Liam In The Borders

You can call yourself a professional anything as long as it isn't legally protected by Act of Parliament. I'll rearrange my words - up to ten years. But what else can you expect from someone who isn't a 'professional' writer. Perhaps that should be 'author'? Authors are professional writers, aren't they? Or are they writers?

It stems from the over-riding principles of a) protecting the public who are not experts in that area, and b) the area has potential to do harm. Generally it's in areas where to do things directly with/to people - not generally things which have a 'knock on' effect. Your legal definition of a professional is that only another person qualified in that profession can assess their work e.g. if a surgeon is investigated then only other surgeons would have the knowledge and skills to carry out the investigation. e.g. if a 'professional' builder did a job on a house which then collapsed then H+S, building regs etc could investigate it - it would not have to be another builder. Other tick boxes are - it's a legal governing body which confers the right to use a title which is protected in law e.g. 'registered general practitioner' and the approves the training and qualification level need for entry onto the register, and it can remove the right to use a title and the right to practise. It's a criminal offence to use a protected title or practise in a regulated area without one. 'Chartered' (i.e. Granted Royal Charter) is a professional qualification overseen by the privvy council and designates a level of training - it's not a legal qualification which confers a right to practise. You don't legally need it to work. It's an offence to practise in a protected profession even if you don't use the the title - you could not for instance call yourself a 'human biology practitioner' and do surgery on people. What we do is unregulated so is the next step or two down - as we don't even have Corgi/Hetas equivalent then it may be seen as semi-skilled. Note that you can still be skilled and expert in it! but in the grand scheme of things it may not be viewed as needing a 'high' level of skill. People cut their own trees down but never seen one take out their own appendix! Surgeon - seven years to qualify as a basic medical practitioner then another ten to train up to consultant (or even GP) grade with exams and assessments all the way. Tree people - CS30/31/38/39 - 3 weeks of training with no CPD requirement. Add every CS unit together - how much does it add up to? It isn't seven years!

What is this please? Swedish Whitebeam?

When I bought mine I tried the Navaho and oooh did it crush! My voice was an octave higher. I worked up the price range and ended up with a Sequoia - much more comfortable. I needed a pair of Type C trousers as well so I tried them both together. I did a Cherry tree two days ago and being uncomfortable was one thing I didn't have to worry about. But do try it on first - no mail order - the shop should have somewhere you can swing from, and do wear the actual trousers you'd be using with them. Good luck.

We have a Bushnell infra red trail cam. Get the type with the 'black' IR LEDS so they can't be seen. Lash it to a tree, cover the body with mud and debris and off you go. Almost invisible, takes 8xAA batteries which last for a year and the mem card costs a fiver and holds 7000 hi res photos - all you do is change the card out every time you're there and check it on your computer when you get home. Then stick up a sign saying the site is monitored, they'll have a look to see if they can spot the cameras then realise that the cameras have probably already spotted them peering hopelessly into the trees and head off - bingo! They know you must have a mug shot for future use even if they haven't nicked anything. We got a great shot of a shell suit hoody having a prowl. We got broken into 18 months ago and this system has worked for us since then.

Right there with you. Same situation here. I find welding gauntlets help avoid the worst of the bloodshed. Depending on how much time you have, going as far up as you can with a long handled saw to get the bigger lower branches off can ease things a bit, but not much. I've got a pretty hefty home made petrol winch which fairly whips the logs out once they're clean and on the ground, but when they're hung up (which is just about all of them) even that's no good.

Where exactly did I ask how to do it? I asked for opinions on different approaches. Thanks to the people who answered the question and thanks to the couple of local guys who PMd me offering a chance to try their set-ups. No thanks to the people who told me to not to come on here and ask questions in the first place.

That's what I was after!

