Ledburyjosh

How many accidents are there involving chainsaws bought from argos etc are there? I'd guess very few, so few that any such policies are not worth implementing and is likely a cause of irrational fear based on a potentially serious injury which rarley occurs.

A good answer. 'Fully qualified' is a marketing thing people put on websites, flyers etc mostly BS as its based on very little and often equates to no or minimal theoretical knowledge of trees as living organisms. It generally means people have got the 4 basic tickets: -Cross cutting & maintenance -Felling small trees -Tree climbing/rescue -Using a saw in a tree It does not mean anything within the industry tbh given that there are many more certificates of competence and you could go on to get a masters/doctorate in Arboriculture. I doubt anyone is a Dr with all competency certificates... perhaps that is the only true fully qualified 🤔. Otherwise the first two on that list would be starting point for yourself. Without them your more of a hindrance to an employer than a benefit, subjective to what work they have. You can either self fund them to get going or hope to find an employer who will invest in you. In terms of how long to be 'fully qualified' their are companies that get you through it in a month. After which you'll have bits of paper to say you can do something, which in reality you won't be able to do to a useful level. 3-5 years seems a realistic time to become OK at the job, assuming you have good mentoring and opportunity to practise. As to the best route, hard to say.. 1. Get a job, hope they invest in you financially with training and time to bring you on. Employer should pay for this. 2. Do a crash course over a month, then get a job where you can be mentored and given opportunity to practise. You'll need to pay for this. Advice to someone starting out.. Trial it for a bit without spending your own money. You may not like it. Leveraging your HGV experience would be beneficial.

I still have mine at 100m. The outer does not seem to wear well. I now save that rope for when range is required and mostly use 14mm sirius which is a much more disposable in terms of price. So on taller trees I typically base tie a 50m length of sirius then connect that to the expensive 100m line. That was its the cheaper line getting beaten up as the tree falls in it and gets dragged out.

This thread has made me look at the capability of my Eder 1800.. Eder make triple pulleys to work with this winch, of which you can configure to give 7x1800= 12.6t! Minus some inefficiency in the pulleys etc. But that pretty damm impressive for a wee winch you can carry around. No tractors needed.. just a strong anchor.

That's not a good idea to be fuxking about with blocking a big tree down at head height...

Winching isn't complicated. But yes if you were to climb it to deal with it as you have described generally works, assuming the tree it's hung up in is uncomprimised and your rope is in a bag on your back or well out the way so it doesn't get caught by the falling tree.

Jeeeze, that's bad. So so avoidable. Poor lad that's a bad bad day.

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Have you a video? I've never tried one so not a valid opinion to compare, but I do have a catapult that readily goes 30m and doesn't require punping up each time so don't see the point of a air gun thing. Sounds fun though

Thank you for finding that out. That is great news regarding tree life's course, as this better fits with my current set up. I am now keen to see if ICF accept the accredited training course in any way as part of chartership.

Thanks, I have registered my interest. Although I currently am self employed, which I like and assume this would need an employed position. I have no idea on the wage that would be offered as an apprentice, which still needs to sustain myself my share of the family. I shall continue to follow this up nonetheless as there are quite a few questions I'd have to see how viable this may be.

@AA Teccie (Paul) have you any input on this? Do you know if any level 6 professional option exist or plans for any to exist?

I'd second that

Yeah. Otherwise an improvement on the pro in terms of ergonomics and attaching it to the line. But the binding is a big flaw for an expensive bit of kit. The absence of the slot in the bird like the RRP is a good thing. I've not seen it mentioned before but that slot can lead to a free fall when used in a moving rope set up by the bird jamming on the dead end of the rope holding it open. This predominantly happens when used with a cambium saver which allows the ropes to run close and parallel. I fell several metres before hitting the bird up and coming to a stop. That is also a major flaw with the RRP if used in that set up.

Yup that sums up my experience with my akimbo also. Massive potential, let down by it not actually working reliably. I'd be faffing changing my setting numerous times a day a right pain in the ass. I'm currently borrowing a BDB which is pretty sweet even though its pretty worn out it works, easy to midline attach and reliable without needing adjusting.