Spruce Pirate

Ben Lomond and Loch Lomond about 20 minutes away. Wallace Monument and Stirling Castle about the same in the other direction. Can only see the Ben from the house though.

They're not a 346, I'll grant you that, but they're not that bad, in my opinion.

I like the 353, had one years ago when it was part of the XP range and it was a good saw. Got a newer one now and still like them. Doesn't rev up quite the same as a 346, but for a ground saw next to the chipper I'd say it would be fine.

Not likely to stop any time soon either as the infection seems to keep spreading.

It's either that or leave it to rot in the wood. It won't just be FC either, everyone will be felling, extracting and selling their infected larch.

Hence the reason I'm perpetuating it

I thought the rule came into place after the fuel strikes in 2000, or 2001, don't recall the year now. Some half-wit supposedly burnt his garage or house down after storing petrol in wheely bins in his garage. Don't know if he was filling the wheely bins up at a petrol station or filling cans then filling the bins at home. Anyway, as a result, only approved containers can be filled now and only up to 10L. Could be just an urban myth.

Today was DEFINITELY the last day I'm going out cutting in the pouring rain and coming home soaked to the skin and manky! Oh, no, my mistake, I'll be doing that again tomorrow.

While I do think there is some merit to refresher training, I do also, to a degree, agree with this sentiment. The introduction of refresher, however, does pacify HSE and get them off our back, as "we" (the forest industry) are seen to be addressing the issue ourselves. In my opinion this is preferable to HSE stepping in and legislating, which appears to be the other option. If, in 5 or 10 years time, refresher has not made the slightest little bit of difference to the accident rate we will have to look for other ways to improve our safety. I'm sure we all have ideas how to do that.

Hi Paul, I understand what you mean, but my original post was written some months ago when information on this was scarce, and was in reference to someone being told that they had to re-sit all their existing tickets. I actually do think there is some merit in refresher training, even if it is foisted upon us. I will reserve judgement on whether the refresher being offered by FISA has any merit until I've done it. At least it is only one day per unit, and reasonably cheap (at least by training standards), but it is the content that counts. The traffic light system they are employing does seem to have some merit, but we'll see how the whole thing pans out. I still think that if you roll up to an assessment, without the training, and pass it you are fine. I appreciate you might miss out on a few of the modern thoughts picked up on a course, but fundamentally if you can pass the assessment you are deemed to be competent to use a saw. Willing to discuss further, but don't want to turn this into too much of a rant.

I tend to believe that things come and go around, so, he's done you a good turn on the planks - if they're old as he says it probably gets rid of them quickly and easily for him. If you've ever done anyone a good turn, then treat this as a bit of payment for that, or the next time you do someone a favour think of that as a bit of payment. Also, have the good grace to accept his generosity, without being suspicious of him wanting something directly back in return. It makes for a very cynical and nasty world if everyone's always looking over their shoulder wondering what other's motives are.

I spoke to FISA at length about it the yesterday. It seems it is only mandatory to have a refresher every 5 years if you work for a FISA member on the timber harvesting front. At the moment they are not concerned about arb or utilities work (so I was told). Presently you must provided evidence of training (refresher or otherwise) or register for refresher training before 1st October (there is another thread on here) to continue cutting commercially on ground managed by FISA members. Other aspects of training will of course be covered by the HSE recommended 5 year refresher, but no one is currently enforcing this - as far as I'm aware, no doubt someone will correct me if I'm wrong? I'd be interested to know how it's causing you problems (don't mean that in any snide way, genuinely would like to know what problems its causing).

This thread is hilarious and ridiculous in equal measure - I can't believe it's rumbled on for so long! Someone once told me they stopped selling logs by the ton because a customer weighed each log over their bathroom scales () then phoned up complaining that the load was underweight! I never quite believed them until this thread came along.

Try Robert T on here Johnny, he does a fair bit of stump grinding.

It still surprises me how easily I'm amused sometimes.

Yes, you can. My brother-in-law's got one.

Nice big bits. Switchback Road?

They're looking for policies to reduce emissions. So tell them it's your policy that you organise they way you carry out the work to minimise the amount of time you spend on site and movements around the site, hence reducing journeys. Also that wherever possible you use green fuels etc and that the choice of vehicle is dependant on suitability for purpose, which includes the fuel efficiency. These are all things that you are probably doing anyway in order to maximise your profits, but it gives you a "policy" that you can throw at them and tick their box.

I did mine a couple of years ago. Just used like for like wooden floor from the local Ifor dealer. Expensive, but its held up so far, was easy to fit and the old one lasted for donkey's years. It's a 10'*5'6" bed with lashing rings in each corner.

Norway spruce around Inverness shouldn't be a problem, there's plenty of it. Try getting in touch with either the local tree firms or the forest management companies. The stuff you're looking for with the branches would normally be lower grade timber so people are normally keen to get rid of it. The only problem would be getting the branch knuckles left on, rather than cut flush as would be normal. Might also depend on how many pieces you're after as to how easy it is to get someone to cut it for you.

Still prefer the Oregon. I did say it might not be rational, I might have to stop listening to the little voices inside my head!

There's nothing really specific that I can put my finger on as to why I prefer Oregon to Husky bars, but....... I think the shape at the nose tip is slightly different, Husky pointier, Oregon more rounded. Maybe Oregon are a bit heavier, they seem to feel sturdier. Maybe I'm wrong on both counts and it's just a, perhaps irrational, personal preference.

I think that as the branch is alive there is little or no chance of come back. Further, if the trees were worked on a few months ago it proves that the council are managing the trees and fulfilling their duty of care. The only course of come back might be if you can prove that the work carried out was directly responsible for the branch falling off, had been speced wrongly or the spec not carried out correctly. I would have thought a difficult claim to make. If, on the other hand, the branch had been dead, or trees had not been maintained for years..........

Yup, beacons and chapter 8 markings. Must have for road works. Handy if you're passing through worksites, wind-farms etc too.

Perfectly acceptable to use a winch to pull over trees. There is a new ticket on the NPTC website, I think it's "Winch Assisted Felling", or something similar. You'd probably need to do this as a separate assessment these days. Other's may know more about it.