drinksloe

Probably the best advice given is leave alone if not confident, up to landowner/shoot to get someone in that can do the job safely. A lot could easily go wrong with a tree like that esp when surrounded by so many others. Hang it up u could have real problems. The ratchet strap is good advice, ur idea about putting cut in higher is also good, but guessing from photo might be too high so cutting at a dangerous hieght Really without a winch that tree will only fall 1 way hard to tell from photo if that way is clear and away from pen Must admit I'd tell the keeper to leave it more hassle than it's worth the chances off it falling down in the 2 weeks birds are actually in the pen is very slim

The 1 or 2 problems u will still have is electric winches are still not designed for constant or regular use and are sore on battery. I'd be worried if ur using the winch to drag brash us burn motor out and/or flatten the pick up battery. I know when I used to do more snow ploughing on a quad constantly lifting the plough would really strain the battery and lights would dim and gear changes slow down ( electric shift gears) after an hour or so. And that's with the bike running constantly and very short light pulls, nothing like the long drags ur talking about

We had them on tracked chippers on the railways years ago Used them more for accessing dodgy areas (up/down) seriously steep slopes and occasional pulling trees over. If u have anchor point high enough surprising wot it pulled. Electric winches are hard on the battery if winching a lot. Possibly I'd look at a hydraulic winch and take a feed of the rollers or buy a petrol 1 as mentioned

Must admit know little about horses but think they would really struggle, done a lot of cutting on peatwork sites. Not easy walked It might depend exactly wot vegetation is on top of the peat. Dunno how big he woods are or how much timber u have to come off but if the amount is small enough that horses could cope may be other lgp vehicles could cope. I'd imagine an argo and log arch would pull a similar amount to a horse. Or soft tracks, haaglund, glen almonds etc could ferry it to roadside with out a track

Do those photos links still work. Can"t get anything to come up although on a new tablet thingy which I"m struggling to work. If have a look on ABS services site they make skyline systems and I see they do sell those fancy carriges things although I've never seen any crews using them. The few I've seen have all been the digger type with the extension on the job.

I'd 2nd wot others have said about the massive expense of post and rail plus horses chewing it. Electric is brilliant on a fence. But most of the serious horsey bits round me ( racing horse breeders trainers) started using a type of fence I don't even know wot u call it. A sort of rubber material about 4-6 or even 8 inch wide that u thread HT wire along top and bottom. Looks quite well and visible to the horses. Fixed on posts with flat bracket things If u do go for post and rail u I've seen them run either a plain wire or metal banding strip along top off rail to stop thechewing

I've cut for them before and a mate owned 1 fora while Quite often the 360/skyline wasn't on site. I could be wrong but never heard of uk skylines using the fancy carriges like in America/TV. The principles aren't that complicated really and in UK most I've seen are converted 360's. Usually don't have all the many guy ropes u see in america, Also they don't use the tooters either, just a radio to boy in cab who controls everything. Used double drum winches and once a proper skyline in ' high lead ' set ups, which is just a drag line with a back haul on the 2 nd drum. For a true skyline set up is really need at least 3 drums ( sky line, in/out lines) Been looking at making myself a set up but gets into big money quite quickly and not sure the real demand. Most of the skylines I know spend more off their time parked up in yards/woods than working Starting a job this month where a mini skyline would be handy Got to abseil down 2 cliff faces/steep sides felling all the trees mainly Havel and some bigger ash and sycamore. Stil not 100% sure how I'll get timber out yet, will figure it out thou. Access is a bit tricky to say.least

Duunno if relevant but when u head north up the A9 in scotland from the soaking wet SW where sitka does well on the drier soils/drier climate they seem to have some great straight stands of larch and even scots pine. Doubtful if planting larch is a very good idea (althou if it cold survive PR until harvested might be worth a fortune) i ws on a small estatethe other day and a lot of 10-15 yr old larch were outgrowing the SS planted at same time (althou larch now needing felled cause of PR)

Alright Was just wondering how people over come any issues of rubber tracks on steeper inclines esp in wet/soft/greasy conditions?? The tracked barrow (with chapper conversion) and mini digger (with chapper on boom) have been sliding all over the place last few days, been on some very steep ground and u can see the slide marks. The boss must of had a good 30m slide yest when i was cutting elsewhere and had a good 1 last week and slid onto the road down a 4ft near vertical drop, how never rolled/damaged machine i'll never know. I was scared just watching it. Have any of u tried somehow attaching forestry type grousers to the tracks to give a bit more grip and try to stop the top turf just letting 'go'?

