No rigging ever

[outofmytree]

It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes to set up a portawrap and lowering block. It's worth it to save the abrasion wear on your rope.

Exactly my point. At $6 per metre my lowering rope gets the pulley and portie treatment every time.

Someone mentioned using plywood - seems like that would easily shatter when a log end butts it (try as you may, you'll end butt one every now and then). Can/does anyone use the AlturnaMats for ground protection or will end butting a log on them cause them to crack or break?

We use woolbags stuffed full of mulch. If you don't get woolbags where you live, they are a canvas bag roughly 1m3 and cost $10 each. Lay down 4 in a square and you can bomb 50 kg blocks from 10 metres up without a problem. Bigger or higher just use 8 stacked 2 deep.

Our personal best was a Eucalypt trunk roughly 12 metres high and weighing around 3 tonnes dropped on to brick paving. We laid out 16 bags in 2 rows of 8, then laid branches about 200mm diameter across the bags at 90 degrees to the trunk. We dropped that stick bang on target and broke only 1 brick.

 

[ForTheArborist]

Exactly my point. At $6 per metre my lowering rope gets the pulley and portie treatment every time.



We use woolbags stuffed full of mulch. If you don't get woolbags where you live, they are a canvas bag roughly 1m3 and cost $10 each. Lay down 4 in a square and you can bomb 50 kg blocks from 10 metres up without a problem. Bigger or higher just use 8 stacked 2 deep.

Our personal best was a Eucalypt trunk roughly 12 metres high and weighing around 3 tonnes dropped on to brick paving. We laid out 16 bags in 2 rows of 8, then laid branches about 200mm diameter across the bags at 90 degrees to the trunk. We dropped that stick bang on target and broke only 1 brick.

I just had two jobs in a row here where one tree was over hanging the patio deck, and the other was growing out of the middle of the deck. Both were wood decks, so I bought a gang of moving blankents and made a double ply layer of those where ever I was working. Then I set up pallets across those. After I dropped several branches on the pallets, the decks were fortified to handle the heavy drops. Most of it all was lowered down except for a few instances when I was getting closer to the trunks. No scratchs. No cracks.

 

[Blakesmaster]

Someone mentioned using plywood - seems like that would easily shatter when a log end butts it (try as you may, you'll end butt one every now and then). Can/does anyone use the AlturnaMats for ground protection or will end butting a log on them cause them to crack or break?

I was the one who mentioned plywood, and yes it will shatter if you hit it wrong. I mainly use it when working over driveways. Lay a few sheets of that down, pile some brush and small logs on top and bomb to your hearts content. You can't send the big un's onto it but it saves the driveway for the regular size wood. I too was wondering about using alturna mats just today. Hope someone will chime in as to whether they'll hold up or not. My guess is anyone who paid the 200 some odd bucks per sheet isn't going to let people bomb wood on them though.

 

[clearance]

It's probably just my inexperience talking but doesn't it make more sense to cut and drop? I'm learning how to climb and cut myself and it seems the more lines you have up there the more stuff there is to get caught on and go wrong, never mind a sizable chunk of wood bouncing around you. I can understand if there are obstacles below but for now my train of thought is make the cut and get it away from you and your equipment, grass grows back pretty fast.

Makes sense. Grass is cheaper than labor for people. Most don't mind fixing thier lawn, I like to pound it and move on. Course, the longer you are in the tree, the more money you can charge, I think the term is "upselling", not for me, I like to give people the best bang for thier buck.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

no i mean never. the guy i work for says " it takes to long to set up". then smashes the #### out of a lawn.

I've had guys complain that my setup takes too long, then see that I can get it done faster then they can any which way.

As said above, and in a recent and similar thread, it all depends. If someone wants does not mind the lawn full of divots, the bombs away. If I can take 2 hours off of the time to rig it out for the ground crew to fork some divots up...

If the tree is over a house, garden with pergola, A/C unit...ect...ect... then it is not cost effective to crash big wood down.

 

[Blakesmaster]

If I can take 2 hours off of the time to rig it out for the ground crew to fork some divots up...

If the tree is over a house, garden with pergola, A/C unit...ect...ect... then it is not cost effective to crash big wood down.

It's amazing what can be done with a good potato fork. I never tried to use one on an AC unit though.

 

[ND_ash]

I recently got asked to do a job in the city park, and because of the lack of funds they want them all dropped at the ground, piled and burned right there. After talking with the other guy that bid the job he commented (did you take a good look at what your cutting).
So me and him went down and looked, 22 ash trees have to come out, and 15 of them are so rotten that he wouldn't suggest even letting a guy climb, and it is almost impossible to get a truck in there. Not to sure the City didn't get other people to look before letting us bid it.

What is the best way to sound a tree for rot or hollow?

 

[jomoco]

I recently got asked to do a job in the city park, and because of the lack of funds they want them all dropped at the ground, piled and burned right there. After talking with the other guy that bid the job he commented (did you take a good look at what your cutting).
So me and him went down and looked, 22 ash trees have to come out, and 15 of them are so rotten that he wouldn't suggest even letting a guy climb, and it is almost impossible to get a truck in there. Not to sure the City didn't get other people to look before letting us bid it.

What is the best way to sound a tree for rot or hollow?

