MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #30,526
I LOL @ climbers that use a polesaw to "advance their line." Just toss that sucker!
What are "hard pads?" Cadillac pads?
What are "hard pads?" Cadillac pads?
How'd it go today?
- Thread starter MasterBlaster
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CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
Good luck with that thought in an untouched blue oak... they are like velcro. Sometimes you just have to.
Tucker943
Bamboo Plantation Owner
Hard is from my phone auto correcting the word gaff. That's why half of my posts are gibberish.
SouthSoundTree
Treehouser
I gave Erik the spurless trial by fire yesterday. He'll like it better in time. All his previous climbing had been spurs. He did four fir thinnings the other day and felt 'on fire' from it. Then, yesterday, a vertical maple trunk without crotches that had to come off as it was broken in the recent storm. His thighs chaffed from the rope walker set up for his 50' ascent and 'on fire'.
Today, I climbed three doug-firs with Laminated Root Rot, and a dying madrone which had to be rigged down over a fence and deck. Hadn't blocked down a tree like that in a long time. Old 1/2" ropes weren't gonna cut negative blocking heavy azz madrone chunks. I think tomorrow I"ll get out the scale and estimate the weights, as otherwise I can't calibrate my guestimation to reality. Erik locked one up on me pretty good, but the rest went smoothly. He hasn't been actually catching much in a long, long time. Most times its crash landing with some control.
Madrone hoarder, guilty. Our best firewood around here at around 30M BTUs per cord. Gave my friend with the knuckleboom a lil' less than about a thousand board feet worth of firewood logs, rather than paying him to haul them to my house. He sells the logs. HO wanted to keep the madrone rounds with the fir rounds to give away as a package deal. I got paid for cutting up the rounds, but without having to do that or clean up afterwards, and I got all the madrone, which I'll probably share with my Parks co-worker in exchange for using his splitter. One hand washes the other.
Today, I climbed three doug-firs with Laminated Root Rot, and a dying madrone which had to be rigged down over a fence and deck. Hadn't blocked down a tree like that in a long time. Old 1/2" ropes weren't gonna cut negative blocking heavy azz madrone chunks. I think tomorrow I"ll get out the scale and estimate the weights, as otherwise I can't calibrate my guestimation to reality. Erik locked one up on me pretty good, but the rest went smoothly. He hasn't been actually catching much in a long, long time. Most times its crash landing with some control.
Madrone hoarder, guilty. Our best firewood around here at around 30M BTUs per cord. Gave my friend with the knuckleboom a lil' less than about a thousand board feet worth of firewood logs, rather than paying him to haul them to my house. He sells the logs. HO wanted to keep the madrone rounds with the fir rounds to give away as a package deal. I got paid for cutting up the rounds, but without having to do that or clean up afterwards, and I got all the madrone, which I'll probably share with my Parks co-worker in exchange for using his splitter. One hand washes the other.
SouthSoundTree
Treehouser
Good day.
Got my new business cards.
Commando smart phone activated. Give it a try. NiceGuy advises the screen's not so hot, Bonner says it works for him. 14 day return period.
Tried a SRT rope walker set-up with one neck bungee on the Hitch Hiker. Think I need two bungees. Will dial in an adjustable foot loop with some accessory cord and a prusik. Worked pretty smooth.
Knocked down a laminated root diseased Doug-fir and flipped a small leaning alder away from the neighbor's landscaping. Spoke to the neighbor for a bit. Lot of dough in that guy's pockets. He has some big trees, also LLR affected in part. Just had one Doug-fir thinned because that's what you need done, right? Well...
Knowing about these diseases has helped me a lot lately. Seems like laminated root rot all over the place. One small phellinus pini/ red ring rot conk on a big tree, so not a big deal, but the HO liked that I know what was what more than the average tree guy. Think he also liked when I didn't recommend work on a tree that really didn't need it.
Baby's doing well. Almost a month old, and too long to wear newborn clothes. Gaining weight, which was tough at first.
In-laws coming next week. My mom will probably come in a few weeks.
One more full week of paternity leave.
Got a bid request for 16 small to medium residential D-fir removals.
All is well!
Got my new business cards.
Commando smart phone activated. Give it a try. NiceGuy advises the screen's not so hot, Bonner says it works for him. 14 day return period.
Tried a SRT rope walker set-up with one neck bungee on the Hitch Hiker. Think I need two bungees. Will dial in an adjustable foot loop with some accessory cord and a prusik. Worked pretty smooth.
Knocked down a laminated root diseased Doug-fir and flipped a small leaning alder away from the neighbor's landscaping. Spoke to the neighbor for a bit. Lot of dough in that guy's pockets. He has some big trees, also LLR affected in part. Just had one Doug-fir thinned because that's what you need done, right? Well...
