interesting rigging configuration

18 stoner said:
I realise this set up is hypothetical (or I hope so), but back in the real world, could we not just use a bigger rope or simply let it run?
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I think it's thread worthy. Big or small ropes at hand, sometimes there's not the room to let stuff run on odd occasions. Two lines will give you an extra margin. Must be nice to have the luxury of a bucket though....unlike being part of the tree.
 
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  • #31
RegC said:
Must be nice....being able to move around the tree like that.
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Yes it is and it takes a lot of real questionable variables out of the equation... "If I do this... will I die?" is far less an issue than on rope..
On the other hand it's easy to get spoiled and out of shape.... the silver lining is that even though I was out of shape, I could still put it on the ground.. FAST TOO!

In this scenario it made it easy to switch the rigging configuration multiple times depending on what was being lowered. I could switch to higher and lower NC without worrying about the time and energy it takes to get back out that limb..
 
On the other hand, if you had not been in a bucket it would have been short work to simply go higher and piece it out a bit.
 
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  • #33
Not in this case Stig... There was no DZ under this piece. Once it was hung on the two lines, I untied the line going out to the limb on the left and re positioned it higher on the limb, to then pendulum smaller pieces from the hung top into the DZ, one at a time, maybe 5-6 cuts... Client had a price of 4200 from the local (old.. not so much anymore) lowballer, who was going to use a 50T crane and lift over the house to the front yard... I put 2500 on the tree, and had the job 99% done in under 4 hours, brush chipped, lawn raked, logs out to the street, stacked for pick up, and check in pocket.

One of the main challenges of this tree is that the bulk of the canopy was quite a bit higher than the limb on the left, which was the only place we could lower from over a decent DZ. All that back and forth retrieving ropes and manipulating pieces down into the DZ would have been a huge hassle from the hooks..


That said, I have tremendous admiration for those that get out there and climb every day. I did it for years, but those days are gone now...
 
Looks like an easy zip line tree from the video. Pretty good wages out there I'd guess for guys bidding $4k on that tree.
 
Zip-lining came into my head there, too.



Reg, have you looked into a rental tow-behind lift for certain jobs. They can be light enough to manuever well behind a pick-up. Some jobs, it just makes sense, either due to safety, or labor savings. I rent a lift about twice a year. I take the Wraptor every day. I used a 61' Bil-Jax before, and can rent a 50' tow-behind, locally. Canopy raising a business parking lot, or condo/ apartment complex type jobs. Can be useful.
 
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  • #36
Tree was certainly tall enough for a zipline, but no benefit to it. I parked the bucket far enough away to use the DZ under that left limb.. Cut and chucked a lot of it, then lowered a lot as fast as I could get the rope back, tie and cut... Maybe its just we're not set up for ZL as we do it so rarely, but I think it would have been 3x as long for a zipline. Bucket was in the way besides, so ZL need climber...
 
I know that I'll catch a ton of flack for this. (And, yes, I'm relatively sober at the moment), but, nonetheless, I hereby state that speed lining is by far the most overrated and overused practice in this trade.

Pretty fun once in a while though... faster even... about once in a thousand.
 
SouthSoundTree- said:
Really?
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Yeah, man seriously. Whether because of the mere setup time with a haul back, or else the ridiculous hassle of pulling the stupid little deals back up on your stupid climb line every time... yeah... I insist that it's only faster in a tiny little minority of situations.
 
I almost never use a haul-back or pulley. Rather than straight down lowering, and the back and forth between ground crew and climber with straight down lowering, I'd much rather speedline it closer to the chipper, butts pointed the same way, tensioning for a whorl at a time, popping them 1,2,3,4,5,6.

Get lots of slings, and connect two slings to one biner, as possible. it goes faster that way. When they get a dozen slings, they can attach to the climb line, then you pull up when you're ready.

It can go slow as molasses, if you let it.

I can speedline stuff on my own, tensioning it myself, keeping the groundies moving on unhooking and processing.


I differentiate them as controlled speedline and uncontrolled speedline (rigging line or not rigging line). I mostly "zipline" stuff, as you're calling it, Benn.
 
Sean: If I could see you doing it with a proficient ground crew... I may well agree or even change my ways. On the other hand, most of the guys that I HAVE seen utilizing it would have been far faster with simple straight up and down rigging.

I know about the multiple limbs on one biner stuff, and all the little tricks. I even use it once in a blue moon if I'm working (I'm being dead serious here.) with over-weight groundies. I just feel like the practice is nearly always significantly slower.
 
Jed said:
I know that I'll catch a ton of flack for this. (And, yes, I'm relatively sober at the moment), but, nonetheless, I hereby state that speed lining is by far the most overrated and overused practice in this trade.

Pretty fun once in a while though... faster even... about once in a thousand.
Click to expand...
I pretty much tend to agree actually.
 
SouthSoundTree- said:
Zip-lining came into my head there, too.



Reg, have you looked into a rental tow-behind lift for certain jobs. They can be light enough to manuever well behind a pick-up. Some jobs, it just makes sense, either due to safety, or labor savings. I rent a lift about twice a year. I take the Wraptor every day. I used a 61' Bil-Jax before, and can rent a 50' tow-behind, locally. Canopy raising a business parking lot, or condo/ apartment complex type jobs. Can be useful.
Click to expand...
I agree they'd have their place on certain jobs Sean. But no I haven't haven't hired one yet.

Re: the zip line thing. On single stemmed conifers especially I'd favor it over conventional rigging most of the time. Conventional, you lower the limb down which has to be grabbed and maneuvered so it's pointing the right way, then dragged to the chipper or wherever. So branch goes from a to b to c. Having a guy down below on his own manage in this way 60 times over can be painful to watch. Then you send the line back up and so on.

With zipline It's like watching one way traffic, but you go straight from a to c in mere seconds, no b, by which time the next limb is ready. No mess in at the bottom of the tree or in between a and c. 60 limbs later a lot of time and effort has been saved. Spreading trees are not so straight forward, granted.

Haulback/conto lines have their place too, but I agree they slow things up considerably.
 
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  • #49
very much a function of tree types, size and topography... My mentor hated speed lines, and rarely used them. I love a good speed line, but still rarely use one. Mostly just for moving materials in the rare cases where the tree is inaccessible... One of my favorites it to sling a big limb up tip and but to a speed line, pretension with the skid loader then notch it on top, undercut (the back cut), stand back and have the skid loader lift the limb into the line.. As the hinge lets go the whole limb pops up! Gotta watch where you put your nose on them... Haven't done it in a couple years, but its a good time for sure.

Having watched Reg and August doing their thing I can understand how a good speedline kit is crucial in the land of big conifers.. One way traffic is a good way to put it....
 
Yeah... Reg and August have it down, for sure.

I've often lamented on the one hand and rejoiced on the other, that no two trees are the same. The lamentation is that you never get a pure scientific scenario in which to race yourself between two different methods.

The rejoicing part is for nearly the same reason.
 
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