A Few Pictures of a Locust Removal

[YUKON 659]

I just wanted to post a few pictures of a a locust removal we finished up today. We started the job yesterday and worked in a misty rain for a couple of hours before calling it quits. The first couple of pics. are my son working down the main stem. The next few are me doing the falling cuts on the stem. As you can see from the pictures we working in kinda tight quarters. The tree was about 20' from the homeowners house.

Jeff

 

[YUKON 659]

Another one of Kurt.......

 

[YUKON 659]

One more...

 

[YUKON 659]

Notch cut in process...

 

[YUKON 659]

Another shot....

 

[YUKON 659]

Splittin' the notch...not sure why?

 

[YUKON 659]

Last one...the back cut.

 

[treeman82]

Looks good Jeff 2 things though; helmet in picture #1, and what angle are you using for your notch cut? From the picture it kind of looks to me like you have a very small angle there.

 

[YUKON 659]

Hey Matt, it was a little warm here this afternoon....he had his helmet, I think he was just letting his head cool off He really doesn't like to climb with that type of helmet...I think he may be looking into a rock climbing style. As far as the angle of the face... it may have been a little shallow but every thing worked out o.k.

Jeff

 

[monkeypuzzle]

In the third post(Kurt4) I was wondering if Kurt has a back cut?
That size wood will peel every time. Maybe there is one,I just can't see it. A peel is something that I avoid at all costs. It will work that cut he is making but looks a little hurried, a " let me get out of this thing" cut.


Good job!

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Hey monk, wasn't it you, who was so mad that i pointed out your lack of safety, in your pictures?

Yukon, he doesn't like safety glasses either?
The notch looks intriguing, is that some kinda double angle, done with a tiny little saw notch, I don't know about? Just kidding, good pictures, looks like another good job(just watch the safety gear).

 

[monkeypuzzle]

Yea, it was just your smart assnes that pissed me off. When ever I see a pic of a climber without their PPE on this site I think to myself "just wait till Mike Maas sees this"


I was without saftey glasses and had only one tie in while topping out a tall pine. If you look in the Nov.2002 issue of TCI you can find a YALE CORDAGE ad with Don Blair's pic right beside his climber with only one tie in making a cut just like I was making on a redwood. Remember the article a year or two back.

Call Don and jump on his A$$.

Still would like to see a few pics of you in action, oh wait, I did see the ladder totom pole pic.

 

[Mattman]

Why didn't you just chunk it down in four to five foot sections? Seems like it took longer, and put more property at risk to fell the whole stick. Glad it worked out okay.
Matt

 

[hillbilly]

How would they put property at risk by felling the spar,
as opposed to chunk it down ?

Always nice to see some pictures, thanks.

 

[YUKON 659]

Guys, I think the pictures are a little deceiving...the notch isn't as bad as it looks. Although I will admit that I do have a tough time putting a good notch in trees that are larger than my bar. This was probably over 30" at the spot where the notch was cut......20" bar. Anyhow the side of the tree where the notch is cut has a void or indendation in it and I think this is what makes the notch look so funky....double angle, bad angle etc. As far as the saftey equipment I'm trying to encourage it but.....he's my kid as well as an employee...parents don't know anything right!!!!!

Jeff

 

[NeTree]

Originally posted by YUKON 659
Splittin' the notch...not sure why?

Makes it easier to get the pieces out in BIG wood.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Originally posted by YUKON 659
but.....he's my kid as well as an employee... Jeff

Having kids myself, I gotta think it's scary seeing him do this risky work. I hope my kids don't want to get into this stuff.

 

[Striker]

I have found that making an open face notchis easier with a short saw. Make your angle cuts first then make your horizontal. you can look down the angle to see when the two cuts meet. For what it is worth, I learned that From Rip Tompkin at an Arbormaster seminar.

 

[Ryan Willock]

Good pics!!! Looks like a job well done!

 

[Reed]

Certainly there are risks, and no one could imagine the horror of a job-site accident involving one's son...but think about the nature of what else is out there. Your boy clerking at a convenience store and getting shot by an ice-freak, or driving a city bus and being jacked by a gangbanger. Trying to score a few extra bucks for school and being coerced into a smut film role, dealing a little smack on the side for pocket money. Working at an investment firm for a brokerage house. Being implicated in a rape at one of the Service academies, etc. etc.

There's pride in watching your son evolve into a dedicated worker, in a field that's honorable and a bit resistant to the pervasive greed woven into American business society. It's a dedicated service industry, not a manufacturing of junk-and-useless-trinket establishment. Certainly it's inherently dangerous but that's your job to make certain he learns all he can from someone who knows how suddenly things can go wrong. He'll get hurt most certainly, we all do to some degree but those accidents teach, textbooks can only hint of what could possible transpire. Experience. The best teacher.

Maas said "Having kids myself, I gotta think it's scary seeing him do this risky work. I hope my kids don't want to get into this stuff." I understand that - my son works with me. I deferred teaching him the 020T use for years - until necessity mandated it. He's the only one I trust using my climbing saw and that's not because of sand and grit ruining it - it's because he knows physics now and understands Murphy well - taught by experience, not a book or a classroom. WE got a foot in the door to their future, I'm not talking about funding four or more years of academic endeavors - we're greasing the skids for something they can eveolve into if they so choose. WE're luckey we have that opportunity I believe.

Reading all the posts and knowing tree people - in disagreement or not - we're a bunch that I feel our spawn is lucky to have an opportunity with. Gone are the days when we could inherit Dad's job at the big auto maker or farm in our Pa's footsteps...America has changed and certainly not for the better in many ways. Tree's are a very honorable profession and we should give chance for our own to step into it.

Be careful out there, and love what you do.