Last decent shot. These were taken with a non-zoom 2.1 megapixel Toshiba M 4 camera at 1600X1200 (max) resolution. Each shot was about 900k before cropping and editing.
When upgrading to a larger saw after running out of gas & bar length with the 020, & changing out from 1/2" to 3/4" lowering lines, it is important to not lose the continuity of each lowering operation. The consistency from cut to cut is very important to maintain concentration.
An impeturbable state of mind similar to a Karate master 'thinking through' a stack of bricks must prevent any distractions from modifying the technique from cut to cut. This includes 'walkers' coming on the jobsite, thrown chains, water resupply, changing wrap anchors, interludes of chipping, or personnel handling the rope switching off, to name a few. When offered options or refinements after a pattern of lowering has commenced or become established, my reply is "Lets just keep going the way we are".
The lowering notch for the previous piece can be seen at the very bottom (top tipped upside down) of the log shown in that last pic. I like to make 'em deep, angled downwards, just in case that line wants to jump out and run across my flipline. Y'know what I mean? We don't want that! If it did happen, would the hole man let the line run (the work smashing everything underneath) to get it off of the climber immediately?
We estimate about 450# chunks with the later 5' lengths, @ 80-100# per foot. This next pic shows the line is wrapped a full wrap around the trunk, then it runs over to a half wrap around an (unprotected!) cedar stem 40' to the left. I didn't check it's bark later, but it had been used for wraps in the lowering operation of another adjacent removal by this crew some time earlier. SOP is as SOP does. The butt of the piece gets temporarily hooked on the tail of the lowering line, but it popped loose without a hitch.
After the lowering notch, facecut, and backcut mark are put in, the piece is lasso-ed up. A half hitch goes into the notch. I then use another half hitch above the face to back up a running bowline, as high as I can reach. Really lean on those 3 bights to take some of the stretch out of the line.
Prior to each cut, the flipline is disconnected, then moved upward, above the bight of the lowering line. This moment of being unhooked, even with a backup, is the worst part. Maybe it's because the deliberate pause to recheck the rigging gives an opportunity to consider the enormous amount of weight that is about to be released, then caught by the rope.
This places the flipline just below the floor of the face in front. Behind the cut, the flipline is just below the back cut, but running at an angle across the lowering notch. Definitely don't want the flipline to get sucked into the lowering notch under the lowering line. It is a 1/2" steel core Hi-Vee line running thru a Microcender. Stay still when the action starts to maintain the relationship of the rim of the stub above the flipline, to keep it from jumping up over the edge.
Brian's 2" measurement is just about right. It can be dicey, but running the rope for all of the brush gets the operation calibrated, so a generous tolerance like this is comfortable, right? The climbing line is right down below my feet (per ANSI), so a pinch rather than a fall is about the worst that could happen. Thanks for jumping in here in the middle of this online composed and photo-edited recounting of an ordinary day in the life of an arborist.
This whole operation was a scaled-down version of the
Buttcatch mpeg video over on the ISA board.
That time we had a block & lowering device (port-a-wrap), but not the crew with the wherewithal to let 'em run. This caused a whole lotta shakin goin on. There are pros & cons to each technique. The block increases the fall distance of the work before being caught by the line, and the sheave diameter lessens the bend radius substantially over running it over itself on a bight. Take yer pick.
There is a real tendency to rush thru the descriptions of this sequence of pics. The difference between standing on the ground looking up thru a poor digital zoom perch, and being strapped to the piece you are lowering off of is a question of the field of view. Examining this cylinder from 3 feet away while it is being dismantled by the kerf of a 3/8" pitch disintegrator raygun held in your own hands has a distinct advantage over the earthbound observation platform.
As the piece gets pushed off the top, tips and begins its fall, it seems like a slow-motion dream. The calm before the storm. The quiet before the jerk. Because the peace has to end when the log slams into the rope. Shaking you out of your spurs. Or, worse, snagging the flipline as it falls and squashing your guts out against the stub of the top corner of the face.
Kinda like the end of a bad dream, when your psyche knows the exact moment when it's time to wake up; right before it gets too scary--when the nightmare gets too hairy.
But this ground crew let the rope run. Everything went just perfect. Chip had his act together, slowing the pieces down real nice. No jerk at all. A nice smooth ride. THANK YOU !
, etc. had to be lowered out of this tree. Everything flew right over the top of the Rhodie & Holly hedge. The very first limb did bust a tip out of the holly stem on the left. You know how that first lower calibrates the rigging?
