Clean ups

Hello all


What rake do you find best to use?

Jumped in to help rake up and 30 inch plastic rake was useless end had worn straight no curve ends to rake with (Think Ames but not sure)

TIA

Kevin

It depends on the tree and the mess.

For dead wood twigs like on oak, the plastic rake does well, to put the finishing touches on it.

To get the bigger stuff up, a stiff tonged rake does best.

To get up pine straw I perfer a steel tined flexable rake.

To pick the stuff up I use a pitch fork. It has 5-6 tines so that makes it an ensialage fork? We just call it a pitch fork.

Carl

I tend to use tarps when it's not too hot, saves a lot of raking. When the mess is extensive, tarps are magical. If the mess is minimal, its more worth it to leave the tarps alone and just rake.

I hate raking. Hate it worse than anything. Gross misappropriation of talent. I favor a backpack blower that's rated at least 220 MPH. If you have one guy on rake, and one guy on blower, in synch, and working together as a team, the blower can multiply the rakers efforts, and vice versa, and the two can clean-sweep large areas of drop-zone with amazing swiftness. Raker guy should decide where the raking's going to happen, and blower guy just stay tight with him.

In an era long ago, I used the widest plastic rakes I could find. I took adhesive-backed aluminum tape (duct tape can be used, but it doesn't last as long). Tape across all the slots between the tines, all the way to where the teeth curve. Tape BOTH sides, so you get adhesive-to-adhesive contact. Then, with someone driving 10-20 mph, you drag those teeth on the pavement for a block or so, at the approximate angle that you generally rake at. This 'adjusts' the teeth so that when you rake, all the teeth get a consistent bite.

This rake now serves multiple purposes: sawdust and fines carrier, sidewalk swoosher and I remember it working really well as advertisement. People were intrigued with these rakes and I got a lot of comments, and then they'd hire me.

These days I'm back to those that Brian describes. I stow my rakes vertically on my chipper, and I tend to drop limbage as close as possible, which means sometimes the chipper gets whacked (i.e the rakes get whacked. With the metal ones, you just bend em back. With the plastic ones that you've sunk a half-hour into creating, iss not so good. -TM-

Forgot to say that. My groundies (they do most of the raking, i help load brush and heave stuff) also use a tarp. They rake the stuff on to the tarp and then pic up the tarp and dump it onto the trailer, much faster than a wheel barrow.

A blower does work wonders, exspecially if the owner doesn't mind the debris being blown into the woods adjacent to his place.


Carl

Ah... Brian knows this biz! Steel tined, spring backed rakes are the most efficient.To get the most out of the rake you need the right technique. I don't know that I can put it into words but reaching out and pulling the rake halfway to you ain't it. Stand sideways to the direction in which you are moving material, reach back to behind the material, sweep forward past your feet and fling that stuff in the direction it needs to go. Actually standing perpendicular to the direction of raking isn't really it. This is a dynamic action involving the whole body. The hips pivot back toward the already cleaned area then rotate as you sweep the trash toward your objective. When I'm seriously raking there is a short step forward on every sweep. I traverse the area in one direction and turn, switch hand position and traverse back moving material. Come on now -Let's get it DONE!

I'm assuming that Krystal is a local establishment or restaurant chain as opposed to 'Krystal burgers' being a step toward the final disposition of a former girlfriend? Sorry you are hurting.

One of the other things that Dad drilled into me when I was only a kid was-"Rake it toward the truck". Raking away from the disposal area and making neat little piles wastes too much effort. It's amazing how many guys stare at you in befuddlement then slowly say "Oh, I never thought of that."

Oh how I hate raking

If I'm alone (as I am most jobs) and laid no tarps, I do rake into tight piles, quickly, because (did I mention) I HATE RAKING. This would be where the area is sizable. I find that if I rake toward the truck, I seem to rake the same stuff over and over and over, with the pile getting heavier with every stroke. If I have to do this across some distance, it is, to me, a pure form of agony.

Once I have all the piles pulled together, I go around with a small tarp, lay it down adjacent to the pile. Standing on the edge of the tarp, legs spread-eagle so the tarp edge under you is tensioned, facing the pile, pull the pile beteen the legs onto the tarp and move on to the next one.

If the yard is small, however, probably just rake it all toward the truck.

Brian, good tip on terming the task in the proper light. This illuminates well how a ten-minute job can become a 40 minute job if you simply tell em to 'grab a rake'. I'll never make that mistake again. -TM-

Most people around my neck of the woods prefer to use either the 60 gal green buckets, or heavy duty trash cans. The tarp idea sounds good though.

TM, I won't say that I never rake into piles- If there are large clean areas between the mess and the truck then trashcanning or tarping it out makes good sense. As far as the junk piling up to the point that it gets difficult to rake-Yeah that happens. When it occurs I either grab an armful or the can (dependent upon the distance to the truck and the 'consistency' of the debris) and clear it out to the point I can rake efficiently. Cleaning the 'pile in the making' several times is still quicker than isolating piles because it makes for only one final clean-up spot instead of several areas to pick up tiny twigs,leaves and sawdust.

Hi the way we do it (if there is two of us ) is to rake the debris into the middle in a line leading to the truck . Then I drag a small tarp with a couple of small pieces of branch wood in the bottom corners towards the truck , and the groundie flicks the debris into the tarp as it passes over . If you are both motivated it gets the final clean up done in double quick time .

