Hank

Good watch, thanks for sharing.

I try to make life as easy for myself as possible and have been avoiding DRT because it was killing my elbows, but a foot ascender if you don't have one will definitely help. Hand ascender can be useful but I try to leave the bulk of the hard work to my legs. With that said, micro dot gloves help with fatigue, at least for me.

Thanks, yeah I was pleased.

Got it down this morning, came off really well. The root plate mostly sat back in place, but quite slowly. No fences or pheasant feeders damaged. Good result. Thanks for the replies 👌

Yes good shout. Making it slide-y instead of roll-y, I like it. Thanks

Thanks for all the replies, glad they're mostly in line with the ideas I've had for it! Will talk to the keeper and landowner tomorrow about leaving it and also about taking down part of the fence if they do want to get rid of it. Will post pics when it's done 🙌🙌

The gamekeeper isn't thrilled about it being hung up there while he's in and out so they've decided to remove it which is fair enough. I think it'd be possible to climb but to do it safely (for me at least) you'd need to rig it, plus both trees are quite close to the fence so ideally would rig away from that. With all that in mind I think severing it at the base and dragging it backwards is the most efficient. Happy to be convinced otherwise though!!

Hi gang, Got a hung up windblown oak to take down within a pheasant pen. Space is tight, with a high fence all the way around, but there's enough room behind the tree to slide it and get it on the ground. You can see in the video that the root plate is raised, ideally I'd sever the trunk and slide it backwards with a tractor so that it clears the plate, rather than sever it to the side or in front and then have to fight the trunk over the plate. As I have no one to bounce ideas off I thought I'd get some opinions here! Screenshot attached of roughly what I'm thinking. IMG_6406.mov

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I carry a personal first aid kit with an Israeli bandage whenever I'm using a saw. Well 90% of the time at least. Good habit to get into imo.

This is approx 1.5 hours from Kew, quite an easy drive mostly on the M4. Really cool tree, apparently if you dance around it naked 12 times you can summon the devil 🤪 Big Belly Oak - Google Search G.CO Sorry, left out that the dancing needs to be anti-clockwise.

You'll be fine sleeping in the van, I've yet to be moved on anywhere in the uk so if you do get asked to leave it'd be pretty bad luck. Do you use park4night? That will probably have useful spots on it. Roof tent would be a little trickier but I reckon still doable. How far afield are you planning on going, will you be staying mostly in the Greater London area? Just watch out for parking fines and ULEZ charges!!

Sorry if it's already been mentioned but why not wait until your course and see what saws the training provider has, as well as the other students? There are bound to be a few options and you can try before you buy.

Are those chainsaw trousers 🧐? They look cool what are they

That also sounds fun...!