Must admit i'd rather be the oppisate, putting ur felling cuts into a tree with a winch already attached and getting the hell out off the way before any pressure/movement put on the dead tree. Don't get me wrong i wouldnae fancy battering hi lifts in to get it over for the exact same reason But putting the cuts into a static tree isn't much more dangerous than walking/standing under it Been around load sof softwood harvesters and when there pullig trees down they put a lot of pressure on tree limbs and soft woods dont tend to snap off generslly. I have heard of odd limbs/widow makers spearing down into harvester cab roofs. Usually not that much real wieght in them, but certainly wouldnt fancy a major ash limb coming down on the roof (possibly it might shatter, but still be changing boxers time) I'm not a harvester operator but i imagine if ur reaching up when u sever the tree ur digger arm will be supporting the whole wieght of tree 4-5m's? off ground, it would wnt to come vertically down fast. Dunno i ur hydralics would be strong/quick enpough to swng it to the side the way harvesters do with softwoods at ground level. Would imagine could easy tip the digger if u get it wrong. Or crown could catch on the 4-5m high tottem pole u've just left knocking it over or crown shattering everywhere or creating some sort of barbers chair/see saw type thing?? I've seen full sized harvesters have to let go of trees when doing some bigger stuff incase it would take them over bankings (but i may be wrong as like i said not a harvester driver)

Will a problem with machine harvesting not be the machine is directly in the danger zome if any big branches come off as it wrestles it to the deck?? I have to admit not familar with harvester in hardwoods or ash dieback yet (fortunately) But i wouldn't fancy being sat in a machime directly belwo some big brittle dead limbs just waiting to fall as u pull it down throu the canopy

It all depends on the timber but i often split logs around the 500mm (just over 18") mark with an axe, don't get me wrong sometimes can be a pain with big beech rings so usually cut the shorter now, plus u can hardly move them at the bigger size. I treated myself to a Fiskars X27 and a great investment for the money (about £50) just effort less to use i genrally fil my 6T dumper skip in about 1hr. With ur 500mm burner, do logs have to be that size? ie could u cut everything to 250 and build 2 logs into ur burner instead of 1? Can u use gravity to help u anyway? I dump my logs on top of a banking, i then welded up a saw horse that is very narrow and can take 2-3 quad trailer fulls of logs in 1 go, strap them all down then just cut throu all the logs together (not saying best paractice for H&S thou) they then roll down hill to wher ei have a splitting bench dug into banking. So splitting logs at waist hieght, never have to bend down (esp if using a tyre or similar) and logs all above me usually just pul them down with the axe. In the process of planning/building a 'log slide' for the wee'er timbe rthat doesnae need split. Same log horse and the idea is cut timber will drop of onto a corragated/box profile tin slide and straight down into dumper skip. In theory Getting it al to roll down might be a problem The way i look at it if i can minimise handling as much as possible esp lifting of deck/bending down the better. Esp if gravity can do the lifting for me

Must admit i've only ever used semi chisel. Got a few proper saw shops round me still selling mainly to pro forestry cutters and thats wot they sell on the counter rolls unless u ask for something else. On my wee'er saws i think it is a 21/22 (depending on saw colour white or orange or even red) i think LP is the letters, but really haven't a clue. I just buy wot they give me, buy it all local anyway so they know me and wot i do. Only ever used oregon chain, its not that dear and it end of day no point in having a grat saw if ur using sh*te chains tryin gto save a quid or 2. Did u not used to buy tungeston? tipped chains, we're a bit dearer but lasted longer esp on dirty wood, mind an old boy i used to work for years ago running them for respacing work for FC, (cutting wee trees/natural regen out of thicket stage crops/ really thinnings of timy trees, but would hit soil rocks quite a bit due to the nature of job, weren't doing felling cuts) i was young and too tight to buy them then (now i'm old and still too tight ?)

Andy is a top bloke

Sorry no probs

If u buy at auction the car will not be stolen, the auction company check that, many auction cars won't even have a log book and u have to send away for it. Depending on the auction house/price of car it may also be HPI checked, really after a garage an auction is 1 of the safest ways to buy plant/equipment Someone i know got caught out buying an od tractor to sell at auction, turned out it had been 'stolen' 15 years ppreviously only to turn up in a different shed. Just an insurance scam He someohow found out before he put it in the sale as auctioneers would not accept it and managed to get his money back eventually after threatening a few things

