Today's Job...

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10,000 tree's, farg, I didn't realise that big a job.
It'll get easier each day as your body gets used to it (you'd hope).
Butt flair/elephants foot just means you cut higher. No biggie.
In the pine, not so much the hardwood they like the stumps lower that 150mm/6" only because other machinery has to transverse the same ground you have. Drive a forwarder over stumps this high and higher without suspension you'll know what I mean.
I didn't realise the harvester and fallers together.
That really makes it a no brainer.
To think your out in the fresh air, great scenery, doing a job like this makes it almost a crime to get paid.
Good schit.
 
Yeah this property alone is 1000 acres. All up the company owns and manages about 2500-3000 acres of mainly citrus in the region, all with Casuarina/Poplar windbreaks at around 300-400m grids with a few gaps here and there but not many. The manager on one of the properties is pretty handy with a saw so he's been knocking down the trees on that property which is about 300 acres I think.
From what I can gather the main manager wants me to do basically all the trees on the remaining properties. Another manager who did the large tree felling course I did a month or so ago has been practicing on a few trees but loves these stupid 45° backcuts despite me telling him not to do them. The main property manager has told me he needs to stop cutting trees down, get back to doing wat they're paying him to do, and let me handle all the felling! There are also a few Eucalypt woodlots of about 5 acres each with small trees that they want dropped. None of these would be over 10m tall and 12" trunks. Good wood though :)
What I did on Sunday was a test to see basically;

1) Whether I know what I'm doing (???) :)
2) How fast the trees can be felled (viability)
3) Whether I damage anything (nearly succeeded!)

I didn't have any major problems apart from breaking that 2" PVC breather which is a 2 minute fix as it snapped above ground. A joiner and PVC glue and all was good. I was a bit dark about that when it happened. It was pretty tight when I dropped it and as it was the top of the tree brushed a neighbouring Avocado tree before rolling about 6" to the right and snapping the pipe.
In one area I dropped about 150m of trees all on top of one another so the headland was still accessible. Looked pretty but I would hate to be the guys cleaning up the mess - it was nasty as you could hardly even access a trunk to get a chain on to tow them out. It was just one solid wall of trees/branches etc like a big 6m high Casuarina hedge!
When you look at the mess of trees in some spots I think I got the easy job :)
 
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I have a funny feeling that the guy and his team may be short of work and downplayed the speed at which they could drop trees to drag it out and make more money. Big call on my part but...
Made me look good though :)
I would have thought a high quote meant "we really don't want this job but if you pay enough..." I hope there's not something the other guy sees in this job that you have not accounted for.
There is probably another 10,000 trees to go on this property alone, maybe more?
:bowdown: I am in awe. Here I am making a big deal out of cutting one tree in my yard. I guess there's a pretty big gap between a pro and a noob. At a tree a minute that's a months work. For me, I could turn it into a lifetime pursuit. ;)

-walt
 
I would have thought a high quote meant "we really don't want this job but if you pay enough..." I hope there's not something the other guy sees in this job that you have not accounted for.

:bowdown: I am in awe. Here I am making a big deal out of cutting one tree in my yard. I guess there's a pretty big gap between a pro and a noob. At a tree a minute that's a months work. For me, I could turn it into a lifetime pursuit. ;)

