Question for Climbers (chunk down)

[Greener]

Hello all you people who love to climb and cut things down.

When chunking down a tree than cannot be felled whole, and with a decent size drop-zone, how much wood should be taken off at a time? I used to take a lot, now I take less. I used to use a wedge on the face cut, now I do a straight undercut and back cut. I work alone and generally have no grounds people or rope pullers. I use either a 192T, 026 or 036 in the tree depending on diameter and type of wood. Comments?

 

[groundsmgr]

depends on the size of the wood for me. But usually any where from 2-4 foot, pieces
Scotty

 

[highasatree]

If I'm chunking down pieces of wood I try to keep it at 2 or 3 fireplace size lengths. My 2cents.

 

[Thillmaine1]

As big as my drop zone will allow

I take pieces as big as my drop zone will allow, but I alway s have a rope guy. That being said, I rarely take anything over 12 feet long.

 

[Greener]

depends on the size of the wood for me. But usually any where from 2-4 foot, pieces
Scotty

Scotty, that is about where I am at. The species matters as well, I have found. I cut a poplar the other day that was about 30 inches diam. and had to cut shorter lengths than hardwoods. It is full of water. So much that it was literally squirting out of the kerf.

 

[Greener]

I take pieces as big as my drop zone will allow, but I alway s have a rope guy. That being said, I rarely take anything over 12 feet long.

Thanks for the word. I hope to someday be able to say, "I always have a rope guy." That would be awesome.

 

[rarefish383]

Couple different ways to look at it. We always had help so that changes things a little. We worked in a very high end area of Wash DC. People did not like dents in their yards even if you fixed them. We took a lot of work with higher quotes than our comp by convincing the customer we could get the tree down with only one hole no bigger than 4'X4'. We usually had our climbers drop one fireplace lenght at a time in the same hole. A groundie would grab the block and head to the truck. As they got bigger 2 guys would double up and get them in the wheel barrow, till they got bigger, and then each guy would start rolling. When the climber hit the ground the job was bassicaly done. He'd usually have time for a smoke while every one else put the tools away and did the final sweeping on the curb. One wheel barrow of top soil to patch the hole. Or, take logs as big as would flip in. You need a little practice to flip big pieces, but when you get the hang of it, it's amazing how you can put a big piece on the ground with little damage. You also need a rope man to flip pieces. You get your notch in, then make your back cut, leaving a nice even hinge, rope man keeping tension so the log won't sit back. The cut has to be deep enough for the rope man to be able to pull it over. At first the fear factor will keep you at the side of the cut. As the rope man pulls the log over you can time it to just as the log gets parrell to the ground, and push up on the but. The log will flip and land flat, not like a giant fence post. As you catch on and see how it works, you can stand in front of the cut, with shoulder a little lower than than the notch, and put a really nice flip on a big chunk. I'll see if I can get you a video. But, till you get help, stick to smaller pieces,Joe

 

[Saw Dust Smoken]

size of wood

Big or small do whats comfortable and safe.
YouTube -

Recent work with log drop. Logs below take main force. Some yard divits to fill. Large drop zone.

 

[Greener]

Couple different ways to look at it. We always had help so that changes things a little. We worked in a very high end area of Wash DC. People did not like dents in their yards even if you fixed them. We took a lot of work with higher quotes than our comp by convincing the customer we could get the tree down with only one hole no bigger than 4'X4'. We usually had our climbers drop one fireplace lenght at a time in the same hole. A groundie would grab the block and head to the truck. As they got bigger 2 guys would double up and get them in the wheel barrow, till they got bigger, and then each guy would start rolling. When the climber hit the ground the job was bassicaly done. He'd usually have time for a smoke while every one else put the tools away and did the final sweeping on the curb. One wheel barrow of top soil to patch the hole. Or, take logs as big as would flip in. You need a little practice to flip big pieces, but when you get the hang of it, it's amazing how you can put a big piece on the ground with little damage. You also need a rope man to flip pieces. You get your notch in, then make your back cut, leaving a nice even hinge, rope man keeping tension so the log won't sit back. The cut has to be deep enough for the rope man to be able to pull it over. At first the fear factor will keep you at the side of the cut. As the rope man pulls the log over you can time it to just as the log gets parrell to the ground, and push up on the but. The log will flip and land flat, not like a giant fence post. As you catch on and see how it works, you can stand in front of the cut, with shoulder a little lower than than the notch, and put a really nice flip on a big chunk. I'll see if I can get you a video. But, till you get help, stick to smaller pieces,Joe

