How'd it go today?

Spent some time with chippers today, rewired lights and brakes. Found out pto side bearing will need a replacement on the cleaner of the two. Happy to see both run and know ones ready to go.

I don't know where I'd be without Yankee resource piles as my dad called it. One trait my wife wishes I didn't get from my dad.

Opened my box of new chipper knives to find they were the wrong ones ... Ask me how happy I am to use the same knives I have been using for days tomorrow...

I hate running mine when I know it's past due, all I ever think of when doing so is man not only is this beating my machine up but it's beating my profit margin to with extra fuel consumption. Yea I relate!

YUP!
Oh well.. Get this job done Monday and move forward... Lady Monday is using the chips in her dog dog pen in progress. Guess they'll just have to be the bottom layer

Yup. Dull knives beat bearings and suck fuel.

cory said:

+10

Or better yet, buffler.

Click to expand...

Buffler! Some tasty meat!

What did the great Crocodile Dundee say? You can live off it but it tastes like shit?

Personnel disputes all day today! Holy shit! Spent three hours interviewing one whole departments staff to prevent outright mutiny.

In my limited experience, the woman who cries first is usually the one at fault. . .

Need to flip my knives pretty soon too. Just started a 20k removal job that should avail some decent pics... just dumb ones today... stinking 44 threw the chain twice for no known reason. Shot of Andy putting it back on for the second time! This was a messed up double Red Cedar that had been cabled... no space to throw limbs... threw em all anyway and got lucky.

Something different for a change.
Spent Monday moving a portion of a heritage listed hawthorn hedge...yup.
Subbing for the contractor...a world heritage site is building a new visitors centre and parking, and this hawthorn hedge has to be dug up, moved to a bund for three months or so then put back.
So there was me, two excavators and three men...slipping and sliding in the mud, and about 25 ratty old hawthorns getting the royal treatment.
The landscape architects had pretty pictures of symmetrical rootballed shrubs, neatly bedded in a bund...shoulda made THEM come do it.
Set up a bund with hay bales, a layer of hardwood chips, a layer of burlap, then some soil and the hawthorns got plonked on top of that and soil put all around their roots. Half of them came out with lopsided roots, no soil and the other half in great clumps of clay...no way I could wrap them individually!
I haven't been that muddy since I used to play field hockey on a grass field in the winter!
I'll go back in a couple days and make it all look pretty, going to put some soaker hose on it and woodchips on top...fingers crossed they make it.

Something new for us today as well..... Popped some crane cherry
Here is Mike, I let him do the last pick.....

Very cool Stephen. Very hot here this p.m. I really had to pace myself today in this heat.

Back on residential work today. Was supposed to be a 37 ash tree removal. Walked it with the home owner to show him some of the signs on the healthier looking trees. Just reassured him that they were as good as gone. Stopped at one for lunch and dropped ten easy ones. The wife came out and was pissed. She shut us down until she could have a talk with her husband. No big deal. We weren't gonna finish today anyhow. Boss called me an hour ago to tell me they decided to go ahead with the original plan. They also want suggestions on replanting so now I gotta come up with some quick thoughts on what will work with the landscape and all that good stuff.

Hi, guys:

I don't know if amateurs are legal in this thread, but I had two "firsts" yesterday while deadwooding a maple next to my driveway: first recrotch aloft and first productive limbwalk.

This little photo essay will likely seem like TOTAL child's play to you guys, but I hope you can remember the sense of accomplishment you felt the first time you solved a problem in a tree!
It was an awesome time, but not very efficient, so I'd love any thoughts you have on ways to improve.

No pix of the 84 rope tosses to get the higher crotch, but here I am, sneaking up on my quarry!
I know I got even with my TIP here, but I did have the lanyard on the limb that appears knee-high but was actually at chest level.



I sawed a good hunk off the bottom, but the piece then tilted upwards with the change in balance. (You can see the cut end to the right below.)
At this point, I am a short guy, desperately wishing for more wingspan...



Slowly making progress...



Got that top piece off, but the main branch remained snagged higher up, so I had to go back to the trunk and climb higher.
When I was first Monday-morning-quarterbacking this, I thought I just should have gone up there in the first place, but the fork on the snagged piece was so deep, I don't think I could have rolled it off without cutting it first...?



Getting bucked in to do the ol' "stand and chuck."



Sayonara! (My expression seems to indicate some displeasure with this branch.)



Still connected x 2 but getting into position to descend.



Ugh! Line needs to be rerouted to run better...



Monkey time!