Knowing about these diseases has helped me a lot lately. Seems like laminated root rot all over the place. One small phellinus pini/ red ring rot conk on a big tree, so not a big deal, but the HO liked that I know what was what more than the average tree guy. Think he also liked when I didn't recommend work on a tree that really didn't need it.
Baby's doing well. Almost a month old, and too long to wear newborn clothes. Gaining weight, which was tough at first.
In-laws coming next week. My mom will probably come in a few weeks.
One more full week of paternity leave.
Got a bid request for 16 small to medium residential D-fir removals.
All is well!
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
Day started hell in a handbag this morning and went to plan B. Removed about 5 tons of beetle kill ponderosa off a property today ......
SoonerFan
TreeHouser
Time to buy a new handbag.
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
The dude that changed the gate code is cruising for a law suit.
Ass hole has cost me two days = 4 man days. Easement dispute. Whichi is stupid as it is only him disputing it by being a F***Tard
Ass hole has cost me two days = 4 man days. Easement dispute. Whichi is stupid as it is only him disputing it by being a F***Tard
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #30,534
Lordy.
Jack
Treehouser
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2010
- Messages
- 2,537
Had some light trimming to do without a direct drop zone so, had to 'loop & chuck' the bits - EZ PZ.
HO took a (shaky) vid and sent it ... comments are funny ... had some fun with the editing:
<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2omUOyou_HM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
HO took a (shaky) vid and sent it ... comments are funny ... had some fun with the editing:
<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2omUOyou_HM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
SouthSoundTree
Treehouser
Jack,
Your two recent videos (above video and rope jack in a tree) got me thinking about how I do things in certain situations. So thanks for the food for thought.
I generally avoid choking with a carabiner, but to each their own. I see that you are doing small pieces in those situations, so the load is small. Generally, for my own piece of mind, I will choke one sling on the stationary part of the tree and one sling to the 'work', connecting with a 'biner.
This two sling method means 1) extra gear to handle, and 2) potential cross-loading of the gate with the shockload (more of a concern with a bigger piece). It occurs to me that when chunking back a limb, where the climber can reach over the tip of the 'work', a climber could slip either an open runner (nylon is stretchier than dyneema, so a good choice, and from the width, it looks like your choice there) or a girth-hitched runner over the tip which would end up on the stationary tree, and slip a girth hitch over the 'work'. As you did, an undercut can be placed, then the sling positioned across the cut, removing slack from the situation enough that it minimizes the shockload on that short runner, while at the same time leaving enough slack so as not to swing the 'work' back into the climber. No risk of unclipping or crossloading the gate, nor the biner around the limb. The runner can be slipped off of either limb end and be dropped/ thrown, as you did. If dropping the sling with the 'work', there would be no concern about the 'biner getting damaged in the process.
With the rope jack video, I would think that the rope jack is a bit cumbersome in the tree, and while I like the inventiveness of your device, perhaps a couple of pulleys and hitch cord would be more compact and versatile. With your use of the Belay Spool with french prusik to hold the tail, I just wrap the standing end of the rope a little bit in a way that can be released under load, sometimes just one turn and hold it underfoot, if I'm stable enough. You probably have done this, as well. You've mentioned that your not doing the tree work as a production/ profit oriented process, but rather as service work for those in need. The standing end wrap has the KISS principle, in my mind.
Again, just thinking through things, and discussing different ways to skin the same cat.
Thanks for sharing.
BTW, who knows why anybody would want a skinned cat?
Your two recent videos (above video and rope jack in a tree) got me thinking about how I do things in certain situations. So thanks for the food for thought.
I generally avoid choking with a carabiner, but to each their own. I see that you are doing small pieces in those situations, so the load is small. Generally, for my own piece of mind, I will choke one sling on the stationary part of the tree and one sling to the 'work', connecting with a 'biner.
This two sling method means 1) extra gear to handle, and 2) potential cross-loading of the gate with the shockload (more of a concern with a bigger piece). It occurs to me that when chunking back a limb, where the climber can reach over the tip of the 'work', a climber could slip either an open runner (nylon is stretchier than dyneema, so a good choice, and from the width, it looks like your choice there) or a girth-hitched runner over the tip which would end up on the stationary tree, and slip a girth hitch over the 'work'. As you did, an undercut can be placed, then the sling positioned across the cut, removing slack from the situation enough that it minimizes the shockload on that short runner, while at the same time leaving enough slack so as not to swing the 'work' back into the climber. No risk of unclipping or crossloading the gate, nor the biner around the limb. The runner can be slipped off of either limb end and be dropped/ thrown, as you did. If dropping the sling with the 'work', there would be no concern about the 'biner getting damaged in the process.
