mr_magicfingers

Might either get a new bowsaw blade and see how it goes or get a bahco bowsaw for now and save for a silky. There seem to be several lengths of the different saws so there are Sugoi, Gomtaro and Zubat's all in the same length and style. Any suggestions on what saw is designed for which purpose?

OK, just been looking at silky saws, those look very nice, a grown up version of my laplander that's very handy. So, given that I've a chainsaw, billhook and a laplander, which model would be the most useful for a non-professional woodsman working on coppice. 300mm? and which tooth size. Cheers.

Recently bought a farm with a 7 acre woodland that needs bringing back into coppice, it's mainly hazel coppice under oak and ash standards. I've my first chainsaw and gathering the other necessary tools such as a couple of bill hooks (getting a fiskars for now and looking for an older one too), already have a bahco laplander and a bow saw. I was given the bow saw that I've used a few times but it always seems to cut on a curve rather than straight. I've been a hobby woodworker for years so I think I can usually cut a straight line with a handsaw but nothing I do will prevent this bowsaw from curving the cut. There's no way to tension the blade, it has a fold up handle to lock the blade in place. Is this curving cut usual or should I look at getting a better bowsaw and, if that's the case, what's recommended? Thanks.

Sounds not dissimilar to my background, bandsaws, table saws etc all capable of removing digits and limbs. You take your time, thing about what you're doing and what could go wrong, then proceed. could get hit by a bus tomorrow

Woodworks, thanks for the replies, very helpful. I'm near Great Torrington and would very much like to take you up on your offer, I'll PM you with details.

Thank you all for your comments and thoughts. My own thoughts are that I would generally work alone comfortably, but that's a part of who I am, I'm comfortable working alone and assessing risks etc. I hadn't really thought too much about it until my girlfriend said she wasn't happy with me doing that. To be honest, even if I had a 2 way radio, flare rig and epirb, if I chainsawed an arm off I'd probably bleed out before anyone could get to me. I'll probably aim to have someone around for the first few weeks of work, whether that's my girlfriend being in the woods or someone else. Eventually though, I like the thought of working alone, I like the concept of the solitude, the figuring things out and the not worrying about making sure someone else is ok. It gives me the chance to work at my own pace, which is probably slower than when being concerned with someone else's time. Thanks again.

Wondering if folks tend to do chainsaw work on your own? I've a bunch of woodland clearance and some treefelling to do on the farm we've bought. Girlfriend is away during the week working and doesn't like the idea of me running a chainsaw with no-one else around. As I'd be down in the woodland anyway, and not within earshot, I wondered what other people do. I'm not a professional, I'm a novice to this but very safety minded. Interested to hear what precautions people take if they are working alone.

Good to know, cheers. Interesting idea using IBC crates, is that just the metal exterior that you use I take it? Even with a lid I'd have thought you'd get a lot of water coming in sideways when it rains, which is why I've always been puzzled by small stacks of wood outdoors, just figured the rain would blow in sideways and soak everything again.

Thanks very much for the advice. I wasn't sure how well a stack would dry as it gets larger. Woodworks, your avatar shows a well packed store but I've always wondered how dry the inner logs are going to get given that there's quite a depth to that and not a huge amount of air circulation through the side boards. Do you just add extra time once the outer logs are dry?

That is truly stunning work. Something similar has been a dream of mine for many years. Doubt I'll ever do something that big but hoping to go on a timber framing course next year and use some of the spruce I'll be felling on our land to build an office for the campsite we're opening and possibly a studio for my girlfriend's craft work. Did you have many issues with planning permission, I take it you're in the uk?

