The avantgardener

5.2mm is for Stihl 3/8 5.5mm is for Oregon/Husqvarna 3/8 or .404 in all these brands.

I have heard of them fruiting under glass in the West Country

I don’t use Yale, and I have seen broken ones, I have only used Tirfor for the last 20 odd years with no issues.

There are lots of Yale/Ace brand winches that look like a Tirfor but they are not identical, they are cheap versions of a bombproof machine, they will not last anywhere near as long, If you only use them occasionally fine, if not, get a Tirfor.

The 462 is a very good saw, it has put STIHl back in the game, don’t assume the 362 is anywhere near as good to use, it isn’t, the most recent model is the best of the run but a 560/562 walks all over it in every department, get a 562xpg with heated handles.

A few from Bedgebury Pinetum

I think the guys at the iron mongers did the work.

This is my local church yard in Hastings, these trees must have had a TPO, they are certainly in a Conservation area. The Yew was stunning, as wide as tall, stripped to a 40’ pole, the Pine next to it completely bereft of all growth point but left at 40’, the two Sycamores stripped to poles but the Ivy was never severed so now they are Ivy poles, a lovely yellow berries Ilex out of shot, pruned to ground level.

I came across a complete Monkey Winch at a friends yard last week, I reckon he would part with it if he was made a sensible offer.

First of all I would look at the location of the tree in reference to what looks like a boundary hedgerow along side a road, it being an Oak and therefore being there for a considerable time, I would assume there had been stock fence nailed to it at some point, probably would show evidence on the bark, either way, I would cut above standard stock fence height, metal in the tree or not, the person cutting hasn’t a sodding clue.

If there was any argument against why refresher training is necessary, this is it.

Was this guy brown with buck teeth and a wide flat tail?

I thought this was what FISA are supposed to be doing? After all, they are taking large sums of money from the public purse to make forestry safer aren’t they?What have they delivered so far apart from rebranding the already available AFAG guides? We all know that if hand cutters where paid a better rate instead of being screwed by the huge operators that back FISA, injuries and deaths would be reduced, the majority of forestry based injuries are not even chainsaw related.

Yew burns brilliantly but Greenheart is the best I have burned, very long lasting and delivers considerable heat, I reckon I could reduce the size of my logstore by at least a third if I had access to this all the time.

I don’t think Assissted fell was ever in CS32, you just had to winch a hung tree out. if you spent a whole day doing Winch Assisted felling with a Tirfor I think that is pretty poor training, I would want a tractor winch and multiple sheave blocks and different configurations to work out loads and strop/shackle ratings etc, then I might actually cover something that I do infrequently.

When it comes to doing refresher training there are a few things that you need to consider before you book it and then complain that it wasn’t any good. As an experience Forestry hand cutter there is no point me booking some training with an instructor who specialises in Arb who just happens to teach CS31, that isn’t going to work and I would check out the persons credentials and experience before I pay my money. LANTRA vetted their instructors a couple of years back and formed a group of +F trainers who specialise in Forestry, FISA instructors specialise in Forestry, this is who I would be contacting for my relevant refresher training. If I hold all the ground based units already I would be speaking with the training provider and tailoring the refresher to suit my requirements, concentrating on the things I don’t do as regularly, e.g do a morning covering CS32 cuts to show you can cut to a good standard and the afternoon winch assisting and skidding out timber with the tractor using different offset configurations etc If you are cutting on FC land you need a refresher from a LANTRA +F or FISA Instructor anyway. One of the reasons that organisations like FISA have been able to ‘bang the drum’ for so long,as Stubby put it, is down to loads of people bankrolling them with membership fees and signing up to the agreement, all to get another sticker in the truck window, you can’t complain when you then have to comply with their decisions.

Hi Tom, I would get CS30/31 and a reliable saw first, this makes you employable. The theory/botanical stuff can be done by burying your head in books. If you want to work in Arb the next step would be CS38, this would make you a viable grounds man, being able to cut and perform rescue. A couple of one day LANTRA courses such as wood chipper, stump grinder and your looking like someone worth employing. One thing to bear in mind though, all these tickets demonstrate that you are competent to use said equipment, but you are far from the finished article, this is when you start learning the job proper, experience cannot be rushed. Do NOT work for free, you need paying but accept this may initially be less than you want. Good luck

Genista?

And before that you will need a first aid +F before they will let you on site.

If your working on FC land you need a refresher from a FISA or LANTRA + F Instructor or get the next ticket up. refresher is one day, depending on where you live, good luck finding a FISA instructor, they are nearly all based in Scotland!

It could just be that they have not explained what they mean properly. In the felling up to 380mm they train a dogs tooth cut for heavy forward weighted trees, where the back hold is severed last, or a danish cut which can be used for a tree that is not excessively leaning forward/back/side, where a hold is left at the back and severed last, with or without the use of s felling lever.

You should have asked for your money back!

This largely depends on what you mean by ‘trainer’. You could get tickets and set yourself up as one right now with very little experience, set up a website and most novices wouldn’t know the difference, Micky Mouse’s Chainsaw Training Certificate wouldn’t be recognised by FC or FISA, not worth the paper it is printed on, same for the refresher. LANTRA/ NPTC have stringent Technical Evaluations where you have to prove you can instruct and deliver knowledge that is well above your candidates, this is after a detailed theory based interview. I personally have only had very good instructors in the past but I did pick them to suit my needs, no point going finding the best Arb instructor to teach you Technical Forestry units.

I don’t have a problem with most of the training/ refreshers out there, a lot of the stuff I was taught is still valid and instructed, it’s the quality of the people coming into the industry for all the wrong reasons that has become the problem. It has been a while since someone came working with us who was any good, tickets or not.

Is that a left handed saw your using? Not seen one of them before.?