Frett

Nah, you don't. Unless you're being wilfully ignorant you must see that your situation is not representative of the generation that's entered the work force and been saving for a deposit since the crash. You might have been an extremely precocious 18 year old oil executive I suppose. I regret the bit about the teeth, I've always thought keyboard warriors were somewhat cringey. I am tired of being told about hard work by a generation who could buy homes at 24 after a few years in a supermarket though.

I wrote a fairly long post here, but I'll boil it down to this: unless you've been working and saving for your first house deposit since the financial crash (08-09), you'll have no idea of the realities of the modern rental/housing market (in the UK), and your opinion isn't worth much to anyone who has. A few years ago I was doing 60+ hours a week on the saw and machine, and struggling to make any ground in saving for a deposit. If you'd have told me then I should be working harder I'd have knocked your teeth out.

Good for you for wanting to get into forestry. Its a great industry, sometimes abused by forces outwith its control, but huge in scope in terms of different roles within it. From what you've written so far, I would recommend emergency first aid at work + forestry (EFAW+F) as the first thing you invest in. This'll allow you to start working almost immediately when you get a chance. After this, I think it's a bit more complex. Forest machine operating is made up of two halves - operating the machine and understanding the forest. People who jump onto a machine without a forestry background usually have a good background in operating construction machinery, allowing them to focus on the forestry side of things. Similarly, people who understand forest operations - often hand cutters - can focus on learning the machine handling part. Both are required for a quality operator, and it shows in the end product if one half is lacking. Taking on both from the off is a huge challenge, to be blunt. To this end, I'd recommend looking to learn the forestry side of things first. Contact the estates near where you live and explain your situation. They often engage in a multitude of different operations due to various uses for their forests - game, firewood, timber, amenity and such. This would enable you experience a few different types of work and see what you like. You can pick up the relevant tickets as you go, and hopefully get some paid for. After first aid, your basic chainsaw one would be the next, but you'll want to follow it up with a lot of work to consolidate what you've learnt and see how it actually works in the real world. Just my two cents, and I'm sure others will have a different view. All the best!

You're not alone in having a crush I can tell you. Their (the Swedish) system is widely understood by the public and forestry professionals and more or less unchanged from north to south. Everything is managed on a simple rotation, calculated as though the trees were going to live to 100 but in practice are felled at around 60 years of age, when productive growth starts to slow substantially. There are 2-3 thinnings at roughly 15 year intervals, with the first taking most of the birch (often for firewood) and the second/third taking the smaller pine/spruce. Everything seems to grow so bloody straight each thinning is profitable. Finally, since such vast areas are involved they don't plant nearly as much as we do, since the Birch/Pine/Spruce mix will regenerate happily from the seed bank and will have reached a thinning size by the time they return to it. Since most farms have woodland attached, there's a huge market for the kind of machinery Usewood and the dozen other manufacturers of dinky harvesting equipment create. Often the farms will carry out the first/second thinnings for themselves and their neighbours with those machines, before calling in the contractors to carry out the third thin/final fell with the big stuff. Like I said, its all very neat and easy, and it helps that public are aware and invested in how the forests are worked and managed. They expect a neat job, but also know that while a harvested site looks a bit rough for the year afterwards it'll soon grass over. The kids can name the plant and tree species they see, and can identify good firewood and good berries, they know not to ignore operational warning signs... A bit rose-tinted I know, but compared to the hodge-podge mess of management styles and warring land use factions we have in the UK it was a wonderland. Your last point about width I think is to do with the wind being generally stronger across the UK, and having to grow more reactionary wood. The south west 'biome' of Norway is often looked to as being the closest to the Scotland in terms of geography and meteorology, and is of keen interest to the rewilding/reforesting fraternity.

Cheers J. I've been following your journey souf' with interest, it's the kind of operation a lot of contractors (present and former) dream of - small, sharp machines doing a thoroughly professional job on sensitive sites. I did my machine training in Sweden, on smaller harvesters doing neat first and second thinnings around homesteads, so coming back to Scotland to do clearfells that look like a warzone on remote hills was a bit of shock!

Speaking from the west coast of Scotland, we are considering thinning operations in some stands again, having largely stopped since the late 80s. The arguments against thinning, like you said, largely revolve around thinning stands being uneconomical, with the eventual improved crop not outweighing the cost of 1st and 2nd thinning operations. Combine this with the real threat of substantial windblow damage to newly thinned stands from the north Atlantic winds, the mills having pretty narrow demands of timber size (which can be met by an unthinned 30-45 year old stand), and a general lack of knowledge about an operation type that hasn't really been carried out for 30+ years. A lot of damage was done to the concept of thinning by ill advised operations in mature crops that simply blew over at a slight breeze. However, as part of a national move towards 'alternatives to clear fell' (ATC) and continuous cover forestry (CCF) systems, and an increasing demand for a higher grade of timber than can be provided by unthinned stands, we're looking at how to overcome the challenges listed above (remote stands, high winds, challenging terrain). Importantly, as the forest road network improves, one of the major cost barriers to economical operations - the movement of machines and timber - is falling. Similarly, we're better at identifying which sites will prove capable of handling a thin, and which should just be planted up and left alone.

Excellent sleuthing wills-mill! Great pictures too. Wonder if anyone makes a flat-cap with built in ear protection...

Based purely on the colour, an old Forestor maybe? Great find whatever it is.

Hi all, I'm shortly moving up to Lochgilphead, in Argyll (next week in fact!) and am looking to fill my contacts book and get working. Willing to travel distances for the right stuff! I have; 2 1/2 years of experience in most aspects of forestry/arb work CS30/31/32/38 FMOC Harvester/Forwarder (Swedish) Emergency First Aid +F Own PPE/Saws/Insurance Transport + Driving license Degree in Forestry and Woodland Management (Newton Rigg) I'm self-employed, and have been working mainly on the saw, though I'm willing to give anything a go - especially milling. I'm more a woodsman than an arborist, though I have done a lot of groundie-ing. I don't have climbing kit or experience, having done that course recently, but if someone wants to train me up I'd be well up for that. I have used brushcutters and chippers alot, though I don't have the tickets for them. I'm punctual, hard working and fast learning. Send me a message on here for contact details/any questions Cheers!

Ace Fixings in Penrith? Never used them myself, but seemingly well though of.

Love the Husky/Iggesund combo - full Swede! How do you find those bars? I only have experience with Iggesund on harvesters.

And you mate! Will be in touch in the future for sure.

I got a Dolmar 6100H from Shavey near the start of the year. Its done a few tons since and has been great to use, never missed a beat.

My eyes cannot roll any further back into my head

Work well half the time. Make sure your local dealer is a gooden, you'll be seeing a lot of him.