I'm about to start felling and clearing some trees on the farm that we've just bought, and need a place to store and season them for the woodburner. There's going to be quite a lot of this in the years to come as we also have 7 acres of woodland in need of thinning and a stand of spruce to clearfell, so I want to set up a decent sized log store for the future. Rather than build something from scratch, I'm thinking of using a section of the open barn we have, as not much is stored in there other than the tractor and some trailers and miscellaneous farm stuff. It's open on two sides so I think I'd get a decent flow of air through. I'm thinking that the back wall in this shot which is the right wall in this shot would make a suitable place. Plan is to put some pallets down on the dry earth floor and make dividers using fence posts and some boards across them so that there's separated sections. Then it's either stack split logs neatly into each section or just throw/pile them in, depending how ocd I'm feeling on the day Being in the barn it gives me a dry space to set up a homemade oregon sawhorse and a chopping block to swing an axe when the weather's wet, there's also a saw bench for mounting on the pto of the tractor we bought with the farm though that scares me way more than my new chainsaw. Main question is, will stacking along that wall give enough airflow for drying if the walls themselves are solid (corrugated steel)? Anything you'd do differently in the situation? Cheers.

Mine just arrived, took 10 days from amazon us. Only thing that surprised me is that the edge isn't that keen, you can run your finger over it and it's not sharp. Will need to fix that which won't take long but I was reading elsewhere about how sharp these things were supposed to be. Will get the stones out and put a nice edge on it and see what it can do.

going through the buying process, hoping to complete some time in March and be moving down there end April - mid May when our current contracts finish. Fingers crossed we'll have the summer to settle in then back to work in the Autumn, but who knows whether it'll work out like that. Can't wait to be down there.

I didn't say I would be running them We have a friend who lives nearby who's a professional bushcraft instructor and who's offered to run courses for us, I plan on attending them all myself to learn more about the land and the things growing on it. That's part of the attraction of moving out of the city, a chance to learn about these things.

That's a great idea Paul, thanks, will do just that once we're down there. Cheers.

What's a 360? getting the roots out is a requirement for the land use we have, mulching them would be good as that can then be used for the pathways across the site.

Sounds ideal for what I have in mind once seasoned

thanks for that, will keep it in mind at purchase time.

Useful to know, the Devon smallholders have a lantra course coming up in March and it's a third of the cost of the nptc.

Someone else mentioned them this morning to me. The lantra course is much cheaper than the nctp courses, but not sure if they'll cover as much. 30/31 is 5 days as opposed to two. I think the lantra course would be fine if I'm not felling lots of trees though. Will definitely be joining DASH when we move though. We'll be in Yarnscombe, near Great Torrington. Good idea on the woodland, will get in touch with them and find out once the sale is all signed off.

No warranty, private sale through ebay. May pass, not in a rush yet, just looking at the options.

After looking at prices of a new 550/560xp I've also looked at prices of a secondhand 346xp. On ebay they go for £200-250. There's an ex-environment agency one, checked over by a dealer for £245. Most seem to come with an 18" bar, but it seems a reasonable cost to get a spare 15" bar and chain. Effectively half the price of a new one and probably plenty of saw for my needs. Obviously buying second-hand is always a risk but a dealer checked one sounds reasonable. Thoughts/suggestions on whether this is a reasonable idea. Cost isn't the most important thing in mind as there's £600 in training and £2-300 in PPE on top of the saw cost. You get a 2 year warranty with a new saw which is nice peace of mind, but I've no experience to go on with knowing if a second hand saw is a good deal. Plus I do like the idea of not having computerised electronics on a saw, though that may be me being a luddite

I'll be down in Devon, if the sale all goes through ok. Replanting isn't a bad thing if we can plant broadleaf, we'll be using the area for a few bell tents/yurts so planting new trees around them is part of the plan anyway. Getting the stumps out will be the interesting bit I think. Will have to get the woodland officer round once we've moved.

Thanks Stuart, I'll give all that some thought. cheers.

Nice idea. We could certainly offer that if it's arrangeable. People could camp on the site, reducing accomodation costs etc and I'm sure we could feed a small course comfortably, they usually seem to be limited to about 4 people.