Tree felling vids

Tough to explain just like that.
It is from Don Blair's "Arborist equipment"
Can someone please scan the relevant page and post it.
I have lent my copy of the book to someone and can't for the life of me not remember whom!
 
Big Eucs, nasty hardman, put it down on the ground, maybe live hard. Eucs grow fast and die young.

Oaks are serene, long standing, chill, patient and strong.

Euc man/ Oak man go along the same lines.

Worse than that, Eucmen were actually depicted in vids at tree seminars, as hungover drunkards, pulling up to the customer's house, stumbling from their trucks as empty beer cans clattered out with them.

All done tongue and cheek of course!

Dummies falling onto chipper truck's windshield, onto and through the chipper.

Blair's a great tree ambassador with a good sense of somewhat ghoulish humor, like many treemen past and present.

Blair played his Oak Man persona with me as the Euc man at seminars a few times. Calling me Dirty Harry cuz of my ever present boot scabbard/saw while speaking, driving, at the 711, whatever.

Dude I learned bout speed linin from in fact!

Still wear my Sierra Moreno Euc Man saddle at times. 25 years old!

Jomo
 
Ayuh,
new members is great! :thumbup::D
More experience to "draw" from, and experiences to hear about, exciting times at the 'House..... :thumbupold:
 
When my mind gets confused about who is the best at something, I simply watch videos of Dick Butkus, former linebacker for the Chicago Bears.
 

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Reg, please call me Chris. Me quoting who I think is faster or much efficient, is based on videos obviously. That's all I have to go on, because of course, we've never worked together. A question was asked if there might be even better climbers out there then you? Now we all know you are talented as all hell, but that opinion for most of us comes from videos. I answered a question that was proposed. My answer, whether its fair or not, was based on 5 minute video clips of yours, against full days/weeks/months spent on the job with other men. Im straight up with people. Friends, family, customers, friends on the forums. Not everyone likes my forwardness, but those that do, usually enjoy the fact that Im just being honest and not lying about how I really feel or think. Its not to hurt anyone or cut them down. You'll find if you stick around here, that I often correct myself or go back and clarify something if I think I might have unintentionally made someone feel lousy.

My intent isn't to knock you. I don't even know you. I made a comparison to answer a question, based on the info I have available. I stand by my decision. Maybe one day we will cross paths and I could watch you work, and maybe on that day I'll say "This guy is the best Ive seen". Maybe on that day I'll say "Hell of a climber, but Ive seen one or two better"...... Either way it will never matter, because Im just another tree rat. Im not your judge. Im a normal joe shmoe being asked his opinion.

The showboating end of my statement had nothing to do with you whatsoever. Let me clear the air on that. I've got a handful of climbers in mind, some of which Im sure you know of, that spend more time videoing themselves then they do putting wood on the ground. The work they show is average, and often haphazard. Guys with a camera stuck to their side that are pushing themselves on people like they've re-invented the wheel. As far as I can see, they're just fishing for "atta boy, your such a badass, you are so great". Ive seen your videos and quite honeslty have gone so far as to share a few of them on my facebook wall. I think they're fantastic. The doubled blocks and bollards set up to butt hitch that beechwood made my hair stand up. So, point is, I answered a question about if I believe that betters climbers might exist. Im honest and straight up. As I elaborated on why I feel the way I do, I took a swing at a few wannabe heroes that are fishing for compliments on youtube/the internet. That part had nothing to do with you.

You might choose to dislike me, and I cant change that. Or you might appreciate my candid words and find that I just try and be a straight forward guy. Im not always right, but Im always pretty straight forward when asked what I think. Either way, nice meeting you, and keep the videos coming, I enjoy them.

Got it. No worries, and thanks for the reply.

Staying on topic Chris, I think there’s a lot to be said for being a good all-rounder....or trying to be. There’s lots of fast toppers here on Vancouver Island, but put them in a spreading hardwood and many will come up way short, scared even. Good focus and ability to perform under stressful circumstances is also imperative.

Utilizing the circumstances of the job i.e. manpower, skill-sets and equipment at hand is often difficult to potray in videos, in fact I doubt it gets considered at all during the editing and condensing the best parts.

