Mat

It could just be that you lad is a labourer, and will not amount to anything more. This should not be taken as a critisism or failure of him... You may actually be employing the best grafting labourer to will ever meet. Trying to adapt him (by whatever means) to more 'skilled' tasks (such as setting up ladders, or setting out fencing) may just be beyond what he chooses to apply himself to. At best, he may be rubbish and unmotivated at these tasks, which may negatively effect his labouring ability as well. At worst, he could expose you, himself or others to a whole world of hurt (and I don't just mean physical pain). If he is of no use, do both of you a favour and seriously consider his future with you. If he really is a great labourer, and you business can support this type of 'one trick pony' / 'blunt tool' , accept him for the asset he is. A hammer is a blunt tool, but its often more useful than even the sharpest chisel.

Maybe best you stop digging The 'sin' plate (can't be a 'vin' plate can it?) is correct and mounted fine. The CE sticker is also totally fine. You see it as silver, I see it as white in that picture. Compare it to the side casing label - that one is silver... They are clearly not the same colour in that picture. Also are you really sure you have never seen a CE conformity sticker on an XP saw?

IMO not a fake saw, but that particular image is used in a number of scams from what I can see (seems to spend a lot of time being resold on gumtree!) Christ, I hope not, otherwise Husq have got a false one up currently on their website!

What 'normally' happens is that people do a training course (either lantra, or the training organisations own course) combined with a NPTC assessment latched on at the end. Its about 2 to 3 days in total. Speak to a local training provider, and explain that you only want the training bit, not the assessment - it's not that unusual a request. If they are a bit thick, point out that you are just after 'refresher training' for maintenance and cross cutting. It should be about 2 days, but maybe one. TBH, one day may be a bit of a push (depending on the ability of your fellow candidates to follow instructions and shut the f k up) - 2 days is probably better value. If they try touting the benefits of the assessment, politely decline. NPTC assessments costs seem to vary a lot, but it may cost approx in the region of: £30 NPTC registration + somewhere between £12 to £30 assessment fee + whatever the assessors fee is + a little something for the training company on top. You don't need to spend any of this, so save your cash. I have no idea of who is a good training provider in your area..... Over to the local knowledge for that!

TBH, If you are not cutting anything up for profit (ie you are cutting up your own wood on your own land) getting 'qualifications' is a total waste of money. Go for a 'training only' option on maintenance and crosscutting. Spend the money you would have spent on NPTC assessments on PPE, nice new chains, a posh axe or something else useful. Here is to the next 30 years. Matt

IMO, you will need the right equipment, and the knack (bit like most things). A proper clearing saw is a different beast to a brush cutter. The shaft is a lot shorter. The guard at the end of the shaft is designed to be stupidly small. I have a Husq 252rx, which also had the benefit of a thumb trigger. I used to use blades that had teeth similar to chainsaw cutters, and were sharpened in the same way. In use, obviously you need to carefully plan your sequence in order to make life easy, but the basic knack you need to master is: Its the momentum of the blase that cuts... blip up a bit of speed in the blade, and then just tap the stem to cut it... don't apply the blade in a smooth movement, or it will just drag itself deep into the wood and jam. The clearing saw is designed to be used two or one handed (hence the short shaft) so cut and lay the stems as you go. You can send the base of a stem flying forwards, backwards, or to the sides - depending on which part of the blade you are using (hence the tiny guard), and the angle you cut the stem at. The video shows it pretty good (from what I watched) No need to bend over, you get to spend all day upright with no aches and pains in the evening. The finish to the cut with a decent blade is as smooth as a silky (well, nearly ) Cheers

Couldn't say on prices at all.... long time since I was involved in that side of the industry. Although rather out of your area, these people do 'em: Lynher Training | Basic Maintenance, Cross Cutting & Felling to 200mm/8″ diameter at felling height (Lantra Awards) they are located just over the Cornish frontier. Probably the easiest / quickest way of getting prices to compare the two is just to ring them (even if you end up using a closer training provider).

I am not sure of how wise it would be to use a 'cast off' flip line. you never know how much the previous owner attached it to the mog to drag logs, chippers and fiat pandas out of boggy ditches. Even if it was 'looked after' you never really know... Check this thread out: http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/general-chat/84518-24hrs-e-tree-surgeon-now.html

Recycled of the 'Chainsaw trousers earnt their money' thread... From memory, the felling cuts you will do will be: spear cut step cut 80% front cut reducing v cut basic felling cut. What is more you cover dealing with 'hung up' trees. There is no point in doing an NPTC assessment - spend the money instead on getting the best tools and equipment!

