Henk

Sheffield Ranger Service are running a five day CS30/31 basic chainsaw course in the New Year starting Monday February 6th 2012. Cost is £600.00 + VAT and includes a full NPTC assessment the following week. We can arrange hire of PPE and equipment. We have a 100% pass record and have been a Lantra approved centre for 3 years.

Please contact me via Arbtalk for further details.

Henk

Ranger and

Lantra Instructor SHEA 09

Amazing price, don't know how you do it to be honest. I'm sure you will have many punters lining up for an informative course. Might be worth producing a sheet on legal stuff (TPO, SSSI, Countryside and Wildlife act, PUWER etc, dynamic risk assessment etc) boring.... cover your back

H

Very nice pieces.

Just finished making this out of Yew and some old crates made from Blue Mahoe all the way from Jamaica.

H

tried it with a 6lb Ellwel felling axe I restored on an old rotten turkey oak, weirdly satisfying if incredibly daft thing to do....shades of Kirk Douglas in The Vikings....must keep taking the tablets

Gransfors is worth every penny

A shire horse

They are ok if you have slim hands, but the protection on the left glove is a bit bulky and the palm material slimes up pretty quick if you have to shift a lot of wet brash.

I really liked my pair of Rockwell gloves before the bloody mice in my workshop decided to make a nest from the ballistic material ....

If you had bothered to reference my publications, or replied more positively to my offer of help I would have given you the help you needed. You see I have actually published over 30 papers in first rate scientific journals and I did not pay 50p for my Ph.D.

We charge £630 (+vat) for CS30/31, £500 (+vat) for CS32 including NPTC test and £300 for refresher courses.

H

I'd say borrow one to do your ticket, have a go with Stihl (260, tho' I prefer the old 240) or Husky (346 is nice, 357 XPG - heated grips...nice) or whatever is going before shelling out for a saw you may hate once you've progressed.

Give the British Museum of Natural History a ring or better still Birkbeck college - they might let you register for a Masters or Ph.D. without breaking the bank. What you really need is a decent supervisor. Difficult to advise on this (it is 30 years since I did my Ph.D.). You can pick up decent 'scopes easily (look for Russian optics/ex school) - try eBay. Watkins and Doncaster are good for slides/coverslips etc.

The other alternative to registering for a degree is to publish your findings and submit a bunch of inter-related papers as a thesis. They can't argue with that (its what I did) and is indeed the proof of the pudding.

Yes, but I don't recommend it - a day's or two's brush up would help you (particularly with take down/use of winch). You can contact me on [email protected] - I am running a CS30/31 in early december with assessment the following week at Ringing Low (South Sheffield) on softwood, you could re-assess with our other candidates. I'm sure we could help you. Cheers H

steady as she goes mate, I had my worst near miss days after passing mine some years ago - rotten sycamore decided to sit back then fall back into my 'safe' zone, good job I can run like stink

Try this lot:

NewSawChains.Co.Uk

very quick service and bar/chain matching software. 18" is way too long for your poor MS 180 mate - go for 13" - better power delivery to cutters. CS30 will make you more confident and able to avoid rip-off dealers...and patronizing chainsaw operators x H

Its a Syrphid - a kind of fly (A bee has got two pairs of wings, your specimen has one pair) - this one is a bee mimic. Lots of Syrphids or hover flies mimic hymenoptera (wasps and bees). Excellent photo by the way.

Wierd. Danish cut is not in the CS30/31 Lantra syllabus mate. It can be demonstrated, but you only need to know split level, holding cut and straight fell for against the lean, heavy lean and upright trees for CS31. Step cut and 80% back cut can be used on less than 200 mm trees. I would get in touch with Lantra - the new 2010 hand book is available in pdf format.

amazing dog carving in front of the alien.....

My dad (joiner) used to make coffins and guttering out elm back in the old days - it also makes the best mallet heads for green woodworking. So it must be very hard!

Trees in Britain Europe and North America by Roger Phillips published by MacMillan is pretty useful (not as good as his Mushroom book). It has has helpful close-up photographs of foliage, fruiting bodies etc.

Sound - very useful link ta!

You can get a decent spoon carving hook from Attleburgh Accessories (they have a web site). Get a small one - approximately 1.5 to 2 cm in diameter (across the curve), cleave a bit of cherry (about 2.5 to 3 inches in diameter with an axe, billhook or fro draw in a the profile of the spoon you want to carve and just fart about. If youy are right handed you might want to wear an old leather work glove on your left hand to save carving a lump out of it.... Attleburgh also do some books, but I taught myself in an afternoon. A few other tools like a woodworking bench/vice or shave horse and draw knife, rasp, sand paper etc will help - take small shavings repetedly to get the best bowl shape. Making daft things out of twigs is also fun.....

Yes we are a Lantra provider at Sheffield City Council, contact Simon Dore on 0114 2500500, or [email protected] for info and current prices

Try Working Woodlands Trust -c/o Ted Talbot Ecclesall Saw Mill Project, Sheffield (Meersbrook Park switchboard 0114 2500500) - might have good links to interested makers.

Try soft copper wire - used in Bonsai tree training - less chance of damaging the bark