality that runs through the trade where the contractors decide what a faller is worth on a day rate.

When I first started good fallers were highly regarded by timber merchants,piece rates were in place , a good living could be earned, particularly on big hardwood , and it wasn't uncommon to be falling on sites for 6-12 month at a time, fell and hand burn.

Fallers nowadays are very much an accessory to an over financed contractor who is competing with another over financed contractor, very few of them seem to factor in there will be x days of cutting oversize/edge trees on a site, consequently the rest of the site has to absorb the cost of the faller, hence the culture of trying to screw day rates down .

If a job was advertised on the above I doubt there would be many applicants.