whadja do today?
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Blakesmaster
Addicted to ArboristSite
Sugar maple went nice and easy. Getting the bucket just right was a bit of a trick, had about 2 inches clearance under the rain gutter. Trunk was about as rotten as could be without falling over. The leads were all beat up by wood peckers so I chained and ratchet strapped the co doms together for a little added strength. Lot of dead all through it so I had a few pucker moments as the tops busted up on the trunk below me. Took all the precautions, plywood over the skylight, taking small pieces and used a lot of clove hitches to back up the dead stuff. It looks bigger than it really was, about 36" dbh, was able to drop a good sized spar once I got the bucket out the way. Another day in the office.
deevo
Addicted to ArboristSite
Yep that thing was amazing to work with! Like I told you, tree unclimbable (unless you wanted to try - be dead when the first hanger let go!) unable to get a bucket truck or crane in. Insurance job so after I paid the owner of the lift I still made $. Oh yeah one dead smacked up leader was over a busy railway track ! Old cn railway hydro/utility lines below! All went well! 3 other companies said 2-3 days to do it. We started at 8, pulled out of the driveway at 230! Grcs came in handy and lifted that one section right off the shed, Lowered it down where we wanted with ease! Will post pics when I get home from the cottage.
deevo
Addicted to ArboristSite
Good job Chris! Looks like we all had a good day, interesting jobs respectively !Sugar maple went nice and easy. Getting the bucket just right was a bit of a trick, had about 2 inches clearance under the rain gutter. Trunk was about as rotten as could be without falling over. The leads were all beat up by wood peckers so I chained and ratchet strapped the co doms together for a little added strength. Lot of dead all through it so I had a few pucker moments as the tops busted up on the trunk below me. Took all the precautions, plywood over the skylight, taking small pieces and used a lot of clove hitches to back up the dead stuff. It looks bigger than it really was, about 36" dbh, was able to drop a good sized spar once I got the bucket out the way. Another day in the office.
deevo
Addicted to ArboristSite
One more good storm and I might be the third person in Canada to own one! All in all was a great last week with all this storm work. Long Long days and some nights but well worth it! What did you think of my small brother ?
not really sure how this works but I have a new crane op to train, the guy ran a crane for a roofing co. lifting **** up to the roof tops, never even seen a tree cut down in his life, and on his first day he is supposed to be running the crane for big takedowns??? I mean hell I was on the crane crew for over a year before they even let me touch the controls to do small removals and I paid freakin close attention to almost every pick how it was cabled how it was cut... doesn't help that we had a new to crane removal bucket guy either. needless to say but it was a slow and scary day today and if I have to tell this guy one more time DON"T PULL HARD I'm gonna kick him in the neck :msp_biggrin: I tell dude boom left a little apparently that means boom so freaking far that the stick looks like a sideways fishing pole and to top it off add a little cable up to boot even after I'm screaming stop stop stop
treeman82
Addicted to ArboristSite
Went through a DOT stop this morning... called it a day once they let me go. Was supposed to go do a very small job for a new customer today, heard from NUMEROUS sources that the husband is very nice, but the mrs. is absolutely terrible. Figured I'd already had my share of headaches, so I went and helped a friend with decking his trailer... what fun.
jandh@amtelecom
ArboristSite Operative
jandh@amtelecom
ArboristSite Operative
I can only imagine. O and to boot I wacked myself in the face with a small hanger that broke off the one pick, I watched that baby slide all the way down the boom right into my face didn't even flinch lol, I forgot to duck, wasn't a big piece at all maybe an inch in diameter and 3 feet long with lots of 1/4" sticks on it.opcorn:
all I know is I'm driving the grapple tomorrow so that means I don't have to deal with anybody at all and I'm going to enjoy it like I never enjoyed anything before :msp_ohmy:
mr. holden wood
ArboristSite Guru
Nice, never thought of using a hammer to wedge the spar over, axes sure get heavy.Is that blower battery operated or a plug in?.Sugar maple went nice and easy. Getting the bucket just right was a bit of a trick, had about 2 inches clearance under the rain gutter. Trunk was about as rotten as could be without falling over. The leads were all beat up by wood peckers so I chained and ratchet strapped the co doms together for a little added strength. Lot of dead all through it so I had a few pucker moments as the tops busted up on the trunk below me. Took all the precautions, plywood over the skylight, taking small pieces and used a lot of clove hitches to back up the dead stuff. It looks bigger than it really was, about 36" dbh, was able to drop a good sized spar once I got the bucket out the way. Another day in the office.
mr. holden wood
ArboristSite Guru
The leads were all beat up by wood peckers so I chained and ratchet strapped the co doms together for a little added strength.
[/QUOTE]
If you were going to cable a tree how far up would you go, 2/3rd's right? Same concept on a removal. Start higher and work the straps down if needed.
