And how many degrees?
Silvey little feller
- Thread starter DavdH
- Start date
Help Support Arborist Forum:
I would never be one to say there's nothing to be learned from a different perspective. I love learning new stuff. All I'm saying is that the reason folks around here do things the way we do is because it has proved over many years to work. Again, no disrespect.
None intended on this side either. Just offering a different point of view. I have pulled some hard leaners over that I never would have tried with a jack. Get a rope up high and the leverage is incredible.
JL for by all that hatte, pac and NM said ........and I get what ya saying bout the throwline .......however getting something to pull the rope could be an issue due to terrain and also there is the trust factor as well
You're in over your head here. Have you ever worked on a big conifer? A D-fir say 48" DBH might have limbs starting a 10' feet up that continue to the top at 175". There is no way to set a rope with a throw line with a hundred branches in the way that spread 60'. And yes I climb and yes I carry a throw line. I also have a BigShot. I'd like to have a line gun for that matter. I also know rigging and mechanical advantage. I taught it to firefighters. I have a ton of rigging stuff, pulleys, bull ropes, wire rope, a Tirfor winch (aka Grip Hoist). I even have a winch on my truck. And lots of wedges, my favorite being a hot pink wedge from Warshington. But, none of that replaces a jack when it's needed.
Your title says Logger so you have to understand the concept of "local conditions". (And you also need to understand that our mountains can be quite steep. So steep you can't drive up to the tree.) If I were to be hired to fell trees in Texas I would ask lots of questions and LISTEN to the answers. I would not say "well in California we do it this way...". If I had to fall someone's 12" tree in their front yard of their trailer park I would not grab the jack. Nor would I drive the D8 through the neighborhood and hook up a 3/4" wire rope. I would use the appropriate response to the local conditions and needs of the tree.
Take a look on youtube for some big take downs and the use of jacks. You might just learn something. Or maybe not.
Last edited:
imagineero
Addicted to ArboristSite
I use throwlines and pull ropes every day, but I wouldn't be taking one with me if I went back to logging for so many reasons, and some of them have already been mentioned. You're going to need at least 2 throwline setups, or maybe 3, 200' of 5/8" minimum (300' would be better), and a big shot or a crossbow or whatever line launching tool you prefer. That's a lot of gear to haul. Depending on what region you're in and what you're working with, you may not be able to get a clear shot anyhow. If you can get a clear shot, and get the line back to the ground successfully (clock's ticking!) you then have to rig up MA (and carry those pulleys and carabiners, slings etc with you also). You then have to tension it yourself since you don't have a groundie, and you'll need some kind of progress capture, then back to the tree, then cut, back to the rope (don't walk down the path of the lay!) and maybe repeat that a couple times. If you're on steep ground, and falling down hill, you may never be able to get an angle of better than 20* on your rope which is completely useless anyhow. And even if all goes well and the tree goes over, you now have to get the rope back out from under the tree. You won't be shouldering it over, and you have to buck to length just like normal, so how are you going to get the rope out?
Jacks make sense for some kinds of work. We don't have any of that kind of work where I'm at in aus, but there's plenty of it down south with all the Eucalyptus Regnans down there, good size trees with many over 6' DBH, and many specimens in the 200'+ range, some with the first branch well over 100'. You're not wedging that over.
Throwlines and pull ropes make a lot of sense when you've got just one tree, and it has to go right. If you've got a few hundred thousand and there's nothing to damage other than the trees and yourself, then you've got to get on with the work.
Shaun
Jacks make sense for some kinds of work. We don't have any of that kind of work where I'm at in aus, but there's plenty of it down south with all the Eucalyptus Regnans down there, good size trees with many over 6' DBH, and many specimens in the 200'+ range, some with the first branch well over 100'. You're not wedging that over.
Throwlines and pull ropes make a lot of sense when you've got just one tree, and it has to go right. If you've got a few hundred thousand and there's nothing to damage other than the trees and yourself, then you've got to get on with the work.
Shaun
Last edited:
I would totally drive a D8 through a trailer park:wink2:
paccity
Addicted to ArboristSite
Good answers to JL's question so far. His question was good too.