Whipped old man time!



Thanks for taking a look. And thanks for all the advice and encouragement!

Looks good to me. What if you had butt tied that limb and let someone on the ground pull the rope to pull the limb down out of the tree?...I have had to do that before.

Doing pruning with your handsaw is smart while you are "learning your ropes" and how to get best work position in the tree. Efficient, safe and comfortable work positioning is a big part of treework.

Why is that leather cambium saver on your saddle and not around the tree? I use one LOTS and it does a great job of reducing friction and saves wear and tear on the tree.

And once in awhile gets hung up and can be a pain in the arse. When I suspect Murphy is lurking and the leather donkey dack might get stuck I tie a throw line to the end I am sending up to force the leather down...so that if it does get stuck I have some recourse to try to finesse it down.

pantheraba said:

Looks good to me. What if you had butt tied that limb and let someone on the ground pull the rope to pull the limb down out of the tree?...I have had to do that before.

Click to expand...

And that right there is the value of The Tree House! I never would have thought of that, Gary. Great idea for the bag of tricks.

pantheraba said:

Doing pruning with your handsaw is smart while you are "learning your ropes" and how to get best work position in the tree. Efficient, safe and comfortable work positioning is a big part of treework.

Click to expand...

Thanks! Me with a top-handle right now would be a nächtmare!

pantheraba said:

Why is that leather cambium saver on your saddle and not around the tree? I use one LOTS and it does a great job of reducing friction and saves wear and tear on the tree.

Click to expand...

My initial line was set with a cambium saver from the ground. Then when I did my first-ever recrotch, I forgot to put the second one on my belt on the tail of my line! ::headslap::

hahahha...headslaps and "Doh!!" are the norm lots of times, trust me. Always learning, all of us.

That was really cool to see Jeff. Keep throwing stuff up when you get the chance. When guys like Gary chime in... a little bit goes a long ways.

Job done, nothing damaged, and you made it home in one piece! You achieved all the really important goals.

Don't be afraid to stop and think ahead. Try to picture the easiest and safest way you can do each thing. A little time spent thinking can save a lot of time and bad words in a tree. Things like not tying in high enough have been done by most everyone at one time or another...the extra effort spent usually pounds that lesson into the brain, as it will with other things.

Spellfeller,

Each and every one of us was a beginning tree climber at one time in our lives. I never poke fun at a new climber, mostly because I have a very good memory of what it was like for me.

One day soon all of us old guys will be retired and sitting in a chair licking our lips every two seconds. Guys like you will be taking our place in the workforce.

Learn all you can. Practice with your new equipment at safe heights of less than 10 feet off the ground. Stay safe and enjoy your new hobby.....maybe your new career.

Joel

And don't let on-lookers get in your head. When you are in the tree YOU are calling the important shots. My wife used to look up in a tree I was working in and call out, "is that all you've gotten done?" Yep, I was (and sometimes still am) pretty slow. Don't try to be faster than you are comfortable. Coming through unscathed is the first goal. Nay-sayers and "what takes so long up there?" don't have a clue.

You do.

But don't discount the perspective of someone on the ground who has good sense. My son has used his good common sense and different perspective from the ground to help me decide better ways to do something than I had initially planned. Always let you mind be open to changing the plan. Many times people will ask me how I plan to do a certain part of the tree. I say I'll know when I get up there.

cool!

Just get up there and Take Care Of Bidness!!!

And probably the most important thing MasterBlaster taught me:

NO STUBS!!!!!

Bermy said:

Something different for a change.
Spent Monday moving a portion of a heritage listed hawthorn hedge...yup.
Subbing for the contractor...a world heritage site is building a new visitors centre and parking, and this hawthorn hedge has to be dug up, moved to a bund for three months or so then put back.
So there was me, two excavators and three men...slipping and sliding in the mud, and about 25 ratty old hawthorns getting the royal treatment.
The landscape architects had pretty pictures of symmetrical rootballed shrubs, neatly bedded in a bund...shoulda made THEM come do it.
Set up a bund with hay bales, a layer of hardwood chips, a layer of burlap, then some soil and the hawthorns got plonked on top of that and soil put all around their roots. Half of them came out with lopsided roots, no soil and the other half in great clumps of clay...no way I could wrap them individually!
I haven't been that muddy since I used to play field hockey on a grass field in the winter!
I'll go back in a couple days and make it all look pretty, going to put some soaker hose on it and woodchips on top...fingers crossed they make it.

Click to expand...

Let us know how they do Fi!