Tools for felling a tree 9 June, 2009

Transcript

David Rossney: These days we've got very nice anti-spill fuel cans, which make life very easy. So they don't give our chainsaws a once-an-hour bath in petrol. It helps to make sure the caps are on tight. There's also a second lot to put in, which is lubricant for the chain. There we go. This is a very thick, viscous chain oil with what we call an anti-fling ingredient, so it doesn't all go flying off the end of your chainsaw bar. And it's rather thicker than motor oil. That's there as a lubricant between the -- it's actually for lubricating the chain parts, because you've got moving metal parts on metal as the chain's moving around.

And it's also for lubricating the chain as it's running on the guide bar. It's not really for lubricating the cutting teeth in the wood. That's not necessary really. That's done probably by the sap, if anything, in the trees themselves. But without the chain oil, you get very hot very quickly, in a matter of seconds and everything goes to pot, just as quickly. OK. Make sure that's tight. That's ready to go. It was recently sharpened.

What else to I need? I'm going to take over something called a felling lever. This is a small one with a turning hook, because I'm expecting the tree that we're going to fell to get hung up. So it's not going to be able to fall to the ground straight away, because there are too many other trees in the way. It's going to get lodged up. It's going to need either twisting, which I could do with this turning hook or we may even end up getting out the winch, so we can pull the tree out from the butt until it's loosened off and fallen to the floor safely. I'll take that with me anyway, because it's useful tool to have.

What else have I got? On the forestry tool belt, which has the all-important timber tongs, which are great for grabbing hold of logs without me having to get my hands wrapped around them. Wonderful for when you're working with conifers, because you don't get all sappy. Particularly important this time of year, because they're full of sticky sap. A forester's measuring tape for measuring out the lengths of timber. Very rudimentary first aid kit, which includes mostly a large blood-stopping wound dressing for emergency use.

Spanners. Safety boots which have got steel-toe caps and also extra layers of chainsaw protective, anti-cut material sandwiched between the layers of leather, so that the front part of the foot is protected from chainsaw cuts. I've got very thick chainsaw snagging trousers, which if I cut into them, will stop the chain from running around almost instantly.

And I've got a helmet assembly which has got the all-important ear muffs and visor. And also the hard hat, in case objects fall out of the sky, which is remarkably common in a woodland environment. Won't do much to protect you against whole trees, but it's very good for bits of trees.

And chainsaw gloves. These are possibly the least useful item out all of the bits of safety clothing, because their design is very out-of-date these days. They have protection on the back of the left hand, which is located there on the chainsaw behind a guide that's already put on the chainsaw, but that didn't used to be the case about 30 years ago. Chainsaws didn't used to have any guards on them. So things have improved.

OK? Let's go over there and see what happens. [laughs] OK?