If you were going to cable a tree how far up would you go, 2/3rd's right? Same concept on a removal. Start higher and work the straps down if needed.
keh10
ArboristSite Lurker
This is all from yesterday, but it was kind of a crazy day so I didn't have a chance to post until now. We started the day with a great climb on a gorgeous monster white oak. My boss started deadwooding on the far side of the tree away from the house with the bucket truck while I TRIED to set my lines to climb the rest. I was driving my bosses truck that day and when I was transferring my gear over from my truck, I forgot my beeline, my bigshot and my cell phone. So I sat there for 15 minutes tossing my throwline by hand and realizing how inept I am without the bigshot :angry2:. Anyways, I was never able to hit that perfect tie in point that I wanted and being the stubborn bastard that I am, I ended up free climbing and setting my line manually.
Once I had my line set everything went great. I was climbing with the old traditional closed system since I forgot my beeline, but in a tree with so many strong limbs, it really didn't slow me down or throw me off my game. In the end I was able to deadwood the entire tree from my initial TIP with a few secondary lines set with the tail of my main line. This climb really rejuvenated me. It's not very often that I get to deadwood a 120 year old white oak like this.
Next we moved on to this little dead elm that was tangled in telephone/cable lines. Initially, I thought it was gonna cause us trouble from the lines blocking access with the bucket, but we were able to stay away from the high voltage on the top and piece it out. After the elm we went to lunch at a barbeque joint and decided to call it a day.
So, fat and full of delicious pork ribs, I head home. As I'm pulling in, I see a plume of smoke coming from the field behind my house! I pull into the driveway and my mom is waiting there. She tells me the field behind my house is on fire from a lightning struck tree. If you remember, I had left my cell phone, so while I was stuffing my face with ribs, I had no idea my house was in danger. I head up the hill and meet up with my dad and brother when the forest service pulled up with a dozer. The local fire dept. had arrived awhile before I got there and things were pretty much under control. I started going around the perimeter with a hand sprayer and putting out anything that I thought might rekindle the unburned grass. After about 30 minutes, the dozer had completed a basic perimeter around the fire. Most of the land that was burned was pasture, but it had spread into the edge of the woods and while the dozer helped, it had pushed a lot of brush into the fire through the woods. After the forest service and fire dept. left, my dad and I kept spraying the edges with hand sprayers because fires were quickly popping up where the dozer had made a lane through the woods. I feel like it is likely if we hadn't spent those extra hours spraying after the fire dept left, the fire could have jumped the lane because the trees made so many bridges overhead of where the dozer plowed it's path.
All in all, I am very grateful to everyone who came out and helped (a lot of neighbors, local FD, and forest service). I will say there are a lot of lazy folks with the local FD, but some of those guys were busting ass and in 100 degree heat (without a fire) you cant help but respect that.
I got home from work today and jogged up the hill just check things one last time and lo and behold, fire had sprung up again on the edge where it could have jumped across the lane. I had jogged up the hill in nothing but shorts so I throw some dirt with my hands on the fire to settle it down. Then I headed down to the house and got my brothers four wheeler which has a sprayer on it and took care of business.
As of right now, I doubt if I'll have to patrol anymore, but better safe than sorry. Honestly it was a real eye opener and we got really lucky. A neighbor has turkey houses within 500 yards of where the fire was stopped and my house is less than a quarter of a mile down the hill. It was a real shame that we lost some good grass for our cattle (which is a rare commodity around here these days), but we will make it through with no problems. And yeah, the fire was started from a tree that was struck by lightning on Sunday morning and smoldered until noon on Tuesday until it lit the grass.
Once I had my line set everything went great. I was climbing with the old traditional closed system since I forgot my beeline, but in a tree with so many strong limbs, it really didn't slow me down or throw me off my game. In the end I was able to deadwood the entire tree from my initial TIP with a few secondary lines set with the tail of my main line. This climb really rejuvenated me. It's not very often that I get to deadwood a 120 year old white oak like this.
Next we moved on to this little dead elm that was tangled in telephone/cable lines. Initially, I thought it was gonna cause us trouble from the lines blocking access with the bucket, but we were able to stay away from the high voltage on the top and piece it out. After the elm we went to lunch at a barbeque joint and decided to call it a day.
So, fat and full of delicious pork ribs, I head home. As I'm pulling in, I see a plume of smoke coming from the field behind my house! I pull into the driveway and my mom is waiting there. She tells me the field behind my house is on fire from a lightning struck tree. If you remember, I had left my cell phone, so while I was stuffing my face with ribs, I had no idea my house was in danger. I head up the hill and meet up with my dad and brother when the forest service pulled up with a dozer. The local fire dept. had arrived awhile before I got there and things were pretty much under control. I started going around the perimeter with a hand sprayer and putting out anything that I thought might rekindle the unburned grass. After about 30 minutes, the dozer had completed a basic perimeter around the fire. Most of the land that was burned was pasture, but it had spread into the edge of the woods and while the dozer helped, it had pushed a lot of brush into the fire through the woods. After the forest service and fire dept. left, my dad and I kept spraying the edges with hand sprayers because fires were quickly popping up where the dozer had made a lane through the woods. I feel like it is likely if we hadn't spent those extra hours spraying after the fire dept left, the fire could have jumped the lane because the trees made so many bridges overhead of where the dozer plowed it's path.