Originally posted by Stumper
"Rake it toward the truck". Raking away from the disposal area and making neat little piles wastes too much effort.

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Unless its 100 feet from the chipper, and you have a container to put it in, those 'little piles' are a waste of time. Justin's dad was right - MOVE IT TOWARDS THE CHIPPER!

I'm amazed how many people do not know how to rake efficiently.

Originally posted by MasterBlaster
Unless its 100 feet from the chipper, and you have a container to put it in, those 'little piles' are a waste of time. Justin's dad was right - MOVE IT TOWARDS THE CHIPPER!

I'm amazed how many people do not know how to rake efficiently.

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For me, having 2 people raking in to little piles, and another person draging a tarp and raking the piles onto the tarp works well on flat grassy yards. Other times the guy will use a large wheel barrow.

That seems to be the best setup I know of right now.


Carl

I' was taught to all-ways give the customer just a little more than they expect.

Screw around and leave a mess over by the air conditioner unit and the folks will remember, not that it's that bad to do. I'd rather my crew leave a chainsaw in a backyard than a sawdust covered driveway. The day we knocked off for Thanksgiving I went by a job and the roof was covered with sawdust, and the lady knew too. I took care of it myself. It happens.

The ''more than they expect'' type of service is like when there is a hanger thats been in the azaleas for 4 months or any noticable limb laying around on the other side of the house, get it out- a- there. 10-20 min. is nadda to me. I look for hangers just to pull out my throwball and toss it around. Folks love free stuff.

Yes sir, clean up is very important.

I like the plastic rakes with the narrow fan (not srub rakes, smarty pants!) and stiff tines. The Union lable seem to be the most durable.

I to help with the cleanup, unless otherwise asked. I'm the rake into piles and laod onto tarps.

Tom's tobogin for the ATV is neat too.

As for raking methodology, I espouse the "Start from the edges and work in" technique. One aquaintance calls it "like a coloring book". I roll my eyes when people start in the middle.

For me raking is a zen thing. A rest from the climbig.

One other little aspect is to encourage the gorund workers to maintain one "dragpath". the shortest distance to the chipper is not allways the quickest way to get the job done.

Carl,

You seem to be doing a lot of rather big jobs. Something that I am wondering about. How do handle Liability Insurance? I would think it would be hard for a guy of your age. Unless your state is different than mine. Thanx, Rich.

clean up

everyone seems to always leave clean up untill the end, why? I have always had the rake on the lob during the work, not just pull it out at the end. if there is some down time for the ground man then he should be looking for something to do and raking is always a good idea. If there is a pile of rakings ready to throw on a brush pile while he is dragging it to the truck, it makes the job go that much faster.

I use the 24" plastic rakes from Home Depot. When the tines wear down they become "treet rakes", almost as good as sweeping.

Raking to me and John is alone time, time to meditate a little. Doesn't mean that anyone can rake faster than me though.

We'll generally rake into piles within a radius of the rake handle then pile those into the ATV tub, about five feet a long, 2.5 wide and 1.5 deep. Drop the rope on the hitch and deliver to chipper.

In the winter I use plastic scoop forks that I bought at Fleet Farm. I think they're used for pooper scoopers around horses. They sift the twigs out of the snow really well.

Tom

Originally posted by Rich Hoffman
Carl,

You seem to be doing a lot of rather big jobs. Something that I am wondering about. How do handle Liability Insurance? I would think it would be hard for a guy of your age. Unless your state is different than mine. Thanx, Rich.

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Something I wonder about also. So far, I have said that I have no insurance. That for the most part is true, but I am covered under the insurance for the stump grinding company. For most of my jobs, my name is all the insurance they need. It is fairly common for them to ask about insurance, and I tell them no I don't have any. I think that I have lost 2-3 jobs in 4 months because of that (2 of which I am fixin to get hopefully, as they haven't been done yet).

I am friends with the insurance agent, and he said that he would have to check, but he thinks that I am safe under the exsisting plan, as a employee of my father, even tho it is another company, neither are incorparated, so we are thinking that I covered.

So, right now I say I don't, I am 90% sure that I am covered under my father, and we are fixing to get that in writing. After that it will be clear sailing, free insurance, can't beat that!


Carl

Originally posted by Lumberjack
he thinks that I am safe under the exsisting plan, as a employee of my father, even tho it is another company, neither are incorparated, so we are thinking that I covered.

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That'll hold up in court

I would make sure he has it right, it is cheap for a really small operation.

Originally posted by TREETX
That'll hold up in court

I would make sure he has it right, it is cheap for a really small operation.

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Yea, it would hold up in court, we just want to make sure that I am safe to advertise that I have insurance. We both have read the policy, which is for tree trimming/removal. It is an individuals insurance policy, not the company's. I am a minor, and he is my legal gardian, so that makes me his responsiblity. Then I also work for him, so I am covered, I just want it in righting so I can advertise that.

Would like those 2 jobs tho. 1300 dollars, could do it in a 1 1/2 to 2 days with about 300 in labor only exense, cept gas and other hidden costs.

I don't mind clearin 500 a day

Carl