Chainsaw courses

adriandavidb

Well-Known Member
Recently moved house to a property with a little bit of land containing plenty of small trees of various hardwoods; the house already has a log burner, actually multi-fuel I think. Some of the timber needs to be cleared and it would make a lot of sense to use it in said stove!

Getting a chain saw would seem a good idea; trouble is I know little about them, although enough to know that they're f-ing dangerous in the hands of the inexperienced . . .

To that end it would make sense to get some training from people who know what they're doing.

I'm Surrey-based not far from Dorking; anybody know any individuals or organisations who run decent training courses of (I guess a day or two duration?). Also any other sensible advice or pointers wold be very welcome.

Thanks
 
I'm a novice but got a log burner & access to wood so got a chainsaw .
Looked at courses & all 700 quid ish & week long
Then found out my local college did a one day familiarization course with no certificate but covered techniques for cutting
Basic set up & maintenance
Sharpening
And got a three hours of chewing stuff up practicing
I bought trousers ... Get ones that give all round protection. Not just the front
A basic lid with ear muffs & flip down visor as even if brake kicks in , if the saw kicks it be that quick still dig a chunk out your forehead
Course cost 35 quid and was invaluable as a novice
Id highly advise it as wind blown stuff is amongst most dangerous you can tackle

Try local college bud

Paul
 
Merrist Wood is in your area, used to be the leading college for arb type stuff, not sure if that's still the case as I'm a bit out of date now but it would be worth a look.
 
I know somebody who is very good with a chainsaw and could teach you a trick or two. One day I saw him on the front loader of a Mapro hanging on to the loader with one hand and reaching out to cut a branch with the chain saw in the other. I had 99 dialed, just waiting for the last one but he didn’t need it.
They are dangerous but not everybody takes the necessary care.
 
When felling or cutting wood chainsaws are the most obvious danger however far from the complete list.
I'd strongly advise a course before buying your first saw; you will become familiar with the essentials and typical risks and be able to determine the saw you may require.

Later courses building from the first will facilitate felling correctly.

Or consider 'getting a man in' for sustained work as the costs are not so high on balance

TOMSK
 
I'm not after lengthy training to become a qualified tree surgeon, and nor do I want to pay people to come in just fell a few shrubs and chop them up for firewood annually, so a basic course lasting a couple of days covering use, safety & maintenance etc is all I'm after: I don't intend tackling large trees or anything daft like that! The sort of course Sauer mentions above should be fine. Thanks all.
 
Wee trees can be worse to deal with than big trees. The basic courses cover maintenance and cross cutting, my advice is do a proper course. Chainsaws don't care what they are cutting, wood or flesh makes no difference to them.
 
I did the course and learned a huge amount. Couldn't recommend the proper course highly enough. Not just the manual skills but the awareness of risk. I am afraid you won't learn all that in a day.

David.
 
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