How'd it go today?

[lumberjack]

Not really. The weight is still extremely biased towards the rear of the track until you lift something, which starts transfering weight to the front of the tracks.

I'm planning on making my next set from 3" channel. I'll set up a piece and check it for deflection before I commit to using it, but as it stands my current ramps are HEAVY and getting somewhat bent. That bent part might have something to do with bridging a 4500lb grinder with them them across an 8' gap (10' ramps), less than 1k of that weight on the front axle. Then again, D, me, the mini, and the grapple is 2300lbs. Add a big enough chunk to make the back end light with our 510lbs on the back of the machine and you end up with a goodly bit of concentrated weight as well.

We wrapped up a job today we've been working off and on (mainly off)over the past 3 months, should make for a nice payday next week.

Got my new Asolos and SuperFeet in today. Going to work on the bills over the weekend, have a goodly number of folks to bill, should make for a happy bank account.

 

[stehansen]

I have ramps made from 2" square tubing, 3 pieces with some walkway material over it. Freakin heavy.

 

[Mr. Sir]

"Distributed load" means that the weight is spread out over the ENTIRE length of the ramp, which is of course NOT a real world situation.

 

[sawinredneck]

What do ya ride?

I ride an OLD and HEAVY Schwinn World sport ten speed.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Here's another big live oak I trimmed today. The strong breeze from the soybean field helped to keep the heat from being too terrible. I wish ya'll could see how beautiful it is.

 

[stehansen]

Nice looking tree.

 

[cybergeek23851]

I've been reloading software since I did some upgrades to my computer.

 

[SkwerI]

They are incredible trees, Butch. And some people might think you lion tailed it, but live oaks naturally grow that way. There's almost no green interior growth. 95% of interior limbs will be dead and broken off before we get there, most of the pruning is simply cutting off the dead stubs.

I rehung a big staghorn fern in a tree I trimmed yesterday. It had been hanging by a chain wrapped around a lower limb and the chain girdled the limb. So this morning I bought supplies (a J lag bolt and some chain) and hung it from another limb by drilling and installing the J bolt into the bottom of the limb. A rope and a couple pulleys allowed me to lift the 300# plant into place.

 

[Old Monkey]

Nice looking tree Butch. No obstacles on the ground below? I love jobs like that. I miss being a firefighter and getting to fall tons of trees without worrying about houses, wires, gardens, propane tanks, etc.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Nah, the ground was clear.

 

[Blinky]

That looks like nice property you're working on there Butch... pictures never do live oaks justice. I'll bet they're gorgeous.

I took down a giant white oak on my landlord's property today, nice way to pay the rent plus they kinda made a day of it, had family over to handle brush and stuff... It was a beautiful tree that took a major lightning hit, bark was almost completely de-laminated down low with two big cracks on opposite sides of the tree and big furrows in the ground where the bolt traced away from the trunk... never seen anything like it. Pieces of the tree were all over the yard where it practically exploded up high.

After rigging all the stuff over the house, which was sweet by the way, I pulled a major boner. The tree had three big leads and I put a second TIP in top center while I was up high so it would be an easy swing back after doing the one over the house... so my rope was looped across under me. No big deal while rigging cuz everything just swung across and never came close. When I was done rigging I had one more big piece on that lead to just drop.

You can kinda see what happened at this point but I was going fast and didn't figure it out till I saw it falling onto that loop of rope. I went flying off that tree and hung suspended about 2' away from where my lanyard was in. I don't know how much that thing weighed but I couldn't budge it. I was able to get back onto my spikes with some effort. Fortunately it was in pole saw range and my son rescued me by cutting it off my rope. I could've just slipped off one of my TIPs but I had a lot more cutting to do on that stem and didn't want to give up that perfect one in the center.

No big deal really but that's the first time I've ever been yanked completely off my spikes. I've had some big rides and lost one foot a couple of times but never clean off the tree.

It's nice to know my homemade bridge took the shock without any problem.

Other than that it was a nice day, put a lot of firewood on the ground. Big Tulip tomorrow, same deal, lightning blew the bark completely off the tree... it's about 20' from the white oak.

 

[Old Monkey]

Hanging out waiting for fire works and digesting barbecued chicken.

 

[stehansen]

I had a bid this morning and I picked up my after that. Took him and the wife to breakfast and been laying around ever since. Still recovering from my 10 hours in the bucket on Wednesday.

 

[sotc]

honey do's

 

[Al Smith]

I helped the neighbor slice a big silver maple ,about 40" .The poor guy was carving away with a 60 cc Makita. The 125 Mac made the sawdust fly.Then--drank some beer ,not a bad day .

 

[sawinredneck]

Didn't do JACK!! I needed it after yesterday!
Straight eight and a half hours of hell!! I slept thirteen hours last night! I wont get into it all, but it was a bad day at work!!
Then I got the bright idea to go out and hit the bar. Bad idea!! Too hot, too tired. Ate and drank too much, too fast! Lost it all a few hours later.
Chilled today and tonight. Light off a few fireworks, then watched a bunch more. Had an overwhelming urge to drink lots of water today. Not sure why (Idiot)

 

[Paul B]

this is from yesterday but I wanted to post the pic. I went to a tour guided by an aquaintance of mine, the director of the botanical gardens, at UBC (university of british columbia) with about 30 other folks. The neat part was the partially constructed elevated tree walk. Apparently the highest platform will be about 25 meters (roughly 75 feet) above gropund. Suspended on douglas fir and western red cedar trees. I will get some more pics soon hopefully, a friend that was on the walk took a bunch and promised to email them to me. it should be finished in about a month.

 

[Frans]

I have ramps made from 2" square tubing, 3 pieces with some walkway material over it. Freakin heavy.

These are the ones I have. 12 footers but they come in many different lengths
http://www.melcher-ramps.com/

 

[vharrison]

Here's another big live oak I trimmed today. The strong breeze from the soybean field helped to keep the heat from being too terrible. I wish ya'll could see how beautiful it is.

Absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

 

[DMc]

Here's another big live oak I trimmed today.

Beautiful tree, nice job, Butch. I really miss big live oaks, sprawling valley oaks, redwoods and eucs.

These pictures are from last week....and I HATE hedges.

If you look closely in the first picture you can see a little red dot (helmet). That's me NOT having a good time. These pics don't even show all of the hedges at this job. At least 30 miles, maybe 50...

Dave

 

[sotc]

they look nice

 

[MasterBlaster]

Hedges? Not for moi.

Damn Paul, that walk looks wicked! Is that the only pic you got? Any more info/links on it? It looks kinda flimsy, spooky!

 

[pantheraba]

That looks like nice property you're working on there Butch... pictures never do live oaks justice. I'll bet they're gorgeous.

I took down a giant white oak on my landlord's property today, nice way to pay the rent plus they kinda made a day of it, had family over to handle brush and stuff...

Glad you got through OK, Blinky....hindsight tells us a lot. We all need to be careful of working too fast.

Good save, bro.

 

[NickfromWI]

Butch, that last pic below the oak pics..tobacco?

love
nick

 

[MasterBlaster]

Soybeans, I think.