Spruce Pirate

Whereabouts are you?

Really? You learn something new everyday.

Its a well know fact that Scottish cuisine is well ahead of everywhere else! Yes they are. :001_tt2: And even fried they count as one of your five a day (I think).

No, no reason not to, ergonomically its better to cut at waist height than bending over, essentially all you are doing is cross cutting. BUT, if the top is that securely wedged to prevent rolling then all you will achieve is working up the stem until it either is sitting pretty near vertical, or see-saws out depending on the balance point. Both present their own issues.

I think we should all learn as many different cuts as we can, the more you know the better equiped you are for different situations. Even, dare I say it, and flies slightly in the face of some of my earlier posts... spear cutting?

Yeah, I've heard you shouldn't trim Laurel as it releases cyanide! At least a decent mask should be worn if you have to, even outside in well ventilated areas. Don't know about the elder burning thing. I know it does burn, but one of the old poems says it'll bring a death to the house. Pretty sure I've cut elder, hawthorn, rowan, holly, even yew, never noticed my luck getting any worse, but then again, it sometimes seems pretty bad anyway. I must be slightly supersticious as I always try to leave something on rowans as I've always heard their bad luck. If the list keeps growing like this I'll never cut anything down again!

Didn't know holly was unlucky to cut. I know its supposed to be unlucky to cut Rowan, but never noticed any coming my way after I've cut them. Not supposed to burn elder either, according to one of the old poems it brings a death to the house.

Did a quick google and came up with: "A 211ft grand fir planted in the 1870s beside Loch Fyne, Argyll. It is thought to be the UK’s tallest tree since before the last ice age. The fir, in Ardkinglas Woodland Gardens, has “died back” twice in the last 20 years – meaning the top has died, as a result of drought or a lightening strike, before growing back. This is the most competitive category, and within a decade it may be overhauled by firs planted in Snowdonia in the 1920s. Height is calculated by climbing the tree and dropping a measuring tape to the ground" from the telegraph on-line. Argyllshire has always been good tree country. Top scorers in the height competition always seem to top out at around the 200' mark (the Dougal at the Hermitage at Dunkeld, the one down in wales (can't remember exactly where), the Argyll trees). Is this about as high as trees will grow in our windy island climate?

So you're looking for the tallest tree by speiceis in each county? This could take a while.... There's a big old oak down the road from me, I'll try and get up it and take a tape measure. Out of interest what is the tallest in the UK at present?

This I really do agree with. Sometimes far too much time can be wasted over-thinking and over complicating things when a simple fell is the obvious answer. Never been taught a Cooze Bay cut, only ever heard of them on tinterweb. Don't know if they are approved here or not. Looks similar, in some forms, to what I'd call a double V, which is a nice cut for heavy leaners. How and why things are approved for teaching in this country is a mystery to me, perhaps some of the trainers on here could give us some info. In honesty my suspicion is that there is too much theoretical input and not enough practical input.

It can, had it happen (or start to go) about 40' up once taking a top out. Scarry biscuits:w00t: Should have used a double v or a dog tooth as top was leaning, but didn't have thinking head on at the time. I was lucky, I was far enough through to be able to keep cutting and it came out alright, but yeah, trees can jack-knife at any point. Never had one do it (yet) on a high fell though.

If I wasn't so miserable I'd nominate myself for that.

Look forward to it. Merry Christmas.

Maybe not quite current thinking, but I've always liked this. An Ode to Spruce.doc

Some say "Nice Cut", others say, "Yikes, you'd need to be mental to try that!" I'll be honest, I'm just trying to get to 100 posts now.

Don't think anyones said 2+2 doesn't equal 4. Mostly I think we're saying its safer to do 1+1+1+1=4. As far as the arrogance thing goes, I don't think I'm any less arrogant in my assertion that my way is better! There should be a certain amount of horses for courses in this, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless I was confident of their abilities and knowledge of how trees and saws react.

I could trip and break my ankle carrying the saw into the wood, or even just walking into the wood. I can't scratch my finger with the file if I wear my gloves to sharpen the saw. It is amazing what a wee winch will pull, besides I've got a bigger winch than that anyway if I need it:thumbup: I think I've already said, based on results, the technique works, tree is on the ground quickly and efficiently and where it was supposed to be, so I'm not arguing there. I still think there is a portion of luck involved in it, with the spear cut when the butt hits the ground you don't know if or which way it's going to roll. I still think the safer option is to do it my way, and again, as I've said already, I acknowledge that this takes longer. It all depends on your attitude to your own safety, being a prude, err, I mean Brit, I quite value my safety. I understand others may differ.

Only got the before shot, someone else took the during and after pics, still waiting for them to e-mail them through. Will post them if and when they arrive.

Because I'm a good boy and play by the rules, I generally wear the type C's for climbing and type A for ground, but if it's really hot (rare in this part of the world) I'll wear the type A's for going up a tree, and if it's really cold, like the cold snap in the last couple of weeks, I'll wear the type C's on the ground. Depends what you're comfortable with. It's got to be pretty rare that you're in a position to cut the back of your leg with the saw if you're doing everything right.

As you'd expect from a training course, that's text book. How anyone can deny that this is a safer way of taking down a tree I don't know. As pointed out before the spear cut method is quicker and doesn't need to take a winch in, un-wrap wire etc. It is however undeniably more dangerous, whether you've been in the business for 30 years or 30 minutes. I was first shown how to do this in Douglas Fir thinnings where almost everything hung up, cutting 2m bits off the butt end and having the rest of the stem hurtle down past you. Its effective, but can be scary and always has an element of unpredicability about it. I would certainly not recommend it as a "nice cut for a hung tree", but like many others, have also used it many, many times. I think I would draw the line when off rooting though, too much unprecictablity in terms of tension and compression from the stem through to the root plate. Taking down a felled hung up tree is one thing, spear cutting to off root a stem is another kettle of fish, and not one I'll be going anywhere near any time soon.

OK, at the risk of de-railing, who holds the record for the most saws stuck in one tree? I'm not going to admit mine yet, but it's more than 2!

I don't understand. If there's no TPO and its not in a CA why can't it be felled? If it wasn't a development surely you'd just cut it (assuming you didn't object to cutting mature trees of distinction)? I don't see how the planning permission affects it. Please excuse my ignorance, could someone explain it in simple terms?

Too much time typing. I'm now +6.

+5 for Scotspines comments. Definitely much safer ways of doing this, downside is they all take time and or equipment to set up. Personally, I'd reccommend taking the time and equipment and doing it safer with trees of this size. As a side note, be cautious of the "I'm not a newbie" attitude, I've seen accidents caused because old time cutters had "been there and done that", no serious injuries, but damage to property and equipment. I'm not saying you don't know what you're doing, but sometimes it can benefit even the most experienced of cutters to stand back and think like a novice for a moment. All that said, if you judge it by the results, I can't fault it, tree's where its supposed to be and everybody goes home happy, can't be a bad day.

If you've got time to sweep the floor and tidy the bench you're just not busy enough! At least, that's my excuse.