Darren187

I would have thought for 1 and 3 you will need public liability insurance, although I'm not user on the level you'll require £1m, £5m or £10m. I do forestry and have to have £5m public liability just to abide by the rules of my contract. As for scenario 2 if it's your own land then it's entirely up to you. I would bet most people will not bother with insurance in this instance. Just consider any hazards ie wires, buildings, livestock that could be harmed as a result of an accident, then again it's up to you whether or not to be insured. In all cases, always have a several forms of regular contact and communication when working with a saw on your own. Always have an escape/rescue routine planned. When working near the public have this info on display in case you hurt yourself and a passer by needs to know what to do (you will have been shown this in your CS31 course). Always use signs to alert of the danger.

I'll try and keep it simple Proteins are foods that contain a good range of amino acids, which rebuild muscle cells. Protein containing foods are measured on their 'biological value', the higher their BV the better. Food-Info.net : Biological Value Fats are more complicated, but this page explains them quite well (even if it says it for women lol, it also applies equally for men too!) Dietary Fat and Cholesterol Carbohydrates (sugars) are even more complicated then fats and proteins. Trying to keep it simple, good/beneficial carbs are pretty much all vegetables, fruits that have or contain bright coloured flesh, and grains. Bad carbs are generally heavily processed foods like cakes, combined chocolates etc... these all take a long time to break down in the digestive system, and once broken down provide very little nutritional value. In general the less processing a carbohydrate food has the better, nutritionally, it is for you. Carbohydrates (EUFIC) It would be very hard, and quite boring though, if you ate all raw and non processed foods all the time! So a little of the not so good foods will not do you any major harm. If you plan on bulking up, and I'll assume you're referring to gaining muscle, then accompanied with a good weight training program, the same 2 parts carbs and 1 part protein still applies, you simply have to consume more calories each day than your body can burn off, so that you can repair and build more muscle fibers. The easiest way to do this is just by adding one or two extra meals to your daily diet on the days you work out! The other more technical way to work out how much protein (carbs and fats) to eat daily is to count calories and use a macro nutrient breakdown, which divides the three main food groups into percentages of your daily calorie total. It's a much more accurate way to measure your daily intake, and the results are often superior to 'just winging it', but it's also quite time consuming. Macronutrient Recommendations Carb, Protein, Fat Calorie Calculator Salt, the RDA (recommended daily allowance) for an adult is around 6 grams, which can be added to foods. If you eat a wide range of foods you will probably get that amount each day anyway, as salt is often added to food during processing.

I wash my hiflex trousers after after three-four solid days use, unless they are clean. I never tumble dry them as is says not to on the label inside. I just lay them flat on a clothes horse either in front of a warm radiator or a few meters away from my wood burner. They are normally dry in a few hours.

Assuming were all over 16 we should be eating around 2500 calories per day from foods containing carbohydrates, proteins and fats (all of which are needed by our bodies daily). If you are doing any kind of manual job then that total can easily go up to 3500+ calories per day, solely to provide yourself with enough energy to complete your tasks. (random related fact, a soldier in physical training will eat around 4500+ calories per day, split over three or more meals). I read though the entire post and didn't see anyone who ate a decent sized portion of protein, if any at all, for breakfast (which is the most important meal of the day). If you eat protein and carbohydrates together (which one post advised not to do!) your body will take longer to digest the food, keeping you feeling fuller for longer (hence the reason for a good breakfast). If you just eat carbohydrates for breakfast your blood sugar levels rise rapidly and then crash soon after (which results in you feeling hungry again) and if you then eat more carbs (chocolate/crisps/sweets etc) you'll just end up feeling the same again until you eat a proper meal. A good rule to stick to is to eat at least one/two parts carbohydrate and one part protein at each meal, and add fats (marg/spreads/oils) sparingly. Make breakfast as big as you can, without over doing it, and then eat every 2-4 hours (or sooner if you need to) throughout your working day. If you don't eat enough and have a lapse in energy during the day, take five minutes out and have something to eat to restore your energy. And if you carry on once your energy levels have dropped you are leaving yourself prone to making mistakes that could result in injury, or worse (especially in this line of work). And not forgetting liquid. We all need to drink plenty during the day too. Hydration is just as important as eating enough food. During the summer, especially if you are working outside, you should drink as often as possible to stop dehydration. Once dehydration sets in, which often starts as a dull headache, your concentration levels drop dramatically, which again leaves you prone to making mistakes. And if you don't get out of the shade and a few pints of water/juice in you you're going to make yourself really sick. On an average day I'll get through 3 liters of water/juice at work, and if its really hot maybe 5+ liters. I always wonder how people get by on what they eat, and seemingly have no trouble at all On a typical day I'll eat between four and six meals. I eat to the above rule 2parts carbohydrate/1part protein per meal, which I'll just make up from proteins like turkey, chicken, beef, quorn, eggs, mackerel or tuna and carbs like green veg, salad veg, baked beans, wholemeal bread, oats, noodles, rice. I do eat more than that but that's off the top of my head. I also abide by the 90/10 rule, 90% healthy and 10% what ever I want, which allows for two or three mindless self indulgence meals each week, ie beer and pizza, fish and chips, burger king etc...

I had bad tennis elbow in my left arm. I had my good and bad days with it over a period of two years. At its worst I was unable to use my arm to lift anything over 2kg, this often lasted days at a time. What was also annoying was it could happen at any time too, but mainly when I moved very heavy items. Long story short. I then broke my left arm and was unable to use it for 11 weeks. I had a wrist cast, and sling which I only took off to sleep. I didn't use my arm at all in that time. When the cast and sling came off my tennis elbow symptoms had completely gone, and apart from a loss of 5 degrees range of motion in my left elbow (from the fracture) I have not suffered since!