Hey Joe. Thanks for the great post. Lots of good info. Question, would it have been easier on those DC jobs to just rig and lower down chunks. If you have a ground guy, it seems like it would save time as you could lower larger than fireplace size lengths (depending on the rope used) and would not have to repair any lawn damage. Just a thought. I don't usually have that option, working as a single jack.

 

[Greener]

Big or small do whats comfortable and safe.
YouTube -

Recent work with log drop. Logs below take main force. Some yard divits to fill. Large drop zone.

Saw Dust smoken, this opened youtube but was only an ad, no log drop video. Can you try again?

 

[Saw Dust Smoken]

Oops - here's the link to the youtube video -

YouTube - ‪BOMBS AWAY!!!!!‬‏

 

[Rickytree]

Oops - here's the link to the youtube video -

YouTube - ‪BOMBS AWAY!!!!!‬‏

Nice Drop! Get some more vids up!

 

[rarefish383]

Hey Joe. Thanks for the great post. Lots of good info. Question, would it have been easier on those DC jobs to just rig and lower down chunks. If you have a ground guy, it seems like it would save time as you could lower larger than fireplace size lengths (depending on the rope used) and would not have to repair any lawn damage. Just a thought. I don't usually have that option, working as a single jack.

All of the top would be roped out. Once you were below your last crotch chunking was just as fast as cutting false crotches and rigging. Something to understand about the climbers of the late 50's and early 60's is, these guys cut their teeth on making cuts up to 24" regularly with a hand saw, they had incredable upper body strength. When I was a kid they used BIG Macs, and by the time I was working they were using Homelite 1050's with a 2' bar to chunk down trees. I actually remember my Dad using his Disston DA211 up in trees. When we got our first XL925 we thought it was a nice little saw. We did use Super EZ's for limbing, but as soon as we got to trunk wood it was the 1050. A 60' trunk in 2' pieces would be on the ground in a half hour, Joe.

 

[Rickytree]

Hello all you people who love to climb and cut things down.

When chunking down a tree than cannot be felled whole, and with a decent size drop-zone, how much wood should be taken off at a time? I used to take a lot, now I take less. I used to use a wedge on the face cut, now I do a straight undercut and back cut. I work alone and generally have no grounds people or rope pullers. I use either a 192T, 026 or 036 in the tree depending on diameter and type of wood. Comments?

Hey Greener
I believe it's 1/5 of the spar if you want it to land flat, but alot of variables come into play when doing so. Only way to know forsure is to practice.

 

[Greener]

All of the top would be roped out. Once you were below your last crotch chunking was just as fast as cutting false crotches and rigging. Something to understand about the climbers of the late 50's and early 60's is, these guys cut their teeth on making cuts up to 24" regularly with a hand saw, they had incredable upper body strength. When I was a kid they used BIG Macs, and by the time I was working they were using Homelite 1050's with a 2' bar to chunk down trees. I actually remember my Dad using his Disston DA211 up in trees. When we got our first XL925 we thought it was a nice little saw. We did use Super EZ's for limbing, but as soon as we got to trunk wood it was the 1050. A 60' trunk in 2' pieces would be on the ground in a half hour, Joe.

Very cool piece of history. I am humbled.

 

[Greener]

Oops - here's the link to the youtube video -

YouTube - ‪BOMBS AWAY!!!!!‬‏

He had a nice undercut on that one. Good shot.

 

[Saw Dust Smoken]

more vids

Mostly run two man crew. Well 4-5 counting the mini. A bit tough getting vids in. Will puts some more up this year as it goes.