An incremental borer drill bit is the surest method I know of.

http://wesspur.com/misc/Diagnostic-Tools/increment-borers.html

jomoco

 

[senechal]

Cost effective? Most of the guys I know over 30 that moved lots of wood without the tools of today are pretty screwed up. The long term impact of tossing bulky items from the awkward positions we are almost always in, not exactly ergonomic or efficient.

I'm sure all the anti-riggers will chime in that they are fit as a fiddle -- I call BS.

 

[clearance]

I recently got asked to do a job in the city park, and because of the lack of funds they want them all dropped at the ground, piled and burned right there. After talking with the other guy that bid the job he commented (did you take a good look at what your cutting).
So me and him went down and looked, 22 ash trees have to come out, and 15 of them are so rotten that he wouldn't suggest even letting a guy climb, and it is almost impossible to get a truck in there. Not to sure the City didn't get other people to look before letting us bid it.

What is the best way to sound a tree for rot or hollow?

jomoco is right, hitting them with the dull end of an axe ain't as good. I sure hope you are just going to fall all this junk, thats what they want, if most are real bad then the rest of them can't be to far behind. Watch out for widow makers, be safe.

 

[SpecialForces]

I use all types of rigging combinations when they are needed, always a last resort to solve the problem at hand.

We all try to cut and send every piece we can to the ground "that's easy" everybody love those jobs.

But lets be realistic you cant always drop the wood and smash the F837 out of whatever is in the DZ ,, so then what do you do..?/?\. RIG THE WOOD DOWN.

The lawn is one thing that will be your cheapest repairs. I used plywood for a long time till i found AlturnaMats you can smash for as high as you want and you will never brake them like plywood and they are not as heavy and easier to work with.
Now in the situation of dropping WOOD onto A House, Pools, Items that are worth more then everything you own.... you will rope that wood down or we will see you on You Tube .

Or in the case of this guy you work for/with he would turn those jobs down because he is not a professional tree person. those type of guys dont last long in the BIZ.
He doesn't feel comfortable in the trigger position to pull it off.

AD

 

[newsawtooth]

jomoco is right, hitting them with the dull end of an axe ain't as good. I sure hope you are just going to fall all this junk, thats what they want, if most are real bad then the rest of them can't be to far behind. Watch out for widow makers, be safe.

Also if you get the job and there is any question about the integrity you can plunge the bar tip in perpendicular to the desired face cut to examine the existence of rot.

Clearance, do you have any established maximums for the presence of rot when you are clearing lines?

 

[arbor pro]

I recently got asked to do a job in the city park, and because of the lack of funds they want them all dropped at the ground, piled and burned right there. After talking with the other guy that bid the job he commented (did you take a good look at what your cutting).
So me and him went down and looked, 22 ash trees have to come out, and 15 of them are so rotten that he wouldn't suggest even letting a guy climb, and it is almost impossible to get a truck in there. Not to sure the City didn't get other people to look before letting us bid it.

What is the best way to sound a tree for rot or hollow?

Howdy neighbor to my north. If you have a long auger bit for bracing trees, just drill slowly into each tree in a few places around the trunk and look for the color change in the wood from the light livewood color to the brown decay color. Stop drilling as soon as you see a change in color of the shavings coming out of the hole and count the number of sprirals left outside the tree on the drill bit (or use a measuring tape to get a distance), then back the bit out from the tree and count the total number of sprirals on the bit (or take a total measurement of the bit) and the difference of the two is the distance the bit went into the wood before hitting decay.

It's not an exact science but it will give you a quick picture of the amount of live vs decay in the trunk wood and it will only take a minute or so per tree so long as you have either a gas powered drill or a small generator to power an electric drill.

 

[ND_ash]

Howdy neighbor to my north. If you have a long auger bit for bracing trees, just drill slowly into each tree in a few places around the trunk and look for the color change in the wood from the light livewood color to the brown decay color. Stop drilling as soon as you see a change in color of the shavings coming out of the hole and count the number of sprirals left outside the tree on the drill bit (or use a measuring tape to get a distance), then back the bit out from the tree and count the total number of sprirals on the bit (or take a total measurement of the bit) and the difference of the two is the distance the bit went into the wood before hitting decay.

It's not an exact science but it will give you a quick picture of the amount of live vs decay in the trunk wood and it will only take a minute or so per tree so long as you have either a gas powered drill or a small generator to power an electric drill.

Thanks guys
I think I'll try the drill bit, we have a 12 inch 3/8 bit and cordless drill. I would think if there is 12 inches of tree that is good they should be safe to climb. I think their are only 2 or 3 that should have a branch or so removed because of play equipment. If we have to I think we can tie them off to another tree and steer them away as they fall and stay on the ground.

 

[arbor pro]

Thanks guys
I think I'll try the drill bit, we have a 12 inch 3/8 bit and cordless drill. I would think if there is 12 inches of tree that is good they should be safe to climb. I think their are only 2 or 3 that should have a branch or so removed because of play equipment. If we have to I think we can tie them off to another tree and steer them away as they fall and stay on the ground.

You'll likely be able to feel a distict difference when the auger bit hits the softer decayed wood after going through the solid live wood. That's why I advise to drill slowly with little force on the drill. Also with a cordless, you'll want to be carefull not to get your bit stuck and not be able to reverse it out. Live wood can have quite the binding power so don't force it and reverse out your shavings as you go.