Spruce Pirate

I've had a Dolmar 6100 on demo for a while now, I have to say it's a very good saw if you're looking for one saw to do everything, will run a variety of bars and plenty of power. I like the 560, nice saw to use, but in fairness at the moment I'm picking up the Dolly more than the Husky. PM Shavey on here for more info on the Dolmar.

Fair point, well put. I'll therefore revise what I said before, if you exclude young males then everyone else is as bad as each other.

People think trees and chainsaws are dangerous, but working next to or on a road always seems much more dangerous to me. I've never done a traffic light job without some eejit running the red light, people flying past at speed when you've got a lane closed with the workforce in it, had cones knocked over, but never signs yet. I don' think you can generalise who the worst drivers are, when we've had folk doing stupid things around road-works it has included, but isn't limited to: van drivers, bus drivers, mothers on the school run, business man types, pedestrians, pedestrians with kids in push-chairs!!!, old-folks, young-folks, folk in big flashy cars, folk in wee crappy cars and even the police! Everyone makes the occasional bad decision when driving. I think Mick's right, a lot of it is just frustration due to the increased volume of traffic. One of the boys putting cones out for us a while back, traffic mgt company, almost got hit by a car coming round the corner, that was quite scary. Another was just back at work after the cushion truck he was in got hit be a truck on the motorway doing about 70, think it was 6 months he'd been off, the other driver wasn't as lucky . Dangerous place to be on the roads - take care.

P. ramorum does indeed inhabit Blaeberry, or Bilberry if you prefer. That along with larch and rhododendron are the main species of concern as it sporulates (spelling???) on these species and therefore continues to spread. P. ramorum will infect other species, but not spread. There isn't an exhaustive list of the species it will infect, but it incudes oak, chestnut, spruce, fir, beech too I think. There is a second strain of P. ramorum, which I think is unique to the UK, I think this is a priority for FC Research and Plant Health. The phytopthora I know of in relation to cedars is P. austrocedrae, I know it in relation to junipers, but I think it will affect all members of the cedar family - but not totally sure of this. I think it is a more likely candidate for hybridisation with P. lateralis as they are both soil borne, whereas P. ramorum is air borne.

I've had Husky and Stihl, there's no real difference in my opinion, they both hold your trousers up. Get them as wide as possible (so probably the Husky's are better) so they're not digging into your shoulder I like the button type as the clip ons just slip off. Started your debate for you Stubby.

You haven't knocked an emergency stop button somewhere?

Think they're all equally uncomfortable, but save your good boots if it's really wet or mucky. On the basis that each is as good/bad as the other I'd buy the cheapest pair you can. If you're looking for a liner I'd think you could buy one separately somewhere.

I've heard of this before. Bad news is I don't think FCS will budge on this - got to be 17, regardless of age for FMOC's. Pity when someone's keen and they're crying out for young blood in the industry. Keep us updated how you get on. It would be nice to hear if you've any joy with it.

I haven't done any real planting for a few years now, but when I was planting used to average between 1200 and 1500 a day including site supervision, 1800 to 2000 a day if I didn't have plants to lay out and checks to do. Bare root conifers on mounded sites, no tubes, spirals, vole guards or any of that kind of nonsense.

We normally just end up with two 5 ton tirfors and a couple of snatch blocks for that sort of thing.

Two of us on it. Would have been a lot of work for just one.

Trees to clear out of a burn today. They'd blown a while ago and have been gradually silting up the burn. The heavy rainfall recently brought matters to a head when the water started spilling out, running down the hill and through the back door of someone's house. Anyone who's wondering about getting a Tirfor type winch....... Don't do it - you might end up with jobs like this one!

Think it's to keep it fresh Steve. Stops it drying out, makes it easier to mill and keeps the value of the sawn timber up. A saw-miller may be better placed to comment.

Thanks guys, it's a bit dirtier that yours Andrew, but it wouldn't take much to clean it up. A good clean and a new plug and it should be a good saw. Compression is good on it. Did the £180 include bar and chain Andrew?

Difficult as it is to believe, I've come to the realisation that I've too many saws! There's a boy down the road looking for a new (to him) saw for cutting firewood, only for part time use. I've an old 266 sitting on the shelf, always kept as a back up saw, but realistically it's not been used much in the last couple of years and I don't really see me using it much more. All I need to figure out is how much it's worth. He's looking for a cheap saw, I'm willing to sell it, so anyone any idea how much to ask for? I see one on e-bay for £175 at the moment, seems a bit much to me, am I under-valuing it?

