Lightning struck pine speed line

[mikecross23]

I've got a lightning struck pine to remove on Monday. It leans well over the lines going into the house and landscaping is below. There are no other trees around to lower off of, but there is the perfect speed line runway.

At the ground anchor I will use a 3:1 pulley set up and for this particular job will wrap the tail on the porty.

Anyone want to clue me in to what types of cords you guys use to attach the pulley to the leg of the rope that runs up into the tree. Know what I mean? Look at the attachment below.

I've used a prusik and the distel for pulley attachments the 2 whole times I've set up a speed line. Both tied w/ 5/16" T-900. Is this a safe method?

Zip lines interest me but just aren't practical very often day to day. I've set up a few to fling myself across. Now that's fun! The last one went from a pine in the front yard over the roof and to another pine in the back yard. My mom had a fit when she found out where I took her video camera. Made a cool flic though!

-Mike-

 

[Stumper]

Mike I'm not sure I follow you-looking at your drawing I would tie or clip a 'biner to the end of the rope to hang the pulley on. I'm not sure why you would be using cords?

 

[rbtree]

Mike,

Yep, you've got the concept down pat!!! The T-900 is plenty strong. I normally use simple 3/8 polyester double braid. If we are zipping heavier stuff, with larger line, I'll use a larger prussic cord.

Use a French prussic, it is a bit better than the distel or Schwabish. Stumper, the reason for this setup is to allow quick adjustability of length.

Also, for serious lifting, as in a low branch that needs to be brought way up( or around), the chipper winch is great, as a lot of bight has to be pulled out. Tying the speed line high works great for this, but you may have to cut upper branches first to open a space to lift up into, before the branch is cut free.

However, are you aware of the high sideloading put on the trunk with speed lining? If this is a lightning struck tree, proceed with extreme caution. Consider back guying the tree. Very carefully try to access the degree of damage the lightning caused. This may be difficult to axcertain without cross sectioning the tree, not possible till you are chunking her down....

If you are zipping fairly light branches, you should be OK. Use extra caution as you proceed higher.....

When in doubt, guy it out.

Kudos to Mike Maas!

 

[mikecross23]

Originally posted by Stumper
Mike I'm not sure I follow you-looking at your drawing I would tie or clip a 'biner to the end of the rope to hang the pulley on. I'm not sure why you would be using cords?

Stumper,
I pulled that pic from the Sherrill catalog and was refering to the hitch shown in the upper left hand corner of the picture. The hitch holds the pulley to the main leg of the 3:1 system. It adjusts very easily up and down the rope to allow for proper tentioning.

I just want to know what ropes, cords, hitches, or knots are used to attach that pulley to the main leg of the speed line.

-Mike-

 

[mikecross23]

Thanks rbtree. That was the picture that popped into my head earlier. I do take side loading into consideration, but these branches are small diameter w/ no needles. I won't hesitate to climb a bit further to cut a lil' smaller though.

-Mike-

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Here's something to consider, do what you want...

Look at the title of the thread.
Look at the advice you're asking.
Look at the lines that the tree is hanging over.

I know that I don't have the opportunity to know your skill level or knowledge. Also, without even a picture, there's now way to know how risky the job might be.

What about learning advanced techniques when you have the opportunity to back out and do the job with tried and true skills?

Learning speedlining should be done when you have a tree that's a flopper. That way you can bag the speedlining if you find that you're in over your head or need a tool that you don't have.

Most of us beat down homeowners and rookies when they ask about doing advanced work. What happens if the cord doesn't work? Consider the worst...

Would anyone expect to learn how to swim by jumping off the deep end of the dock?

Musing,

Tom

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by mikecross23
I've got a lightning struck pine to remove on Monday.
How bad did the lightning hurt it? Did you explore any other option to treat the damage another way than removal? I routinely sell bark tracing, insect repelling and soilbuilding on lightning-struck trees, with an annual monitoring visit. Potentially can be better income and a better service than removal.
It leans well over the lines going into the house

Here in NC, service lines get no respect from the electric company. They wait for em to break, then fix em. Rarely do they act to preserve them, but it sounds like this may be such a case.
Anything hazardous near any power line, and I'm on the phone to their forester with a request for them to do the work.
At the very least a preliminary climb to assess hazard should be made, on the owner's dime. But if you've already bid the removal it may be too late for selling that.
Still, I hate to poop on a rigging party, and I like to speedline too, but this job sounds like trouble.

 

[Stumper]

Okay, I'm on the same page now. I looked at as if the upper pulley was going on the line termination with a seperate line running throught the tackle. I see the virtue of adjustability in placing of the upper pulley on the single line. Personally I seldom speed line and usually just hang the upper block in the loop of an Alpine Bfly with a 'biner. I have used 1/2" line prussiked onto the speed line which worked fine but I don't have enough experience to recommend "best" cordage or hitches. A BIG "that's right!" to the suggestion to guy the tree. Esp. since it has been lightning struck. Be safe and tell us how it went.

 

[mikecross23]

Thanks for the replies fellas. With the exception that I haven't seen the tree from up top yet, it looks straight forward.
Zip the branches to avoid shrubs, landscaping, and the lines below. The spar will be roped down to a safe height for me to block the rest.
The tree was only hit by lightning two and a half months ago so it's not a rotted tooth pic yet. That doesn't mean I won't install a guy or two per ya'lls recommendations.

Thanks,
-Mike-

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

May i be so bold as to suggest that speed lining over wires requires L.U.C.K., height, tightness, balance etc. as i think Tom intimated; especially in DeadWood.

Also that the recieving end can be laced through a 10' high crotch then to line compression jig to maintain more height on travel. Also that for extra tension ground pilot can tighten, anchor free end with some wraps then sweat into the 3/1 with impacting bodyweight. Or even for quicky without tensioner, a superior technique. That is to keep tight and high for light stuff, real tight for heavy or impacted weight can be very dangerous methinx.

With a quick draw on the 3/1 and plenty of travel, you can sometimes draw around with good leveraged support (3/1 x2 =6/1 @start max, as angle/bend of speedline diminishes so does the doubling of the 3/1)a limb normally outside of the range of the gravity bender/speedline, then deliver in low impact style. In addition to the the leveraged support, proper hinging and some force dissipated in turn etc. helps keep it up.

Girl is doin'charity to knight; had my fill with plastic battleaxe, terrorizing those smaller than me at church fair while working booth last weak. Sooooo.....

 

[MasterBlaster]

Dang, Ken, yur graphic skills are improving by leaps and bounds!!!

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Ken uses a circular saw to cut...hehehe...

 

[Stumper]

No Mike those are martial arts "shooting stars". Spydy is mutating into a TreeNinja.