An Idiot's guide to Ancient Woodland management

[huskykev]

Yup.
 
I can only imagine what the horses are saying to each other!

Neigh way am I pulling that! [emoji16][emoji16]

[Bolt]

1 hour ago, huskykev said:

 

Neigh way am I pulling that!

 

Bit unnecessary to Tack yer horsey puns onto this thread.

 

Could you not Saddle a less interesting subject up with them?

 

 

 

 

[huskykev]

1 minute ago, Bolt said:

Bit unnecessary to Tack yer horsey puns onto this thread.

 

Could you not Saddle a less interesting subject up with them?

 

 

 

 

My apologies, it was the best I could come up with on the hoof! 

[Bolt]

1 hour ago, huskykev said:

 

Neigh way am I pulling that!

 

The other horse replied:

 

”Whinny hitched us up to this, I thought he was kidding”.

[the village idiot]

13 minutes ago, Bolt said:

Could you not Saddle a less interesting subject up with them?

 

11 minutes ago, huskykev said:

My apologies, it was the best I could come up with on the hoof!

 

Whoa there you guys. You certainly are foal of it this afternoon.

 

I need to addressage  the issue of these puns. You're de-railing the thread at a canter.

[Bolt]

8 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

 

 

Whoa there you guys. You certainly are foal of it this afternoon.

 

I need to addressage  the issue of these puns. You're de-railing the thread at a canter.

Sorry.

 

I’ll stop.

 

 

Please go ahead and get the subject back onto a stable footing.

[huskykev]

No more horsing about, I promise! [emoji16][emoji16]

[the village idiot]

Good. 

 

Now that I've cracked the whip and the going's good I can get on with writing the next winning post.

[Bolt]

7 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

Good. 

 

Now that I've cracked the whip and the going's good I can get on with writing the next winning post.

Yep.  Tote the next one up.

[the village idiot]

CHAINSAWS.

 

 

 

Far and away the most necessary weapon in the woodland manager's arsenal is the chainsaw. It would be impossible to be viable at what we do without one (or even better, several).

 

There is a small band of woodland managers who are attempting to go back to the 'old ways', only using hand tools. I have no desire to join this club. My desire is to see much more woodland under active management and this requires engines.

 

Whilst it must be lovely working in the woods with only the sound of a ringing axe and birdsong in your ears I can see no viable future in forestry without powered cutting machines. Chainsaws are horrible noisy things but an absolute must if your aim is to make a significant difference.

 

Pretty much every aspect of our operations utilises a chainsaw (maybe not the paperwork, although occasionally I have been tempted!). Practical woodland management is largely concerned with cutting wood into smaller and smaller pieces. This is what chainsaws are built for and they are very good at it.

 

We don't find that we have to use huge saws. Most of my time is spent on a 50cc saw with a 15'' bar. Steve prefers a 60cc saw which has a little more power but starts to get heavy after a while. A 50-60cc saw with a 15'-18'' bar is more than capable of felling, snedding and crosscutting pretty much any small to medium sized stem, plus you can wield it all day. If you find you have a large amount of monster trees then you would benefit from a bigger saw with a longer bar.

 

I won't go into the mechanics of making chainsaw cuts. Most of you will be all too familiar with this. It is very important to have the relevant training for any scenario's you are likely to encounter. This is as much to protect you from the tree as from the saw. Most injuries sustained in the woodland are from blunt trauma rather than chainsaw cuts.

 

Trees, whether standing or on the ground are subject to a multitude of different tensions and compressions which can release violently when cut. Always position yourself out of harms way. You get much better at judging tensions and compressions with experience. In the early days be prepared for getting your saw stuck a lot. A second saw is highly advisable to get you out of trouble.

 

In a well trained pair of hands, being controlled by a brain that is focussed, a chainsaw should not do you any harm. The speed with which they cut actually means that you are oftentimes safer than if you were using non powered tools to fell a tree. It can't be stressed enough though that concentration and adequate training are key. Things can, and will go wrong in the blink of an eye and you always need to make sure that you are positioned in such a way as to avoid coming to harm. Always wear your protective equipment as very occasionally accidental saw to body contact is unavoidable.

 

Chainsaws have two stroke engines. This means that they run on petrol with an oil additive to lubricate the engine. We have recently switched over to alkylate fuel. This is a cleaner burning derivative of standard petrol production. It is reportedly better for the saw, your lungs and the environment but is considerably more expensive than standard unleaded. Battery powered saws are getting better but are not yet good enough to get you through a heavy day in the forest.

 

A chainsaw also uses oil to lubricate the cutting bar. This oil ends up being liberally sprayed around your work area. As we are in a sensitive habitat we use a vegetable based oil which is fully biodegradable.

 

There is truly huge reservoir of information on chainsaws on this forum so I'll leave my introduction to them at that, suffice to say that if you are ever contemplating setting up as an active woodland manager, get one!