Dilz

just found out machine assisted felling is to be banned by workers safety.....booooo!! !

Yeah it's nicer with the forwarder - except the fowarder is clearing behind the machine, which meant that it was 1km away and on the other side of the tracks. The people who make up the rules for the project are a bit nuts. one of the rules is that a machine has to be able to take the tree in a single cut. They come out and check the stumps. This driver has been warned about it before. Also the live lines make people cautious. It costs a lot of money as you have to pay up until all the trains are back on schedule and for the freight trains thats a lot! as it delays delivery, mucks up shipping, we a are talking serious money, and if the driver hasnt followed the project safety rules, well insurances dont like that. Also you cock up, you put the other 30 - 50 guys working on the stretch out of work for a month whilst there is an investigation, also the driver is banned from going near a machine for a given time. (usually 2 months) and it doesn't look good on the CV. same happens if you are a cutter of climber, so people er on the side of caution - and its by the hour and not by volume, so there is no excuse - oh and another thing is that forest trees cant be left as stand alone for more than 8 hours, so we cant leave them till the forwarder catches up. The harvesters do make me a little nervous, a lot is down to the driver. They usually have the blade on auto. so when they hit the button, it goes out full - one driver nearly killed my mate by hitting the button by mistake, dropped a rather large spruce less than one meter past his head...some of them area bit ADHD...cant sit still.

I find it depends on the tree and the cliomber - some take downs, especially if there is a lot of branch walking involved or a dense crown then spikes get in the way and there is the risk of gaffing your ropes. I on occasion use my spikes to tget into the tree and then take em off and hang them on a branch ready to put on for chogging down. seen blokes take down big trees with out gaffs and do it well. each to their own, as long as the job gets done safe and at a reasonable pace.

Who needs Wedges??? (note i am already aware that my thumb is in the wrong place and that my saw could be sharper for the cut and all the other little things that every one will point out ) ENJOY!

mind you saying that, for cs 40 and 41 i had no official training, just got put in for the test.....good job i could tie knots....

also ... i've been jammy and not paid for any of my cs tickets, got 30, 31, 40 41 and a shed load of others that cost me nothing.... well not in money but certainly in low wages, blood sweat and long hard days. If you are lucky you may find an employer willing to put you through, though be prepared to sign to a commitment of a year or two or more, so make sure you like where you are at

depends where you want to head, tickets are usually good things to get, i know folks who can dismantle who cant prune at all, and i mean not for toffee, one lad i know hacked a massive limb half way out on a lime tree for a thin....but he could dismantle, alright he broke lots of stuff when doing it....hang on, na he was just pants at the job....if you can afford em, do em.... If you want to go for employment, it helps, if it helps build your skills its good, if you are self employed as a subby, well your skills need to be top so it could help, if you are chasing after contracts outside private gardens its good.

the knees pads do stand out a bit, but give the effect on the knees similar to wearing say the stretch air class 2 trousers, and its because the trousers are so thin that they stick out so much, also got zip vents and a few handy pockets, and i dont need belt or braces due to the velcro side adjustment, which makes them more comfy in the harness, for summer climbing with at least some chain saw protection i highly recommend them, gonna see how cold it has to get here before i switch back to the stretch air class 2 all round protection - they are like wearing a duvet around each leg, and about as moveable.....

the track is Chase & Status-Can't Get Enough - The there trousers are the Husky technical extreme, only front protection but they are comfy and light and piss on the x-fit imop, and orange is my faivouret colour, had em a few months and unlike sthil x-fit, the crotch aint ripped out on em, has extra padding in the knees which is handy, I need to get a pic up of me in my full get up - orange trousers, orange hi vis, helmet, rope, flip line, spike, specs. I'm like a tango advert gone wrong. looking forward to the 540T so i can have me an orange climbing saw!

The reason for not felling is in the description on you tube. The bloke refused to let us ground fell any of his trees, and there was an area of his garden he didn't want anything landing on. If you look close you might be able to see where the grass changes from rough to lawn. the top i took fits just inside this area.

there should be a law saying we can feed scum like this through the chipper!

Where in Sweden are you?

