# First removals went great!



## JeffL (Jun 29, 2008)

Well obviously I've done removals at work, but this was just me vs. trees today. Had a blast doing it, everything came out great, and the homeowner was MORE than pleased. At best guess hes so pleased he keeps coming up with work for me to do, at this point at least 3-4 whole days worth. Which is fine, because its all $$ in pocket once I pay off my rigging and saws, which I've already paid off most of it with a few jobs.

Took down 2 60ish foot sugar maples. One probably 18" DBH and the other probably in the neighborhood of 24". Outright dropped the first one, got it all limbed and bucked up, piled all the brush and managed to get all but a few of the butt pieces humped into the back of a pickup, as he wanted to keep it all for firewood, so cut it all about 16". Second one was a bit more challenging. Real tight area to drop it, targets probably 270 degrees around, so had to miss to the right of a big piece of trellis work he had grapevine growing on, and miss to the left of a big mound of Wysteria out near where the tips were going to be landing. He didnt want to keep the Wysteria anyways, but I wanted to avoid smooshing it entirely, as I had to deal with that later. Limbed up the first 1/2 of the tree, as there were several significant low branches that were likely to hit the trellis. Dropped that, worked as planned aside from matting down the top layer of vines on the Wysteria. Got it all bucked and limbed, stacked that brush, and had a buddy of mine come by with a chipper (rotary, scariest piece of machinery ever). And we had all firewood rounds and brush chipped up in an hour. He stuck around and helped me get raked up.

All in all a good day. Was painfully humid, and got a bit dizzy at one point in the AM because I didnt keep enough water in me, but other than that, I'm happy, customer happy. Hooray. :greenchainsaw: 

And I'm SOO happy I went with the MS460. Put 3 tanks of fuel through it and tightened the chain up once (first time I've run the saw). She threw chips with the best of em all day. 

Oh, and of course........I have pictures and video to be posted later on after I dice it all up.


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## newb (Jun 29, 2008)

Good job Jeff, What do you do for work? It doesn't sound like you had to do much rigging. Remember, never climb alone. Pete


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## JeffL (Jun 29, 2008)

newb said:


> Good job Jeff, What do you do for work? It doesn't sound like you had to do much rigging. Remember, never climb alone. Pete



I work for a tree care company. 

I only tied off one branch. I know, shame on me. The homeowners were around, but unable to help. I set my port-a-wrap in the tree with me, set the pulley, tied off the limb, and locked the rope in the port-a-wrap to keep it from dropping straight through the trellis down below. Made the cut, swung back to the trunk, and lowered the piece myself. That I have pics of as well.


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## treemandan (Jun 29, 2008)

JeffL said:


> I work for a tree care company.
> 
> I only tied off one branch. I know, shame on me. The homeowners were around, but unable to help. I set my port-a-wrap in the tree with me, set the pulley, tied off the limb, and locked the rope in the port-a-wrap to keep it from dropping straight through the trellis down below. Made the cut, swung back to the trunk, and lowered the piece myself. That I have pics of as well.



Sounds really good.


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## coolbrze (Jun 29, 2008)

How do you like your new 460? I'm thinking of buying one also, what length bar did you get & what would you recommend?


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## JeffL (Jun 29, 2008)

I went with the 25" bar. It went ripping right through some nice solid Sugar Maple today, and I dont think it would have had any problem pulling the 28" bar through either. I had the bar buried when flushing the stumps and it didnt seem to mind one bit.


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## oldirty (Jun 29, 2008)

get those pics up bud. good stuff.


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## JeffL (Jun 29, 2008)

My crap!






The victims. Shed was in striking distance if I dropped em that way, trellis was a must-keep and the Wysteria in the back middle.......eh, whatever. I could have smashed it if I wanted, but wanted to consider it another target for "practice".





First one dropped, ugliest hinge ever. Buried my wedges and still had to cut a little extra wood. D'oh.





First tree mostly cleaned up.


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## JeffL (Jun 29, 2008)

My one-man rigging show.





The reason for it; trying to not smash the trellis below. Branch was too long, and too far out to swing. Managed to side-notch a few branches and swung them on the hinge, but that was not happening with this one. This is with the branch hanging still before I lowered it down.





Second trees hingewood, MUCH better. 





Scariest chipper ever (I'm used to autofeed drum chippers at work).





All done! (I cut the Wysteria down after taking this pic. lol)





Me, posing. Literally.






THE VIDEO! 
Click here to watch Tree-Removal-77


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## appalachianarbo (Jun 29, 2008)

Looks good Jeff. How many wraps do you have on that porty?


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## JeffL (Jun 29, 2008)

appalachianarbo said:


> Looks good Jeff. How many wraps do you have on that porty?



Enough so that the branch wasnt going to go anywhere. LOL. 

Yes, a little bit of overkill on the wraps, so sue me.


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## Nailsbeats (Jun 30, 2008)

Looks good Jeff! Glad to see you tackled your first gig and came out shinning.

It is definitely a different story when you take on the whole job by yourself and are solely responsible for all aspects of it. To me this is when you will really grow into the complete package, the sky is the limit from there. Looks like you did fine.

One thing that left me wondering was the height of the backcut on that second drop. It looks to be even or lower than the apex of the notch if I am seeing it right, it's hard to tell with pictures. If it is in fact lower, you need to get it higher than or at least even to the apex as to not give you grief in the future. If I am wrong, disregard.

Nice equipment too, love the saws, and the chipper most of all.


