EXTREME precision falling

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murphy4trees

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EXTREME precision in tree falling.mov - YouTube

first 18 seconds show a slow motion tree falling... target was a 4' round of wood, distance over 50' from the hinge to the center of the target. Round was split perfectly in half. Second fall is a backleaning maple spar, with a tight LZ between a driveway and a house. third tree was a little back leaning corkscrew willow. These cuts were made in the course of two days.
 
I wanna see treeslayer rock some #### out, wheres the vids?
 
That 2nd tree was really impressive with how tight that area was to drop it, even with a rope to guide it.

I could easily see that becoming very, very expensive for someone who only thought they knew what they were doing.
 
Nice video and good gutting, Murph. I used your method to cut trees hung up in other trees recently in a jackstrawed Ponderosa Pine patch. Much better than the old way I was using. The hinge piece that splits off the top gives the faller more time to react and escape. I've played with some modifications in order to make the top strip more predictable. Still tweaking it. Thanks for the tips.

-Brent
 
Nice controlled work Murph, glad to see you didn't get slammed on this one. Since you use a skidsteer on every job to pull everthing from saplings to monsters, and the pressures exerted on your rigging lines by that machine are truly unknown-yes even by you...be honest now. Have you ever considered using a tension load cell to gather some useful data for all of use, that might be valuable for cycles to failure or mbs vs. actual load applied.
Looking forward to your reply.........
 
Nice controlled work Murph, glad to see you didn't get slammed on this one. Since you use a skidsteer on every job to pull everthing from saplings to monsters, and the pressures exerted on your rigging lines by that machine are truly unknown-yes even by you...be honest now. Have you ever considered using a tension load cell to gather some useful data for all of use, that might be valuable for cycles to failure or mbs vs. actual load applied.
Looking forward to your reply.........

I've been wanting to get a 30,000 lb dyno for some time, to measure rigging and pulling forces.. If you know how to use a plunge cut to set up the hinge, then it doesn't matter what pulling power is used.. it takes what it takes to move the tree... "it is what it is" as they say... I won't even engage in a debate with anyone that criticizes the use of pulling with equipment in ALL scenarios..
 
The one lead looked like it smacked the driveway pretty hard. Why not shorten it up? Then who cares if it lands on a block of wood.

That wasn't the driveway.. it was a road, and there was a concrete curb under those leaves.. if I didn't hit the round, I was buying a new curb... I did it to open the mind of another highly experienced arb on his first week with my crew.. I could have easily had the tree shortened up or brought in plenty of padding logs to protect the curb, from another job less than half mile away... BUT I wanted to show this man that I had BOTH the skill to hit the mark, and the confidence to do so when there is risk. It worked!

I would have never dropped a tree so hard onto a driveway... roads can take a beating.. driveways are trouble like that!
 
I've been wanting to get a 30,000 lb dyno for some time, to measure rigging and pulling forces.. If you know how to use a plunge cut to set up the hinge, then it doesn't matter what pulling power is used.. it takes what it takes to move the tree... "it is what it is" as they say... I won't even engage in a debate with anyone that criticizes the use of pulling with equipment in ALL scenarios..

I really like using my tractor these days for pulling. I can drive anywhere with no lawn damage and it pulls like a beast.

It's pretty easy to load test the rope and anchor poing before putting the whole operation into motion, failure really isn't an option if you do this first.
 
You have to be careful not to pull early.. that is trust your driver / operator.. if he pulls early it can break the top out, or baberchair the tree, etc.. I know one guy that told me about the entire top of a large mulberry crushing him when the boss pulled too early with the skid steer.. so you gotta know what you are doing and coordinate well.. I'd never go back at this point..
 
You have to be careful not to pull early.. that is trust your driver / operator.. if he pulls early it can break the top out, or baberchair the tree, etc.. I know one guy that told me about the entire top of a large mulberry crushing him when the boss pulled too early with the skid steer.. so you gotta know what you are doing and coordinate well.. I'd never go back at this point..

Helps to have sharp, powerful, saw that is up to the task in case somebody over stresses the hinge and you need to play catch up a little. Bottom line, I always tell the puller not to move unless I direct him too, unless for some freak reason the hinge would break, in which case pull like heck.

The cutter needs to coordinate and direct the whole operation.
 
I really like using my tractor these days for pulling. I can drive anywhere with no lawn damage and it pulls like a beast.

It's pretty easy to load test the rope and anchor poing before putting the whole operation into motion, failure really isn't an option if you do this first.

You get the winch for it yet Nails??

Nice job murph... I gotta admit, you're a better treeman than I have given you credit for in the past. lol.
 
That wasn't the driveway.. it was a road, and there was a concrete curb under those leaves.. if I didn't hit the round, I was buying a new curb... I did it to open the mind of another highly experienced arb on his first week with my crew.. I could have easily had the tree shortened up or brought in plenty of padding logs to protect the curb, from another job less than half mile away... BUT I wanted to show this man that I had BOTH the skill to hit the mark, and the confidence to do so when there is risk. It worked!

I would have never dropped a tree so hard onto a driveway... roads can take a beating.. driveways are trouble like that!

I am guessing Dave is never comming back.
 
Nice job murph... I gotta admit, you're a better treeman than I have given you credit for in the past. lol.

That almsot sounds like an apology.. Glad to have converted another of my most vocal critics.. Only one question..... WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG! My guess is most of the other stuff was just over your head... HAHA!
 
That almsot sounds like an apology.. Glad to have converted another of my most vocal critics.. Only one question..... WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG! My guess is most of the other stuff was just over your head... HAHA!

I wouldn't go getting too carried away with yourself there murph, I just admitted that there is some talent involved, that's all... I also heard ya bought a 75 footer, that's a pretty big move...
 
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