Scrounging wood for burning

[Really Ancien]

I'm keeping schtum about the PPE upthread rather than anything else.

Why keep schtum?  If it sucks (as it appears to), why not say so?
(edit: although there's more PPE there than initially meets the eye, and IANAE)

Staying schtum because Rae's still here and the proof of the pudding in in the eating in H&S. Unfortunately the message about safety is prone to degradation in transmission, Chinese whispers. So it's always wise to illustrate current best practice, so that any imitation of behaviour is close to that best practice. Press photographers have a lot to answer for in this regard, they always want you to adopt a poor stance with the chain inches from your face to get a good shot. So as Rae points out, helmet and modern saw, taking over a failed felling job is always difficult, but it would be better practice to fell that big tree (looks like an Alder to me) lower down, the bark within the cut indicates the junction of a fork, I'd anticipate getting the guide bar stuck because of the complex tensions and compressions at that point.
All the scars I have are from sharpening chains. The worst needed a trip to casualty, I am appallingly fussy about chain sharpness and I sustained a bad cut when I was looking after 5 saws which I was sharpening 4 times a day.

Damon.

[rae]

All the scars I have are from sharpening chains.   

Ha ha - same here!   Mine is on my little finger - I was pulling the scabbard off a small saw to check the chain and it tore a big cut that bled like a stuck pig. Moral of the story - always hold the scabbard in the middle, not at the end.   I am quite incapable of filing a chain while wearing gloves, so I just have to take the nicks and cuts.   

Comments noted about the height of the cut  , sub-optimal, but there were reasons for this....and as you say, I'm still here...!

[rogerzilla]

The Woodland Trust, they say no.

- the dead wood is useful habitat for animals, apparently

- usual H&S stuff that they might be liable if I injure myself.

 

[rae]

Yep, they always trot that carp out.   

Big saw, exhaust connected to a hose sitting in a bucket of water.   Stealth.   All they'll find is sawdust. 

[Hot Flatus]

Night-vision goggles?

[rae]

Full moon.

Hoooooowwwwwwwllllll.   

[Really Ancien]

The Woodland Trust, they say no.

- the dead wood is useful habitat for animals, apparently

- usual H&S stuff that they might be liable if I injure myself.

 

I'm unsurprised by that. I showed this thread to Heather, she is the Regional Manager for North East England for the Woodland Trust, and I have written my replies in line with their policies. I have written management plans for WT woods, they always assume that fallen timber is left in situ, WT do very well in retaining deadwood, which is part of the various Forestry accreditation schemes. A good introduction to the thinking is this Forestry Commission pdf. Forestry Commission - PDF Document - nym-deadwood-strategy-05.pdf$FILE/nym-deadwood-strategy-05.pdf
They will not give you permission to do something which contravenes the obligations attached to the grants they receive, especially as they strive to be exemplars of best practice.

Damon.

[Air Dancer]

Out of interest for my own well-being, what are the dangers of a Bowsaw?

[rogerzilla]

It's sharp and you can cut yourself 

[Ian H]

Out of interest for my own well-being, what are the dangers of a Bowsaw?

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Those bits  ^

[rae]

Out of interest for my own well-being, what are the dangers of a Bowsaw? 

Because it is a manual tool, you don't really respect it - unlike a chainsaw which is obviously dangerous.   So you go to chop up a piece of wood with a bow saw.   You hold the price of wood on the cutting surface with one hand and cut with the other.  You're not wearing gloves because, well, it's just a hand saw.   The saw then skips out of the cut and lands on your hand.   As it slices though your thumb, you realise that the teeth are very big and very sharp and they are doing a lot of damage.   Owwww.   

Dropping the damn thing, spikey side down, on your leg is also quite painful.

Don't ask me how I know these things....

[onb]

Out of interest for my own well-being, what are the dangers of a Bowsaw? 

Because it is a manual tool, you don't really respect it - unlike a chainsaw which is obviously dangerous.   So you go to chop up a piece of wood with a bow saw.   You hold the price of wood on the cutting surface with one hand and cut with the other.  You're not wearing gloves because, well, it's just a hand saw.   The saw then skips out of the cut and lands on your hand.   As it slices though your thumb, you realise that the teeth are very big and very sharp and they are doing a lot of damage.   Owwww.   

Don't ask me how I know these things....

I believe this to be true ,dont ask me either how I know .Doing it a couple of months after the first time you did it is also very very stoopid ,not that I would know of course.

[Wombat]

Rae,
Perfect description of how I learn to respect bowsaws!  I was wincing at the painful memory, as I read it.

re: comment about reciprocating saws, I do have a sabre saw, a useful general purpose hack and slash weapon, ali, steel, wood, doesn't seem to care as long as you use the right blade.  Mine's a Skil one.  I wouldn't call it a forestry tool though!

[David Martin]

Along my right wrist I have a line of scars some 33 years old. I wandered through the lounge at my parents house. This was made slightly more complicated than normal because it had no floor. Drop 2 feet down onto the packed earth of the foundations, across and climb up and out through the French windows. That at least was the intention. I tripped and fell towards a pile of tools. Putting my hand out to protect myself from the fall I came across the bow saw.

No permanent damage was done but I had a very big plaster and lots of stitches at school the next day (I was 6).

Much respect for all sorts of sharp things ever since. And for safe working practices after my then 11 yo younger brother got a canterbury hoe in the back of the wrist.  Again with no lasting ill effects save an impressive scar.

A&E? I had a season ticket..

..d

[Chris S]

Now I remember why I put up with paying £100 for a tipper truck load of split hardwood logs.

[Air Dancer]

What Wombat says

Cheers Rae et al 

[rogerzilla]

My father once pinned his foot to the ground with a garden fork.  He says it's safe enough, as long as you don't hit a bone 

[andygates]

My dear old dad said the same thing.  He got tetanus though.   

[Air Dancer]

Only got the one scar from a trowel that was thrown at me for some reason or other....don't ask 

We were kids, sorry nothing exciting

[rae]

My second biggest accidental scar was inflicted by a urinal. 

No, I was completely sober at the time.

[rogerzilla]

My second biggest accidental scar was inflicted by a urinal. 

No, I was completely sober at the time.

I had a plumber in years ago, and near the end of the job he got a phone call.  When he'd finished talking, he said to me conversationally, "The Link Centre have got a cracked urinal, and they want me to replace it today."

"That sounds like a nasty job."

A sinister leer came over his face as he replied, "Oh, it'll cost them..."