-walt

I know what you're saying but I honestly think that the harvester guys were very confident that they were going to get the job. The manager of another AWB Landmark store (Agricultural Fertiliser/chemical etc) where I work just happened to mention to the main Farm Manager of this company that I cut down trees and have a chainsaw supply business. This guy was just about to sign on the dotted line with the harvester operator. A week later and I wouldn't have been cutting one single tree down - they'd have had the job.
I am only the 3rd person that the property manager had spoken to about felling these trees. Another guy they spoke to only has basically pruning saws and said he wouldn't be capable of doing it. After seeing his employees at the large tree felling course they would have killed themselves. They didn't have a clue.
When showing me the trees to start with I had 3 property managers and the main manager all asking questions about tree cutting as they drove me around the property. They knew nothing about chainsaws or tree felling so it was easy for me to sound smart ;)
Another thing too though, I'm no Superman tree cutter, with the wind I had on Sunday these trees really did fell themselves and any risks were minimal. Many people could do this and you do get your eye in pretty quick - I didn't take any photos of the first 20 or so trees but if I did you'd see some shocker angles. I expect to have a few errors when it's calm and I have to start wedging a few more.
Another thing of interest - I love Humbolt Scarfs and generally use them exclusively but what I found in a short time is that they were too hard on the arms at the rate I was cutting - you basically have to hold the weight of the saw to some extent on the undercut. I swapped to a traditional scarf which meant the weight of the saw did most of the cutting on the second angled cut and my arms started to burn a bit less!

Also, the windbreaks were planted in 91/92. I was wrong about their planting date being 95/96 as this was the date that most of the citrus was planted in.
 
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Just thought I'd add a few more photos. Had a few spare hours this arvo so headed back to the property to knock a few more trees over. Very little wind today so had to wedge the majority of the trees I dropped, slowing me down considerably from last Sunday.
In 140 minutes I dropped 63 trees, but also had a few tricky bigger ones this time.
Entrance into property...
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This tree was a pig. I actually strapped both trunks together with a 4 tonne ratchet strap before felling it to keep the main trunk together. It worked OK but when it landed it split and broke the ratchet with the force. Well it was a good idea at the time :) May have to get some chains...
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Flooded the 7900 too when I unknowingly bumped the off switch and kept trying to start it. Used the 5100-S for about 30 minutes while the 7900 dried out.
Will be back there again tomorrow with good winds forecast (hopefully).
 
Are you getting the balmy weather over there Matt ?
Haven't needed the fire two nights running, and it's been burning since the end of April...
Forecast is high twenties here again tomorrow, every deciduous plant is shooting/flowering, and we usually get heavy frosts well into September :dizzy:
 
Are you getting the balmy weather over there Matt ?
Haven't needed the fire two nights running, and it's been burning since the end of April...
Forecast is high twenties here again tomorrow, every deciduous plant is shooting/flowering, and we usually get heavy frosts well into September :dizzy:

Yeah its been funny weather here too Rick. We have only had about 3 frosts here this year - very unusual with no more in sight at this stage. Cereal crops started off well but haven't had any significant rain to speak of so starting to show severe water stress. A few showers today but barely enough to wet anything. Weather link below for Renmark Airport, about 6km from this property.

http://www.eldersweather.com.au/local.jsp?lt=aploc&lc=13384
 
What will they end up doing with all that wood mate?

Sadly they'll be pushing/dragging it into piles and burning it. Bit of a waste but to be honest the vast majority of it is garbage. I saw a few growth rings today just over an inch apart. They've grown too fast to be much good for anything. I saw $$$ from firewood originally but it can stay there now as far as I'm concerned.
With legal liability etc they can't just let any man or their dog on the place to cut and take it either.
Some of the piles will be well worth cracking the marshmallows out for :)
 
"With legal liability etc they can't just let any man or their dog on the place to cut and take it either"

You know I seen a government organisation down here stack pine and offer it as "cut your own". The sign was'nt up for very long at all, imagine the litigation potential?
 
Over an inch groth for one season ey? Sappy.
Oh well, you'd better be saving some of those trees for the new Dolmar mate. Good weather tomorrow I'm told.

Yeah I'm getting some severe sap build up on the chains. Very hard to get off and is actually building up between the cutters and the depth guages like a shark's fin. I've resorted to soaking the chains in Caustic Soda to get it off.
Unless the new 7900 arrives in about 2 years I think there will be plenty of trees left for it :)
Looking forward to tomorrow. I'll have the 32" bar on the Dolmar for some runs and the 3120 with 36" on hand too. I hope there is as strong of a NW wind as they've forecast. I'll need it on a few of the biggys.
 
