Chainsaw trousers earnt their money

[RichieR]

Hi Martin. Go and do the course. It'll teach you so much so when you get a hung up tree you know exactly how to handle it, and besides its a great few days. You have used your head with the PPE now learn how to deal with any scenario

[growforest]

Do the course; might save you being a statistic, or a newspaper story. We were shown horrific A and E pictures of saw incidents when I did mine, and it still plays through my head whenever I pick up the saw. You can be too cautious, but do the basic training.

[Tilio-acerion]

PPE Chainsaw class (eg 1, 2 etc) only correlates to the level of protection they offer and nothing says you should wear class whatever to match the chainspeed your saw runs at. I run saws at up to 35m/s and there are no Classes of PPE that match that. Correct and safe technique acquired from appropriate and adequate training and experience is what will keep you safe, PPE is the last line and even then will only reduce the consequences of an accident not eliminate the risk entirely.

[sandspider]

On this note, what courses are available and appropriate for a home saw user? I cut a few logs for personal wood burner use, might eventually start felling the odd small tree if I can. But I use a saw four or five times a year. I have PPE, and would be interested in some training. However, as I'm never going to use a saw commercially, I don't have hundreds of pounds for CS31 etc. Perhaps a LANTRA course? Or are there any cheap basic non commercial courses available?

[Mat]

On this note, what courses are available and appropriate for a home saw user? I cut a few logs for personal wood burner use, might eventually start felling the odd small tree if I can. But I use a saw four or five times a year. I have PPE, and would be interested in some training. However, as I'm never going to use a saw commercially, I don't have hundreds of pounds for CS31 etc. Perhaps a LANTRA course? Or are there any cheap basic non commercial courses available?

 

Lantra do probably the most basic felling course.

 

Although it is targeted at trees upto 200mm, cuts like a basic felling cut and split level cut can be 'scaled up' for doing larger trees.

 

The link is here: Lantra Awards | Training Course | Chainsaw | Tree Felling Techniques | Basic

 

Failing that, you can do a 'normal' maintenance crosscutting and felling course, but just not bother with applying for NPTC assessment, which would be totally superfluous for using a chainsaw non-commercially.

[sandspider]

Thank you Mat, that sounds about right. I'm finding it quite hard to find any price information though! Will drill a bit deeper. I assume a LANTRA course would still be cheaper than CS30 without the actual assessment?

[Mat]

Couldn't say on prices at all.... long time since I was involved in that side of the industry.

 

Although rather out of your area, these people do 'em: Lynher Training | Basic Maintenance, Cross Cutting & Felling to 200mm/8″ diameter at felling height (Lantra Awards)

they are located just over the Cornish frontier.

 

Probably the easiest / quickest way of getting prices to compare the two is just to ring them (even if you end up using a closer training provider).

[Logsnstuff]

Might get a bit of flack here but he doesn't need them, yes they might give him a bit knowledge but he's not using a chainsaw for work so it makes no odds if he has it nptcs or not

 

That's the total stupidity of government that a part time user with little experience doesn't need training but if you use a saw day in day out you have to get training and refresher courses why don't they just say pay this tax and save everyone the hassle. did my training at 10/11 yr old just with steel toe cap boots n jeans in the school holidays you would probably get arrested for it now.

[sandspider]

Couldn't say on prices at all.... long time since I was involved in that side of the industry.

 

Although rather out of your area, these people do 'em: Lynher Training | Basic Maintenance, Cross Cutting & Felling to 200mm/8″ diameter at felling height (Lantra Awards)

they are located just over the Cornish frontier.

 

Probably the easiest / quickest way of getting prices to compare the two is just to ring them (even if you end up using a closer training provider).

 

Cheers Mat. Will investigate.

[Martin Jenkins]

The Lantra course when I checked it out was about £400.

 

On my list...