crane and i doing our thing

[oldirty]

and yes i fill up my own saw!!! lol

i can take no credit for this filmwork. it is all the effort of the crane operator. he gets the credit. its a nice little camera set up on a tripod shooting at 2 second intervals and he goes home and does the editing. sometimes the tripod is set up on a truck, in the neighbors yard, or in the bucket. where ever the clearest view is. by the sound of it there maybe a helmet cam coming into the picture soon too. i hope at least.

ask some questions if you want i might be able to help with an answer. thanks for the welcome back and for the video compliments. now you boys see why i love to get after it. my gig is a goood time for sure.

and no treeclimber i am not a God, not by a long shot. but i do gotta ask how many climber can offer a 4 minute average for cycle times. lol.

 

[treemandan]

Think about how many jobs they can do with their crane, and their style of removal. Insane. The crane is spendy, but it's so damn fast. Your right, low bid wins, they don't spend much time on site!

That is how its done, hit and run.

 

[treemandan]

viva la Oldirty! and his crew of course.

 

[oldirty]

Hang in there Justin. It does get tough sometimes.

Sorry to hear about your friend pard I have had many fall by the wayside over the years but hurts everytime.

thanks fellas. ozark i got your pm, thanks.

 

[tree md]

Hey Justin, sorry to hear about your friend bud. Hang in there.

For the record, I am the only one allowed to gas my climbing saw. It cuts down on the meltdown factor and high blood pressure I experience when I get a pant leg full of bar oil cause the GM can't get the dam flippy cap screwed on right!!! Dam flippy caps!!!

 

[Nailsbeats]

sorry for the lack of response so soon fellas. been a tough weekend for oldirty. lost a good friend this past week and was busy with all the sadness that goes along with it. tough times that are causing me to re-evaluate alot of things in my life. what i've learned from this is that life is so very precious, so make the most of it. and if you are hurting inside ask for some help or talk to someone. inside your own head is never the safest place when you are in a bad spot.

Good to have you back friend! Impressive videos, though not as impressive as taking the time to re-evaluate.

 

[treeclimber101]

and yes i fill up my own saw!!! lol

i can take no credit for this filmwork. it is all the effort of the crane operator. he gets the credit. its a nice little camera set up on a tripod shooting at 2 second intervals and he goes home and does the editing. sometimes the tripod is set up on a truck, in the neighbors yard, or in the bucket. where ever the clearest view is. by the sound of it there maybe a helmet cam coming into the picture soon too. i hope at least.

ask some questions if you want i might be able to help with an answer. thanks for the welcome back and for the video compliments. now you boys see why i love to get after it. my gig is a goood time for sure.

and no treeclimber i am not a God, not by a long shot. but i do gotta ask how many climber can offer a 4 minute average for cycle times. lol.

I hope that things are better for ya personally or at least getting better sorry for your loss , and as for the 4 minute turns well........ That is THE WAY IT SHOULD BE , lol so stay safe .

 

[Adkpk]

Sorry for your loss. You yourself said once, don't bring your personal problems to work. (Might be hard in this case). Stay safe, looks like hairy work, dude.

 

[outofmytree]

I have booked my first climber + crane job for 3 weeks hence. Very simple job with hardtop right up to the base of the tree and 270 degress of drop zone. Done a few crane jobs before but always from a bucket because over here, regardless of your experience, rigging to a crane requires a dogmans ticket. So I am taking the 5 day course where some fat union ******* will show me how to girth hitch a sling and explain how important lifting at the CoG is and of course to work within the limits of your equipment......

Had a good chat with the crane company and asked for a seasoned op to balance out my crane newbiness. Have booked the crane for 4 hours for a 90 minute job so I can make wee baby picks and practise picking the CoG.

You guys ever leave the 440/660 on a line on the main trunk, walk out, set slings, walk in and cut?

Any tips you have for this sort of job would be most welcome. I have climbed and dismantled many Corymbia calophylla in the past just never with a crane before.

 

[oldirty]

i'd leave the saw on my hip but that is personal choice. i like having the weight there when i am limb walking. i don't think i have ever tied a saw to the tree before.....

as far as your saddle goes, a light saddle is a fast saddle. take all the crap that you wont need off because it'll just be in the way. no extra biners or any of the other stuff on it. remember you are doing a crane assisted TD not a prune or a manual TD so anything else is just in the way. i'd even leave the handsaw in the truck too but this is your first rodeo maybe you want it to clear a spot or something.....but keep in mind you are going to be coming in top down so the handsaw hanging is just something else to get caught up.

 

[tree md]

Yup, what OD said. Your not going to need any loop runners, biners or anything like that.

I have tied a saw to a line when having to spend time making multiple cuts with the big saw in a tree with multiple leaders. If I'm just working the spar and maybe a couple limb logs I'll just tie it to my hip. That's on manual removals. I never tie the saw off on a crane job.

The old guy who taught me how to do aerial lifts was adamant about not having the saw tied to your person. Probably because he was old school and never heard of a breakaway lanyard. He had loops and rings on his big saws to snap to your saw snap on the saddle. Now days I do tie my saw to my belt but I have a breakaway lanyard. I put a saw lanyard with a leash clip on the rear handle of the saw.

As for the hand saw. I never leave the ground without mine. I don't know what the regulations are down under but if you can't ride the ball you are still going to have to climb into position. The crane service that I rent the big crane from around here will not let me ride the ball so I have to climb every leader of every tree. I've argued ANSI standards with the owner and he ain't hearing it. You use his cranes you climb. So the handsaw is still necessary.