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## cntrybo2 (Jun 30, 2008)

Congrats on your first tree job man!! i know that a milestone for us all. I watched your video and just have one thing...Those saws have a brake, learn to use it. It apprears you will be working alone as you did on this job (i work alone alot of the the time too) You have to learn to use every piece of safety equipment that is available when you are in our situation (and its a good practice period). Other than that Keep knockin'em down!


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## JeffL (Jun 30, 2008)

No Nails, you're right. That side of the backcut was about a 1/4" lower than the apex, and go figure, the other side was about a 1/4" high.  One thing I definitely need more experience doing.

And cntrybo2, I've got some BAD habits that need breaking from when I was first taught how to use a saw a few years ago. Heck, I think I ran the thing initially for a few months straight at work (at a golf course, clearing land), and I couldnt have told you what chaps or a hard hat were.  I'm getting there.

Its hard to bring yourself to post stuff here because people are so critical, but hey, I need the "encouragement".


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## arbor pro (Jun 30, 2008)

Jeff,

No worries about posting here as a newbie. You appear to have a good head on your shoulders and a drive to do the job right with the right equipment. You're head and shoulders above most of the newbies. Keep on posting and good luck!


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## Nailsbeats (Jun 30, 2008)

Jeff, if you don't already know the higher backcut makes what is called a "step". You need this in the traditional notch you used because as a tree falls it becomes light on the stump about halfway through the fall when the hinge breaks, if the tree contacts something at this point and it can easily jump back off the stump creating a potentially dangerous situation. The step is a safeguard against this. 1 inch of step for every 1 foot in tree diameter is a good rule of thumb. 

If you used an open face notch or a humbolt, this does not apply, cut even with the apex. With the open face the hinge should mostly stay intact throughout the entire fall and the humbolt has the safeguard built in.

One more thing, when you are checking the thickness of your hinge, only count what is behind the apex, 1" of hinge for 10" of diameter is also a good general rule. Once you cut beyond that you know you are in the money zone.

Look to the guys that have constructive criticism and forget the rest and their issues. Always be willing to take a hard look at your technique and you will do fine, then getter done. Keep posting, looks great!


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## oldirty (Jun 30, 2008)

arbor pro said:


> Jeff,
> 
> No worries about posting here as a newbie. You appear to have a good head on your shoulders and a drive to do the job right with the right equipment. You're head and shoulders above most of the newbies. Keep on posting and good luck!




for sure.


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## memetic (Jun 30, 2008)

Nailsbeats

Thanks for that last post. Very informative. I didn't even have to do a search and I learned something new - or at least something to look up to check out further.


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## Nailsbeats (Jun 30, 2008)

Good, if you want to know something, just ask, lol.


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## JeffL (Jun 30, 2008)

I rethought my last comment about the criticism, and its for good reason. I know you guys arent ragging on it, its for my own good.

I ride a motorcycle, and on several of the boards I'm on, people sometimes get a hard time about not riding with the proper apparel on (gloves, pants, jacket, helmet, appropriate boots, all preferably leather). And its not because we dont like the guy, its because we're looking out for his best interest, having made the mistakes ourselves.

I know I'm new, and strive to get better. Thats what makes this so fun, so much to learn and challenge yourself with.


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## memetic (Jun 30, 2008)

I ride too (on (and off road since 10 years old)) and I don't recommend a leather helmet. ha ha.


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## JeffL (Jun 30, 2008)

memetic said:


> I ride too (on (and off road since 10 years old)) and I don't recommend a leather helmet. ha ha.



They were good enough for football at one point! Good enough for me! 

Nah, full face helmet, 100% of the time.


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## SustainableTree (Jul 2, 2008)

Congrats on the job! I'm mostly a newbie myself....it's good to see other guys getting out there and taking on their own jobs, feels great doesn't it! Nice looking gear.....what type of rope are you using for rigging? Looking forward to seeing next job!


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## JeffL (Jul 2, 2008)

SustainableTree said:


> Congrats on the job! I'm mostly a newbie myself....it's good to see other guys getting out there and taking on their own jobs, feels great doesn't it! Nice looking gear.....what type of rope are you using for rigging? Looking forward to seeing next job!



1/2" Arborplex. Its no bull rope, but then again for time being unless I have someone lowering for me I trust, I wont be butt-hitching any heavy stuff anyways.


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## reachtreeservi (Jul 2, 2008)

Hey, nobodies perfect... Even pro's make mistakes

Overall, You did pretty good! And your gear looks super for a new guy.

Keep it up, You're doing great !


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## JeffL (Jul 2, 2008)

reachtreeservi said:


> Hey, nobodies perfect... Even pro's make mistakes
> 
> Overall, You did pretty good! And your gear looks super for a new guy.
> 
> Keep it up, You're doing great !



I've learned the hard way many times over.......its MUCH cheaper to just buy the right stuff the first time, instead of getting the "economy" stuff the first time, realizing its just not quite what you need, and then end up buying the quality stuff in the end anyways. Its hard to bite the bullet sometimes $$$ wise, but I know its worth it in the end.


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## memetic (Jul 2, 2008)

"Its hard to bite the bullet sometimes $$$ wise, but I know its worth it in the end."

Damn Straight.


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## Burlhunter13 (Jul 5, 2008)

haha lol.....nice job man. I just got done with my second solo tree removal (free take down in exchange for the log). Walnut log!!!!! Whoo hooo! Sawmill time...should make some nice boards. They are so happy with it that they are letting me take down another walnut 3' diameter and a red oak about 1 1/2' diameter.


You should get a wallet that says "Bad motha f***a" (Pulp fiction baby!)


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