Wrench. its easy to set up, feels weird at first but works, foot ascender and hand jammer. Thats all you need really. I use the wrench to ascend, then swap back to DRT once in the crown, I got the removable pin, so it take a less than a minute to sort out.

Almost forgot i had me Gorpro. Thought i'd get it out and have a play. Unfortunately there wasnt that much interesting in the way of work last week, so just put together a little vid of one of the spruces we had to take down. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrq1JkZkSc8]Yet Another Spruce - YouTube[/ame]

what mini rocket stoves????

Sweden is cool but very different from the UK arb scene in some ways good in other bad. The cities are the best bet for work, Mainly Stockholm and Gothenburg not much in the way in Malmo in the south. Stockholm companies are often on the look out for skilled blokes through out the the year but in winter the work can die off a bit or you end up shiffting snow all day. Best advice is get out there and get stuck in.

first day on the New england tachyon, like the colour, very visable, worked well when footlocking, not too much bounce when pulling back up which is something that i thought had put me off New england ropes for life. Had to switch to 8mm op instead of my preferred 10mm, but slef tended really well with a super slick VT and also worked once high enough when using a more secure VT (one that doesnt need caressing to make it grab half the time) Only gripe about it is, i grazed it with me flamming silky!!! first time ever i've done that, now it just looks like the rest of my ropes that have been gaffed and caught on a saw tooth when the saw has been hanging.......

the 346 xp with 15" is the bomb, though the 550xp is supposed to be better, but i like to wait a wile before buying just out saws so they can sort out the initial teething problems (which according to manufacturers at both stihl and husky never ever happen!) as for stihl if you can get one the 361 is bomber (i dilsike very much the 362) and the old 260 is good but have also heard good things about the new one. But if i had the cash in my hand it would still be a 346 xp or the 550 if i was feeling daring (and seeing as i already have a 346 it would be the 550) - by the way the i use to have 260 as my climbing saw, ground saw logging saw (painfully slow on the big stuff) and have used the 346 in similar fashion when my 20T died half way up a tree. So i think they are the best general purpose saw, but having a properly sharp chain will make all the difference, i've out cut a 440s with my 346 before now that where supposedly sharp....

when working on the rail here in sweden, at first they wanted us to wear type c, jackets, plus fore arm protectors........... if we did that we would all die of heat stroke in the summer before we got half way up a tree. Type A's offer less protection, but heat stroke is a high risk, people go strange in the head when they over heat. ill stick to my husky technical extremes that are very light, thin and cool, whilst the temperature is up but switch to type C's and then type c's class 2 as the winter goes on.

Hello all, I'm on the look out for climbers in the Skane region of Sweden, preferably near to the city of Malmö for occasional work as a subby. Sorry guys cant bring people over yet as I am just setting up working for private clients in this area. Any one who is about please send me a pm or email [email protected]

yup genetics, like apple varieties, you cant grow em by seed but by cuttings.

one problem i have is that as youth a wasted a lot of time, and it was tree work that sorted me out, and as such, trees is what i know and do. Ive never been to uni, though it was kind of on the cards until they trebbled the prices (i had saved enough to cover my fees and such for a 3 year course and now it wont cover 1) and this has its problems as there are no guarantees youll get a job after a degree, and that is added to by being older and in some eyes over experienced and over qualified for post graduate entry level jobs, the other problem is - the course i really want to study is Forestry, ecology and conservation, which i know i would excel but also know that the job area is rather limited, I find that careers advice is not very helpful with the issue of retraining when older. especially when its hard to know exactly what to go in for. Also being self employed and such the idea of going back to work for some one else doesnt appeal so much. They say once you work for yourself you cant work for anybody else. Ive kind of had in my mind that im not going to climb forever...and i think i need to act now to make an easier transition, looking at open University, short trade skill courses, etc, i dont think i will ever be completely away from tree work but maybe develop it as more a side line with the surveying etc, whilst setting up another business in another less physically demanding / damaging environment, but its hard because being a tree climber is either the worst job in the world or its the best thing to be doing EVER! and its the good days i find out weigh the bad ones by a lot!

at the end of May i celebrate 10years of tree bashing, in august im 30......(though includes a couple of years on the ground) i agree techniques begins to out place brute force

those who can do, those who cant consult, maybe time to buy a rubber mallet....