APF - Association of Professional Foresters. From memory, they merged with the TGA (Timber Growers Association) a few years back to form Confor (Confederation of Forest Industries). I think I've got all the acronyms right, but stand to be corrected. I presume the show retained the APF prefix for marketing.

What's the infection Mick? Good bonfire and very thorough looking job.

Sharpening? Most likely time for a left hand to come into contact with the chain, and amazing what damage a non-running chain can do. Depends on how the statistics are compiled.

I find legislation very difficult to read, and even harder to understand. In the event that I'm involved in the cutting I'll give the TO a ring and get their opinion on it, if the customer is doing it themselves I'll advise them to do the same. I value the opinions of the Arbtalk collective, which is why I asked, but I'm afraid I'm not going to take them as gospel. Yes I am in Stirlingshire and so are the trees in question.

Thanks for the replies, can always rely on Arbtalk for a stimulating debate. The consensus would seem to be that: Measure at 1.5 (despite coppicing being a forestry operation CA regs work on arb measurements). If any stem to be cut on any stool is greater than 75mm a notice should be submitted to the LA. Have I got that right? Now, as I like to take things to the nth degree, if only one stem on one stool exceeds the 75mm, would the notice only have to be submitted for that stool or should it include the whole operation? Any and all further input welcome.

Resurrecting an old thread here, but has anyone any further thoughts or experiences on this? I've a customer who has planted a small number of willows and hazels, probably around 20, in their garden which they intend to coppice (I'm not sure for what purpose). They're a couple of years away from doing their first cut at the moment, but when time comes..... will they need to notify the LA? Should stems be measured at 1.5m as per arb or 1.3m as per forestry? My way of thinking is that if it's less than 7.5cm dbh then it should be fine without submitting a notice, regardless of size of stool, but any experiences would be gratefully received.

A bit of old technology, but I find this works well:

Chainsaw Protective gloves are one of the most useless, ill thought out products on the market. To answer your question, no I don't think we need them in the modern environment. Reasons: 1. Chain catcher and rear hand guard provide protection for the right hand. 2. No protection in the right hand in most chainsaw protective gloves, so a normal (better fitting) pair of gloves provide the same protection. 3. Inertia chain brake and chain brake with integrated hand guard on modern saws provide protection to the left hand in the event of a kick back. Chain does not come back and hit left hand if it snaps/comes off (unless you've got a saw that works in reverse!) 4. Protection rating (only on the left hand, remember) is inadequate in any glove I've seen on the market for current chain speeds. Left hand normally rated only to 16m/s and right hand is, yes, not protected at all (beyond what a normal glove would offer)! 5. They are crap in the wet, increasing the risk of your hands becoming cold - white finger and loss of control of the saw. I am prepared to accept that we should wear gloves for saw work to protect our hands from cuts and scratches and to keep them warm to reduce the risk of white finger, but these should be well fitting and easy to work in - two things it is very difficult to achieve in a chainsaw protective glove. Several pairs a day may be appropriate if working in wet conditions. HSE and FISA both acknowledge that "suitable for task" gloves should be used, not necessarily chainsaw protective gloves. Unfortunately for you, if your employer says you need to use a piece of PPE then you need to use it. They make the rules for their employees when it comes to this sort of thing. What you can do is try to convince them otherwise, point number 5 in my list is probably the most worthwhile argument as there is a very genuine increased risk to H&S in this case by using the prescribed PPE. All in all, it is very tiresome having to constantly risk assess chainsaw gloves out. It would be much easier if everyone would just accept that they are useless and move on to requiring a pair of well fitting protective gloves.

They probably quite simply haven't thought about it. People generally plant trees and forget that they grow, sounds stupid, but it's quite true and has generated me, and plenty others on here I'm sure, a lot of work over the years. As far as the roots go - they're out of sight and out of mind, very few people will give even a moments thought to tree roots (until you start mentioning things like subsidence and house foundations). They sound like nice neighbours, just not switched on to trees and their irritating habit of growing.

Is it because our leaves are too wet Tom? Edit: Agree though, a good idea. Uses for leaf bales?