Dean Lofthouse

Haha...nice one..blunt and straight to the point

Learning wrongly.... Which is why they should be taught correctly I have spent the last three days taking out 21 large trees, I made a mental note of whether the cuts made whilst climbing some could have been done one or two handed safely and easily (no targets beneath) On one knarly Oak inparticular (which was being cleaned rather than take down) getting to and work positioning on some of the branches and deadwood to be removed, would have been a lot more dangerous and nigh on impossible, than just reaching out and nipping off one handed...and with the saw being at full arms length and bar 90 degree to forearm, virtually impossible to get injured in the event of kickback. I do find it extremely difficult to believe, that tree all ariel tree work can be carried out efficiently and safely keeping two hands on the saw at all times. I think you would be putting yourself in more danger trying to get out and position yourself for two hand use, ending up going out onto thinner branches and risking footholds snapping, which in turn could result in devastating injuries

I came across one in my wood after finding three people wandering about down by the stream all "purposefully". I asked them what they had lost and they explained

I cut myself shaving again this morning, stung like a bitch, they should ban one handed razors, nearly slashed my throat open

Perhaps we should have another poll on how they cut themselves

If we are to believe the suggestions, that one handing is "extremely" dangerous then a huge proportion of everyone on this forum should be missing an arm, leg or dead.

Accidents with saws are not limited to the use of an top handle. Accidents are normally caused by inexperience, carelessness, stupidity or a combination of all three. Ask anyone that has been cut or nearly cut and they will say they took a risk, cross handed, rushed or didn't pay attention. As for using slings, if you want to turn a 1 hour job into 8 hours and can price a job to do so, go for it. If you need slings then the piece is too heavy to hold anyway Personally I use all techniques including "slings", some from the idiots guide and some I have developed myself, everyone has their own way. Cut and hold does have it's place, imo if you don't do it you have never done a conifer hedge height reduction or you are lying

I have proved this wrong time and time again. There are many on this forum I have subbed to who have been astounded how fast a tree can come down or be trimmed with a combination or mewp and technique

My comment was not limited to you alone. Everyone who comments negatively on one handing, seems to assume it is bad practice and post as such. If we are going on injury statistics, then the silky would be banned tomorrow. We can't account for numpties, there will always be numpties. What I can guarantee is that a huge percentage of tree surgeons one hand, cut and chuck, whatever you like to call it. So you will never stop it happening, simply because it is a very fast and efficient way of getting a tree on the ground or pruning. So if you cant stop it, why not provide training to try and show what senario's are dangerous and what can be made safely, simple request really dont you think ?

I'd agree that sloppy use of any saw leads to accidents. I never one hand my 020 in a sloppy fashion, all my one handing is carried out in a controlled and safe fashion. I have no objection to anyone not wanting to use one hand and even admire their stance in doing all their jobs with two hands, even managing to be competitive with their pricing to boot. But please dont label people who do use one hand as sloppy or cowboys. The saw was designed for one handed use, it is only due to sloppy carefree use of it that the hse has jumped on board and made a load of rules up to LIMIT one handing to a minimum. If no training is given as to how to use the 020 safely, wtf do you expect. People have to learn right and wrong for themselves. But for anyone to label ALL one handing as wrong is in my view, very arrogant

That's exactly why teaching is proposed ?? You shouldn't be in a position to "stand no chance" if a saw kicks back.

Swiftly moving away from the Gay theme.... Going back to loading the mewp....if I'm out full stretch and need to cut a branch, I put on two slings, crab them together and cut between, let the branch dangle then slowly take the weight of the branch whilst keeping an eye on the warning lights in the basket.

Who mentioned taking risks If you roped down every branch of the beech job you would have been the two days....absolute nonesense

I have witnessed the chicken down the chimney method, he took a crate full up and chucked them down one at once. I dont think it would be pc to do it now

You might even have to resort to cut and holding, shock horror

No, they were long spindley ones matt. I ended up having to hold them whilst slewing the mewp back round to a tiny drop zone, which is another practice I do which is frowned upon ( loading the basket ) ...and they were chainsaw cuts yes, so many cuts with a silky would have been knackering and time consuming

It is 18m but I'm stacked out at the mo and south lakes is a long way to tow a mewp with an old defender

Last month I lifted and reduced a Huge beech from the mewp, the mewp was hired because of the numerous targets beneath the tree and the mewps outreach allowed me to set up the mewp outside the canopy drip line. The job took me 1.5 hours Had I not held every single branch and roped them down, the job would have taken all day At £70 per hour my calculations are slightly different to yours, but hey ho

The use of one handing is currently only allowable on reaching out to full extent on tip reductions where balance or positioning would otherwise be an issue. I would like to see holding a branch you are cutting actually taught, not because I think it is good practice, but because is can be carried out safely and it is very very common practice despite people being told it is not good

I find it extremely easy to judge whether a branch will be too big for me to hold I think if you are that bad a judge, perhaps you should get an office job, it would be a much safer enviroment for you......although I have heard those paper cuts hurt like a bitch

I'm sure you can heak a small profit out of being the slowest tree surgeon in the world Matt, by doing everything by "the book" I personally would like to get a decent wage out of the job by getting the job done more quickly and just as safely as you and by beating your quotes by doing it in half the time.

Everything we do is potentially dangerous ! This is the reason I strated the thread, I think "the book" needs a little rewriting

The manufacturer did when he started manufacturing them donkeys years ago

No it isn't ?? Holding a branch is an excellent valuable time saving technique. I'd hardly call that bad practice. I'd say it was only bad practice if it was an incorrect pruning cut that subsequently harmed the tree

All I am saying is, with experience, we all know when it is or is not safe to hold and cut. If we more condone this by including it in our training, instead of labelling "all" one handed use as "bad practice", it would make us all less concious about carrying out a time saving and efficient technique, instead of it being a "frowned upon" technique