Spruce Pirate

Used to sell very similar for £70. Watch the weight though, you'll find the springs very flat with a full load in.

I'm going to break the mould here. I left home, went to university, hated it, left as a result, got a job in the woods, and haven't looked back since. Since leaving uni I've been back to college, completed the course which was right for me and continued a career with trees. I can understand those who say stick with it, but, if it REALLY isn't the right thing for you then you have to consider your options. It's a brave choice either way as I see it. If you're living with the right woman, what does she say? At 21 you've still got time to go into something else if you choose, but it does get more difficult the older you get. Not sure if this is any help, think long and hard which ever choice you make.

Could be. Get underneath and check for movement at either end of the propshafts. If its really bad you may be able to see its failed. You might get a shudder through the steering wheel if its the front prop, or under accelaration in either case. At least if it is a UJ its a relatively cheap straightforward repair.

Short answer, yes. Depends on the circumstances though, moss won't dull it as much as dust, dust not as much as dirt etc, but even different types of moss can cause different degrees of damage. No good on species I'm afraid, but thin, wispy feathery mosses will only cause a very gradual dulling, probably not noticable after one tree, thicker heavier mosses can cause an instantly noticable effect. Felled the edge off a quarry last year to allow for expansion, sharpening all the time, trees were full of muck from previous blasting. Outsides were filthy, just about made you cringe putting the saw into them, but even cleaning them off the first couple of inches of wood were noticably dirty.

They never seem to last long, I would guess I get about a year out of them, maybe not quite, normally just change both if the prop shaft is off anyway. Constant use on dirt roads and fields, plus towing puts added strain on them, seems to knacker them pretty quick. Farmers and other contractors I've spoken to seem to have the same problem.

Started off subbying with an Austin Ambassador and a load of borrowed kit. Now worked up to a 110, several trailers, saws, trimmer, blower..... the list goes on and on (worrying part is the shopping list never gets any smaller).

This may be getting off topic, but.... Are we confident for the future? A lot of negative replies on this - not a critisism, I would mostly agree there are a lot of firms chasing the same amount of work and a lot of newly qualified cutters and climbers with limited experience. Point being if the experinced guys are hoovering up all the work who replaces them when they retire / fall out of a tree? Perhaps I should have started a new thread - could go for hours on this.

Yes, you're right. Must remember that! I'm pretty sure that as a general rule you would round down, fairly certain this applies to log measurements. All of a sudden what I learned at college seems a long time ago. The best rule would seem to be, if in doubt - check the blue book.

Pretty sure the usual rule is round down for everything to do with timber measurement, so your 50.7 would be 50. Even on the cusp of 50 and 51 the rule would be round down to 50.

Hi, I've noticed this on a few posts on here, only asking for 30/31. I can see why 38 isn't needed if you've already got an IRATA qualification, but surely 39 is still needed under the training requirement of the PUWER regs? I'm quite willing to be corrected on this, but my reading of it is that if you're using a saw from a rope and harness for which there is specific training (CS39) and you haven't got it then you're up a creek without a paddle if it all goes wrong. I'm not in this situation as I don't do IRATA work, but I'd be interested to hear other's thoughts.

If there's still a chance of a T-shirt I'll try my luck with this.

This sounds like the legislation that was quoted to me recently. Out of interest, if its a 24 hour pump, un-manned at night, pay by chip and pin, I think you can fill up pretty much anything - coffee jars, paper bags, you name it! Not sure how this fits with not being allowed to fill a can because its the wrong colour or language???? Just to be clear, I'm not reccomending this, it just seems to fly in the face of the over zealous enforcement of rules.

Not from the top, but about 80' - 90' is up a spruce, couple of years back.

I recently found myself in exactly the same position. I was advised by the dealer to go for the 346 and let others iron out any wrinkles that may appear in the 550, especially after 560 recall. I took their advice, liked the old 346, like the new one. Not sure if this helps your decision or not.

Sorry, still new to all this forum business and asociated etiquette, yes I did get someone for it. Found your PM, so I'll bear you in mind if there is anything else. Where are you based?

That is an extremely good idea. I'll give him a ring tomorrow.

Thanks for that, yes, I did know to do Pi*r2, basically the same as volume from basal area. The formula best suited in the blue book is volume of a "Fulstrum of Cone", V = (Pi/3) * (R2 + Rr + r2) * h, where R is radius at stump and r is radius at the top (3.5cm assuming min top dia of 7cm). The big problem is obviously the height, currently the great unknown. Not sure if the best idea would be to do a ring count to calculate age then try to work out what the average yeild class would be for the species (SP), get a rough top height for that and estimate timber height from that by knocking off say 3 -4m? Sounds like a lot of guess work to me. Incidentally, when I did this before it was investigating an illegal felling and the data went to the Procurator Fiscal as part of the case (subsequently dropped), so it must have been a bit more scientific (case wasn't dropped on account of our information). I'm sure there was some sort of formula used, just can't remember what it was, must have had some sort of assumed mean timber height. Any and all further thoughts appreciated.

Hi all, A bloke along the road from us recently bought a wee house with a few trees round it to use as a holiday let. Its presently un-occupied as its a bit of a do-er up-er. Anyway, last time he was up he discovered, to his horror, that the neighbour had felled his trees along with a parcel of their own. He's trying to determine how much he's lost (most of the value is in the aesthetic) so I said to him to get me some stump measurements. I know I've used stump measurements to estimate volume in the past - but it was 14 years ago when I was a student, and now I can't remember how we did it! I've checked the blue book and nothing in there. Anyone got any ideas? Any help much appreciated, thanks.

I did my chainsaw certs in 1996, been cutting since then without major incident. I started looking into refresher a couple of years ago, only to be told it would be a 4 day course and cost c. £700!!!!!! Naturally this put me of a bit, but..... In the last year managed to find a 1 day refresher course, complete with a shiny LANTRA certificate to prove attendance. I was well chuffed with it - a good day out, plenty of time to talk through and discuss different techniques without the pressure of having to work and reasonable cost, around £140, I think. Mostly covered ground that I knew already, reasuring to know that you're doing things right, but definitely picked up a couple of tips. Keeps me up to date with H&S requirements (see PUWER98 ref's in previous posts) and keeps clients happy, most of my customers now insist on refresher training as a contract requirement. Get the right course - well worth it. Spend 4 days £700 (+ downtime from loss of earnings, travel, fuel, etc) - someone's taking the ****

Hello all, First post on here, hopefully in the right place. I'm looking for someone to carry out tree inspections in central Scotland area (more or less the whole of). If anyone's interested please get in touch. This would hopefully be a fairly long term arrangement, but most likely on an as required basis. On a more urgent note, does anyone have a winch available in the Stirling area in the next week or so. I'm looking at a job tomorrow clearing blow and, by the sounds of it, hand clearance is going to take 'til next Christmas. Again, if anyone is available please get in touch. I'm a computer ludite, so I assume you can get in touch by finding my details in here....? Thanks Wallis