All in all, I am very grateful to everyone who came out and helped (a lot of neighbors, local FD, and forest service). I will say there are a lot of lazy folks with the local FD, but some of those guys were busting ass and in 100 degree heat (without a fire) you cant help but respect that.
I got home from work today and jogged up the hill just check things one last time and lo and behold, fire had sprung up again on the edge where it could have jumped across the lane. I had jogged up the hill in nothing but shorts so I throw some dirt with my hands on the fire to settle it down. Then I headed down to the house and got my brothers four wheeler which has a sprayer on it and took care of business.
As of right now, I doubt if I'll have to patrol anymore, but better safe than sorry. Honestly it was a real eye opener and we got really lucky. A neighbor has turkey houses within 500 yards of where the fire was stopped and my house is less than a quarter of a mile down the hill. It was a real shame that we lost some good grass for our cattle (which is a rare commodity around here these days), but we will make it through with no problems. And yeah, the fire was started from a tree that was struck by lightning on Sunday morning and smoldered until noon on Tuesday until it lit the grass.
Blakesmaster
Addicted to ArboristSite
Every situation calls for different adjustments to the rule of thumb. You should know this considering how great you are. Lol.
Mike, the blower, I think, is the BG55 or 65, not sure. I'd like to own a backpack blower someday but to be honest, There's no more room in the truck.
John Paul Sanborn
Above average climber
True. It's like a box of chocolates. lol.
I just did the deed. I decided to just keep it mellow and be professional about it. He said he "kinda sensed it wasn't going well". Hahaha, I wonder if it was the steam coming outta my ears!!
You have to winnow the chaff to get the good bits out. Quite often it is not about the competency of the worker, but how he fits on the team. Maybe hire two the next time and tell them only one will stay
Got a buddy who is mellow, but tells people that he is a hard man to work for, and they may not make it through probation. A lot of people hire labor on as part-time/temporary so that when let go there is no problem with the state labor relations. "if things work out maybe I can make a place for you" inferring that they have to work hard to deserve it.
treeman82
Addicted to ArboristSite
After a late start to the morning I wound up looking at 3 jobs this afternoon. First job was nothing crazy, very small red pine... called the lady in advance to let her know I was on my way, she said she had somebody else scheduled for that time, so I pulled off somewhere to hang out for a half hour. Turns out when I showed up that the other company scheduled to give an estimate never showed. Second job was terrible. Bunch of dead poplars between 2 parking lots. Almost impossible to access through all the vines, prickers, and underbrush. The strangest part was that another tree company keeps some trucks in one of the lots... we were called in by the property owner. Third job was WAY out of the way... friend of mine was asked by a business contact to send somebody over to give a price for removing a tree on the property. Took a ride over there this evening, pull into the driveway, and notice 2 or 3 medium sized white pines that were recently pruned. Asked the homeowner what the deal was... they had Bartlett in there to prune them, must have taken a 3 man crew all day with a bucket and climber. They did a beautiful job... the homeowner was very happy with the work and the people. I asked why did you call me in? Comes down to cheap more or less.. I told him "shame on you, they did a good job on your pine trees... pay them the money to take the tree down."
Mike Cantolina
Addicted to ArboristSite
That was Holden commenting on the blower. I think I have the same one.
mattfr12
The Bulldog
thats all we use is the 55 i never saw much point in buying an expensive blower its only used for like 5 min at the end of the day to blow sawdust around. the other big advantage to it tho is we get a few of them and lock the triggers on when we are burning stumps turns the stump pile into an incinerator with all the air blowing into the bottom of it and diesel fuel getting sprayed on top.
You have to winnow the chaff to get the good bits out. Quite often it is not about the competency of the worker, but how he fits on the team. Maybe hire two the next time and tell them only one will stay
Got a buddy who is mellow, but tells people that he is a hard man to work for, and they may not make it through probation. A lot of people hire labor on as part-time/temporary so that when let go there is no problem with the state labor relations. "if things work out maybe I can make a place for you" inferring that they have to work hard to deserve it.
Hardest thing to do for me is to let a guy go. Second is hiring him in the first place., third is liking the guy and covering for him.
Jeff
mr. holden wood
ArboristSite Guru
I guess if you are mainly removing trees along the side of busy streets it's not that big of a deal. Most of my work is for high end clients with plenty of walkways, manicured beds, and plenty of decks and patios.A blower like that would easily add a hour or more a day.
My old boss use to run chitty back blowers, I finally convinced his thrifty azz to get a br 600. The next day he bought another one for the stump guy. Once you realize how much time you have been losing you'd regret not buying oneyears ago. I looked up that 55 and said it was for " ocassional usage for the thrifty homeowner". Something to think about.
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