1270d
ArboristSite Guru
I'm curious, what do you normally do with trees that need to be jacked. Do you leave them till you have a few to do, or lay em down as they come. How commonly is a jack needed?
Silvey little feller
- Thread starter DavdH
- Start date
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If I can, I try to cut around them and save them for later. I can't always do that...usually because of terrain or lay...but it seems to work better for me if I can fall them into clear ground.
Where I work there isn't a lot of jacking anymore but it's still common enough that a good faller will usually have a set. Most of what I see being jacked now are trees that lean into an RMZ or out into a sensitive boundary. Lots of powerlines around too, especially close to town.
A big valuable tree can be jacked into a softer lay sometimes to try and save it out. The key word here is try...it doesn't always work. That's another reason why I like doing them by themselves. If it's one tree, keeping it in lead doesn't matter nearly as much as lay.
Cutting alongside a highway or a roadway with any amount of traffic usually calls for some jacking. We'll put out flaggers and stop traffic but if a big one gets away and damages the roadway whatever agency owns the road starts getting dollar signs in their eyes. You're not only liable for the damaged spot but also a large area around it and all the extra people involved in getting the tree out of the way.
Jacks, once you catch on to using them effectively, are good cheap insurance. You might not use them often but when you have to you'll be glad you got them.
its funny you should ask...
Used a 20t bottle jack to tip a cotton wood today... but I'm new to jacking, otherwise it stays in the crummy until its needed, have a couple few tomorrow that may or may not need jacking... we'll have to see.
Another benefit of the silvey is that the pump is generally separate from the jack so you can watch the top while pumping away, with a bottle jack its a little odd...
paccity
Addicted to ArboristSite
the set i sent to ak a few months ago went to work the day after arrival. a few boundary fatties. a very nice and efficient tool to have when you need it.
paccity
Addicted to ArboristSite
you have a gauge on that jack.? one more thing to look at besides the stem.
A gauge is good to have but sometimes they're scary to watch. If It's windy and the tree is setting back on the jack and then off again that gauge going redline will sure get your attention. You start working a little faster then. Okay, you start working a lot faster.
I'd rather have a gauge than not, though.
With a bottle jack I'd worry about the fixed head slipping out and then the tree setting back..and if you're sawed up far enough it can come right back over the hinge at you. I think maybe with a bottle jack I wouldn't try to lift very far.
DavdH
ArboristSite Operative
I noticed there are no jack plates w/ this jack, my tree saver has big jack places w/ cut outs machined for the jacks to set in. The gauge is good (fun and scary) to watch, really gets interesting in the wind, doesn't take much wind to show up on a gauge. We always BACK UP THE JACKING WITH WEDGES so with a jack you need a couple dozen rifled 12" wedges. As Gologit mentioned if you are jacking there is a reason and usually a problem, hopefully being solved, and some times made much worse. Almost always involved are structure, roads and power lines. We mostly jack big stuff to keep it out of a meadow or stream protection areas because they make you go in and hand pile in those areas, we even, rarely, rig up a tree to pull as an absolute last resort usually for hazard removal, putting a steel choker up a tree isn't like throwing a line and pulling up a rope. If you are going to pull with a D7 you better have something that can take 70,000 lbs. or things go screwy fast, and 200' of 7/8" line is heavy, it usually take at least that much to keep the cat skinner on the cat.
no gauge... why I still want a set of silveys... the bottle jacks work but they sure ain't ideal...
It's like you're reading my mind.
bitzer
******** Timber Expert
I jacked two big limby maples away from a corn field the other day. Saved them for later cause packin that jack around (60lbs or so) is a #####. I should have jacked a heavy topped maple that was leanin over the main skid road today. I beat the #### out of myself wedging it instead. Like what was probably mentioned before, the jack is just a helper- wedges should always be pounded and snugged at the same time.
Jacking is just a mechanical advantage very similar to wedges. You could almost say why wedge a tree when you could put a rope in it? Just not practical in a production timber falling situation.
There was a shed and the property boundary directly behind me here.
Not your everyday situation, but I had an indian burial mound behind me here.
View attachment 314231
View attachment 314236
Jacking is just a mechanical advantage very similar to wedges. You could almost say why wedge a tree when you could put a rope in it? Just not practical in a production timber falling situation.
There was a shed and the property boundary directly behind me here.
Not your everyday situation, but I had an indian burial mound behind me here.
View attachment 314231
View attachment 314236
hammerlogging
Addicted to ArboristSite
Mmmm, double like.
imagineero
Addicted to ArboristSite
Bitzer, did you make that jack handle yourself? Does the plate on the end act as a lever for levering trees over?
Shaun
Shaun
hammerlogging
Addicted to ArboristSite
bet ya 5 cent its a foot pad for leg jacking. a 5 cent guess.
You really should call the Texas forest service and report those champion trees. If they exist. Which they don't.
Here is a link the champion Loblolly pine in Texas. 52" DBH (165 CBH) and 130' tall.
http://texasforestservice.tamu.edu/...try/Big_Tree_Registry/TheBigNews-Fall2008.pdf
bitzer
******** Timber Expert
Nope, no foot jacking! Although not a bad idea. Yeah I made that as a felling lever for this one particular job where it was absolutely crucial that all the timber go a certain direction. That direction was away from indian burial mounds. That meant directionally falling every little damn stick. It worked well, but I've not used it since. No need for it really. Just a jack handle now.
NW.log.cutr
ArboristSite Lurker
Your ropes will take about an hour maybe two to get a tree in the ground. How bout you bring your ropes and I'll bring my big doubles and see who gets the treedown faster......
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