Lets get this party started...

[MasterBlaster]

Just a couple limbs, eh?

I will leave the porty in the truck if its not necessary. Roping out a couple limbs by taking wraps around the tree works just fine.

 

[TreeJunkie]

JPS, In regard to why we didn't use the grcs,,,,Man, I wish we had it that day, it would have been real nice...But we sent the bucket in to Altec for some maintenance a few days before hand and guess what thats where it was. No one remembered to get it... As you can see I was using a 4:1 pulley system to pre tension and raise back some limbs, what a pain compared to the grcs, but hey it got done.....If it's ever reserved John, thats for me,,,,,,,,Thats my baby...

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Originally posted by TreeJunkie
Thats my baby...

Aint it now.

As to a prorty as wraps are to a porty.


Wraps have there use fro time to time. Usually I will lace the rope up in the tree so I can apply my own friction then the ground can take a half wrap on the trunk.

Much easier then waiting for them to trip over the rope to get the wrap then undoe it to lower.

Frequently I can use the lacing in the crown to apply enough friction so I can self rig, then the ground only needs to untie.

 

[BigJohn]

JP I often use the same technique only due to my crew members seem to think no matter how big the piece they can hold it. Even when a porta wrap is set up. I tell them it is there and I expect it to be used to be on the safe side. Mexicans aren't robots they are people too.

 

[xtremetrees]

Pines

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Originally posted by BigJohn
seem to think no matter how big the piece they can hold it.

True all over, I regularly have to tell someone to "give me a little friction on that rope!"

It's a learning experainace, I work with so many different people that I have a little litany i go through when I'm with people i don't know.

"Peice is rigged...get ready on the rope...don't take any wraps on your hands or body.... I'm gonna do this, so it will do that...I want you to do this..."

 

[Lumberjack]

No pics, but today I had to cut 5 pines. 4 where dead, and in a grove or thicket. The live one was in the yard. It wasnt more than 12"DBH, but probably closer to 10".

I started with the live one, to get the easist out of the way. So I start up it on spikes, no biggy, but the tree was so small that I was having to put my spikes on the side, just to keep my heels from hitting when I had to stand there on the tree.

So I climb up about 30' and think, "I need to make a wrap with my lanyard, this tree is gettin really small." So I take one more step, and wham............


I slide my butt down the tree the whole freakin way. I hit the ground (didnt hurt at all). The whole way down I am thinkin that i need to lean back to get the lanyard to catch on something, but the trunk was smooth. Got rope burn on my hand from it sliding down the tree, and missin some skin from my bicept.

The customer (a friend) asked if I meant to do that. I said "Kinda, I forgot my ear plugs."

So now I am on the ground, I make a wrap and head back up the tree, get to about 40' and cut out what is left of the top. Come down on my rope, and cut the spar.

Wish that I had a video of it, it must have been mighty funny.

Cut the rest of the trees, feelin like crap for slidin like that. Felt "off" for the rest of the day, but the work has to be done. Took me 2 hours to cut all five, and buck up the trunks for the fella. We all shot the breeze for a long time, and I sharpened a chainsaw. All in all it was pretty fun tho. No cleanup!!

Lessons learned. When the tree is that small, make a wrap!!

 

[NeTree]

Originally posted by Lumberjack

The customer (a friend) asked if I meant to do that. I said "Kinda, I forgot my ear plugs."

Nice save!


Glad yer okay.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Err, hows yur thumbnail?

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

i like friction in crown as JP says; climber quickly sweating in hard to the support; with the load hitchpoint and hinge cut far enough apart to let the load leverage the rest of it's needed tightness automatically as i am cutting down slightly. Sometimes even lifting the limb a few degrees as i pretighten, then when it settles back down to original position as i am cutting, it can be about tight enough; starting about from 0.

If i am using that rig to sweep sideways, i might come over the top of the load with the line, under the belly, and hitch to side towards support's pull. Then sweat the line in hard, try to even get a little of that lift as mentioned before. That cocked/torqued bend in line will push towards the support harder i believe than just the line pull, as it tries to 'unroll' automatically as the line takes more weight. If the line is pretightened enough, that roll effect will even give slight rise 'uphill' inload at first. The power of the technique is from the line tension, so pretightening with high leverage sweating in can be key, then letting the load leverage it's own needed tightness too, to finish precisely. So, instead of guessing what to pretighten line to, to match and float the load, i take the guess werk out, and let nature match it for me. You have to trust the preset, and cut down at first, to purposefully load the line to more tightness, thereby empowering the torque and support effects at the same time; then cut across to the target. If you can get the line loaded to maximum, and cut faster to allow folding at that precise point; the increased pull will force a stronger/better supporting hinge. This would give you a strong hinge, with a fully tightened line, and motion where you wish it to be directed.