You know I seen a government organisation down here stack pine and offer it as "cut your own". The sign was'nt up for very long at all, imagine the litigation potential?

Its even worse with the big corporates like this place. They have their own OH&S departments with guys writing new rules/guidelines every day. If they don't make up some new "danger" on a daily basis they'll be out of a job.
Some of the guidelines are absolutely stupid as far as the paperwork goes, but once you talk to the property manager with his feet on the ground he could hardly care less!
 
Some more photos from today. Got into some bigger ones today. Dropped 184 in 360 minutes having to wedge probably all but 30 trees.
Also managed to bend my 25" GB Ti Roller Nose about half an hour in - I've never bent a bar. Managed to straighten it up when I got home in the vice but still don't think it will be any good. Will run it another day but am expecting hot spots. May be a bin job as I've got another two of them on hand anyway. Ended up using a 32" GB Pro Top for the rest of the day.
Still not sure exactly how it happened but bar got stuck as the tree went over. I was holding the saw with no great concern and when the saw came free the bar tip was bent. Still has me wondering how it did it? I may have cut too far through the hinge but not sure.
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Water leaking out of the the tree centre was common...
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Had to avoid irrigation valving like this a fair bit today. Apart from my bar tip I didn't manage to wreck anything!
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The biggest tree I dropped today. Probably around the 40" mark judging by how far the 32" bar managed to get through. Had a fair bit of canopy too and came down with a fair thud. Another bifurcated trunk that split when it landed...
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A reasonable run of trees that I'll leave for now until we get a really strong Northerly. This lot seem to be leaning to the North over the orchard. Too risky to take on without strong winds...
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Dropped this run of 43 trees all on top of one another except for a few in the centre where there was an irrigation valve...
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One thing I did manage to do was cop a wedge in the chin. I bought these lame arsed single taper wedges that are a really hard plastic and tend to take off like bullets if struck off centre. Luckily it hit me on the flat and hit hard. Even still it opened up a good cut and is already bruising up nicely. Chin swollen up pretty good too. If it had hit on a sharp edge I would have needed stitches for sure. I knew something like this was going to happen with these wedges so have gone back to using some older double taper wedges that have seen better days but are a softer plastic and drive in a LOT better. The single taper wedges I've got are good if double stacking though...
 
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And this set me up nicely in the morning.
Not often I get to go past Maccas when working so always make the most of it. I'm not a big fan of their main menu but love their breakfast menu. They do make a good cappucino...
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I'm actually a bit of a coffeeholic but don't mind Macca's coffee :)
There aren't too many local places that make as good of a cappucino as Maccas. Get to the city though and I know what you fella's mean.
But hey, it was early, tasted good, was large, and I was still half asleep ;) The local McDonalds is pretty good compared to other ones I've been to though.
As far as the bar goes it looks OK and .050" guage chain runs through a treat but there is a very slight twist on one side of the nose. May be OK but am expecting some heat. Quite a weak bar actually just behind the roller. Didn't take much effort to manually bend it back into place.
 
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I'm actually a bit of a coffeeholic but don't mind Macca's coffee :)
[snip]

Really does depend on who makes it, if they've really got the grind right for the day, they go by feel on the milk jug rather than try and watch those stupid little thermometers when doing the crema, etc.
That's almost more important than the beans and roast.

I loved one comment from an Oz roaster when Starbucks made their hasty retreat from Oz.
Apart from saying they had totally mis-read the market as Australia is a far more discriminating and sophisticated coffee market than the US he said "good beans roasted badly" :laugh:

I have to admit I've had a couple of good Macca's McCaffé Flat whites, and I've also sent quite a few back :monkey: but I'm not sure I'd ever be game to order a Macchiato.






Ooops, there I go again, totally OT :greenchainsaw:
 
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