Maybe I'm wrong (very likely), but although the treemek is the coolest thing since the birth control pill, does it really put out so much more than a dude in a cheap lift? I guess my question is will they outperform a couple lifts and extra guys that you could buy for the same price? I agree that they are the future, but I'm not sure the price justifies their production, because you could get a lift and a crane both for less coin than one atm (or am i wrong)? I get the advantage of a single guy crushing trees left and right, no relying on other guys e.t.c, but are they able to accomplish the next order of magnitude production? Mike Poor, Paul Cox, Jamin Meyer, and of course our @August Hunicke all absolutely kill it with a crane, slings, chainsaw, and professional at the helm, I'm just wondering if the specialized higher priced crane and feller head really bumps production that much. We did have an outfit roll through here last year for a road widening job that completely crushed it, but i think they were running a long reach excavator or similar machine with a feller head, walked it down the street, and laid probably close to 100 trees, some up to around 100 foot tall or more, in sections alongside the road like you would put out your xmas tree. Unreal production for a single day or two.
The Official Work Pictures Thread
- Thread starter MasterBlaster
- Start date
- Replies 36K
- Views 2M
SeanKroll
Treehouser
Jamin Meyer in CO?
SeanKroll
Treehouser
Meyer Tree something-or-other in MA or somewhere back east.
Jamin is a guy's first name in Longmont, maybe. Front range CO, IIRC.
Jamin is a guy's first name in Longmont, maybe. Front range CO, IIRC.
SeanKroll
Treehouser
Yep
treebilly
Student of the Jedi. OH-7106A
They’re efficient in the right hands. With the right work load they can pay themselves off in very little time. It’s hard to compare the actual cost of them to a stick crane and lift production wise for me. I don’t know the cost of a new 30 ton. I know the lifts come in between 100 and 200k. Depending on what you get. A new rear mount elevator is 160k.
Anyhow, that long reach feller buncher thing, was it a senneboggan? There is one working on an ODOT project a few miles from me. It is pretty sweet. One man can really get a lot done in a day. There is another company working just north of them with a track hoe ( rotating grapple) , a feller buncher, and monster chipper. They are not getting quite the lineal footage a day but everything is done in the section. No one has to come back and chip. I’m pretty sure the company with the senneboggan will be sending one man back with a self loading monster chipper and chip two days of cutting in a day. They will have less man hours and less equipment. Total cost for equipment new would probably be close to the same.
Anyhow, that long reach feller buncher thing, was it a senneboggan? There is one working on an ODOT project a few miles from me. It is pretty sweet. One man can really get a lot done in a day. There is another company working just north of them with a track hoe ( rotating grapple) , a feller buncher, and monster chipper. They are not getting quite the lineal footage a day but everything is done in the section. No one has to come back and chip. I’m pretty sure the company with the senneboggan will be sending one man back with a self loading monster chipper and chip two days of cutting in a day. They will have less man hours and less equipment. Total cost for equipment new would probably be close to the same.
Yeh it's Dan Mayer of Mayer Tree in MA that referred to the riduculous productivity/money making ability of stick cranes.
Re 09's question, I was wondering the same thing and then I read a very balanced article by Steve Connally in this months Tree Care Industry magazine all about the pros and cons of kbooms (he owns one) . My takeaway is that stick cranes are indeed more productive and faster but in the right situations, particularly regarding efforts to reduce manpower OTJ) kbooms have their place.
Re 09's question, I was wondering the same thing and then I read a very balanced article by Steve Connally in this months Tree Care Industry magazine all about the pros and cons of kbooms (he owns one) . My takeaway is that stick cranes are indeed more productive and faster but in the right situations, particularly regarding efforts to reduce manpower OTJ) kbooms have their place.
No idea what it actually was, i never got to see it. My buddy has property on that street, and said they closed the road for a day and the next day everything was down and stacked. When i finally saw it it was just the stacked material, which i assumed they trucked out of there and ground it.
treebilly
Student of the Jedi. OH-7106A
Steve is the only mek owner as of right now that does not have a tree service. He is subcontractor. He definetly has had a lot of struggles along the way
We dropped 2 oaks at a kindergarden today.
The worst one could have been felled with a spoon.
We'd been called in because the Forest district that owned the trees feared public outcry when they were felled, so they wanted a certified arborist to write a piece of paper, condemning the trees.