With the rope jack video, I would think that the rope jack is a bit cumbersome in the tree, and while I like the inventiveness of your device, perhaps a couple of pulleys and hitch cord would be more compact and versatile. With your use of the Belay Spool with french prusik to hold the tail, I just wrap the standing end of the rope a little bit in a way that can be released under load, sometimes just one turn and hold it underfoot, if I'm stable enough. You probably have done this, as well. You've mentioned that your not doing the tree work as a production/ profit oriented process, but rather as service work for those in need. The standing end wrap has the KISS principle, in my mind.
Again, just thinking through things, and discussing different ways to skin the same cat.
Thanks for sharing.
BTW, who knows why anybody would want a skinned cat?
SouthSoundTree
Treehouser
Oh, yeah, I messed with my 064 carb tuning and am getting some better power. I'm going to take it in to Madsen's for a professional look-over and have my squashed ms211 looked at. Would be better than having them in the shop. Lil' 211 was just a quick, light, cheap purchase for light limbing on the ground rather than a 361, and if needed for some reason, a little in-tree use, from when money was tight after flying back from a storm and waiting on both my shipped saws, and storm money to come in.
Had a log roll over the 211 one day. Ooops. Now, when I try to start it, it has a mysterious high-pitched 'crack' noise, rather than the full choke 'pop'. Any ideas?
Had a log roll over the 211 one day. Ooops. Now, when I try to start it, it has a mysterious high-pitched 'crack' noise, rather than the full choke 'pop'. Any ideas?
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #30,538
I use the tail of my lanyard to rope small stuff. It stays attached to me, through my Gibbs. I'll hang up my saw, pull the line up, untie and toss.
Jack
Treehouser
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2010
- Messages
- 2,537
Sean,
First, my compliments on your polite way of stepping around: "I'd a done it different." Your comments and courtesy are much appreciated!
On the Loop & Chuck method:
I agree with all your good points. And, others should take note of them. I do use them all on any heavier work. However, for very light trimming, some of them are over-kill. If I can lift the piece with one hand, as shown, the loads are trivial. It should be noted by all that I positioned myself well away from any swing. And, the second example, in the vid, I did slip the runner off the end to avoid dropping with the piece and possibly damage to the 'biner. Loop & Chuck must be reserved for the lightest work. But, it is intended to offer the simplest, reasonably safe alternative for avoiding the instinct to hold a piece and one-hand a saw.
On the solo lowering video:
As you an I have discussed in the past, I've tried pulleys and hitch cord in the tree. Agreed, it's easier to pack but more hassle to implement. Overall, so far, the Rope Jack seems to the lesser cumbersome alternative. As to the french prusik, I tend to follow the "whistle rule" used in rescue ... when the whistle blows, everyone lets go -- and nothing bad happens. I started using the french prusik so I don't HAVE to hold the lowering line with my hand (or feet). At anytime I can let go and all's good. This is another aid in keeping both hands and full attention on the saw.
BTW, I do like the DWT idea for release ... have considered it but does require twice the amount of line. It will probably end up as the most practical method.
Thanks again for an interesting discussion, well put ... well received,
Jack
SouthSoundTree
Treehouser
Indeed, twice the line, but only as much as when the groundie is lowering.
You did show yourself using good safety measures in your positioning and appropriate gear for the rigging done, certainly. Part of the things mentioned were just for clarity for someone new to the concepts.
I haven't heard of this whistle concept from rescue. Interesting. Having a back-up in case of a slip or other situations is very good in many situations. You're demonstrating good safety awareness to viewers, as is very appropriate for the benefit of all. More advanced users will/ should know when and where to 'short-cut', and when 'haste makes waste'.
Again I'll say that your service work is admirable.
I haven't been using my BS in a while, and have yet to negative block with it, only using it in medium duty rigging with an overhead anchor point for short spar logs. TomD says its just fine for 'slam dunk' rigging, as he calls it. Have you put yours to such use? Any tips?
You did show yourself using good safety measures in your positioning and appropriate gear for the rigging done, certainly. Part of the things mentioned were just for clarity for someone new to the concepts.
I haven't heard of this whistle concept from rescue. Interesting. Having a back-up in case of a slip or other situations is very good in many situations. You're demonstrating good safety awareness to viewers, as is very appropriate for the benefit of all. More advanced users will/ should know when and where to 'short-cut', and when 'haste makes waste'.
Again I'll say that your service work is admirable.
I haven't been using my BS in a while, and have yet to negative block with it, only using it in medium duty rigging with an overhead anchor point for short spar logs. TomD says its just fine for 'slam dunk' rigging, as he calls it. Have you put yours to such use? Any tips?
Tucker943
Bamboo Plantation Owner
I worked on fishing today. We had our limits of walleye by 9 am.
SoonerFan
TreeHouser
Jack, I appreciate the video!
When I can't learn from working with others, it's good to be able to learn from "watching" others.