Sorry for the delay - I did a quick change of email address, didn't get the activation link and had to go back to the old one. Nope! I knew the answer to that question! Next question - what method do I use for the main line? Other posters don't mention it, when I look elsewhere no one can agree. This http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/crr_pdf/2001/crr01402.pdf p.36 appears to say climb up, secure off at the top, climb down then go back up. If I have it right helpful peeps here say to just spike up cutting as you go (and I assume tie off as you ascend?). It gets more complicated http://www.treemagineers.com/downloads/hitch_climbers_guide.pdf p.18 seems reasonable - but at what point do you adopt what's on p.20? If the industry could agree on best practise I'd follow it. I can't even get a consensus on which hitch / friction system to use. Until then it's up to you guys. OnFootForestry - your concern for my welfare is an example to us all:001_smile: My groundsman for this task is family and a just retired fire-fighter qualified in aerial rescue He has a mental map of hitch systems that's spot on. And that is the honest to goodness truth. Once I (you guys) figure out my best approach I can decide which of the formal training providers works best for me - they seem to have different emphasis.

Okay - thanks. I'm with the spiking/flipline side of the equation. What would you advise regarding a second/safety line set up?

I wouldn't say I embraced the alternative side of life! My friends think I do because I'd rather spend 500 quid on a chainsaw than a season ticket for Newcastle United - it lasts longer and you get more enjoyment out of it. As for experience? Perhaps I should be less self effacing and more direct if that's how the forum operates. I've been in that wood for six years - no one has more experience of the place and what's required there than me and I've hundreds of hours on chainsaws going back twenty years. In some areas of the site I do run a petrol winch with 10 mil cable on a custom bed to get the mass out quickly if that's what the plan requires. We're six years into a twelve year management plan which we spent six months working out with FCS. The strategy and steps to get there are very clear, but in the days when I had experienced forestry bods come out to 'advise' me then the advice was always to let them do whatever it was they were experienced in - irrespective of what we required. It invariably involved heavy plant which 'would do no damage at all to the site.' Sure. The implication was that because we didn't want diesel beasts forcing racks of convenience into place then there was something wrong with our macho credentials. Perhaps if they stopped to listen and realised we were past the strategy formulation sage and that those decisions had been made, then they may have got some work. I do hire in sole/small low impact contractors a few times a year to work in some areas, but this bit of the woods is my own personal favourite so no-one touches it but me. That's just the way it is. There's a presumption against clear felling and monoculture in the plan which calls for the section I'm working in now to be carefully and very selectively thinned without damaging any other trees to encourage the sessile oak and scots pine which are currently skirting the edges of the site to move in. I've free climbed half these trees anyway putting up nesting boxes, now I'm going to do it with a chainsaw because that's how the next phase of the plan will be accomplished. I'm going to do it anyway - I just need advice on the safest method. I am a lone forester and I will do my thing. Love this forum.

Hi, These are so tightly packed there isn't even enough space for the hinge to break or to winch the trees into. For various reasons I don't want access racks. I'm crawling into the stand and taking out individual trees so I'm left with a partially felled tree held up by its neighbours - I don't even want to talk about the horrors of winching and chainsawing in the middle of what looks like the aftermath of a fight in the kerplunk factory. I had a reality check last weekend when I was snedding then cutting near vertical free hanging trees above my head, letting the section plummet like a pile driver next to my feet, heaving down what was left another six feet with the winch then doing it again. It occurred that these things were getting pretty big now and that there might be a safer way to do it. I've done more dangerous things in my life but when bad things don't happen, you get used to them not happening, then you think they'll never happen! I'm too long in the tooth to believe that I'll always be clever and quick enough to dodge them. I bet I'm not the only one.

Hi, I'm on an ongoing project thinning a dense stand of 25yr+ sitka spruce. Up until now I've been able to fell the trees from the ground but as they are getting bigger and denser it's just not feasible and I'm getting nothing but hang ups which I have to winch down - it's not a safe situation. I realise now I need to start climbing and dismantling the trees but there are a dozen different opinions on the best / safest approach to take, and a hundred on which climbing equipment setup to use. I've attached some old photos (which just happen to be of a mistle thrush nest and a wasps nest to give you a flavour of what I'd be climbing in). The trees are 40-50 feet high in some parts of the wood. Not possible to use a throw-line because of the proximity of the trees to each other (standard 1.6m forestry spacing) and in most places I can't see the tops of the trees. What would be the simplest, safest climbing set-up to use, and the simplest, safest approach to dismantling? Remember that Sitka are needle sharp and forcing your way through branches costs a pint of blood per metre! All help much appreciated! Thanks, Liam