How'd it go today?

Routine day. Went to the building monitor in the city today. I'd have taken some pics of the tight site clutter, and the building bracing, but I left my phone at the office. What I'm hearing is they're gonna try to keep the building as-is, and shim as required inside to level everything. I guess it'll work. The lawsuits will probably be going on for years.

Finally bit the bullet, and bought a Logrite Buck arch today. With shipping, it's gonna take all my BidenBux®, almost to the dollar. Might not be the best use of my money, but the money was given to me, and I could use an arch more than a debit card.

My boss mentioned a welder client of ours that could probably use some work. He builds ferriswheels, and last year was pretty slow. That sounded like a fantastic idea to me til I really started thinking about it. I could find some plans online, but I've never used an arch, so I can't tell what sucks, and what small details matter. Tweaking it over time would rack up the bill, and would be irritating for both of us. It would be different if I could weld it up myself, and change things as necessary, but having someone else do it would be a hassle. I figure Logrite knows what an arch is supposed to be, and the tweaking's already been done.
 
Welp, no Logrite arch for me. It's currently on four month backorder. I cancelled. Back to plan A, and skidding everything out. The biggest logs are against the woods edge by the grass. An arch would have made wheeling them out on the grass easy. I'll have to take a look, and find the best place to skid them. Might be the same path I've been using. I kind of postponed the skidding til I firmed up the arch, so I'll have to look everything over.

Logrite needs to step up the whippings of the shop elves :^P
 
That option is still on the table, and honestly I'd prefer it if everything went fairly smoothly. I'll look around online, and try to get some ideas for arches.
 
 
I saw that link Sean. That's gonna be my starting point for thinking through this. I'm not crazy with how that guy's turned out if I were spending money, but I'd be thrilled if I built it myself. If I'm going bespoke, I'll make exactly what I want. I'm thinking maybe a cross between Logrite's Buck and Forwarding archs. Bigger wheels like the Forwarder, and I want modular pieces. The front tube would take a handpuller or a hitch setup, and the rear would have a reversible shackle for the tongs to raise them. I'm not exactly sure what the field practicality of that is, but Logrite seems to think it's an improvement, so might as well. I'll want a 2k# working load. Since the guy builds ferriswheels, he's probably intimately familiar with safety factors, and what's required to make it right regarding materials.
 
Finished up a 3+ day job today for a friend who helped with brush monkey/Dingo duties. A 75+ ft,triple-stemmed, mostly dead cherry completely covered in dead poison ivy. Then a nasty 70 ft white pine that needed limbs stripped before falling in neighbor's yard. Then finished 2 50+ ft twin-stemmed Douglas firs next to the pool. First real trees I've climbed since WuFlu. Took 4 hours to chip everything and then dump the cherry logs at a friend's. Finally got a live fish for new brush monkey, who I started training today. A bit of an oddball, but he's done ground work before, so he should fit in.
 
Some rain today, so I worked on my cleanup job a bit. Got some wood staged for skidding out. I keep finding more wood. Drag a piece with the maasdam, and it rips some brush out and uncovers yet another log. The more I do, the less I get done :^/
 
Removed a dead beech today. Spurred up rigged a few pieces and didn’t like it. Used a throw line and ripped out a ton of extra weight and height. Went back up and pieced it out with minimal rigging. Wasn’t happy about it. Went well though. Only a few small divots in the lawn and everyone went home. Probably the worst conditioned tree I’ve been in without a remote tie in. Never again will I do this. Piss on no access jobs like this. Healthy check for the company and it was my bid, but to hell with that.
 
I hear ya.

I went up the deadest ash I've been in, 24"x70', got about 45' up and still had higher to go to do the rigging, said yeah/nah, tied a line to it, descended and pulled it into woods, went perfect/way better than piecing it out if that had been safe. Lol, climb the big dead ash, save the pool fence!! :headbang: :|:
 
Removed a dead beech today. Spurred up rigged a few pieces and didn’t like it. Used a throw line and ripped out a ton of extra weight and height. Went back up and pieced it out with minimal rigging. Wasn’t happy about it. Went well though. Only a few small divots in the lawn and everyone went home. Probably the worst conditioned tree I’ve been in without a remote tie in. Never again will I do this. Piss on no access jobs like this. Healthy check for the company and it was my bid, but to hell with that.


Too often we (tree surgeons/climbers/arborists whatever) do sketchy stuff just to save inconsequential targets.
Wooden fences, a bit of grass, a shrub.
That’s our job to an extent but a quick chat with the client about what might well ‘get it’ will often bring a
‘Sure, no problem, whatever’
 
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