DutchWoodPecker
ArboristSite Operative
Two days ago I had my basic training: cutting of horizontally lying wood.
It was a single day course that started off with theory and safety.
We had to do common maintenance on a saw as well. Filing the chain, replacing a chain, adjusting chain tension, cleaning all the sawdust out from the previous class, checking and cleaning the air filter. We had pretty decent saws to work on. A few Stihls 261C, and Husqvarnas 550 XP and 562 XP and a single T540i battery powered one. For the more advanced classes there were even a few Stihls 500i lying on the shelf, but sadly we did not get to touch them.
With this maintenance done and verified by the instructor we hauled ourselves in protective gear and drove out on the king's estate (for realz) where there were 16-20 inch diameter beeches lying down that we had to cut in 35 cm (14 inch for my transatlantic friends) blocks, using combi cuts. We had to be careful because the wood was under tension and to my embarrassment I got a saw stuck in the wood that had to be released by another student cutting away another section of the tree that caused the tension. Because the king hunts there, there was even a curious wild boar coming to check up on us. She did not cause any trouble, though.
After that we went back to the training center, had to do some theory question about technical, legal and safety aspects of chainsaws that were mostly straightforward, and like everybody else in the group I passed. I was even warned that while this course is quite easy, the more advanced courses about actual felling are not practically auto-pass courses, but that is for another day.
We drove home and dropped a fellow student off at a train station close to my home that had a direct connection to his hometown, cutting an hour off his journey. He was a really cool more experienced professional chainsaw user who needed the certificate for insurance purposes, so maybe I did not only gain my Dutch Chainsaw Certificate 1, but also a friend.
It was a single day course that started off with theory and safety.
We had to do common maintenance on a saw as well. Filing the chain, replacing a chain, adjusting chain tension, cleaning all the sawdust out from the previous class, checking and cleaning the air filter. We had pretty decent saws to work on. A few Stihls 261C, and Husqvarnas 550 XP and 562 XP and a single T540i battery powered one. For the more advanced classes there were even a few Stihls 500i lying on the shelf, but sadly we did not get to touch them.
With this maintenance done and verified by the instructor we hauled ourselves in protective gear and drove out on the king's estate (for realz) where there were 16-20 inch diameter beeches lying down that we had to cut in 35 cm (14 inch for my transatlantic friends) blocks, using combi cuts. We had to be careful because the wood was under tension and to my embarrassment I got a saw stuck in the wood that had to be released by another student cutting away another section of the tree that caused the tension. Because the king hunts there, there was even a curious wild boar coming to check up on us. She did not cause any trouble, though.
After that we went back to the training center, had to do some theory question about technical, legal and safety aspects of chainsaws that were mostly straightforward, and like everybody else in the group I passed. I was even warned that while this course is quite easy, the more advanced courses about actual felling are not practically auto-pass courses, but that is for another day.
We drove home and dropped a fellow student off at a train station close to my home that had a direct connection to his hometown, cutting an hour off his journey. He was a really cool more experienced professional chainsaw user who needed the certificate for insurance purposes, so maybe I did not only gain my Dutch Chainsaw Certificate 1, but also a friend.
