Crazy? Stick Jockey

[Slvrmple72]

While I was mending I got to sit around a lot but would go be nosy when I heard the siren call of a throaty 2 stroke. So I showed up to watch the takedown of a 35'/40' White Ash at the corner of a house over the power drops for it and the neighbors place. The crew of three had a nondescript all white rental ( Merck I think ) chipdump with the 55' Altec HiRanger and a big old hydraulic twin roller Morbark that loved to eat big branches. What struck me as interesting was the use of the portawrap at the base of the tree running the rope up to and over the boom connecting point to the bucket at which point the guy in the bucket would tie of a bite and drop it onto the rope. He wasn't taking crane sized chunks mind you but branches big enough that it took the two groundies to manhandle to the chipper. The method seemed helpful when it came time to lower the pieces because he could position the boom with the branch on the line to keep it out of the wires when they lowered them. When he got to the larger sections he would cut a big piece cradling it on the top of the bucket and his shoulders till he got to a safe dropzone. He rigged the main trunk sections down off of themselves. I didn't see anything connecting him or the chainsaw to the bucket. Helmet, no eye/ear protection for him and one groundie but the other one had a baseball cap on. The tree was a nice 4 lead climber with a good central tie in point up high, two low leads: one out over the corner of the house but towards the space between the two houses over the driveway and another outback over the two power drops. The other two leads went straight up for the most part. Looked like they were using climbing line to lower on too. I basically stood around and got to shoot the sh@* with the 5 guys who all showed up wanting the firewood like buzzards over a dead bloated corpse. Only one of the five knew it was an Ash tree.When it was all said and done I think they only loaded the trunk into the chipper. Eavesdropping gave me the impression the homeowner was not going to pay unless ALL of the wood was gone "today". That bucket truck looked like fun! The stick jockey seemed pretty smooth but took some liberties with the slack in the one house drop when he got down towards the main trunk. Groundie hollared at him, he bit back, and didn't get off the line till he was done cutting. I was told 1k for the job but I don't know if that included a tree that was missing in the front yard. Gosh, I love people watching it is very educational. I always learn so much!

 

[asthesun]

While I was mending I got to sit around a lot but would go be nosy when I heard the siren call of a throaty 2 stroke. So I showed up to watch the takedown of a 35'/40' White Ash at the corner of a house over the power drops for it and the neighbors place. The crew of three had a nondescript all white rental ( Merck I think ) chipdump with the 55' Altec HiRanger and a big old hydraulic twin roller Morbark that loved to eat big branches. What struck me as interesting was the use of the portawrap at the base of the tree running the rope up to and over the boom connecting point to the bucket at which point the guy in the bucket would tie of a bite and drop it onto the rope. He wasn't taking crane sized chunks mind you but branches big enough that it took the two groundies to manhandle to the chipper. The method seemed helpful when it came time to lower the pieces because he could position the boom with the branch on the line to keep it out of the wires when they lowered them. When he got to the larger sections he would cut a big piece cradling it on the top of the bucket and his shoulders till he got to a safe dropzone. He rigged the main trunk sections down off of themselves. I didn't see anything connecting him or the chainsaw to the bucket. Helmet, no eye/ear protection for him and one groundie but the other one had a baseball cap on. The tree was a nice 4 lead climber with a good central tie in point up high, two low leads: one out over the corner of the house but towards the space between the two houses over the driveway and another outback over the two power drops. The other two leads went straight up for the most part. Looked like they were using climbing line to lower on too. I basically stood around and got to shoot the sh@* with the 5 guys who all showed up wanting the firewood like buzzards over a dead bloated corpse. Only one of the five knew it was an Ash tree.When it was all said and done I think they only loaded the trunk into the chipper. Eavesdropping gave me the impression the homeowner was not going to pay unless ALL of the wood was gone "today". That bucket truck looked like fun! The stick jockey seemed pretty smooth but took some liberties with the slack in the one house drop when he got down towards the main trunk. Groundie hollared at him, he bit back, and didn't get off the line till he was done cutting. I was told 1k for the job but I don't know if that included a tree that was missing in the front yard. Gosh, I love people watching it is very educational. I always learn so much!

sounds like my crew. cept no chipper