The avantgardener

When I first started in the tree business I was asked to fell a large Beech tree on a new build site in Bolton, £500 put it in the deck and leave, contractor would take the hit, around 24 grand at the time, but put 300 grand house in its place., told him to stick it and called TO. He was a repeat offender and apparently gets knocked back with planning permission on lots of new land he acquires.

The FC had a spell of putting HAVS monitors on all their chainsaws that could be plugged in to a computer to monitor exposure, whenever I saw the guys out in the woods they where asleep in the van or having lunch with the chainsaws idling outside.

The 572 is a fantastic all rounder, built well, probably the best stock saw that I have used. Out of everyone I know who has used a 500i, rough hewn is the only person to make this statement about revs dropping, that was his experience. If the 462 is anything to go by it will have stunning performance, It may also have the pretty poor build quality.

I have seen a guy with some retro fit peltors on, they just no longer fit under the helmet when retracted.

Husqvarna Technical Forest is the best cheap option, light, breathable but the visors are flimsy, I keep mine in the box it comes in, doesn’t roll about in the truck and isn’t in the UV when I am not at work like all the Arb guys helmets I see on the dashboards of their transit tippers. I have avoided buying a Protos helmet for the last couple of years awaiting another option that hasn’t arrived, I purchased one last week from Joneses, with the correct adjustments the ear defenders work perfectly well, I finally conceded that looking like a total bell end was the price I had to pay to help make sure I get home to my two kids, It really is a great bit of design. I have found the Husqvarna Technical Extreme trousers to be the lightest and best fit of any I have had in 20 years, pretty durable too with good ventilation, the Technical Robust are even more durable and the crotch hasn’t fell out of any of them. Buy boots from boot manufacturers like Meindl or Haix, just try several options, Haix are too wide fitting for me, I have had Treemme boots also (Italian boot maker) they have been excellent.

Thuja

There where several large softwoods including some impressive sized Lawson Cypress that turned brown and died over a few months on a site I was working on in Kent last year, pretty sure they narrowed it down to Phytophthora lateralis.

I swear by the Buffalo System clothing, used by the SAS and Mountain rescue teams, I’ve had them for years after trying all kinds of waterproof/breathable jackets which are good if you are standing around, but working is a different matter. The Special 6 is the one I use the most, tight fit, nothing or a base layer under, not waterproof but the insulation properties don’t alter when your wet so you are always warm, the body heat dries it quick the minute it stops raining, windproof to 50 mph.

About time too, it’s been a piece of shit for years.

I have been debating wether to wait for the 500i to come out or stick with a 572xp. The thing that is troubling me with the Stihl is build quality. On paper the saw speaks for itself, but look at the last run of saws they have produced, 261 build quality shit, 362 build quality and performance, shit, 462 great performance, build quality, a bit shit, and I can’t think of a reason why this new saw would be any different.

I have a good collection of the main plants that we encounter in the South East but I have been training RSBP staff who travel from other areas and want to expand on my data to suit other areas. Will take a look though, thanks.

Where is the location?

I replanted a site that had an ALB infestation at Paddock Wood a couple of years back, planted Sycamore as they target Acer’s first, the FC have been monitoring it since, definitely needs reporting.

I use a Husqvarna 555rxt for heavy stuff, 4mm nylon or mulching blade, clears anything but use a 335rxt for lighter duties, light and nimble but powerful enough to go some, best AV in its class at the time, great machine.

Hi, can anyone recommend a good reference book or specific website for information to identify toxic/harmful/irritant UK plant species? I am looking for images of young and adult foliage/flowers so that I can create something to put in the Risk Assessment pack for Brushcutter/Trimmer Operations.

The 365 is not even in the same ballpark as a 462 on performance, the 462 or the 572, that’s the real choice, the prices are similar.

I did some work for Cantankerous old bugger, believe me, he did nowt for free.

Pretty sure LANTRA do a Windblown Tree Course now, the would be a Generic Risk Assessment for that course. I would pre empt the work by having your experienced guys do a survey of the trees along the track and remove any obvious trees that could create future problems.

That’s a nice neat job, what is the species? I watched tree pits being constructed from scratch on a huge arterial road in Bulgaria’s Capital a good few years ago. They built them like a dry stone well, came one metre out of the ground then backfilled and planted with large Lindens, pretty impressive when they where finished.

Where you cutting this week Steve, I have a 572 in the shed you can use.

Check out the Instagram account video of Copfordsawmill, they have just sawn a massive London Plane Butt, 12 tonnes I believe.

Take it to Copford Saw Mill at Horam near Heathfield, East Sussex, they have one of the biggest woodmizers in the country and can mill that size and kiln dry it for you if required.

It’s for ‘Ticket Collectors’

hi @Rough Hewn All explained above, there is no upper limit on 301 (CS32) a bigger tree just need a bigger saw and maybe winch assisting rather than wedges. The CS33 Felling over 760mm is still available from NPTC but not required under law or HSE, the only reason you would need it is if you are a ‘ticket collector’ type. The fact that we don’t take down such large trees in the numbers required to run training and assessments very often made this ticket largely unworkable. I have never been asked to provide a copy of mine in 25 years of Forestry.

I have a quite large document downloaded from the FC website pertaining to the high value of dead wood as habitat, it discusses the value and ratio of standing dead, dead on the floor and dead lying in streams that is beneficial for wildlife, check the website. I had a similar knobhead talking bollocks to me last week. I had just finished clear felling 300 tonne of non native Western Hemlock, Lawson Cypress and Silver/Grand Fir, all massively fast grown, the Fir was 4’ at the butt, 45m tall and only 50 years old. The idea is to replant with native hardwoods, enter knobhead who used to work for the ‘Trust’. I tell him the plan and he replies, “that is such a cliche”, I asked him to explain what he meant but he couldn’t as it was just something he had heard banding around the office and something he repeated as often as possible to sound like he knew what he was talking about.