This is pretty much what I do with my spare time from August to Feb-March each year, although I mainly work alone. I would love to do it full time but on my own it's just a side line. Although the extra few K a year pays for new ppe/tools, fuel, insurance etc. The other trouble is that an acre of woodland is never the same. You also take end processing into consideration, will you be cutting by hand or with heavy machinery, if the wood is large 10" or larger this will take longer to process than stuff that's <10". And access will always be different, and should possibly be considered first! (no point paying for an acre of wood and then end up losing days/weeks on extraction or even the possibility of not being able to reach the cut wood cause of bad weather!) I do make money but like I say, it's a side line. I have worked for several people in the past, who do this on a larger scale. One packed up a few years ago because he got greedy and lazy. The other guy has made a fair amount of money by keeping his costs low and sticking to a few basic rules (but even this guy has other work during the year, because it's not very profitable at his scale, and again its a seasonal job).

The perfect firewood burns the longest and gives off a good amount of heat As for triangles or squares, I assume you are splitting rounds 8" or larger? From a processing perspective triangles would be easier to process, as cutting to square/rectangular pieces would take extra time (unless you have a log processing plant), and would result in more waste/off cuts possibly? I would have thought that its the size of the triangle that makes all the difference when being burned. And then you have the type of wood and seasoning to also consider. Oddly enough, last week out of curiosity, I did an experiment with samples from my two year old wood stack. I cut and measured three pieces of Oak, Sweet Chestnut and Silver/White Birch in to rounds that measured 3 inches diameter and 10 inches long. I placed all three pieces evenly apart in my wood stove on a bed of embers, at the same time. I then timed 10 minutes for initial ignition and then checked the wood every five minutes after. The Birch came third lasting only 25 minutes, next the Oak @ 35 minutes and the winner was Chestnut @ 45 mins and still burning. (This experiment had several flaws so I don't want to start a debate about what wood's best etc ... ) and it was a one off exercise so results the next time no doubt vary. It would be interesting to see how rectangles and triangles burn. My bet is triangles will burn slightly longer (taking wood type, size/overall mass, moisture content at the time of burning, heat of the fire/type of fire and probably a few other hundred things into consideration lol). I think another experiment, just for fun, could be on the cards!

My stuff and my old mans machinery is covered with NFU. But depending on the outcome of the chipper situation I will be looking for separate cover for myself next year when its time to renew. We have thought about getting a guard dog, but I don't think that will happen anytime soon.

... with all the gates with locks, chains with locks (around equipment) and lockups with lockable stores inside that I have to go in and out of daily, for me it's around 20/30 minutes per day (plus extra time for thawing locks out with the current weather). It's laughable but if that's what it takes to keep my stuff as secure as poss (and fully eligible for insurance purposes) , I guess it's worth it. To the OP, sorry to hear about your chipper getting nicked. We had ours taken about 6-7 weeks ago and are waiting in the insurance company to say how much we'll get. If you're lucky you might get it back! After much reading on trackers and such, I've decided that locking/securing the chipper in multiple ways seems the best option, as the police and insurance company guy both said trackers are not that great once the item is under any kind of cover.

when I needed a splitting maul I found they were either expensive or cheap... so I got the cheapest axe/maul I could get, £15 from screwfix... never had a problem with it, and it's still good three years later.

People must have money to burn, literally, if they go there. If they sell any, good luck to them. And being slightly picky, they don't even mention what hard woods they actually sell. From experience every customer I sell to asks what type/s of wood I have. A place just down the road from me sells kiln dried oak in 1.2 cubic meter crates (which it advertises as 2 cubic meters), they charge £250 per crate, and best of all it's all stacked outside with no cover on it ... I see the place every weekend and since the wood was stacked there, in April, only half a crate has gone! Says it all really.

heheh.. well done! it's a good buzz when you are told you have passed

I currently use sealskinz ultra grip gloves. They fit extremely well, which is important to me, and they are warm. They are fully water tight, but if your hands sweat, they hold in water just as well! The grip is good. As working gloves (when it comes to clearing and heavy manual handling) they don't seem to last long at all, and can easily snag. They can be prone to melting on anything hot. When you do finally wear a hole though them they lose their water-tightness, but the holes take a long time to get bigger. Check ebay for second hand pairs and get them at a fraction of the cost... after all they will be destroyed within a few months.

thanks for the replies... Luckily after talking to our insurers we're insured, so we will get something back. The loss of the chipper isn't too much of an issue for me currently as I'm coppicing through until March, so I don't need to use it. If we do get another one I think the best option will be to security mark it, GPS track it, and personalise it a bit (which we did when we first got it).

couldn't agree more. I suppose every situation is different in some way though. I coppice on a voluntary basis and prefer to have no more than three people with me whilst I fell. And I have to have my own insurance (£5m PL), separate to the ranger I work with. My consolation is that I get the wood, and its stacked for free!

Just a heads up... Between 11pm (4th Nov) and Early this morning (Friday 5th Nov) we had a Hatz chipper and several stone saws stolen from our secure compound. The thieves also caused around £500 worth of damage to fencing (which was smashed through, with amazing effort, to get to the gear). This happened in the Herne/Herne Bay outskirts, in Coastal Kent. The police officer who attended said that we're the third place in the area that this has happened to in the last few weeks. To be honest, I'm not that bothered about the stuff being gone (ok I am), but I'm more annoyed of the fact our privacy has been invaded in such a way! ...