We had a bit of outcry, 2 ladies yelled at me kind of loudly.
So I tore a chunk out of the most rotten one, crumbled it in my hand and asked them if they would have wanted their kids to play under that.
End of protest.
As usual, we had a forwarder on hand for the clean-up.
Also had a tag line in the last tree, tied to the forwarder, since I didn't trust the hinge.
Turned out not to be necessary, but sure made me feel better.
The worst one could have been felled with a spoon.
We'd been called in because the Forest district that owned the trees feared public outcry when they were felled, so they wanted a certified arborist to write a piece of paper, condemning the trees.
We had a bit of outcry, 2 ladies yelled at me kind of loudly.
So I tore a chunk out of the most rotten one, crumbled it in my hand and asked them if they would have wanted their kids to play under that.
End of protest.
As usual, we had a forwarder on hand for the clean-up.
Also had a tag line in the last tree, tied to the forwarder, since I didn't trust the hinge.
Turned out not to be necessary, but sure made me feel better.
Mick!
TreeHouser
Forwarder won’t rake that lot up though!
Mick!
TreeHouser
You’re too high falutin these days.
pantheraba
More biners!!!
Damn furners have an answer for everything!
flushcut
TreeHouser
Messes like that I'll use a BMG rake or use a log as a dozer blade to push it up.
Bodean
Cali dreamer
We'd use a log with the loader... they use a mattress at the dump.
Looks like a big puddle of decay.
Looks like a big puddle of decay.
Jed
TreeHouser
Awsome pics Stig, thanks.
I hardly know where to post this. I promised Ixkllr I would. So in my inbred opinion, the Krauts engineer many, many things, very, very well. Hardhats are not one of them. I wear an aluminum helmet because I'm a PNW old fart. It costs $65.00 from Madsen's, but all the poopstain kids at my work make fun of me, because you can't have the surround-sound experience that you can get if you drop $350.00 on a Kraut Pfanner Protos. We run, on average, between 12 and 15 men. There is one other old fart who only has a Petzl... but, other than him... almost every single on of them kids runs a Pfanner Protos. I have to sit there and listen to them complain about money problems (that to be honest, are really quite legitimate) while I look at this chintzy, plastic, culturally necessary $350.00 crown on his very young head.
The following images (which WERE greatly exaggerated by the poopstains that initially told me the story.) Please understand that the crack that occurred in the plastic shell that allowed a 2" diameter, dry, deadwood Maple branch to pierce Warric's scalp, fell from approx. 40' out of a tiny little, back-leaning acer macrophylum stem that two little, poopstain kids could push over by hand. The doctor at the hospital put a staple in the skin to re-cover his cranium.
I hardly know where to post this. I promised Ixkllr I would. So in my inbred opinion, the Krauts engineer many, many things, very, very well. Hardhats are not one of them. I wear an aluminum helmet because I'm a PNW old fart. It costs $65.00 from Madsen's, but all the poopstain kids at my work make fun of me, because you can't have the surround-sound experience that you can get if you drop $350.00 on a Kraut Pfanner Protos. We run, on average, between 12 and 15 men. There is one other old fart who only has a Petzl... but, other than him... almost every single on of them kids runs a Pfanner Protos. I have to sit there and listen to them complain about money problems (that to be honest, are really quite legitimate) while I look at this chintzy, plastic, culturally necessary $350.00 crown on his very young head.
The following images (which WERE greatly exaggerated by the poopstains that initially told me the story.) Please understand that the crack that occurred in the plastic shell that allowed a 2" diameter, dry, deadwood Maple branch to pierce Warric's scalp, fell from approx. 40' out of a tiny little, back-leaning acer macrophylum stem that two little, poopstain kids could push over by hand. The doctor at the hospital put a staple in the skin to re-cover his cranium.
flushcut
TreeHouser
Imagine what that would have done without a helmet! 
Bodean
Cali dreamer
Helmets and chin straps are a good idea.
My buddy Steve missed getting speared by a euc deadwood to the head.... got it in his thigh instead.
My buddy Steve missed getting speared by a euc deadwood to the head.... got it in his thigh instead.
Jed
TreeHouser
I gotta chinstrap on my aluminum, for Eastside. I feel like a Canadian Mountie.
Bodean
Cali dreamer
Most times being the climber is the safest spot.