We need to get him out here and let him spend a week or so watching how we do things. I wouldn't want to do his job...dropping trees around houses and powerlines gives me the willies.
Jeff, pulling a big tree with a bull line is still done but it's not a common thing anymore. And it's hardly ever done on a straight production show. Too slow and awkward. A good faller who knows how to use jacks and wedges can do the same thing in a fraction of the time. Our logging out here is about getting as much wood on the ground as quickly as you safely can.
On specific trees, hazard trees and such, there's still some climbing, rigging and pulling going on. Get a copy of Beranek's book...High Climbers and Timber Fallers. There's some great pictures and descriptions of rigging and pulling Redwoods to look at. But note that they're usually not done in the context of pure logging...as in production...but more to mitigate hazard or try to save out some old outlaw that was passed over in previous years because it was low grade. Any Redwood is valuable now and the guys will go to great lengths to save it out.
We need to get him out here and let him spend a week or so watching how we do things. I wouldn't want to do his job...dropping trees around houses and powerlines gives me the willies.
Jeff, pulling a big tree with a bull line is still done but it's not a common thing anymore. And it's hardly ever done on a straight production show. Too slow and awkward. A good faller who knows how to use jacks and wedges can do the same thing in a fraction of the time. Our logging out here is about getting as much wood on the ground as quickly as you safely can.
On specific trees, hazard trees and such, there's still some climbing, rigging and pulling going on. Get a copy of Beranek's book...High Climbers and Timber Fallers. There's some great pictures and descriptions of rigging and pulling Redwoods to look at. But note that they're usually not done in the context of pure logging...as in production...but more to mitigate hazard or try to save out some old outlaw that was passed over in previous years because it was low grade. Any Redwood is valuable now and the guys will go to great lengths to save it out.
I couldn't rep you and there is no "like" function so this will have to do.
And to me that's what this site's all about. If you'll look back, my original post was entitled "just curious". Didn't mean to offend any one. I know ya'll deal with some monsters we don't have in Texas, although it isn't all scrub oaks and trailer homes down here either. Big Thicket are has plenty of 140-150' 60+" dbh loblollys. Bob, I'd give my left nut ( keep in mind that's the one that got squished by my saddle a few years ago and I don't fully trust) to spend a week up there. Who know's maybe we can make that happen some day. Jeff
No offense here...
However if you have a D8 and a mobile home park that needs squirshed you be sure to give me a call...:msp_wink:
However if you have a D8 and a mobile home park that needs squirshed you be sure to give me a call...:msp_wink:
I could juss see ya doing that bro lol......then shouting ya tag line bout making a mess lol
Believe me, after Ike there were a few trees that I thought if I'd dropped 'em the wrong way I'd be doin' 'em a favor... just sayin...
treeslayer2003
Addicted to ArboristSite
Jeff, 60" lob is a hoss. we have a very few that size. do you have any long leaf pine?
No, it's almost all loblolly. The true tragedy of the Bastrop fire was how it ripped through the "Lost Pines" area of.. central Texas. It was the last stand of Central Texas large pines. It ripped the heart out of that stand. They're working on reforesting efforts, but it will be a century long effort. As far as East Texas goes, no longleafs I've seen, just big loblolly.
And keep in mind those were very rare, most aren't nearly that big.
greg storms
ArboristSite Operative
bed/breakfast/tree cuttn
That's a marketable idea: have a family member open a bed n breakfast & charge a fee to let us curious ones spend a day watching, cuttn n funnin!
That's a marketable idea: have a family member open a bed n breakfast & charge a fee to let us curious ones spend a day watching, cuttn n funnin!
madmarksolomon
Timber Junkie
Bed and beer
treeslayer2003
Addicted to ArboristSite
that is a shame, but if they reforest what was there that be good. we had at least 4 different pines, at least 3 get really big but slow growers. they only plant lob and I think it a hybred, it don't get big n tall like our bull pine. it does grow fast like for pulp.
Similar threads
Want to Sell
Silvey 510
Want to Buy
Silvey Bar Shop Manual
