scottythepinetree

Good decision mate. Cranes cost £££ at least here anyway. Best to maximise it's productivity. Trying to do it yourself the first time is an expensive way to learn.

Same here. Even have an extra long one for blocking down stems so I can still hit the ground in one go in a hurry if needed.

What's to consider? Get your licence sorted. Meaningful employment in Arb is a pipedream without one.

Use a silky. Don't take off anything bigger than your thumb. Try to leave even gaps, and be gentle. Trees that are thinned too heavily are prone to branch failure. A photo of the tree would be help a lot. And above all avoid lions tailing.

How'd you do it in the end? Looks from the picture that you could anchor and rig off the tree on the left.

Could just take the rakers off the first one all together, whap it back on the saw, jobs a good un!!

I personally cut the the angle of the gob out first as it helps getting the aim right easier. However, I have worked with a few lads who do it the other way perfectly well. Practice makes perfect etc. That said I have seen many more who do it this way get it wrong than get it right and would always recommend cutting the angle first if someone is learning. As for the angle of the gob I think the recommendation is no less than 45 degrees. As far as I can remember from doing my first chainsaw course with Coillte, foresters prefer a shallower angle as it does indeed increase timber yield. Also I would recommend as shallower angle if you are felling over twice guide bar length as it makes the letter box cut a lot easier as more of the body of the chainsaw can fit in the gob allowing you to take out more material. If you need a hand you can PM me and I'll pop over and have a look. Not that far from you as I recall. Parked a tractor in your yard for a couple of nights last year.

You can find yourself out of your depth pretty quickly. Usually when you are up a tree and the client is watching you. Do you take a chance or do you come down and admit you can't do it? Get your tickets and then see if you can get a job grounding for a good climber for a few months. Have worked for someone who went about it the way you are proposing and I learnt more in 6 months working for a lad with 20+ years experience than my old boss knows today after 5 years of trying to figure it out for himself.

What he said!

Thanks for the conversion Hama, will continue to follow this thread with great interest. I agree with Sean here. It would be good to get a bit more detail as to recommendations of further investigations, and also maybe actions that can be taken. With fistulina would you recommend reduction or pollarding especially where targets are a concern? Maybe a bit more detail regarding what point it is considered to be "advanced" etc. As it is, it is still a book I would be very interested in reading.

What you open them with? Tried wordviewer and gibberish comes up.

Take 2: These three English guys are out drinking one night and decide that they want to have a fight. They stagger from pub to pub looking for a likely victim to pick on when they come across a single Irishman in this one bar. "Watch this." Says the first Englishman, heading over toward the guy, "I hear that St Patrick was a shirt lifter." "Really." Says the Irishman, calmly continuing to drink. With that the second English guy decides to join in, "Yeah, and hear he was a pervert too." "Is that so?" the still calm Irishman responds. "I know how to rile this tosser." Says the third Englishman, staggering toward the Irishman, "Hey, did you know St Patrick was really an Englishman?" The Irish guy casually looks up and says, "Yeah, so your mates were telling me."

You asked for it: An Irishman, a Scottishman and an Englishman are all going to be executed by a firing squad. The Englishman is taken out and told to face the wall so he does but just as they're going to shoot him, he shouts "Earthquake!" and the firing squad runs away. Then they bring out the Scottishman and he faces the wall but just as they are going to shoot he shouts "Tidal Wave!" and the firing squad again runs away. The Irishman is brought out and they tell him to face the wall and just as the firing squad is about to shoot, the Irishman shouts, "Fire!" .....oh wait!!

You read it correctly. That is never had a tickle nor any of the lads I work with from LV. Certainly not suggesting being complacent around LV though. Surely direct contact means that the electricity earths through the cutter, and doesn't imply that he was standing in a tree at the time. Would be interested to see a case that implicitly states that a worker was killed by LV earthing through timber as our Network Operators own guidelines state that voltage must exceed 1000v to earth through a tree. They do forbid work in heavy rain though. Have had a tickle while removing ivy from a 20kv pole. Ivy was in contact with an insulated part of the line in that situation. More a belt than a tickle.

Less of the Oirish slagging Gus. Got one in the family soon enough!!

But you can roll it in glitter!!

Think it's absolute tosh about LV (240v) earthing through a tree. Possibly track on a really wet day. And I mean really wet. Been cutting LV day in day out for 4 years. Regardless of species, sap etc. never so much as a tickle. Might not be best practice, and for the sake of any legal implications to Mr. Bullman I'm not suggesting anyone go out and try it, but this has been my experience and the experience of every single lad I've worked with during that time.

Ditto the above. Show you are keen to drag branches, feed the chipper, sweeping up, using the blower (not your phone lol). Do all of the crappy mundane jobs to the best of your ability or better. Never complain. Show that you know that working hard and moving a job along as a team doing anything you can see that needs to be done before you are asked can mean the difference between making a profit on a job or breaking even (or worse). Know that your employer has to be competitive with his pricing to win jobs, and that he can do this better if his whole team (including the lowly branch dragger) is firing on all cylinders at all times. Not many employers are going to let you up a tree with a chainsaw straight out of college right away. Regardless of "qualifications". They want to see your work ethic, and general common sense first. That said, don't go in thinking dragging branches is a means to an end as this can lead to impatience, which in turn can lead to a poor attitude. Dragging branches will be your job, so be the best branch dragger in the company. And be happy doing it. By doing this you will convince your boss you could have potential in other more demanding areas. It's a hard industry to get a start at and competition can be pretty fierce for jobs. Try phoning for some of those jobs anyway, but be honest about your experience as you will be found out in about 5 mins anyway. If there is no place for you ask that they keep your number if anything comes up. Try them all, then try them again in a couple of months if nothing comes up. Best of luck with the hunt. Perseverance is the key.

Love to see what happens when they try to put a good size chunk of gnarled, twiste oak or similar through. My prediction: Buzz, clunk, boom - bearings everywhere!

Best idea I've seen in a long time Hama. Put me down for a copy in whatever format you come up with. Maybe you could get a thread stickied when you start, where we could give you a hand collecting photos of different fungi, cross sections of decay etc. or anything else you may be having trouble locating. Save some of the legwork, and help it along. Have looked for a book like this numerous times in the past without any luck.

If they've already been topped out by a utility company, assuming they got proper clearance then short of reaching up with a pole-saw from the top of the tree how are the networks going to damage you? 230v or 400kv makes no difference if you can't get close enough for it to run a current through you. Don't hit any poles or stays with a falling tree and there won't be a problem.

If there really is no possible chance, and you are 100% confident you won't damage any of the networks don't worry about it. If there is even the slightest doubt in your mind leave it alone. Only you can make that call. If it were me in your shoes I'd probably deck them, take the money and run.

Must have been high tension. Low voltage won't earth through a tree. You were very lucky mate.

Sorry mate. Didn't know you were new to tree work. I retract my previous post. Stay well away. As Rupe says, 3m to the side easy enough. To the side and above is a big difference. 100% confidence from a climber cutting for a few years is a lot different to 100% confidence from a guy only cutting a year or so. True of all tree work, but especially so around power lines. If you aren't 100% sure, Don't do it.

Aah, makes sense! Cheers arborist.