Lantra do probably the most basic felling course. Although it is targeted at trees upto 200mm, cuts like a basic felling cut and split level cut can be 'scaled up' for doing larger trees. The link is here: Lantra Awards | Training Course | Chainsaw | Tree Felling Techniques | Basic Failing that, you can do a 'normal' maintenance crosscutting and felling course, but just not bother with applying for NPTC assessment, which would be totally superfluous for using a chainsaw non-commercially.

[ame] [/ame]

sorry

......... 'course, you could check out the City and Guilds/NPTC website and cut through the usual 'my mate from the pub reckons' / 'when aah did it ten year ago' confusion . NPTC barely exists any more (its now City and Guilds). and CS unit are soooooo long gone. Bearing that in mind, everyone is right..... kindof..... You can do Tree Climbing... https://www.nptc.org.uk/qualificationschemedetail.aspx?id=337 Then you can do Aerial Rescue... https://www.nptc.org.uk/qualificationschemedetail.aspx?id=348 OR you can do Tree Climbing and Aerial Rescue combined https://www.nptc.org.uk/qualificationschemedetail.aspx?id=356 Lantra do IDENTICAL assessments (identical: as in exactly the same and totally interchangeable). If you do them separate: 1) you must do the tree climbing before aerial rescue. 2) if you fail the aerial rescue having passed the tree climbing, you dont have to resit the entire assessment. Cheers.

Couple of ladders.... handful of nails.... and whatever passes for common sense these days.

I'm with Mull (sorry Mull ). http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg284.pdf Check out page 4 and 5

Careful or Safey Steve will bring you over to the dark side

As an employer, would you supply "dangerous kit with the guards off"? As an employer, would you employ (and I quote) a "father and son who were reckless"? If the answer is no, how tolerant are you of employers who do? Are you not bothered that they may get a temporary advantage over 'good' organisations? Would the world of business not be a little better for you if some of these unlevel playing fields were leveled out a bit? Do you not fear that you organisation is having to carry the dodgy ones who increase insurance premiums, tax, red tape, etc,etc,etc?

I think your gonna need a bigger ....... eerm....

or Lots of organisations don't bother to grit their paths around buildings because of penny pinching, and hope they will get away with just putting up a sign saying ice slip hazard instead. Sticking up a sign and taking no further action is not a demonstration that an organisation cares for the well-being of their staff is it? (if they got sued, it would be a civil claim wouldn't it, so its their insurance companies arse they attempting to cover, not their own).

If you check out Paul's (and, as it turns out, Kevin's) link, you get a excellent example. Two workers using a bit of unguarded equipment. Clearly the dad knew it was a bit dangerous (well he did if he talks to his son). The employer would have known as well (if he talked to the son). Who gets the prosecution? Father, Son or employer. The employer has a legal, and probably a moral obligation to supply suitable equipment. If the employer had presented the court with a beautifully filled in check sheet, do you think the case would have gone any different? I don't.

Well, strangely this is a misconception by many businesses. Following an accident, the business would need to demonstrate that equipment was suitably checked. Just a filled in check sheet won't cut much mustard. As I said, all that proves is that a form was completed. The business will have the ultimate responsibility to demonstrate adequate systems of work. Take my Heinz hand amputation example - it was Heinz wot got done, not an individual!

YES That is exactly it. Petty bureaucracy, hiding behind health and safety, but in reality nothing to do with it. I visited an organisation that has a checksheet that had to be filled in for inspecting the chipper, another one for MEWPs, another one for climbing kits, another one for vehicles..... saws..... climbing irons... on and on. Each checksheet had some titles to fill in and about 15 boxes to tick (except the climbing irons - obviously). "What the hell is all this about" I asked? "It's to prove they do the inspections" I was told proudly. In reality all it proved was that someone had filled a form in. No one checked anything because after the forms were filled in they didn't have time to start inspecting stuff. Bureaucratic madness.

Explain (this is a discussion forum )

"Don't bother with the permit" says they. "Stuff that for a ***** " says I Consider this... Food industry. Norfolk. Contractor in to do maintenance. Permit to work bodge followed by equipment isolation failure. IPE - Heinz fined after engineer has hand sliced off Who gets to loose the hand? Who gets to spend "two weeks in hospital and undergo eight separate operations on the stump". Who is now "unable to drive, work or even carry out many day to day activities". Me? I glad to be intact, and I deary hope that my kids, and my friends kids, get to live their lives in a world where they can spend their entire working lives intact as well.

I would not be too sure. The biggest problem with 'self lockers' is not that they tend to 'roll open' after they have been correctly closed. It is that the don't correctly close in the first place. With a 4 way self locker, in order to 'self lock' it has to move an additional way. 3 way self lockers are hopeless at self locking, many won't self lock even from new (until I got the injunction, I used to carefully set rows of self lockers with the gates incorrectly closed in the local arb shop for sport ) If the equipment industry struggles to develop suitable 3 way self lockers, I don't see it has a chance with 4 way.