Dead Oak??

[woodchuck357]

After saying I wouldn't climb a long dead hickory

I did it today. The way I did it would have worked with the OP's oak. There was no option but to chunk it down, so I put three guy ropes up at 40 feet, snugged them all up, drilled into it to make sure there was some solid at the center, climbed and chunked until I got down to the guy tie in. Then I roped down, reset the guy ropes at 20 feet, climbed back up chunked some more. Repeated with guy ropes at 10 feet. Never got shakey or worried.

 

[CalTreeEquip]

I did it today. The way I did it would have worked with the OP's oak. There was no option but to chunk it down, so I put three guy ropes up at 40 feet, snugged them all up, drilled into it to make sure there was some solid at the center, climbed and chunked until I got down to the guy tie in. Then I roped down, reset the guy ropes at 20 feet, climbed back up chunked some more. Repeated with guy ropes at 10 feet. Never got shakey or worried.

And that is exactly how its done boys!

 

[beastmaster]

I did it today. The way I did it would have worked with the OP's oak. There was no option but to chunk it down, so I put three guy ropes up at 40 feet, snugged them all up, drilled into it to make sure there was some solid at the center, climbed and chunked until I got down to the guy tie in. Then I roped down, reset the guy ropes at 20 feet, climbed back up chunked some more. Repeated with guy ropes at 10 feet. Never got shakey or worried.

I did an Oak the same way. One of the codominite leaders already had fell over. I could push my pocket knife to the hilt in the soggy below ground root flair. Tree was still green and heavy. We stabilized it with three ropes and up I went. Part of it went over some 220 and phone lines. The boss wanted me to catch those limbs. No way. I started climbing to the top so I could take small peices, but reached a point my inner voice said, High enough. That's what nice about being 55 years old, I don't have to listen to no one if I don't want. I had them send a 21ft silky pole saw up to me and I whittled it down tell I felt better about it.
Before dropping a 15 ft stick I pulled it with a truck to see if it would fall. Nope, it held. There just trees, not worth dieing over(unless the price is right)

 

[TheJollyLogger]

I did an Oak the same way. One of the codominite leaders already had fell over. I could push my pocket knife to the hilt in the soggy below ground root flair. Tree was still green and heavy. We stabilized it with three ropes and up I went. Part of it went over some 220 and phone lines. The boss wanted me to catch those limbs. No way. I started climbing to the top so I could take small peices, but reached a point my inner voice said, High enough. That's what nice about being 55 years old, I don't have to listen to no one if I don't want. I had them send a 21ft silky pole saw up to me and I whittled it down tell I felt better about it.
Before dropping a 15 ft stick I pulled it with a truck to see if it would fall. Nope, it held. There just trees, not worth dieing over(unless the price is right)

They aren't worth dieing over now? I've been meaning to get a copy of the new ansi guidelines, I'd heard they'd made some changes....

 

[BC WetCoast]

This probably wouldn't work in this situation, but what we have done for large hedges where we couldn't get a haulable lift into and are too tall for a ladder and too spindly to climb is to rent one of those erecta set scaffolds, that the construction/painters use. It's pretty cheap to rent and easy to put together. Gives you a steady platform to work from and better than a ladder.

Just another tool for the toolbox.

 

[B Harrison]

Since you said it, I have been 5 bucks high of light weight (not bakers, but 4'x7') 20' at my feet scaffolding. We then tied off to the house and re-framed that wall from the outside.

With regular masons scaffolding I wouldn't hesitate to take single stack 30' (with 3 tie offs). You could take a lot of trees down from 30' at your feet, and hand the bigger blocks down the scaffolding.
I once did a long dead white oak (not near anything) and had the tree crumble into man killer 4' logs (top) and 5 logs once it passed 15% of its fall. No wedging or pulling, completely on its own just crumbled. The top and first 3 hunks weren't heavy maybe 80 lbs. but from 40' up they would have killed a man plenty dead had someone been standing to the side down hill.

 

[Limbrat]

I'm a full time 32 year power company lineman and part-time arborist and my utility and every other one I know of will drop a service wire at no charge whatsoever. I've done it several times for trees I was taking down. Why take a risk ripping down a service, the HO's siding, meter base, etc, or even getting yourself killed? Plus, many times it makes the difference between standing on your spikes, roping and chunking, or felling the whole tree. With most utilities, you must make a service appointment a day or two ahead of time. As for the dead oak, it's good to be able to say, "I'm passing on this one". Know your skills and limitations and don't push the envelope too closely or we'll be reading about you in the Injuries and Fatalities forum. Watch, listen and learn, that's what this site is all about and these guys have helped me immensely. Oh, by the way, thanks ArboristSite and all of you who make it work!

 

[beastmaster]

I heard of a guy up in Big Bear, who got 50,000.00 dollars (that was 15 years ago too) for removing a dead pine over a newly constructed multi million dollars house. The tree crispy dead, and wet and pulpy at the base, no one else even bid it. No crane access. He built scaffolding up it, stabilizing the scaffolding with guy wires.
I can see a lot of things that could of gone wrong, but 50 grand, I would of tryed it.
Don't know how high it was but the trees there are tall. 35 feet should be easy, but dangerous. wouldn't do it for 1600.00

 

[woodchuck357]

Not having pics I can't say what the oak would have cost the home owner to have me take it down. I did the 60 ft hickory for 500. The HO did all the cleanup. His wife made us a fantastic supper and I had a fun afternoon. If I had planed on doing the removal I would have brought more rope or cable to put all three levels of guy attachments at the same time. I just used what stays in the truck. Would have took less time than resetting them three times. But I would have been done and gone before supper time!