Spurring and Chunking

[gf beranek]

For its size the bark on that fir looked pretty firm.

Boy, I've climbed a lot Douglas fir the same size as that, a few larger even, that had huge slabs / ribs of burnt, scorpion - bug infested bark that would break off the tree and stick to my spurs and leave me in a fix trying to get my points reset. All the while holding my breath from the miserable cloud of dust created from spinning my spurs in charcoal and going nowhere, and that black cloud of dust would clog my nostrils and run down my throat making me gag and choke, and turn to mud on my sweaty brow, neck and forearms. A treeman's battle that could last 10 -15 minutes to reach clear firm bark that may lie only 20 feet up the tree. Yeah, hooking, chunking and rigging in the big fir. Those were the good days, boy.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Sounds like fun, lol.

 

[cory]

Boy, I've climbed a lot Douglas fir the same size as that, a few larger even, that had huge slabs / ribs of burnt, scorpion - bug infested bark that would break off the tree and stick to my spurs and leave me in a fix trying to get my points reset. All the while holding my breath from the miserable cloud of dust created from spinning my spurs in charcoal and going nowhere, and that black cloud of dust would clog my nostrils and run down my throat making me gag and choke, and turn to mud on my sweaty brow, neck and forearms. A treeman's battle that could last 10 -15 minutes to reach clear firm bark that may lie only 20 feet up the tree. Yeah, hooking, chunking and rigging in the big fir. Those were the good days, boy.

Wow, epic post there.

 

[Burnham]

Sounds somewhat familiar, Jer . It can be nasty, spurring those old growth firs.

 

[mistahbenn]

Seconded!

 

[gf beranek]

They rank at the top of my list as some of the nastiest trees in my career..

 

[cory]

That is saying something

 

[Burnham]

Got that right.

 

[RegC]

For its size the bark on that fir looked pretty firm.

Boy, I've climbed a lot Douglas fir the same size as that, a few larger even, that had huge slabs / ribs of burnt, scorpion - bug infested bark that would break off the tree and stick to my spurs and leave me in a fix trying to get my points reset. All the while holding my breath from the miserable cloud of dust created from spinning my spurs in charcoal and going nowhere, and that black cloud of dust would clog my nostrils and run down my throat making me gag and choke, and turn to mud on my sweaty brow, neck and forearms. A treeman's battle that could last 10 -15 minutes to reach clear firm bark that may lie only 20 feet up the tree. Yeah, hooking, chunking and rigging in the big fir. Those were the good days, boy.

I made a huge mistake on a big one up island, last winter. I had to spur up a 200ft fatty, to drop down into a smaller, dead snag. I used a 20 ft length of yale imori, climb line.....as my flip line. Tree was 6ft dbh, but with the 8 inch thick crumbling bark.

I'd anticipated scrambling around the first 20-30 ft as Jerry described. You dont just walk up it like the video, in 2 and quater inch spurs. What I didn't plan on was my hands getting fatigued trying to grip that smooth, skinny line for such an extended period though. Should've had 5/8 at least.

By the time I got to 60ft/70 feet, I was in trouble. It was pouring down rain too, going dark, last tree of the day. I couldn't grip for shit by then. Although I did. First limb was at about 110. What a relief

 

[cory]

That's when tree work sucks. Was that when you were heli logging?

 

[Burnham]

I once bought a fancy rope lanyard, 10mm Beeline. It was ok for a lanyard, but I once tried it for a lightweight flipline on a job I had to pack my gear a good ways in to. What a mistake...my hands lost grip strength way before 110 feet, Reg! Never again. I gave that thing away at some point.

 

[rico11764]

You can usually tell what kind of trees a guys is working with by his flipline. Three strand 5/8” is as small as I go. Old Manilla 7/8” wirecore is sure nice on the hands and rolls like a mofo!

 

[RegC]

That was at Cathedral Grove, Cory.

Yeah, big difference between a work position lanyard, and a flipline, Burnham. I'll never make that mistake again. You can get away with a lanyard to some degree on skinny trees where you're not having to hang and pull on the line to advance. Beeline, lol, I bet you were cursing.

 

[dstimber]

Rich, I was showing off to the bystanders. A Hass would've made me look like a pussy

Lol that made my day. Awesome work as well!

 

[RegC]

You can usually tell what kind of trees a guys is working with by his flipline. Three strand 5/8? is as small as I go. Old Manilla 7/8? wirecore is sure nice on the hands and rolls like a mofo!

I got a beautiful 5/8, 20 ft, spliced, for the very task. See pic. But just not on that day. Bad planning.

 

[Burnham]

Yessir! Fine picture, Reg...first class.

Erico, from the late '70's until the early '90's 7/8 inch cable cored manila was the only flipline I knew. Single lock snaphooks. We had some short ones at 16 feet. Mostly I used a 20 footer in those days, but always had a 28 footer in the truck. The stupid long 36 footer was heavy enough to warrant a ground grunt Sherpa just to follow me around from truck to tree . Hated the days I had to pull that puppy out. It weighed as much as I did, nearly.

Those nice Sierra Moreno 5/8 inch polyester cable cores where so light in comparison....

 

[rico11764]

I came up in the late 70's and 80's, and 7/8" wire core Manilla was all I knew and never had one under 20 ft. Athough I don't really use them anymore they are still the best if you got a big stick to roll up. Shout out to Don Blair!

 

[Kenny Sanchez]

Here's some spurring and blocking down a few pieces , dying pine tree we removed the other day.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2eakPMqv6yQ" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[MasterBlaster]

Crispy critter!

 

[Kenny Sanchez]

Yep, as you can see we din't need to run the line through portawrap on that top since it was so light.