# Taking down a Poplar in a tight space



## maxburton (Jan 6, 2007)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUOp8Ynf_as


I did this job a few days ago. There were wires between the houses, but you can't see them in the video very well. Sorry, no audio (I'm still working on that). Comments are welcome!


edit: now with audio


----------



## hugashe (Jan 6, 2007)

nice job. did you have to do all the clean up by your self?


----------



## maxburton (Jan 6, 2007)

No, the camera operator was my helper. That's why there's no video of the rigging. He had his hands full!


----------



## neighborstree (Jan 7, 2007)

i was gona say where is your ground men , till i read your other post lol..i assume you dont have a bucket truck, that job would of been a hour job with 1 guy in a bucket, 1 guy chippin


----------



## maxburton (Jan 7, 2007)

No bucket truck, no. However, a bucket truck would not have fit under the wires. Also, I was only up there for about 1.5 hours, so I don't think a bucket would have changed much.


----------



## JTinaTree (Jan 8, 2007)

Nice video! How much did you bid on that tree, also how long did it take? It may have been a echo, but the pieces you dropped sounded dead when they hit the ground.. I did a similar tree a couple of weeks back, between two houses, Both had power going to the sides of the houses although I had to rig down the majority of that maple.


----------



## maxburton (Jan 9, 2007)

The tree was only $400, because it was for a long time friend. If it has been a regular customer it would have been $700. It took me about an hour and a half to get everything down. Yes, a lot of that stuff was dead, but those two houses somehow crazily amplified all the sound.


----------



## booboo (Jan 10, 2007)

Not dissing you, so don't take it the wrong way, but it looks like you got darned lucky that the first piece shown being taken out w/ the chainsaw didn't also take out that top window!


----------



## maxburton (Jan 10, 2007)

It's just the angle. There weren't any close calls on that job.


----------



## booboo (Jan 10, 2007)

Cool. Keep the vids coming.

opcorn:


----------



## treesquirrel (Feb 5, 2007)

*Bouncy bouncy*



maxburton said:


> It's just the angle. There weren't any close calls on that job.




I think you did a great job on this however I wondered if you meant to allow a lot of the early stuff to bounce off the roof. Around here I would have destroyed the gutters on a home doing that.


----------



## Mtnman4ever (Feb 5, 2007)

Nice Job ! That weould make a decent instructional video if you have away of expalin what you are doing added to it !


----------



## JayD (Feb 5, 2007)

Hi Max,
Hope this post see's you well,I just watched your poplar take down,good job,the only things I seen that was a bit concerning was when you were on the roof as it looked like you didn't have your harness on..here in Australia if they seen you on a roof without your harness thats a ticket$$ out of your hard earned and deserved dollars..and to a lessor extent the small wood impacting the roof and gutters...man be paranoid about your excess,I am, better a grand in my pocket then there's...but you were up there calling the shots and there are different aspects and angles that are hidden,we to cut the roof some times but the piece we cut is layed over slowly so impact is minimal. Please dont take this as a shot at your work or practices just discussing the pros and cons...ad a sound track explaining your actions and it will be a good training video.

Beezer,
Thats what makes this a good training clip,there's things to discuss,this works for Max he got it down with no injury or property damage..folks have there own methods they learn over time then there is a way that is taught thru industry standards..every clip that has been posted on this forum could problely have been picked to pieces,but what would we have then..no posting for fear of ridicule from your peers??all clips are good trainers with there inherant flaws/good pionts so across the board we all learn.


----------



## beezer (Feb 6, 2007)

I know on these type of forums there is a lot of bashing, and the "I'm better than you" kind of arguments, and I don't want this post to be viewed as such. It just worries me when I see people cutting trees in a manner than could be improved upon. I won't go into a long winded paragraph on how I would have done it, I"ll try to throw out some suggestions and maybe a couple questions.

I couldn't tell if you were tied in with a rope or not. Were you just using lanyards? Sorry watched again, nevermind.

Try and be in a position where both of your hands are free to use the saw, not one.

Try to limit the above your head cutting.

Was there any way of not bouncing all those pieces off the house?

Double tie in when chunking down the trunk is a must! I learned that lesson the hard way about 8 years ago, thankfully that aluminum shed broke my fall.

I have never felt comfortable with the cut and push method when chunking down wood. In my view there are better alternatives.

I don't want people to think that this is a good instructional video when there is room for a great deal of improvement. Hopefully people can take this as constructive criticism and not bashing.

Beezer


----------



## hornett22 (Feb 9, 2007)

*not all of us are PC minions.*

he's an adult.if he want's to use one hand,let him.if he want's to only use lanyards,let him.you're free to do your work anyway you want to get the job done.someone can still get hurt using all the saftey crap.sometimes i think some of the gear makes your job more dangerous and gives you more crap to get tangled up in.the key is to take your time and think.rushing and being sloppy is what is dangerous.


----------



## beezer (Feb 9, 2007)

That's the kind of response I assumed would be posted.

Sure he is an adult and he doesn't hafe to take any constructive criticism if he doesn't want to. But why not?

What safety crap actually gets in your way? Ropes? Lanyards? Helmet?


----------



## hornett22 (Feb 10, 2007)

*all of it gets in the way sometimes.*

i still use most of it though.it's still america though and he has the right as far as i'm concerned to do as he pleases as long as he doesn't endanger someone else.


----------



## beezer (Feb 10, 2007)

To each his own, I suppose.

Stay safe!


Beezer


----------



## Kneejerk Bombas (Feb 10, 2007)

That didn't look like a Poplar to me.

What I thought was odd was that he sort of tied into the middle of the tree and reached all around without changing his work positioning. 
On a tree like this I would expect him to start at the bottom and work up. I also would expect to see him shift his footing around a bit as he worked, maybe adjust his tie in.


----------



## beezer (Feb 10, 2007)

JayD

I understand that we all have bad habits, and we can all improve. My concern comes with the fact that there are over 800 views of this video, and the majority of the comments are "good job". As soon as any sort of criticism comes, people get very defensive, which is probably pretty natural, then there is no discussion, just pointless ranting (kind of like this). I saw some things that if he were an employee, friend or whatever, I would point it out and give them advice, not try and belittle them, just advice.

While I'm certainly not perfect, I've learnt a few things over the years, usually the hard way. Like having a piece of wood hinge down onto your lanyard, or swinging itself backwards in the opposite direction of the push. Cutting my rope while chunking down wood, no second tie in = fall. Probably countless others that aren't springing to mind right now. When I see someone doing something that I have done before, that eventually came back to bite me in the @ss, I would rather point it out rather than let it go.

I really try not to be over critical, but, this is a job that does demand us to be overly critical when it comes to safety.

Beezer


----------



## JayD (Feb 10, 2007)

Beezer,
The way I see it the discussion has began,you have put forward your views,which I mite add you are entitled to..and so has a number of other folk..I've already discussed this with our climber..and with the groundies,this clip and countless others..discussion about methods used keeps us safer up there,in the work zone and on the ground..me I personally sit and discuss aspect of every job we do in the evening after work has finished..it forms part of our OH&S compliance..where everyone has a say and they are listened to..anyway so far I've noticed no ranting..not a heated word..and there's even been a comment from one member who would not hesitate in saying your an accident waiting to happen..he didn't..yes in this clip theres room for improvement like I said before this is what makes it a good trainer,if we only show perfect take downs the things we shouldn't do are not pointed out..so the opportunity to take a short cut is not firmly imprinted to all involved why that is a bad or good call..but like I said you are entitled to your opinion.
All the Best


----------

