peds

I’m not really sure you understand the reasons behind the First World War and who was fighting who. We’ve had all sorts of conflicts in our country’s history, many of them completely justified, but WW1 does not rank among them. It was an entirely avoidable war which should never have started, and should the same circumstances present themselves again today, absolutely anyone with a few spare ounces of grey matter would count themselves as a conscientious objector. Unlike, say, World War Two or the Falklands War, where despite a bit of undeniable bad behaviour from everyone involved, there were fairly clear-cut good guys and bad guys, in World War One there was no side with the moral high ground, and you cannot possibly take issue with the people not wanting any part of such nonsense as the aristocratic dick-measuring contests between a bunch of inbred royals. I’d object the fuck out of WW1 if I were there, conscientiously and loudly.

Yo, I’ve never owned spikes, so bollocks to my opinion. But what a lot of people use for crampons (which I do own) for ice climbing and mountaineering, which have far more pointy bits than tree climbing spikes, is a cut strip of denim from an old pair of jeans. Just put them together, business-ends-facing, and wrap the denim around neatly. I’ll be doing this when I’ve invested in a pair of spikes, unless someone offers up a better idea in this thread.

Ah come on now, would you rather someone - a new hire, let’s say - use the chain brake* too much or too little? (Just want to mention that spellcheck wants to correct “chainbrake” with no space in the middle into “chai break.” I’m not going to argue with it!)

I cut down a tree just by looking at it once. It’s true... I saw it with my own eyes.

Looks like he needs four or five more saws, then he could get them all stuck one by one and free them all at the end instead. He'd save loads of time. Yo, can I ask a question? Next video linked on the guy's youtube page, Husky 576XP Destruction (Mega Fail), the cut he's making from around 2 minutes in... what is this cut called, and what does it do? When would you use it? (Edit: Ahhh, never mind, the video answers my question, ignore me. He does some digging around in the jungle for a bit of treasure. Okay, new question... should you really be leaving your nice expensive toys under all that greenery? You might never find it again...)

Yep, that's the one. As part of our preparations to move, I have to close my mobile phone account. They want me to send them a letter saying so. A letter? How quaint!

Ah now, the French are a great bunch of lads. It’s the Parisiennes who are a shower of bastards.

Forget Instagram, it’s saturated. Every man and his dog have a profile these days, and it’s almost impossible to stand out unless you are doing something remarkable. Snapchat and those weird live-streaming sites are where the kids are these days.

I’ve lived in France for well over a decade now, and the obsession with paperwork is one reason, albeit a small one, that we are moving away. I'm just waiting for the forms to be processed allowing us to leave the country.

Well that’s pretty horrific to watch. Realistically, what happens to the guys responsible now?

Evening dudes, how's it going? Quick question for ye. Totally new to the trade here (see my previous post in this thread a couple of pages back). Had a trial day a little while ago, starting work next month once my contract as a full-time dad is up, I'll be doing a hell of a lot of groundie work before the guy lets me up in his trees, but I want to get climbing and practicing on my own property in the meantime. I've ordered my own 45m 11.1mm rope and the usual cheapo Treehog 5000 harness to get me started. I'll be switching to a mechanical device at some point in the future, but I want to practice with climbing on various different hitches first. I'll be going to my local climbing gear shop soon to get a big length of 8mm prusik cord just to have in and available, ten meters or so. Anyway... what length do people find it best to cut your cord for prusiks, for DRT? Just so that I don't end up trimming too much off my reel unnecessarily. Just to mention, I'm good with knots, as I'm already a climber/ski mountaineer, and happy tying and taping my own prusik loops, just looking for some advice on standard lengths that people use. Here's a picture of some friends and I dicking around with ropes far away from any tree. Cheers dudes, have a good night.

Look, I hate to drag up a comment from nearly a decade ago, but I can't help but feel that this is a very anthropocentric way of looking at the situation. Even allowing for your idea that sound waves only become sound waves once they are registered by an ear or similarly capable device, you have to accept that it isn't only human ears that do this, and it is naive to assume that the forest in which your notional silent tree has fallen is devoid of any life advanced enough to detect those vibrations. Lifeforms of almost every size, including some of the most basic multi-cellular organisms and even some single-celled organisms, have been observed to react to sound waves, so to suggest that a forest (even a particularly small one) is not home to any kind of life capable of hearing your tree fall is ridiculous. It is not the detection of the vibrations themselves that transforms them into sound waves, it is their very creation.