 

[oldirty]

what about your rope you ask?

well a rope bag is the bomb for coming down from the choke point but a pain in the stick to pack IN the tree but the whole joy of not having to deal with a tangled mess below you is almost worth the hassle of figuring a way that is best for you to pack it. do it the easy way too, just clip your biner with the pulley dead center on you saddle ( larry another reason i love my saddle!!!) and feed into the wide open rope bag. on the ground i stand over the rope bag and bend over so i can hand over hand feed into bag. just loosen the knot a bit and let the pulley do its thing. bang packed bag in moments no hassle. in the tree though you might have to figure something out on your own.

on smaller capacity crane i would just go with a short rope anyway that way you dont have to deal with excess line entanglement. the last company i worked at i was using like a 60ft line because the crane wasnt that big so i didnt need to worry about having to travel too far from the ball. (that was before i started rope bag'n on the crane too)

you got a picture of this tree and what kind of lift capacity does the crane have?

 

[oldirty]

The crane service that I rent the big crane from around here will not let me ride the ball so I have to climb every leader of every tree. I've argued ANSI standards with the owner and he ain't hearing it. You use his cranes you climb. So the handsaw is still necessary.

that suuuuuucks.

 

[tree md]

Yeah Justin, that saddle is the bomb for large removals. I have yet to do a crane job with it but have done many large removals, spending long hours in the tree. Love that ventral tie in. You were right, that thing is like a secret weapon. I finally got it dialed in and did what you suggested and taped it to keep the cinch straps from moving. That thing is like a Cadillac for long hours in the tree when you are spending a lot of time suspended/tied in.

Just curious on what you were saying about your rope bag, are you saying you carry it in the tree with you?

 

[oldirty]

are you saying you carry it in the tree with you?

i don't leave the ground without it.

i got 200ft of rope in the thing. you wanna carry that around or try to throw it out of the way while moving in the tree? no thanks! lol

even on the manuals i wear it (if its a big tree otherwise i go with a shorter rope) until i find my sweet spot in the tree then i'll toss it down.

 

[tree md]

Gotcha. Makes sense.

I climb on a 150' rope and usually just reroute it when I need to. To tell the truth, I'm thinking that I'm going to go to a 120' rope the next time I buy one. These trees here are nowhere near as tall as the trees on the East coast. Kind of scrubby around here.

 

[oldirty]

i have a 150ft rope that i have used twice since i bought it however long ago.

120ft that was used a fair amount when i wasnt craning so much but i really like a shorter rope 80 ftish is perfect for around here. yah yah you need enough line to get you to the ground but cmon.

 

[tree md]

i have a 150ft rope that i have used twice since i bought it however long ago.

120ft that was used a fair amount when i wasnt craning so much but i really like a shorter rope 80 ftish is perfect for around here. yah yah you need enough line to get you to the ground but cmon.

Word. My old half inch rope is prolly 80'. I still climb on it sometimes. I'll trim my PI rope as needed. I could get by with a 120" rope for the long climbs about 99% of the time around here. We have very few trees where a 150 footer is necessary. Some Big Cottonwoods, Pecans and Sycamores. Other than that, most everything tops out around 60' around here.

 

[outofmytree]

Tree is Corymbia calophylla (Marri). Coarse bark, dense hard wood. It will snap more readily than usual because it is close to death. Not much foliage left. It is 25 metres tall and total weight will not exceed 6 tonnes.

Crane is a 55 tonne Tadano with a 42 metre boom. The hard top is 1 metre from the root flare so crane can set up anywhere it likes in a 270 degree arc on bitumen that takes 4-10 tonne trucks all week.

The load limit on picks will be set by inexperience rather than capacity. I want them small and safe as I improve my eye. I have plenty of time written in to the job so I have no pressure on me other than wanting to do the best job I can.

Harness is a near new Petzl sequoia and the saw will be an MS 441 with standard bar and full chisel chain. I use a bungee lanyard with a built in hook like this one.

Thanks for the tips. I will tool down and just have the lifeline,flipline and saw. Handsaw can be left behind too as there is little foliage and the twigs in the way get kicked.

Gonna take some pics or even a video of this one. Gotta have some memories of popping my cherry!

 

[a_lopa]

I have booked my first climber + crane job for 3 weeks hence. Very simple job with hardtop right up to the base of the tree and 270 degress of drop zone. Done a few crane jobs before but always from a bucket because over here, regardless of your experience, rigging to a crane requires a dogmans ticket. So I am taking the 5 day course where some fat union ******* will show me how to girth hitch a sling and explain how important lifting at the CoG is and of course to work within the limits of your equipment......

Had a good chat with the crane company and asked for a seasoned op to balance out my crane newbiness. Have booked the crane for 4 hours for a 90 minute job so I can make wee baby picks and practise picking the CoG.

You guys ever leave the 440/660 on a line on the main trunk, walk out, set slings, walk in and cut?

Any tips you have for this sort of job would be most welcome. I have climbed and dismantled many Corymbia calophylla in the past just never with a crane before.

I did the dogman/riggers cert a few years back and was amazed at how many guys dropped out by not being able to pass the dogging tests basic mathmatics! It DOES help when ordering cranes in etc,its always better to go bigger with cranes and take bigger sections and get them outta there!