Al North

Thanks for all the info guys. I will investigate further. I'm planning to mill at least some of it on Monday. I'm hoping it will be usable - I had planned to make some small items of (rustic) furniture so the splitting and movement might not be too much of a problem. Not liking the prospect of rapidly blunting chains though. I want to spend my day milling not sharpening! Will let you know how I get on.

I have been offered an oak tree free of charge so had planned to mill a large proportion of it. Unfortunately when I have got a proper look at it I believe it is actually a Turkey Oak. A quick look through various woodworking websites seems to show that it is very poorly rated for just about anything. I was thinking of making some bits of rustic furniture from it. Does anyone have any experience of it?

A quick comment on the training too: EFAW+F simply does not have enough time in the course to consider anything in great detail considering the other topics that have to be covered. Its the minimum standard for FC sites so its what a lot of people go for. For self-employed guys its only one day paying out and not earning rather than the 3 days for a FAW+F course. A well tailored FAW+F course has much more time to consider a range of scenarios relevant to arb and forestry work. A good chunk of it can be outside too. There's lots of other training courses out there but beware its one of the largest unregulated training sectors there is so people are free to make up their own courses in some cases. I have seen some stuff lately that wasn't just badly delivered it was just plain wrong! Talk to your training provider - tell them what you want to cover and why. Its your money, your training and your life it could be saving!

Excellent thread this one. Remember when the crap hits the fan and its you on the receiving end its not how good your training and your first aid kit is that matters - its how well trained, practised and equipped the people are that you are working with! Some interesting comments about rescue of suspected spinally injured casualties too. In some areas the emergency services may struggle to reach you if you are remote or in rough terrain. Not all areas have line rescue units so it may be that the best equipped people to perform a rescue are yourselves - after all nobody understands your environment better than you! Any medical intervention you try in a tree is going to be more difficult than on the ground. Much better to do something quick and temporary and evacuate quickly to the ground where you can do much more. "patch and go" rather than "stay and play". Worth putting some consideration in at the initial rigging stage concerning how it might impact on a rapid evac.

Earlier versions of haemostatic agents like Quikclot did cause issues with eyes and airways in the rescue as they reacted with moisture. Celox (and later versions of Quikclot etc.) does not lead to this problem as it reacts with the blood in a different manner. I would however recommend the impregnated gauze as trying to pour granules into a wound on an agitated casualty on a windy day (and Sod's Law dictates that it will be) could be difficult. The gauze is much easier for hospitals to remove too. Remember its down to skills not just products - I've seen examples of horrific injuries (easily comparable to chainsaw injuries) that have been successfully treated with lots of simple wound dressings and direct pressure. In my experience the FC will not accept a 'standard' 3 day FAW course as it must have the additional +F topics. These are Chainsaw wounds, Hypothermia, Lyme Disease and Crush Injuries none of which must be in a standard FAW course.

Afternoon folks, We have had a couple of enquiries in the last few days about putting on an 'open' EFAW+F course and was wondering if there is anyone else out there looking for a course in the near future. Venue would be somewhere near the Northumberland / Cumbria border but we could finalise the location based on where people are actually coming from. We could also add extra stuff (beyond EFAW+F syllabus) at the end of the course depending on what people want to know. Cheers Alistair

All sorts of stuff really, climbing, canoeing, bushcraft, etc but my specialism is mine exploration using the old mines up at Nenthead and Garrigill. I have my own business and used to do the same sort of stuff but I have wound down that side of things to focus on training (first aid predominantly but also moving into work at height and other stuff) hence the freelance work for Tony & Linda.

I'm currently providing some training for aspirant wind turbine technicians as an external contractor for Maersk Training. If you are going into wind turbine work then the GWO tickets are the ones you need initially. All pretty basic stuff but you need them before you will be able to set foot on a turbine. They can be done in about 7 days if you can schedule them correctly. The course I am involved with is largely funded as its aimed an currently unemployed people. The work at height aspect of the GWO tickets is only a 2 day course and way below the technicality of arb climbing. It tends to use much more specialist hardware in comparison to more traditional prussik based tree systems. As you say the money involved can be very good once you get a foot in the door. There is a projected shortfall of several thousand technicians over the next few years so there should be plenty of opportunities out there.

Sorry to hear about yet more kit going walkabout. I know exactly the mill you mean as I have traveled past it regularly. They must have taken a real risk to park up a truck on the roadside there. A lot of the farms in our neighbourhood have been hit recently - trailers, quad bikes, landrovers and tools, etc. Next door had 2 quad bikes and a horse trailer taken. They had obviously been watching the place as they were taken during the day whilst everyone was out at the Mart. Most of the kit was thought to be going off to the north east initially. Apparently it is dumped in out of the way places until sold so that when the police visit the suspects there is nothing to be found on their premises. Bill are you working for Tony at the Dale? I freelance for him on the outdoor activities side and have known Chris up at Sweethope for a good few years too.

That's an excellent project. I thought about having a go at something like this after seeing a guy at my local timber supplier who was making something similar. He was using a massive 3 phase engineering spec drill press which weighed about a tonne so I discounted it on the basis that I would never have access to that sort of power. Having seen this thread its got me thinking again. What sort of power requirements would this sort of job require? Is it a question of feed speed and keeping the drill pin sharp? I have an axminster drill press that is 550W - Would I be right in thinking that this will not be powerful enough? Alistair

Done!

Has anyone tried the SuperTack Bio stuff that Clark Forest sell?

Not sure I understand what you mean by the tension in the log. I have been inserting wedges to stop the cut closing up. I've got about 40 planks cut from the larch and the first of the raised beds made. I used the small log mill to cut the planks then edged them with the minimill. I didn't go for parallel sided planks - just maximised the timber recovered. I've use the tapered planks alternatively to build up the sides of the beds. I am addicted to milling now and looking forward to trying out some other timbers. I look at all standing and windblown timber in an entirely different light now!