The 2511 looks proper, I'll put that in the letter to Santa.

A handful of winter chanterelles all up in this bitch.

Haa, cheers dude, much appreciated. Seems like there's a fair consensus towards a 550 being a decent bit of kit. I'm buying a few bits of climbing gear first, but as soon as I'm one paycheck in, I might get a 550. Cheers, all!

With regards to second hand saws, look at this... https://www.donedeal.ie/gardenequipment-for-sale/372xp-husquvarna-professional-chainsaw/19723633 I've not got a clue if that's worth it or not. Could be an accident waiting to happen, could be a classic saw at a fair price... no idea.

That's a fair consideration for sure, but I honestly can't see me selling anything on in the future... I'm a bit of a hoarder. I've got 12 pairs of skis in the shed right now from the last decade and a half of collecting them, I could have sold them on as I finished using them... but they have such sentimental value. They'll make fine shelves one day.

Another vote for the 550, great. Right, so it looks like fork out for a 550 brand new, and latch onto a 346 if I'm ever lucky enough to find one second hand... Carlos, I'm in Sligo. It does seem that arborist.ie are the best-stocked site I've found, a little more expensive than some of the UK sites unfortunately. I've not found a decent bricks-and-mortar shop near me yet either.

That's exactly it, you are taking a huge gamble if you get something second hand without really knowing it's history, especially if (like me) you really don't know what you are looking for. At least if you fork out a little bit for something brand new then you've got no-one to blame but yourself if you break it. I'd rather have a blank slate to start with, and maybe look for a bargain for a second saw a some point down the line.

Down the road I'd definitely be open to buying second hand, but only once I know what I'm looking for. With my lack of knowledge, it'd be easy to pick up something worthless off the wrong guy. edit - I'm also in Ireland, not UK mainland, so that's a consideration too!

I had a regular a few years ago who would always order her ribeye black and cremated, literally, and dragged through the smoking oil that pools at the bottom of the grill. She explained one night that she's aware it's a total travesty to the poor cow that died to provide the steak, but it reminded her of the steak her mother would cook on the old peat-fired Aga whilst she was growing up. After that, I never minded quite so much. You are absolutely right though... there's nothing on the planet like the shite of a kitchen on a bad day! I'll keep an eye open for a 346xp, sounds like a decent tool. Thanks for the tip.

Thanks for all of the above advice, as for keeping the chain sharp and maintaining everything, having spent my life in kitchens so far I know the damage to human flesh that a blunt knife can do instead of a sharp one, and I've got a solid appreciation of the physics of sharpening metal of all shapes. Definitely one to stay on top of.

Well, I wouldn't say I only want to own one saw, who knows what the future may bring? I do understand the idea of getting something a bit bigger from the get go though, especially seeing as that Florabest device is 50cc too. Cheers for the advice dude, it's appreciated.

Yep yep, already got that lot dude, cheers!

Afternoon everyone, how's it going? Completely green behind the ears here, after 17 years in kitchens I fancied a career change, and after a decent trial day a few weeks ago I start work with a tree care company in November (currently working as a full-time dad for a couple more months). I've got my CS30/31, CS38 and CS39, but I expect to be doing a few months of solid groundie work before doing much up in the trees. I bought that funny Florabest 50cc saw from Lidl a little while ago for a hundred euros (basically a cheapo Italian Husky knockoff, if I understand correctly), but I know it isn't a proper saw, and the intention is to just run the fucking thing into the ground so I can take it apart and put it back together all the time, and build up a solid understanding of maintenance. But it's never going to leave my land, and I'd definitely never turn up to work with it. Thinking back to my time as a chef, it would probably be like some twat turning up in my kitchen with a set of shitty 30 quid Ikea knives instead of a basic-but-decent Victorinox or even a fancy Shun. So I'm looking for advice on a decent first saw that'll see me through for a while, understanding that I've already got a cheap piece of crap to throw around and learn what not to do with it. The dude I'll be working for obviously has saws, and when appropriate I'll be using his kit (for example, I'll not be investing in my own top handle just yet...), but I want to get to grips with my own gear as well. With the small amount of work experience I've had and what little we learned on CS30/31, I'd say if anything I'm leaning more towards Huskies than Stihls, but I am hugely prepared to be schooled on this front. So my question to you all is this... what would YOU buy as a first saw, given what you've learned since you started work? Can you go wrong with a Husqvarna 550XP? Is there something cheaper that'd do the job just as well? Huge thanks for any advice and opinions dudes.