How'd it go today?

[SkwerI]

It's all your fault, Paully. Your damn blade cut me open and now my blood is on your hands. I hope the guilt drags you down to your grave.

 

[Old Monkey]

Sorry to hear about your Silky wound Brian. I got a Zubat just prior to getting the chipper. Its a good saw but I broke part of the scabbard the first day I climbed with it. I seem to remember you saying the scabbards suck. Do any of the leather scabbards work with it?

Jonny, congrats on the new job. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know if they show you a video in their training that has a title similar to "Better Living Through Chemistry."

My day was good. We had a shop day to work on the truck and do some paperwork. I did a variety of chores around the house to get me back in the wife's good favor. Working long hours in the summertime limits my ability to help out at home, which lowers my standing at home despite bringing in the loot. The occasional home day goes a long ways.

 

[SkwerI]

Thanks for the sentiments, Darin. After breaking my first Zubat scabbard, I bought a Sherrill leather/ belted handsaw scabbard. It's heavy and bulky and after a couple months I bought another Zubat and modified the plastic scabbard to help prevent it from pulling apart. I ended up using the Sherrill scabbard in my bucket truck though, so it wasn't a wasted purchase.

 

[Old Monkey]

I may try to go all Daniel Boone and make my own leather scabbard. If it sucks it never happened. If it works, I'll share picts. I hope all those years in Indian Guides as a kid count for something.

 

[JIML]

skwerl,
something like this one?
Not a zubat but a fanno.
I hit a tendon and it doesn't straighten any more.. Doc said it was fixed when he stitched it up.
Well I guess he did. didn't speak very good english..

 

[stehansen]

I just ordered shirts for my crew and I.

 

[sotc]

well want to see them when they come in!

 

[Tree Guy's Wife]

The occasional home day goes a long ways.

So true! Tree Guy becomes very attractive when I see him vacuuming.

 

[vharrison]

DuPont called today, the physical and background check went good, and I'm hired. Start on the 14th.
Kinda bittersweet really. I'll be a part time tree guy I guess.

Congratulations Jonny!

 

[cybergeek23851]

So true! Tree Guy becomes very attractive when I see him vacuuming.

Ohhh Nat, you're a riot.

 

[vharrison]

Well I screwed up yesterday morning. Glad I don't have a camera currently to post a picture. I had a brand new blade on my Zubat and had already commented to a buddy the other day how the new blades aren't broken in until they draw blood. Well, I got myself good on the top of my right index finger just below the first knuckle. I got through at least 2 layers of flesh and might have knicked a tendon, as it is very difficult to push a chainsaw file with that hand. I taped it up and worked the entire day with it. Had to change the blood soaked bandage at lunch and it was soaked again when I cleaned it up last night. Today I used butterfly closures but they came off due to sweat and movement. It's just about stopped bleeding, hopefully it will close up tonight and not get ripped open again tomorrow.

I honestly have a love/hate relationship with Zubats. They have hurt me more than any chainsaw ever has.

Dang Brian, that hurts just thinking about it. Heal up quick!

 

[Thor's Hammer]

I heard today a local tree service owner cut his arm using a 200T. It seems that by the time they got him to the hospital, he was nearly dead from the blood loss.

 

[SkwerI]

skwerl,
something like this one?
Not a zubat but a fanno.
I hit a tendon and it doesn't straighten any more..

Pretty darn close, Jim. I tried taking a picture with my broken camera and this is the best I could get. The white is dried super glue, not puss. I'm actually pretty fortunate that I've been able to keep it relatively clean. Found an old roll of 3M medical tape that kept it well protected the last couple days.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I would splint it.

 

[Tree Guy's Wife]

Ouch! Glad it wasn't more serious.

 

[Old Monkey]

Glad we are on a new page without any gross out injury pictures.

I deadwooded and thinned out suckers in two borer ridden ash trees. The owner is treating them with Bayer's Tree and Shrub and they are limping along. Most of our ash trees here have some degree of borer damage. Cleaning them up sucks but I will do it for money.

 

[squisher]

moo ha ha, I slaughtered five or six ash trees today. The owner was moving there house over on the property (I don't know why) and wanted them gone, easy bucket sailing, all the trees from one setting. I'll be going back to finish two more in a week or two.

 

[Old Monkey]

Any borer damage up there?

 

[squisher]

you talking the 'emerald ash borer'? Not a problem here as far as I know. These trees were mainly healthy although a couple of them did have some deadwood and woodpecker tracks on them?

 

[Greenhorn]

Blah, first big storm since I've been a full time tree man and my big chipper is in the shop. 12 jobs tomorrow and my little bandit 65. Better than no chipper though. Cant wait till I get back to regular tree work though I should make a few bucks with all the mess around here. Feeding frenzy for all the hacks, temped to just get a beer and watch them all on their extension ladders but I gotta take care of my regulars. Monster chipper would be nice for all this..........

 

[stehansen]

I got my thumb caught between a tag line and the tree limb today. Sorry OM, no pictures. It's not very gross anyway, just a little wake up call. Did you guys have a big storm Greenhorn?

 

[Old Monkey]

Greenhorn, if there is work to secure don't bother chipping. Tell people that there are other pressing emergencies and stack the brush. Do all your cutting and climbing first and then come back later to chip.

 

[Greenhorn]

just sharpened 5 chains for tomorrow, yah we had 80 plus mph winds. I got overwhelmed by this thing, was busy before it even hit. Finally started fowarding the big stuff to a friend of mine. Did some curb jobs OM, just scared to get piles everywhere, I need to get back to my regular jobs next week etc. Lil bandit aint too bad, just takes patience. That thing makes real small chip and packs it tight, lot heavier chip than the big bandit makes. Gotta get some sleep for the madness tomorrow.

 

[vharrison]

Glad we are on a new page without any gross out injury pictures.

Ya wuss

 

[SkwerI]

Went to a repeat client's house today to rehang a couple large staghorn ferns in the oak trees. I just assumed it was all frontyard work and planned on about an hour of fiddling around in the bucket. But the big one that had fallen was in the back yard and it weighed about 500+ lbs.

The spot it was supposed to hang from was about 25' up in a huge live oak. I used more rigging gear on that stupid staghorn than I've used in the last 5 years rigging trees! I began by setting a bull line about 50' up directly over the hanging point for the staghorn. Using that rope as my upper anchor, I set up a fiddle block type setup with a 1/2" lowering line and various pulleys. I then pulled the upper anchor up to about 5' above the mounting point and had a 4-1 reduction for raising the staghorn. It was still too heavy to raise by hand so I set a redirect off the base of the tree and we used the customer's 4 wheeler to pull the staghorn up into position.

Once the staghorn was raised, it was a cakewalk. I set a lifeline on the limb next to the mounting point, ascended SRT, got lanyarded in and comfortable and drilled a hole in the underside of the limb and screwed in a J lag. Hung a cable from the staghorn to the J lag and then the customer lowered the staghorn.

After that I reset two more in the front yard using the bucket truck winch. That was too easy. Yeah, I can do a lot with that truck. But it's nice to know that I'm still capable of doing the job without it when necessary.