Nope, had his feet on the trunk and tied in there as well. Got close to his tip and side-loaded it with his body. The trunk broke just above where his feet were. I knew it was very weak wood and had told him to stay close to the trunk. There were no obvious flaws where it broke. It is very weak and brittle and is one tree I never put any trust in.
How'd it go today?
- Thread starter MasterBlaster
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bonner1040
Nick from Ohio
Lots of pruning lately...
The one thing I remember about Ailanthus was how heavy the wood was. The first one I took down many years ago was a little 12" one and I had to cut the pieces mighty small to load on the back of the pickup. I think there was a lot more water than wood in them.
Tucker943
Bamboo Plantation Owner
Siberian elm seems to be that way too. All water.
woodworkingboy
TreeHouser
Persimmon is a pretty hard and heavy wood, but rather weak at the branch unions. Even people that never climb trees will tell you that. 
Treesmith be aware when chipping that stuff as it is has a chemical that elevates the heart rate and can be very aggravating. Not as bad as sycamore cedar or for me sumac, but very irritating. I suggest a mask whilst chipping. That is the most brittle tree I have worked in here. I see no problem breaking out a 5" or bigger limb or top. Be aware and careful.
Thanks. We won't be chipping. Carl will be loading it with the Gehl as I get them down. There is one small one that we plan to rig and lower from its neighbor, possibly one more where that's an option. Other than that, it's pretty much just get them down as best we can. Nothing really huge. Four of them are single stems, ~14"-16" DBH, while two are codoms off the stump, prolly 28"-30" at the ground, and same as the others DBH. It was raining pretty good while we were there, so they may not be quite as big as I remember. Two limbs that I recall over the building, and two limbs/leads out over a neighboring bradford pear and a dogwood. The rest is pretty straightforward.
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
They will hinge a little better if they are near a good water source or after some good rain. Brittle as all get out. When Carl packs it all in the trailer with the Gehl, you will see what I mean.. Shat broke apart everywhere. 4-5" TIP on Vertical, go bigger if you go farther out of the centre of vertical to your TIP (eg. limb walking). Wood can be deceivingly heavy like Mimosa. Mimosa is pretty close in character actually. Might be a good idea to kerf cut the sap wood to keep it from tearing on 3-4" plus if you hinge it. Snap cuts are literally a snap 
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
Speaking of mimosa...... My little money maker this morning. It was split out on the back last year and one side went this year. about 20" DBH. HO was tired of it hitting her garden decor Not to mention constantly reaching for the primaries... Brittle bugger.
Then we went up to the 4500 foot elevation and did some burning.
Not to mention constantly reaching for the primaries... Brittle bugger.Then we went up to the 4500 foot elevation and did some burning.
Attachments
arborworks1
Treehouser
Repaired the drive key on the feedwheel today. 5/16 key is a rare find around here, on the weekend anyway!
Shop roof is complete. It was nice to be in there while it was pouring out.
Also had to change out the rotation chain on the grapple trailer. Everything is nice and tight again.
Shop roof is complete. It was nice to be in there while it was pouring out.
Also had to change out the rotation chain on the grapple trailer. Everything is nice and tight again.
SkwerI
Treehouser
Scott, did the landlord cough up the dollars for the roof or did you guys just do it yourselves?
arborworks1
Treehouser
Landlord fixed the roof. I was to the point of looking for new accommodations and he ponied up!
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
Well that's good news about the roof.
Weird contrast of jobs the last couple days.
Did that mimosa, then went and burned out some slash and duff in a small pine grove. Then yesterday went up to a wild land fire area and dropped burned out snags which kept me on edge all day. Rob brushed out in front of me and got fires started so I had fire to burn my slash on already set up and clear ground to work on. Winds came up and things got kind of sketchy. Between the fires laying down flat to the ground and the snags swaying in the breeze...... 3PM I called it.
Landed a tree job today out by my mom's. Been a good week
Weird contrast of jobs the last couple days.
Did that mimosa, then went and burned out some slash and duff in a small pine grove. Then yesterday went up to a wild land fire area and dropped burned out snags which kept me on edge all day. Rob brushed out in front of me and got fires started so I had fire to burn my slash on already set up and clear ground to work on. Winds came up and things got kind of sketchy. Between the fires laying down flat to the ground and the snags swaying in the breeze...... 3PM I called it.
Landed a tree job today out by my mom's. Been a good week
JoshINtrees
TreeHouser
Caught myself a headache today for sure. Set up on a small trim job with the bucket, got the riggers down no problem. Hopped in the bucket and pulled the stick up and up I went. And went. And went. I think something chewed my control line or something because up was the only way it would go, and it wouldn't stop or turn or nothing, so I went busting through every branch all the way to 60 feet. Stick feels spongy in every other direction like there's no fluid in the valve body, but I can't see a leak anywhere.
Crap I hate days like this.
Crap I hate days like this.
Tucker943
Bamboo Plantation Owner
Man you burn a lot of stuff in a years time.
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #30,167
Goddamn, Josh... the heck you say???
Busting through branches???
Busting through branches???
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
Sure as shat beats the hell out of yarding the stuff up a slope to chip it
Crazy shat Josh.
Crazy shat Josh.
JoshINtrees
TreeHouser
Should've just took the time to climb it. 
Yeah, Butch. Split a few of the bigger ones but I was able to steer the smaller ones around the bucket on the way up. I wanted to set up farther and reach in but I had to avoid a septic so I was basically set up underneath the tree.
Yeah, Butch. Split a few of the bigger ones but I was able to steer the smaller ones around the bucket on the way up. I wanted to set up farther and reach in but I had to avoid a septic so I was basically set up underneath the tree.
SoonerFan
TreeHouser
That sucks!!
edit: (The bucket getting stuck)
edit: (The bucket getting stuck)
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #30,171
Setting your truck up underneath the tree is never a good thing.
What I'm concerned about is the loss of control over your Controls!
What I'm concerned about is the loss of control over your Controls!
JoshINtrees
TreeHouser
Me too, I've never had that happen before. I think one of the little plastic lines feeds the control box with fluid which relays the control movements to the lower controls, but I'm not a mechanic so I don't really know how it works.
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #30,173
Crikey, I'll be in a bucket tomorrow. I sure hope She does what I tell Her to do. 
JoshINtrees
TreeHouser
Give her some chocolates and a rose and you'll be fine. Ha.
SkwerI
Treehouser
Danny and I spent about 6 hours today cleaning the truck and fixing a couple leaks, including one leak in the deadman control. Had to remove the bucket from the boom in order to get to it but everything is good now. We used almost a quarter gallon of Simple Green and everything came out clean except the upper fiberglass boom.
Josh's issue sounds pretty serious but it should be relatively easy to pinpoint the problem. The first thing I would do is to test the bucket from the lower controls (you're supposed to do that every day before getting in the bucket anyway) and then use the purge setting once you get the booms vertical. The purge runs the fluid through the system backwards and flushes out any trapped debris.
Josh's issue sounds pretty serious but it should be relatively easy to pinpoint the problem. The first thing I would do is to test the bucket from the lower controls (you're supposed to do that every day before getting in the bucket anyway) and then use the purge setting once you get the booms vertical. The purge runs the fluid through the system backwards and flushes out any trapped debris.
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