Starting out in forestry

[John Shutler]

Not sure if your suited to that line of work jack. You’d given up on it before you’d even started and by the sounds of it had a downer on the job before you even got going 

 

i hear McDonald’s is hiring 

[John Shutler]

Actually I feel like I should expand on my previous post

I once approached a guy who owned a tree company through a friend of a friend about some work. I’d not long left the company I had been working for and was looking for the next step in my climbing career 

he told me to come in the next Sunday morning at 8am, I duly arrived and was told I was plotting on shrubs in the Polly tunnel. 10l into 15l pots. I did that for 6 or 7 hours until we went grass cutting at the local college. We were there for a good few hours and I didn’t get home till nearly 8. Obviously proved my worth and started on for him the next day. Ended up in the end doing most of his quoting and bought his chipper off him as I went out on my own and he was winding down. Still got some of his customers 12/13 years later on

take from that what you will 

 

[Rough Hewn]

They are being gentle on you Jack.
Forestry is as harsh as it gets in arb work.
Cutting to spec is an art form. Takes a lot of practice.
Takes 3-6 months of taking shit and making mistakes before you really are able to earn at hand cutting.
Takes a few months for your body to adapt too.
Good luck
[emoji106]

[Stubby]

37 minutes ago, Jack.P said:

Today went ok on the job -bit cold to start with but warmed up around midday 

It wasn't very hard work but I'm not sure if it's for me so haven't decided if I'm going back in tomorrow but I'm allowed to go straight into processing tomorrow .

It was surprising how much good useable wood with enough length goes into chip pile I guess it all comes down to buyers spec but a waste of money anyway.

Main talk with the boys all day is footy so pretty boring work bunch really 

You got to stick at a bit longer . The chip is not a waste of money , it all has value . If you quit now you may regret it in a while particularly as he is gonna give you some time on the saw . Your back will ache ,your for arms and shoulders will  too and if you do stick at it your whole body will be fucked it 10 or 12 yours time ?

[spuddog0507]

1 hour ago, Jack.P said:

Today went ok on the job -bit cold to start with but warmed up around midday 

It wasn't very hard work but I'm not sure if it's for me so haven't decided if I'm going back in tomorrow but I'm allowed to go straight into processing tomorrow .

It was surprising how much good useable wood with enough length goes into chip pile I guess it all comes down to buyers spec but a waste of money anyway.

Main talk with the boys all day is footy so pretty boring work bunch really 

Go back and give it a go for a day or 2 and see how you get on, open doors in to forestry work dont come a long that often and as for the football chat, well i am with you on that one can you not get them talking about the womens world netball championships, a lot more interesting than football,,

[aspenarb]

1 hour ago, Jack.P said:

Today went ok on the job -bit cold to start with but warmed up around midday 

It wasn't very hard work but I'm not sure if it's for me so haven't decided if I'm going back in tomorrow but I'm allowed to go straight into processing tomorrow .

It was surprising how much good useable wood with enough length goes into chip pile I guess it all comes down to buyers spec but a waste of money anyway.

Main talk with the boys all day is footy so pretty boring work bunch really 

 

Your loss Jack, you will never learn to play the banjo.

 

Bob

[Stubby]

1 minute ago, aspenarb said:

 

Your loss Jack, you will never learn to play the banjo.

 

Bob

Squeal piggy , squeal ....

[kernowstu]

Go and buy a lottery ticket bud and hope it's a winner,because I don't think forestry is for you.Good luck with what ever comes along.

[Khriss]

My fault - I did not mention Forestry is boring ( hence utility arb then proper tree surgery then Arb tech  ) K

[Spruce Pirate]

2 hours ago, Rough Hewn said:

They are being gentle on you Jack.
Forestry is as harsh as it gets in arb work.
 

I'll be less gentle:

 

Forestry is brutal, your back will hurt, your hands will hurt, your knees will hurt, you'll be too cold, too wet, to hot, you'll get scratched, cut and bitten.  You need a lot of knowledge on specs, trees and treatments, you'll have unreasonable people making unreasonable demands of you.  The money is often not great, sometimes still on piece work so you really have to go to make your wage.  If you do it for long enough you or someone you work with / have worked with is almost certain to have a fairly serious accident and you have to deal with that.  It is certainly not for everyone.

 

I have folk looking for work from me on a fairly regular basis, they all have to pass a few subtle tests to get a chance - not that I think I'm special and like putting people to the test, but it's a waste of both our times to have someone who thinks that commercial forestry is going to be all swanning about a wood like Winnie the Pooh looking at butterflies and bluebells (you can of course find ways of doing this if it is your thing, either recreationally or professionally).  New starts always get the crappy, repetitive, monotonous jobs (stacking, banksman, re-spacing, clearing ditches, the list is practically endless!) - if you can cope with that you're worth developing, it's normally an excellent way of learning the whole job from the bottom up, it also makes most people far better at doing jobs further up the chain as they have a decent understanding of the work and a certain empathy with anyone who you may later be asked to look after / supervise.

 

If after a day you've decided it isn't for you then it probably isn't.  If you decide to go back then take the time to think about the job and ask questions.  How much is the chip actually worth?  How much will be chip produced?  What other markets are available for that size and species of timber in the volume it will be produced in?  I'd be very surprised if it turned out to be a waste of money.

 

If you've got this far I'd stick with it, you never know you might be one of the perverse bunch of people who actually enjoy forestry work.  If you don't you've only lost a week or so out of your life, shame to give up after the first day though.