WorcsWuss

You won't learn that, but here: NPTC | Assignment Schedules is the page with all the assessment criteria for NPTC courses. CS courses are down to the right. Wade through the first few pages and everything you will be assessed on [and hence should learn] is listed. Download, print, read & digest before you go on the course, will help no end. I have a file with all of them in, plus any other info I come across. Very handy resource I find!

Obviously you're going straight to hell....

This certainly is a job you learn by doing, but in 'doing' it are we not in an evironment with experienced people showing us the way? That would be a form of training and I would agree that this is a perfectly acceptable method of learning a skill or trade, it's how I have done it afterall so I can't say too much. However, there are many people starting out who don't have that facility so need to have formal training. And then there must come a point where if you're fresh in where no one knows you and you want to be responsible for performing a task, then you need to be able to prove competency. Which comes back to tickets. I don't have any climbing or aerial tickets, but I still posess the skills to safely complete some tasks. I also have enough experience and have had some formal training and testing to be able to identify where work falls outside my skillset. But so many people lack that basic ability. Knowing what you can't do is as important as knowing what you can do in my book. So, that ramble leads me back to the original question. I have just bought a top handled saw off eBay. I don't have tickets specific to its use. However I have plenty of experience of a top handled saw, having previously had an MS200T which I bought from a proper Stihl dealer, they didn't ask for tickets. It's just like everything else. If you have enough money you can get whatever you want. Look at footballers, who can barely tie their laces or spell their name, splashing out on cars far too fast for them which they then crash while hungover. If you can only buy a top handled saw with a ticket, then all training providers will have to possess a stock of top handled saws to allow us to train in that ticket to allow us to buy and use one. Then training gets even more prohibitively expensive in these lean times, thefts increase, the black market takes over, things get worse rather than better. We all know that we are responsible for our own actions, if we buy something which we don't know how to use, it's our own bloody fault when it bites us. Common sense must be allowed to prevail. Idiots will always find a way to do things they shouldn't, no rules or regs will really stop them. Honestly, it's just netting the gene pool, skimming off the rubbish... Quite often the status quo is just fine, I think this is a case in point. But please don't play them when I'm around... Simon

The rope is tied off on top of the bridge, then thrown round underneath and pulled up the other side. They jump away from the bridge on the opposite side to the anchor and the rope is nearly at full extension and swinging them before they hit the end of the line vertically. All that said, you wouldn't catch me trying it!

Personally I'd go with what I knew, felt more comfortable with and had access to. So for me that's land based machinery. We don't have a fancy logging winch either so it's a just a couple of long heavy ropes & slings, a tractor to pull the limbs up the bank and a telehandler to lift them from there.... Hell, I make it sound so easy!

Sister in law.... posting photos like that of ones own sister would be a little bit too back country for a family forum I reckon....

I opened the laptop to find lots of pages open at Aquafell Xpert boots this evening.... bizarrely the one thing which isn't on my spreadsheet.... [and I think I'd like to try the Harkie's actually....] Next year I'm going to not put a Range Rover on the list and see what happens....

Haha, I did an excel spreadsheet which I emailed to my wife..... Pinto, Revolver, Silky.... But obviously mostly socks....

I presume it's tied to a tree on the bank? And if you lay long lifting slings out across the barge before you load it you can lift the bundles of brash off with a tele handler....

I used to sell Kubota equipment, brilliant range of kit, incredibly strong and well made, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say a bad word about it.... I recall taking a 6100 in as a PX, I'm a bit young to have sold them new I think, very simple & sturdy tool though. If it's in good condition then that would be a useful machine.

You did exactly the right thing and I think it was a fair solution in the end. It does smart a bit when something becomes your fault simply because you were there, when it's actually due to lack of upkeep by the owner, but that appears to be life unfortunately. Presumably this hasn't become a talking point locally and done your reputation any damage?

If any will, they will..... I think I should get some for when I take a young boy into the woods on Sunday....

Sorry Gerrit, I didn't realise! How did both the town council and the tree surgeons who did the work manage to get it so obviously wrong? I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination but if I spotted it, surely anyone could?! Simon

I have now got a lad coming to help me burning up, but if anyone else wants to come along to do a bit of cutting there's always room for more! Thanks

Definitely should, hit the bright lights of Tenbury... you can share some of your wisdom too, maybe I'll be able to get over my irrational / incompatible fear of heights! I didn't realise you went to Myerscough. I quite like the look of the Harkie harness. Big bucks though.... For now though I reckon the tree hopper will do me just fine.

