Spruce Pirate

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?

Biggest chog I've done is probably about 5.5m when we were dismantling a spruce and trying to get 4.9 saw-logs out of it. I've seen one of the boys doing bigger, probably 6.5 to 7m but not as much as 9m. Done some fair size tops too, but nothing like the size of Mick's pic. Big pieces are always an adrenalin rush.

What a good and interesting project. Well done for all your contributions.

Heard today they've started down in the Borders- commercial restock & beat up, don't know of anything round here started yet.

Not so much today's job as this week's job. Off-rooting for the harvester. Would have been beautiful timber if it'd stayed on it's feet.

I used to be involved in NF foliage for wreaths. Very rarely enjoyed it. Always found it difficult to make money on it when cutting it, bundling it etc. There are, or at least were, several different grades of foliage, I'd suggest you speak to the prospective buyer and send them some samples of your foliage, see if they're interested and what they're paying. We always cut foliage from the standing tree, either with a lopper or climbing, I've never cut from felled trees. The foliage had to be cut as a minimum of 3 branch whorls. I would think that damage from felling may be an issue, but I do know that others harvest foliage this way (a mate of mine did a bit the other year from felled trees). Overall I think it would be hard to add sufficient value to the job you're talking about by cutting foliage to bring it into profit, but I could be wrong. Sorry if that's all a bit rambling, thoughts as they come to me.

A couple from today, above Callander.

It is, but I manage.

A couple of years ago now, but I still like it. Taken up at Tentsmuir Forest.

We get a Road Occupation Permit if we're working on the highway, with or without a MEWP. Cost's vary depending how long you're working on the road and which local authority you're dealing with. A permit for up to 3 days is about £80 from Stirling Council, a bit more for up to 7 days and then I think it's up to a month's occupation for a bit more again. Can't remember what it costs from other LA's. You're supposed to keep the paperwork on site so the Police or some other Highways official want's to inspect it. I think the idea is that it allows LA's to plan and approve works so that there aren't too many roadworks in one place, so that the emergency services can be informed of the works, school bus routes notified, etc, etc.... I could be wrong though, it might just be another money making scam for the council.

Gollum has beaten me to it.

Ah, yes, the old blue book. I know I've got one somewhere, but God knows where!

Fair do's Riggerbear, I only did the ground units in the 90's. There was also a unit 16 dedicated to cross-cutting, I think I've got a full list of what all the old units were somewhere kicking about in the office. I'll see if I can find it for interest's sake.

Thought 30, 31 equated to 10 and 11? 12 was bar and a half, 13, was 2 bar. 14 take down hung up trees? 15 windblow I think. Don't know about the climbing tickets as I didn't do them back in the day.

What sort of planting are you looking for? Anything? Natives only? Commercial re-stock? Wherever you're based, or want to work, phone the local offices of the FC, Woodland Trust, Tilhill, local estates, etc; find out who they use as main contractors and get their contact details. Give them a ring. Planting contractors are, in my experience, almost always looking for reliable workers during planting season.

Yes, you've explained your thoughts fine. I'm not trying to convert you to taking the ears off - just trying to answer your question of why do people do it. For what it's worth, I cut around 100 trees today - I didn't take the ears off any of them. I think taking the ears off, or not, is another decision you have to make on a tree by tree basis - most of the time you'll be fine leaving them on, on the flip side, most of the time taking them off isn't going to do too much harm either.

I generally do set a face cut a bit deeper, generally minimum 1/4, but that's just the way I was taught to do it - 1/4 to 1/3 out with the gob. So, yes, I'm further into the stem anyway. What you say makes sense to me, I'm not the font of all knowledge on this, just trying to give a better explanation (as I understand it) of the theory of taking the toes off. Totally valid observation on the fibre pull up the stem.

I think accuracy of the fall. It was explained to me thus (by the UK felling champion at the time): In the buttresses of the tree the wood fibres follow the curve of the buttress, whereas in the centre of the tree the fibres are running straight up and down. When the tree falls on the hinge the straight up and down fibres in the centre of the hinge behave (hinge) in a predictable manner as they are straight - therefore the tree will fall straight. The fibres on the outside, in the buttresses, being curved, do not behave in a predictable manner - sometimes they will hinge well, allowing the tree to fall straight, but sometimes they do not and the tree will pull off to one side. To ensure accuracy therefore, cut the toes off. The same principal can work in reverse too: if you want, say a side leaner, to fall straight, do not sever the toe on the holding side. Does that help? I think it would make more sense with either a tree in front of us to look at or a diagram, but I don't have either to hand. Should also add that if there's any doubt about rot in the tree I wouldn't sever the toes - they could be the things holding it up. Production cutting I wouldn't bother either, it's just more time. On a slope, downhill felling to a machine, probably worth it as the tree is more likely to jump off the stump and slide - or at least less likely to be held on the stump by the buttress tearing out (I can't imagine this last scenario crops up that much in an arb environment). As a generalisation I think taking the toes off is more relevant to a conifer fell than a broadleaf, but I stand to be corrected on that one.

Yeah, I've learned that the hard way!

SuperTack Bio Chainsaw Oil (25 Litres) | Clark Forest Been using this for a while now. No issues, oils well.

Think it's Pre Delivery Inspection, but someone will know for sure. Basically a check of the machine you're buying to make sure it all works.