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John Paul Sanborn

John Paul Sanborn

Above average climber
Joined
Apr 25, 2001
Messages
14,546
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Location
South Eastern WI
I was assiting one a City Forestry person on one of his "side jobs" yesterday. Big cottonwood which had several stems removed previously so that ther we only 2 left and lots of punky decay in the + 5ft dbh but. Small city lot, right on the property line.

I started topping it out, rigging big pieces out, a breaz being that I was ove 60 feeet up. Did half of it then city guy goes up to finish.

Rig , bomb, and a little speedline, he thn bombed out the 2 spars till about a 25 foot sling shot was left.

He decides to put a pull line in and take last cut at 10 feet. 30 + inch stem 5 feet up it bifrucates into 20 inch stems.

Tie it to the jeep? Y'all know where I stand there, but it's not my job. I state my reservations, and that is that.

Knotch goes well the thing falls over and lands where it is suposed to....

:eek:

Bounces five feet in the air, towards the garage, misses and bounces again

:cry:

Second bounce is just enough for the near stem to miss the courner of the garage and compress a garbage cart :angel:

Holy Canolies!
 
I think that`s what makes it interesting, sometimes trees are totally unpredictable!
I dropped a couple of chicots yesterday and had one top section about thirty feet long decide to come back and visit with me.
I made my departure as the tree was starting to fall so I was well away from it when it separated.
I`ll see your Holy Canolies and raise you a Holy Old Mackinaw!
 
Had one of those days myself, not to long ago. Taking out some sixteen footers for logs. I was more concerned with the Japanese Malpel near by than the lenght of log I was trying to turn. Well, it cleard the Maple with no prob. but the log hit tip first and fell to the house side. Butt of the log came down on the on thier metall hand rail. Bummer... Cost me $ 150.oo to make another one and my time to to putt it all together again and repaint it.. I should have dropped out a twelve footer and it would have been perfect, but thats what happens when you get to side tracted.

Greg
 
We all have the power to make Murphy's Law happen in reverse. "For every adversity there is the seed of an equal or greater opportunity." A little creativity and a positive attitude can yield remarkable results. If nothing else you can learn a lesson that you keep using for the rest of your life.
JPS' story reminds me of a job from the early 80's. We felled a 30'+ forked red oak, which bounced and rolled right over on an extremely valuable shrub, at my best friend's new house. The landscape co. which installed the shrub had a maintenance crew there that day. They performed CPR and saved its life.
That was a valuable lesson. Since then I Am careful when dropping forks. I attempt to make both sides hit the ground simultaneously when possible. Otherwise I might cut +/- 65% way through the front of the leading fork, down near the crotch. If done right the wood will break at the cut rather than bounce and roll. Also like to leave some long stubs up top to dig in and keep her from rolling.
Similarly, when felling certain trees it helps to undercut some of the lower branches on the facing side so that upon impact, they break at the trunk, rather than leave a stub to dig out.
Enjoying the weather.
God Bless All,
Daniel
 
Be careful. If there's any doubt, don't hesitate to take a smaller piece. You can always exaggerate it later, but the damage bills are much harder to shrink. Above all, someone's sight, ability to walk, or even to live cannot be replaced or repaid.

Nickrosis
 

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