You've left a lot of long limbs in place on both of those Willows Gerrit. Presumably there is no damage to any of that structure which would show as a weakspot when new growth surges out at the higher levels? I have not really seen Willows pollarded in that way, I have only ever done them at the fork, even Weeping Willows. Was that a specific request of the client or is this a more common method of pollarding than I realised?

This is my current LR [after a 1959 S2 V8, 1966 S2a, 1993 RR, 1995 Tdi Disco & 2001 TD5 Disco]. It's all things to all jobs and the whole family loves it [except my wife who thinks it's a bit wayward to drive and unecessarily thirsty...] 1995 3.9i ES Disco...

Might turn up as a box of bits yet!!! Ordinarily I wouldn't grey import, it doesn't help our floundering economy... but in this instance I can't justify the cost of buying one over here. The used saws in my price bracket look like they've had a bit of a hammering, the new ones seem a bit cheap and nasty. I used to have an MS200T which I sold when I left the trade. Given the choice I'd have had another one of them without question, but sadly I can't capitalise it over a work period. I'll let you know how the little Tanaka goes though!

I think so, yes. I haven't found that exact saw for sale in this country but the re-badged version, available here through a very reputable supplier, is about £270 ex VAT / £325 inc. With all the charges this comes out at about £185 ex / £220 with, so yes, it's saved me a hundred quid. HOWEVER, there is the whole grey import / warranty thing to be aware of.. if it packs up I guess I'm on my own. As a light user I don't see this being a major issue though...

I'm getting quite excited now... I ordered a Tanaka TCS3301PFS top handled saw from the States and it's nearly here! It's currently residing about 10 minutes from my mother in law's house at the UK customs hub in Coventry awaiting clearance.... Parcel Force tell me it will be in their depot overnight tonight.... Just for those who don't know, I bought it on eBay.com but what they didn't state, and I didn't realise, is that the paying out doesn't stop there.... There is a good explanation of it here... HM Revenue & Customs But, in a nutshell, you get charged VAT @ 20% on everything, including postage & packaging [which seems a bit of a stunt to me...] Also, you might get charged customs duty, which is something I cannot fathom... Finally, if they need to inspect the contents, your get charged a packing fee by Parcel Force / Royal Mail, who handle the package once it gets into this country. Parcel Force / Royal Mail pay the fees and they then deliver a card to you with what you have to pay on it, in my case this will be about 45 quid, plus another £12 because I want them to do a next day delivery for me on Saturday... I can expedite this process [ie cut out the card delivery & couple of days wait] by keeping an eye on the Parcel Force tracking site and as soon as it says 'in depot' or 'cleared customs' I can phone them up and pay the charges, it will then go out for delivery. So even though those extra fees came as a bit of a disappointing surprise to me... it hasn't taken the shine off completely...!

Who has drawn up the spec for this? Presumably you can present a method statement to them for approval before you start? No arguments then...

I left my phone on the top of the combine wheel... but obviously by the time I realised it was flattened. And I had new lenses fitted in my raybans this summer and put them on the mudguard of the tractor while unloading a bale trailer a week later... got two hundred yards up the field and remembered... spent AGES looking for them, found them on the top step, I'd reversed under a low branch which slid them all the way over & they dropped off the front... couldn't believe my luck!

Wow... like that....! [bow to the floor....] I lurked for a while just reading the boards [it comes up in google A LOT!] and on the whole it does seem to be a very strong resource, hence I joined up. But the unavoidable fact is that anything out in the internet is going to suffer from either: Visitors who feel that sitting at a keyboard typing out a conversation gives them an excuse to chip in with comments they might normally not make, or idly misinterpreting others' posts for the sake of it. Or: Users who maybe lack the typing skills or patience to adequately get a point across without it being misinterpreted and threads descending into a bitch fight... Of course some folks just aren't nice....!

It's not just here... I have used a couple of other forums in the past which I stopped using in the end, they seemed to get cliquey and users would snipe at others' posts for seemingly no good reason. I often wondered whether these people were miserable nasty gits in real life or just vented it on the internet.... Simon

Have you suffered from a bit of mid-30's spread yet Drew? You were like a racing snake last time I saw you.... I think if I tried a different harness now I would very quickly see more of the Hopper's shortcomings... The back pad isn't very supportive and the low attachment point makes that a bigger deal than it could have been. And I find the buckles impossible to slacken off in gloves.... Simon