Maintaining the control of the hinge as long as possible, like a second rigging point as a disposable butt tie, is a very good strategy, this i believe a step further. Also, the hitchpoint is important, the idea is partially to make the load before the tearoff carry on the line and not the hinge lightening hinge's job, (and more gradually handing the weight off to the line from hinge for less/no impacint of it and supports etc.). When the line is the weight bearing pivot before tearoff (rather than hinge), the hinge's job is lightened the most with a hitchpoint at the C.o.B. i just try to hitch right before that on the hinge side, if i can.

In the torque position of the line, is only a small 'dot' of hinge fiber is left, the torque is enough to spin on that hinge, it is only a longer rib of hinge that gives enough leverage against this spin (wanting to flip load over), that makes the torque into turning power instead (of spin/flip).

The 'unrolling'/flip action will take place, dropping the limb some on the dot hinge or later at tearoff; unless there is a further restriction (bend wants to come out bad, so i use that) branch it hits on the way, or strategically placed carabiner to restrict it from unrolling but so far.

Rope fiber tension and wooden hinge fiber tension are really amazing leveraged supports to me(and about only ones available besides lightly rolling off something etc.), and how the same amount of motions approximately can make all the differance in the world depending on their target and the mechanical instructions they give to a setup. How the impossible can become self working grace by allowing nature wanting to match everything with an equal and opposite force, to leverage for you is quite a fun puzzle sometimes, and can have the balanced ease to watch of a natural wonder as it floats IMLHO! In some ways a lot to call out in a rig, but with some practice and thinking, i believe a good conductor can orchestrate sweet music from.


Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrr something like that!
:alien:

 

[Sep]

Carl, I'm glad to here that your ok from your mishap. Its refreshing to here someone mention an accident, that in the end could make another member think before doing the same thing. JPS, I know exactly what your saying about working with inexpierenced ground guys, the scarry thing is that most of them never get a mentor to show them the right ways to do things. Thats got to be one of the reasons that we have so many tragic accidents in this profession.

Sep

 

[murphy4trees]

I always noticed moments like the one Lumberjack shared would occur shortly after I had had a thought like ..." Aren't I great at this".... Always thought it was God's way of keeping me humble...

Like the time in '86 that I tried to show a newbie how to move a ladder...

"You do it like this " as I picked up a fully extended ladder then lost control of it, fighting it all the way to its crash on the deck...
He just laughed...
..... humbling..

 

[BigJohn]

Ladders are way too dangerous. I never handle those nor do I work on the roof unless tied in. You hear too many stories and somehow the ladder is involved directly or indirectly. You know my stand on this. THey have no place among men who CAN climb trees. The ladders on my truck are for the ground men so they can blow off the roof.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

A ladder is just another tool. It can be used, over used, and misused.
What freaks me out is how a skilled arborist can climb a hundred feet in the air on skinny branches and yet be afraid of, not know how or when, to properly use a ladder.

 

[BigJohn]

Just another tool for a painter or carpenter.

 

[BigJohn]

Just the other morning I heard how some firemen were takeing down a ladder and laid it back into a 7.6 kv line. They all had to be taken to the hospital.

 

[BigJohn]

Isn't there some surperstition about ladders?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Speaking of superstition

Big John's post was the 666th response.

I had to move it off that number.

:angel:

 

[murphy4trees]

Big Jon,
If I could climb like you, I'd use a ladder far less often. And I still like them.... My favorite ascending tool.... Having 24-40' helps a lot on small and medium sized trees... And on big ones a guy like me needs all the help I can get.
I was pruning a white birch recently.. making a few reduction cuts at the tips and wondering how you would have gotten it done...
The ladder was leaning on 3" wood.. I was standing on the top rung tied in on a lanyard and reaching up with the handsaw...

 

[murphy4trees]

Here's me just off a ladder...
Wearing spikes on a takedown... I could have spiked up the tree but its easier to just walk up a ladder.
AS I recall on that job I was scared becasue the tree was in such bad shape... I went up on th ladder and tied in... and took some weight off the tree before I stepped off the ladder... I would have been OK to work from the tree but having my weight on the ladder made me feel better about it...