When I can't learn from working with others, it's good to be able to learn from "watching" others.
brendonv
Tree Hugger
I wrecked a 100' tulip in a tight spot for Harlan. It had some funky included bark at about 50', I put a strap on it for mind sakes. Went well, was spooky though. They are not good at letting ropes run so I climbed up 15' short of the top and roped the small tops myself.
I tried out his new Toro 324? mini loader. Nice little machine. I gotta say after using it I want to milk my Thomas along as long as possible. Those new controls suck really, really bad. Thomas' had it dialed.
I tried out his new Toro 324? mini loader. Nice little machine. I gotta say after using it I want to milk my Thomas along as long as possible. Those new controls suck really, really bad. Thomas' had it dialed.
emr
Cheesehead Treehouser
Today I had a very good day until my last estimate. It was an old retired engineer who knew everything and corrected me several times and even figured out my prices before I did.
The estimate started off with his wife asking me to just drag the brush to the road for the city to come and chip it up. Two problems: 1) the city is only chipping for another week or two and we are booked out over a month. 2) the city frowns on contractors stacking brush for the city to clean up. In fact fines are given to contractors for doing that. However, I am wrong and i can just stack the brush to keep costs down. I told him no again and he still fought me on it. Like I said, he knows everything.
Another thing that really ticks me off is when old know it alls tell you me how easy it is to do tree work and that they would have done it themselves if they were younger. I am looking at these trees figuring on a day for us (professionals) to remove and he is like, "oh that one is super easy except for that lean backwards, you will just have to pull hard."
Hearing non-tree guys tell me how easy my job is has always put me in a foul mood. So then I am calculating the job cost and he starts telling me how long he thinks it should take and saying how we need to be efficient in our work. At this point I really am starting to hate this guy.
The worst part is that I think I sold the job. The customer is a tool, but I guess it's a week worth of work.... I am keeping my fingers crossed that they decide to shop around.
The estimate started off with his wife asking me to just drag the brush to the road for the city to come and chip it up. Two problems: 1) the city is only chipping for another week or two and we are booked out over a month. 2) the city frowns on contractors stacking brush for the city to clean up. In fact fines are given to contractors for doing that. However, I am wrong and i can just stack the brush to keep costs down. I told him no again and he still fought me on it. Like I said, he knows everything.
Another thing that really ticks me off is when old know it alls tell you me how easy it is to do tree work and that they would have done it themselves if they were younger. I am looking at these trees figuring on a day for us (professionals) to remove and he is like, "oh that one is super easy except for that lean backwards, you will just have to pull hard."
Hearing non-tree guys tell me how easy my job is has always put me in a foul mood. So then I am calculating the job cost and he starts telling me how long he thinks it should take and saying how we need to be efficient in our work. At this point I really am starting to hate this guy.
The worst part is that I think I sold the job. The customer is a tool, but I guess it's a week worth of work.... I am keeping my fingers crossed that they decide to shop around.
SkwerI
Treehouser
I hope you added in an extra 25% to cover the cost of the additional job supervisor who will be present for every moment of the entire job. 
My 2.5 acre on the river client just called me 30 minutes ago to thank me for my work, then insisted on bringing me the check personally. He just dropped it off a few minutes ago (he lives 5 minutes away). He was very impressed with my work and I think I've made a client for life.
My truck outriggers are working flawlessly again after yesterday's repair. I'm really glad I finally attacked that project.
My job for tomorrow cancelled because he has two trucks in the shop and no way to haul off the debris. I kicked another small job into the open schedule so the day won't be a complete waste. I'd rather make a couple dollars than nothing at all.
My 2.5 acre on the river client just called me 30 minutes ago to thank me for my work, then insisted on bringing me the check personally. He just dropped it off a few minutes ago (he lives 5 minutes away). He was very impressed with my work and I think I've made a client for life.
My truck outriggers are working flawlessly again after yesterday's repair. I'm really glad I finally attacked that project.
My job for tomorrow cancelled because he has two trucks in the shop and no way to haul off the debris. I kicked another small job into the open schedule so the day won't be a complete waste. I'd rather make a couple dollars than nothing at all.
brendonv
Tree Hugger
Brian, is removing and greasing the outriggers scheduled maintenance? Can you prevent is somehow by spray grease, keeping it clean?
SkwerI
Treehouser
In the past I've seen guys wipe grease on the sides of the outriggers but that doesn't seem to do anything except make them messy. Upon removing the outrigger I noticed that 90% of the wear was on the bottom, so I'm going to begin wiping some grease on the bottom side of the outriggers. With the dirt attraction I may be doing more harm than good but who knows? I think anything aerosol would be too thin to have any benefit.
SkwerI
Treehouser
There's nothing technologically complicated about the outriggers. It's a square tube inside another square tube and there's only one wear pad on the inner lip of the outside tube. I think they figure the truck will be retired before it becomes an issue.
SouthSoundTree
Treehouser
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