Spruce Pirate

I'm a member too - but only because it lets me say that I'm a member of a safety organisation, even the stickers aren't that good. FISA is a shambles, and the situation in the OP only serves to prove it. If refresher is to NPTC standard it shouldn't matter whether the assessor is FISA approved or not, this is just another cost and protectionism for the boys in the FISA club. The demarcation between harvesting and "other" sites is also a farce, you can be felling trees of the same size and type on one contract, but you don't need an "approved" refresher because it isn't harvesting??? It's ridiculous, arb work can be even more dangerous, and doesn't need an "approved" refresher, even if it is being carried out for a large forestry company. We should also get away from this "refresher" business. It is not a refresher, it is an assessment - you can either fail it and need re-certified, or be deemed competent for three or five years. That is an assessment, not a refresher. Out of curiousity, who has made the decision that NPTC refresher isn't good enough, only "approved" NPTC refreshers will do? Is it the contractor, management company, timber buyer, client?

FC round here used to have a circular saw blade, a flail and a ditching bucket all on a rubber duck. The idea being that first pass was with the blade pruning/brashing trees, second pass with the flail taking out regen and mulching the arisings, then the bucket clearing ditches. The forester said you'd be quicker with a pole-pruner and a brush-cutter for the first two passes - and I think he was right. But the technology is improving all the time and quality of the cut isn't too bad, albeit there is a significant peg left, not trimmed to the branch collar. It's not there yet, but mechanical tree pruning may not be too far into the future. H&S may be our saviour as it is difficult for an operator to stop a blade spinning at xxxxx rpm if a member of public happens to ignore a warning sign.

2.5kg really isn't much, you're right Mr Fox. Just been on the Google and a 150 is 2.6kg and a 540 is 3.9 kg on the paper stats! Difficult to see passed a light saw that's solidly built.

By solid do you mean heavy? I like the Dolmars that I've used, but that does look like it would weigh a fair bit hanging off your harness. I haven't done a weight comparison from Google, I'm just looking at the photo's on this thread.

It's a wee beauty (well, maybe not so wee). Wouldn't hesitate to recommend Dolmar and Shavey.

Only missing a bit of sun.

They look like Norway spruce to me, so good news - your TO is right: they are Christmas trees! Being Norway, if there's butt rot in one, I'd suspect butt rot in the others. Fomes? I think the name's been updated, is it now heterobasidium annosum? Someone with more knowledge than me will be along I'm sure.

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.