Haironyourchest

(To quote a famous Kazakh) "Chain should hang like sleeve of wizard - high fiiive!"

Not slacking the chain when putting the saws away, and/or over-tightening generally. Tight chains make Baby Jesus cry.

Yeah you're dead right, but around here it's a bit different, hard to explaine but neighbours are friends and friends are neighbours kind of deal. A lot of people I know help each other out with labour on different jobs, contribute our gear etc. And some are very generous when it comes to lending their stuff..it can get political if you know what mean. I'm getting hairier as time goes by though.

Leopard print or zebra stripe?

People who ask to borrow your good tools. Not really "on site" but that does it for me. Thanks a lot for forcing me to say NO, making me feel like the Grinch and ruining my day. Being from a culture with an indirect communication style I can't just say - "Sorry, no can do." I have developed a rambling waffle which seems to work, involving "It's the one tool I never lend to anybody you see, and I know you'd take care of it but then I'd be obliged to lend it to other people know what I mean - and its so fragile, I mean I already broke it a couple of times myself etc etc...."

Funny I was just looking at my containers yesterday. Looks like the doors can be unbolted from the outside! Hiddenin plain view would be my attitude - have the non-essential/cheap gear in a ruthlessly locked container, chains, signs, threats all over it etc, and keep the good stuff in a different box disguised as a wood pile or something. You could acquire or build a smaller metal container, affix 4 - 6 inch thick log rounds to the walls, and then cover the ends and top with logs, so it just looks like a forestry stack of cheap poles. Could even have a flap door with logs bolted on, would be a bit heavy, but Im sure something could be contrived...

Only time mine jumped the ball was going up a long hill - safety chain with a ring over the ball saved it from ... perish the thought. Was a passenger when a loaded twin axel went AWOL and nearly took out an oncoming vehicle - saw this trailer overtaking us, kind of like "hey that looks like your trailer dude".... Luckily there was a bend ahead and it left the road....

I sent for a ripping chain a years ago for our 395XP. Up till then, we had been using a regular chain filed to 5 degrees. It worked, but was very slow. When the new "ripping chain" arrived at the tool hire, I when to pick it up and was surprised - imagining it would be a skip-tooth 0 degree chain. It looked just like a regular chain to my eyes, 30 degree grind etc. I queried if they had made a mistake and they said no, it was definitely a ripping chain. I was skeptical, but it performed really well in oak, left a pretty smooth finish, even at 30 degrees.

Its actually been done before...I didn't really invent it

I invented something like that - it replaces the felling spikes and extends a blunt spine along the back of the bar, slightly narrower than the chain. Will prevent kickback and if you do contact the top of the bar it saves you. The only problem is you can't backbar the cut, but then if one was one handing why would you want to? https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipM2GlOP5QFas0DBVtiDkUrYEczCNIO8ve0Ozt8c

Isn't it all about taking your time? Any task with inherent risk can be done "safely" given enough time - time to acquire optimal work positioning, time to plot kinetic energy movement and establish an escape manoeuvre, time to make the cut properly and so on. Of course, the counterpoint is there is not enough time. But if one was starting out, working alone, then one could conceivably make the time even if it meant working for half wages or half the profit per day. With experience, the time needed to perform safely would lessen. When it comes to training other people, I don't think there is any real solution, other then to get them to work nearly for free, to counteract the loss in productivity. Even an experience guy is going to be increasing his risk when he is hurried...Ive never broken a bone (touch wood) and never had a serious injury at work - and thats years of working on seriously dodgy sites, scaffolding held together with wire kind of thing, purely because I always take my time, no matter what. All movement is slow and deliberate and planned. Constant monitoring of my workmates to avoid dropped objects/falling bodies etc. On the other hand, I've also alway been poor....

[ame] [/ame] Looks great if you're only going be cutting pipe or planks, but one of the main benefits of the stanly workmate format bench is that its also a table - the vice function is secondary. I have two, a real workmate and a €15 Lidl clone, I use them a lot. Cant see myself using this gadget though....

Exactly, when people speak of "Europe" they're speaking of the political establishment in Europe, not the people of Europe. You can be sure there are at least 50% of mainland Europeans who are glad about Brexit, they want out too, or if not out, at least their sovereignty back and the Brexit vote was the thin end of the wedge.

Awesome post! I was born 1981 but Rep Of Ireland was about 5 years behind the times back then so I hope I dont qualify!

The latest anti vibe gear almost eliminates vibration, but I've noticed that the tools, strimmers and the like, marketed at the tool hire/council sector are not fitted with the good anti vibes - cost no doubt. The gloves do nothing. Should be easy enough to retrofit mowers and stump grinders with anti vibe grips - proper ones I mean, not just silicone tape.

All new members who need advice about entering the trade should study this thread!

What about a modified bicycle break cable and handle?

I haven't been banned yet, but they did delete one of my comments, and sent me an email explaing why. I can't find the reply I email back, but I remember it ended "...P.S Bite my knob."

Is it just me, or is the Guardian being more stingy with its comment option in recent months?

Time for a meme

Got another one: When fellers ask for a drink from your water bottle. After years of dedication to remaining STD free, neary a hint of oral herpes nor nothing, they casually ask you to gamble it all, and abandon your nobless oblige, for the sake of forgetting their effing bottle. Really bloody irritating.

Try putting a g-clamp on the bar on or near the sprocket and tighten as much as you would with the mill. Then move it around untill the sprocket spins freely

People who can't or won't tie things down properly. Was helping at a removal once, boss decided to take a four foot elm log home with him, riding in the back of the chipper with the chute open, diagonally, he randomly threw a ratchet strap around it. I offered him an additional ratchet strap from my own vehicle while making a tactful observation that "Sure belt and braces, can't hurt" He refused, and I left the site first, stopping for petrol on the way home bout ten miles. It was winter, and after dark. As I was filling up, a series of freaked out motorists pulled in, one of them had hit the log in the road and messed up his bumper, another nearly missed it etc etc... Minutes later the boss arrives to fuel up. It was a cringeworthy situation, I can tell you.....

Is that a Bertie Ahern impression? (aka Mr Waffles)