I used to get asked often ‘did you really need to rig that’ etc....and this is often a popular misconception about rigging, in that its assumed to be purely a means of minimum impact, when in fact often it a case of just wanting to put bigger pieces down and less climbing and sawing in the tree....assuming there’s the man power to deal with it more efficiently on the ground. Usually there is. I think in those types of jobs it becomes a combined effort, where every ones working equally hard without any redundancies....as opposed to one superfast climber wrecking tree after tree with no real thought about how that effects the efficiency of the clean up.

Admittedly, here in and around the Victoria area its often a case of the latter, as its not so bad too untangle a mass of conifer limbs and straight timber. You’re always looking to blow out a big top at the first opportunity. But there’s times too when rigging makes sense....zip-lining for example is often a super fast way of moving big or small limbs out and away from the tree into a safer work area for chipping.

Here’s some snippets from a job we did just after the xmas break, totally underbid and undermanned to deal with the mass of material which came out of the tree’s. In that sense a high pressure job right until the end.... where your best asset is experience and cool heads, more than the actual physical effort needed. The log at the end was actually about 65 feet and only one spot it could land to the side of the house in between the other fallen timber. Hard to tell, perhaps only the time it takes to land being an indicator. Only Myself and the other guy there, Scott, will ever truly appreciate the build-up, the risk and degree of accuracy needed to hit that spot. Shame the whole thing went completely over the home owners head....in that all he could do thereafter was complain about how he didn’t realize how much wood he was going to be left with, blah, blah. And its the same thing every week here....always chasing it. I’m sure most guys here know exact feelings and drama of what Im trying to describe from their own personal experiences. Point being, the videos only tell part of the story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RptmK0R4mg&feature=youtu.be


I actually much prefer looking at good photos than videos, probably because I’ve endured so many of my own. Crane work is the worst....its so tedious to watch at times.

Edit bit of confusion with the video link there. Still learning how things work here
 
Should be this one
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/_RptmK0R4mg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
I must not be doing it long enough to no longer enjoy watching crane work. A nice touch and in good combination with the person in the tree is sublime. I don't much enjoy watching speeded up vids of crane work, that seems quite tedious.
 
Great vid, Reg. Welcome.

You say the job was underbid, I'm curious if you get paid hourly regardless or did you bid on the job yourself.
 
Great vid, Reg. Welcome.

You say the job was underbid, I'm curious if you get paid hourly regardless or if you bid on the job yourself.

I get paid by the day Cory....I dont bid the jobs but sometimes get asked to take a look. I didn't get to see this one beforehand. The homowner was a shark, big fat italian guy. When the company loses money or just scrapes through its hard not to feel bad, regardless of my cut.

And thanks again
 
I must not be doing it long enough to no longer enjoy watching crane work. A nice touch and in good combination with the person in the tree is sublime. I don't much enjoy watching speeded up vids of crane work, that seems quite tedious.

Yeah crane work can be good fun to partake but I personally find it hard to watch on video for more than a few minutes.

I got a ton of them on youtube but I wont make you suffer them here. They're easy enough to find if you're interested
 
Gotcha. Was it one of those that when you got there and looked at the job in relation to the bid you thought things might be fine here but as things went on you saw it was bid too tight?

A lot of jobs work the reverse of that, fortunately; as you are working the job for say, 1/2 to even 3/4 if the day, you are thinking the bid price looks grim because the tree is coming down slowly due to its excessively technical nature in relation to the price. But sure enough, as the end of the job rolls around and the groundwork you lay throughout the day for the finish of the job finally starts to show thru, you realize that, hey hey, your ass is not grass after all, at least on today's job;)
 
Gotcha. Was it one of those that when you got there and looked at the job in relation to the bid you thought things might be fine here but as things went on you saw it was bid too tight?

A lot of jobs work the reverse of that, fortunately; as you are working the job for say, 1/2 to even 3/4 if the day, you are thinking the bid price looks grim because the tree is coming down slowly due to its excessively technical nature in relation to the price. But sure enough, as the end of the job rolls around and the groundwork you lay throughout the day for the finish of the job finally starts to show thru, you realize that, hey hey, your ass is not grass after all, at least on today's job;)

No, I was warned a couple days before to charge up the head torch.
 
Sometimes I'll try and explain to the self loading log truck guy I use how tight a fall was when he shows up to grab a log. He always just looks at me with a blank stare.
 
Katy kinda gave me that stare tonight when I told her I would line her up on some grey pines that needed felled at a clients place next week.
I reassured her that I would work on her cuts with her and only give her the tree with the favour to lay first... :/:
 
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