The Official Work Pictures Thread

[Mick!]

I just look at it, and factor in…

How long will it take?
How many runs and how far with chip and wood?
How much risk of an expensive balls up?
How many machines are involved? (Loader,grinder,chipper)

The size of the tree isn’t really a factor.
I have fixed prices in my head for all of those factors, then I make the bid.

 

[lxskllr]

I've "bid" one job so far, and my answer was basically 'frig if I know. I'll do it, and you pay me what you think it's worth on completion.'. Probably good I don't own a business :^P

The people saw me at the office yesterday, and the woman was very pleased with the brushcutting. They wanted to know if I wanted some money now. I told them 'on completion'. Puts all the risk on me, but no chance of hard feelings on their part.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

What's the definition of a "pace". I have a ~3' step, so I use 17 per 50', and adjust math for different measurements.

It seems that it's his body height.
Put a mark on the tree at your head's top, step back and count how many times your mark is included in the tree. That works well enough for the moderate height and if you can step back far enough, like at least 1,5-2 time the tree's height. If you are too close of the tree, the tangent mode of the line of sight will get you badly.
I prefer the 45° angle of sight at the tree's top, and then count the number of steps (accuracy about 10%).

edit: as if I had something to teach about angles to a surveyor

 

[Steve Mack]

Pencil trick. Field-Expedient Tricks for Estimating the Height and Width of Objects - https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/estimate-heights-widths-objects-field/



Sean's math just seemed wrong to me.

 

[lxskllr]

It's getting a little far in the weeds, and maybe marginal utility to a tree guy, but you can get cheap pocket transits from China for about $20 now. Ideally, the vertical circle will have percent of slope markings. If you pull your distance to 100', you don't even have to do math. Get the difference in percentage between the bottom and top of tree, and that's the height.

example: You read -10% to the base of the tree and +40% to the top. 40+10=50, so the tree's 50' tall

They all should have degree markings, and the formula for that is distance you pull x tan of the difference in angles.

example Using the same numbers as above: You have -10° to the base of the tree and +40° to the top @ 100' distance tan(10+40)*100=119, so the tree's 119' high

 

[biggun]

I usually just half the tree by eye, then half again. It’s much easier to estimate the number of metres in a quarter of a trees height. Then times by 4.

Seems to work for me.

 

[SeanKroll]

A pace is a combo of a left step and right step.

Measuring helps me have a better idea of the time involved.

 

[Tree09]

I need to break down and invest in a transit. I have a small cross hatch self leveling laser which is fine for short distances, but i need something for longer distances. What's up on these pocket transits?

 

[lxskllr]

Pocket transit isn't for any kind of construction work, or much of anything that isn't crude. It's just a compass that has a vertical scale also. I think you might see them a lot in forestry for cruising and stuff like that. This is a good one. I used to have one, but it got misplaced somewhere...

https://www.amazon.com/Brunton-Pocket-Transit-Conventional-Compass/dp/B000FKQKQI/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=pocket+transit&qid=1627151509&sr=8-10

This is a knockoff pretty similar to one I got last year...

https://www.amazon.com/Ueasy-Lightweight-Surveyors-Foresters-Military/dp/B00P2ANUDW/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=pocket+transit&qid=1627151509&sr=8-7

There's a mount available, and they can be put on a tripod, which increases accuracy. They excel in portability. My crowning use for my old one was actually getting a sample of tree heights around a quarry for a dust study. Would have been a real hassle hiking ~75# of gear into the back country to do it. A 100' tape, compass+tripod /might/ have been 10# total.

 

[Mick!]

Does it really matter? The height of the tree I mean.

You can take down a 100ft Lombardy pop that’s a piece of piss compared to a 60 ft Douglas (in terms of material to be removed)

 

[cory]

If you don't touch the tree, it's bigger than you think.

+1.

I had this humongous tulip, landscaper wanted a price, I told him 5k and I told him to actually go touch the tree and then look up, you'll see how huge it is. He did that and agreed it was a fair price.

 

[lxskllr]

Does it really matter? The height of the tree I mean.

You can take down a 100ft Lombardy pop that’s a piece of piss compared to a 60 ft Douglas (in terms of material to be removed)

With an accurate height, and diameter estimation, you could calculate volume pretty close. Might be useful, but I'd probably just estimate it based on experience(if it was my biz). What seems more useful to me is threading a needle in a falling operation, where you can't climb a tree to take it down from the top.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

or don't want to (to spare energy or being quicker) if it fits.

 

[cory]

#mental

 

[Bermy]

Idiot almost cut himself swinging out of the back cut...then, well, just...whatever that was.

 

[Tree09]

Meth is a hell of a drug

 

[pantheraba]

DF

 

[treesmith]

Seems rather proud of his blatant idiocy. Better at acting a fool than he is at editing video, obviously...future member of the One-Legged-Methhead Club...

 

[Burnham]

Insanity on steroids.

 

[SeanKroll]

Amphetamines on a methyl molecule.

 

[Burnham]

That, too.

 

[PCTREE]

Is that what Meth does? I lost one hell of a good crew member to Meth. Never understood it I guess because I have never done it. Waste of a good dude

 

[Burnham]

Waste of hundreds of thousands of good people.

 

[treebilly]

Distance is more important to me most of the time. 3 paces is 8 feet is how I judge it for matting in. I’m using a range finder when looking at crane work now. Remember that damn trig that you would never ever have to use? I’m trying to remember it now. On those trees behind structures I can shoot the highest point and it gives me the distance and angle. Using the trunk as a 90 degree I can figure radius for the crane. I still double check a lot though. Best thing I got from this was the big boy crane job that the crane company was calling a 220’ radius, I shot and figured 150’. He said he was guessing. I’m good for 3000# at 220’. I wanna know what I’m good for at 150’ now. Wide open LZ at 100’ radius. I might blow this thing out in half the time we figured. We were 40% cheaper than the highest bid and 20% more than the lowest. Almost 30k on this removal. Still waiting on bridge permits from the county though

 

[Jed]

I’ve always been super curious about Meth, just never had the guts to do it.

How do you folks feel about Adirol, Riddlin and the others? Wouldn’t street meth just be better? Not that I’ll ever try it.

I’m with Burnham on this one.