least favourite removals?

[tree md]

Ain't that the truth! I did the same thing once.

Big cottonwood in the back yard, I planned to do the whole thing with my 50' bucket truck. When I actually got there with the bucket, I discovered that 50' only put me a little way up the lowest branch, which was at least a 24"-er.

Holy cow! Now I have to climb this thing. Dang! I REALLY don't want to climb this...But I did fine, and the lady tipped me $300 at the end. She said I out-performed the three Asplundh climbers that had been there the day before doing the line clearance part of the job.

You see, this was the very first tree that I climbed after I cut off my right thumb and first finger in a shop accident. As you might guess, that is a particularly memorable tree for me.

One of the first trees I did when I went back to work after my accident was a big Cottonwood just like you described. I underbid the hell out of it. Had to roll cookies 5' tall through the back yard and out the 36" gate. The lady tipped me $200 but I still got my lunch ate on that one...

 

[Slvrmple72]

Fished the main trunk section of a Red Oak outta the Lakes using its sister tree by the shore as my crane with a 3k ATV winch attached to it at its base. Sticking my 28" bar on the 460 upto the muffler into the water to cut the branches free to leave them for fishcover pinching it and almost getting it pulled into the drink, snapping my 1/2 inch Stablebraid line, Newbie on the porty letting a piece get away from him and splashing into the water and wasting 6 manhours fishing it out, lugging every single blasted piece up 3 sets of 6 concrete steps, having the hinge fail too soon on the crane tree only to have it kiss the dock and wind up half in the water and on the retaining wall, blocking it down and falling backwards in hipwaders which only work to keep water out if you keep the top of them above water, working in wet sawdust filled hipwaders, doing this in October because they lower the Portage Lakes 4' but the water is still very cold, and adding up 47 hours of work to realize I made a little over $15/hr for a pile of Red Oak firewood that stinks like vinegar and has Zebra Mussels growing on the bark. I hated that job, dam concrete steps musta been done by an idiot, all uneven/unlevel and top step was barely long enough for my big toe, told the customer if he has them redone to call me cuz I am coming over with a six pack and a jackhammer!

 

[sgreanbeans]

Gotta love those Cotton Wood's. Heres a little fella we did about 3 months ago.

 

[sgreanbeans]

How about a big azz Palo verde. Welding gloves suggested.
Jeff

Isnt that the one they use for weapons in the ranch wars below the border! The one with the curved, hardened, razor sharp thorns that look like pure evil!

 

[TreeAce]

Dude...thats a big cottonwood for sure. Unless that climber is really small then that is a big fn log! Gotta love the green house. BE HONEST..did u use a crane?

 

[sgreanbeans]

Dude...thats a big cottonwood for sure. Unless that climber is really small then that is a big fn log! Gotta love the green house. BE HONEST..did u use a crane?

No, we rigged it all, bombed the log and cut it up, no access for any equip, all by hand. Climber is about 5'7". The glass panes that are broken are not from us, but the reason for the removal, Mrs H.O. had a close call while inside, almost took one in the head. Left all material on site, just got it to the ground and cut it up so they could handle it. Mr H.O. has crew of grounds keepers that took it from there. Rich Guy.

 

[Mike Cantolina]

I underestimated this one:

http://youtu.be/0D-UN6gUvlI

The ground and road were covered with snow when I bid it. I didn't realize how much or how fast the traffic was on that road. The tree hung out over more than I had thought also.

 

[pdqdl]

Could they re-attach your digits? I hope so.

Not a chance. They went through a wood planer.

 

[tree MDS]

Gotta love those Cotton Wood's. Heres a little fella we did about 3 months ago.

Nice tree! Who climbed that one for you, WT??

 

[tree MDS]

Not a chance. They went through a wood planer.

No offense PDQ, but for such a smart guy, you sure seem to get yourself ####ed up pretty good! .. just an observation.

 

[Blakesmaster]

I underestimated this one:

http://youtu.be/0D-UN6gUvlI

The ground and road were covered with snow when I bid it. I didn't realize how much or how fast the traffic was on that road. The tree hung out over more than I had thought also.

Nice, Mike. What lowering line were you using? Looked like 1/2 inch on that chunk of oak. That GRCS is nice though. I should really just buy one.

 

[Mike Cantolina]

Blakes, 9/16 double braid.

The grcs will lift a piece like that. We just didn't want to put too much tension on it. I knew it would flip and wanted it away from me.

I'd get one as soon as you can. A big money & effort saver.

 

[Blakesmaster]

My least favorite are by far big spruces. Boring as hell having to rope every single branch and when you're working over fences and other obstacles it often becomes too difficult on the groundies to lower several branches at once. I'm also not a big fan of standing on my spurs for extended periods of time. I'll take a big canopy with complex rigging any day of the week.

 

[Blakesmaster]

Blakes, 9/16 double braid.

The grcs will lift a piece like that. We just didn't want to put too much tension on it. I knew it would flip and wanted it away from me.

I'd get one as soon as you can. A big money & effort saver.

Even still, that was a fairly static load. Good work. That's one of the big things I like about the grcs. Being able to tip tie big wood and not have to worry about dynamic loading/getting the right number of wraps/lowering something enough to get past the climber but keep above the wires/house/etc. Lot of advantages. My annual Sherrill budget is about 3K, so maybe this year...

 

[Mike Cantolina]

That's one of the big things I like about the grcs. Being able to tip tie big wood and not have to worry about dynamic loading/getting the right number of wraps/lowering something enough to get past the climber but keep above the wires/house/etc. Lot of advantages.

Yep, I finally got one of these for it:

http://www.drillspot.com/products/75919/Milwaukee_1675-6_Corded_Right_Angle_Drill

 

[tree MDS]

Blakes, 9/16 double braid.

The grcs will lift a piece like that. We just didn't want to put too much tension on it. I knew it would flip and wanted it away from me.

I'd get one as soon as you can. A big money & effort saver.

The 9/16 seems like a no brainer for those things. Have you figured out what kind is less prone to getting the annoying little curly cues mike?

 

[Mike Cantolina]

Not really MDS, I don't have much trouble until I get up about 70ft or better. I try to alternate ends once in a while and just reflake it into the bag.

 

[Mike Cantolina]

I agree with Blake's on the spruce:

 

[sgreanbeans]

Nice tree! Who climbed that one for you, WT??

Yep, that's him!

I need to get a GCRS this year.

 

[sgreanbeans]

I underestimated this one:

http://youtu.be/0D-UN6gUvlI

The ground and road were covered with snow when I bid it. I didn't realize how much or how fast the traffic was on that road. The tree hung out over more than I had thought also.

Yeah, I hate busy roads, people dont care, always see adult women texting while driving!
How much are those helmet cams? That thing was pretty clear.