Been a long time since i worked on the railway (and even then just a grunt on a saw/harness, so never knew who paid for wot) So things may hav very possibly changed and things are far tighter money wise. But i know we have limbed and felled hardwoods (never done much work on cony's on railways as more for leaf drop) in private gardens sometime well of the tracks abd definately well outside the 5m clearance zone we cut as standard. I was of the impression that we were cutting the tree as a freebie to home owner and NR was footing the bill, as i'm pretty certain they won't have any legal right to make u fell/top them IF trees not actually unsafe. I know i also looked at quite a dodgy decayed beech for a family friend inbetween 2 powerlines (but not over hanging) and the power boys cut the tree down for free and by rights didn't have too, and it was a real pig. Yet other times i've asked the elec arb boys to fell trees rather than side them and they haven't, (fell would of been easier and i said i'd tidy up the tree) when they were cutting the lines throu my wood, so it depends on who u speak to. To me it seems a bit of a bullying approach by the ralilway trying to get private folk to pay for works in the past they would off paid for themselves (with owners permission) Possibly get an idependant survey done if any trees really are looking dangerous, generally cony's aren't that bad for blowing over or snapping out if single stemmed. I might imagine independant surveyors might be scared of giving many assurances thou with the railway so close, it might give u an idea wot sort of timescale u have to wiegh up ur options as long as no imminent threat of the trees falling down immediately. If u all contacted a solicitor/CAB etc as 1 any costs would be shared equally so might be worth a punt, at least u know then where u stand. I bet if u could speak to the right person at either NR or a there deveg squads u might get a lot more sense out of them rather than some corperate/legal stoge. But as has been said by most if u have to pay the simpliest and cheapest option (might not even need railway contractors) would be to straight fell al the trees into the gardens even if it meant taking the odd garden fence down for access or room for felling the trees. But u all will have to make some sort of joint decision, if someone in the middle decides to fell there trees suddenly it will put the trees to either side in a far higherr risk of windblow than they were originally. Ps. NR have said tres are a 'cause for concern' i'd imagine they class almost any tree withing 1 tree length of track a concern, they haven't declared them dangerous. Does that mean anything legally? Esp if u got a reputable independant in who said the trees were safe enough/not dangerous immediately?

Haven't got a clue about that but it did happen probably about 5-8yrs ago now. The old boys were absolutley spitting about it and so was estate office as they had 2 staff on saw course So if the training is the same why would not pay the sligt bit extra for the NPTC version, i know i wouldn't have any other

Not all forestery companies recognise lantra (and i did say the training was the same) I know 5-6 old retired boys got kicked of the local estate where they tidied up firwood, all had to do training at local college and forestry company who manages it wouldn't recognise them (think 2 estate staff done the same course too and had to take a reassesment to nptc) But if ur not on a Fisa site ur 10-20 yr old Nptc is still valid. For the slight extra money i wouldn't have any other ticket

No thats just handcutters in there chainsaws. God knows wot a harvester gets throu in a a day (albeit it desiel too thou)

It really depends on wot u want to do. If ur to be based in N scotland or nw eng there isn't masses of tree surgery/arb work, most companies are pretty small 1-2 squad outfits, so also not a lot of job vacancies or money in it (well compared to see of the rates i see on here froom down south) Unles su go utility power lines/railways etc If it was me i'd go 32 large trees, see if u can get into more forestry work, plenty of that in the 2 areas ur looking at and still be handy for arb work if u go into that in future. Even windblow (as they were the basics to get on FC ground in the past) but plenty other fancy titlted courses now, not even sure wot some of them are (assisted fell and dangerous trees, emergancy work etc) But a trailer ticket is a good shout EFAW+F is also the norm on most forest sites I wouldn't bother doing any Lantra courses, not really worth the paper there printed on some forest companies won't recognise them (and have a 5 yr expiry date) The training is prety much the same its the paper work Ps Just to add, i dunno if u know exactly where ur likely to settle but might be worth phoning up some local companies in that area and ask if they/other companies in that area have many vaccancies/jobs very often. Arb companies are usually easier to find than forestry companies. Least then u might get a feel for the work in th earea u want to go to which ight alter which tickets u do

For the OP for low/hobby use as others have said not a lot of point in buying 20L at a time. Even mixing 5l (combi can full) of 2Stroke might be far too much. Might be worth consdering using aspen instead? No shelf life and meant to be better for saws (have to admit never used it myself) Stephen P many folk working in forestry will be using 5L most days throu there saw so quite handy filling a 20L or 2 + couple of combi cans at wknd and mixing it up so u know everything is mixed and u have plenty for the coming week. Just a simple case of pouring it into ur combi, no faffing about after work Easy to forget if u come home and put feet up

I take it hit and miss boarding is wot i'd call vertical boarding (ranch style tunred 90)? U can use any width of board u want really and thickness would depend on how strong u need it and how far apart the timber rails are. be easy to have ur inside boards thicker than outside so u can stack logs against them Normal spacing would be a board width but u can easy bring the spacing in which should help stop any rain. Normally on a fence it would be 4" boards with a 3" gap sometimes even down to 2" for extra privacy and thats on a 11/2" rail

Possibly i'mmore surprised that troleys that take chippers don't have stablising legs for loading, like a trailer would have to stop them flipping. Been a good few years since i've been on the tracks but they were always bad for flipping when loading

Plus the odd time we've took chippers of the trolleys its quite easy to get them stuck trying to cross the rails esp in wet or frosty conditions the tracks just spin on the rails and won't climb up. To be fair with a turntable u shouldn't have to reposition it that much but there is often plenty of pnsticles on the track on bigger lines that u have to avoid