Spruce Pirate

Have they tightened up recently? I know someone who got a Husky through the post within the last two months (I think, say three months to be on the safe side), only had to provide proof of being a proffessional user (sent copy of NPTC card). I'm pretty sure I was told the same for Stilh over the interweb. Good news for local dealers if they have tightened up. Bad news for the internet boys.

I'd worry much more about being able to demonstrate that your cuts are good than remembering every detail of the assessment schedule. Trees on the ground in the right place in a safe manner is what assesment should be about. A good assessor should be able to draw the information out of you he (or she) needs.

Just being nosey, but why not?

I think that's the point I was trying to make before, I could probably have been clearer.

What do you do when you've got all the modules?

That's interesting, I've been using a saw since '96, and I learn stuff from almost every cutter I meet, be they woodcutters, tree surgeons, training providers or any mix of the aforementioned. I do think that current training for this industry is barely fit for purpose, and I do not think that refresher training is the answer to this, in fact I tend to agree that it is more of a money making exercise for trainers. But, if it is done right, it is an opportunity for us all to develop further skills. I am NOT interested in spending 3 or 4 days being refreshed in maintenance, cross-cutting and felling small trees - I think that is totally over the top for an operator who has been using a saw proffessionally for 17 years. I do think that if I can refresh all my ground based tickets in a day and all my climbing based tickets in another day that doing this every 5 years would not be a bad thing. It keeps up to date with best practice, can introduce any new ideas - I know we've been cutting down trees since pre-historic times, but new ideas, or at least different ideas, do come along from time to time. If both the cost and duration of refresher training could be reigned in I think it would be a much more attractive proposition. We are not the only industry that is subject to refresher / re-licensing etc. I shall open the floor to further discussion.

We cut close to the ground as an inch at the bottom is worth a foot at the top (maybe more in high value timber), also if you find a lot of rot at the bottom when putting in the gub you can always move up the stem to get sound wood. The humbolt is always quoted as saving fibre pull and presenting a square log for the mill, rather than losing the face cut from it, but most of the time it seems to result in timber loss due to the high stump. Since most of the face will be slab wood anyway I tend to think a conventional (to us) cut also has benefits in maximising timber production. Definitely interested in seeing some of the fancy north american cuts Croabh, especially if you can explain what's going on.

Yes. Definitely. A lot of people are employed and self-employed at the same time.

Or what went right and why?

See the rate my hinge thread, there's some good and bad stumps on it. Not a bad idea though, just need to get a good selection of stumps and results.

Haven't heard anything about elections. Is it English local elections?

I would agree with that, it's just nice to know that there are exceptional circumstances rather than a blanket rule.

Spring is my favourite season too, for exactly the reason above - it seems to bring out my inner hippy. Bugs and beasties aren't really a serious problem here. Midges and flies can drive you trully insane if they're bad, but they're seldom much more than a nuisiance, albeit one that can send you home on occassion. Bees and wasps can be a problem, but most of the time you can spot them in advance. Ticks can be a problem too and they do spread Lymes disease so well worth looking out for and removing properly. Unless you're allergic to bees or wasps at least we don't have to worry about the immediate threat of death due to insects.

I would, but I know how much I'm worth, it would be worth the legal fees. Good to know 5 years isn't neccesarily the end for everything.

I hate phone lines! They always seem to get in the way of an otherwise perfectly simple job.

If I need legal advice, I'm going to PM you. I still think it's a little OTT for a small tree and some shrubs. Disclaimer: this opinion has no basis in law.

I know this is an arb forum, but its only a tree. Does anyone really buy a house on the basis of a (fairly un-impressive) tree in the front garden? Sorry, but I know it wouldn't be top of the list of my priorities when buying a house. As for criminal damage, I would have thought it would depend on how long the tennants had been in the property. Long term tennants may feel some sense of ownership and feel the right to work on "their" garden, regardless of whather it is legally theirs or not - it is after all their home. If, on the other hand, the restructuring of the garden was only carried out in the period after you told them that the lease wasn't being renewed in order that you could sell the property I would have thought you have a genuine case of malicious damage.

I've still got the old Troll harness that I first climbed in in, err, 1995. I'd still climb in it, it is in good nick, stored dry and away from light etc, it's never been LOLER'd, but I'd still trust it now. I have a much newer harness for climbing in now, and was always lead to believe that the 5 year (or less) rule applied to LOLER, but that doesn't necessarily mean that its unserviceable, just that you can't get a cert for it, and hence can't use it commercially. I could be wrong.

Totally agree. If I come back and find someone doing something, even if they're doing it wrong that's good - I'll show them how to do it right, even if it means undoing and fixing what they've already done. To find someone with their hands in their pockets waiting to be told what to do is really annoying (and clients hate it). Sweep up, tidy up, sort the spanners out into order of size, but do summint rather than nothing. Oh, yeah, and the boss should always but the breakfast / rolls / tea / whatever.

Not with that shrub bed in that state! I like the bird table though.

That problem is very easily fixed.

Harvester Operator said to me yesterday, "these showers are pretty fierce!", from the air-conned cab, with the radio on. "Aye", says I, zipping up the waterproof! :lol:

I'd second that.

I generally cut a lot of softwood, so the trousers get a good coating of rosin which waterproofs them quite well, I then add a flexothane type jacket to the top half and add a needle guard to the back of the helmet (stops the water dripping down your neck). When its wet and you've got the waterproofs on you tend to get wet from the inside out as you sweat that much more, so unless it's properly raining hard I often just put up with it. You can get expensive breathable waterproofs, but I'm not going to spend that money on something good to drag it through all the brambles and brash in the wood. Probably not much help that, but most folk I know are pretty much the same.

Domestic / residential I try to stay local, we're rural, so realistically that's about a 20 mile radius to get a decent number of potential customers. Commercially I'll price within a couple of hours travel, even slightly more on occassion, but you always have to bear in mind that the extra travel or digs will push the price up, so you have to be reasonalby confident of having a good chance of getting the job (ie have a good relationship with the client) to take the risk.