Old Monkey
Addicted to ArboristSite
A six wheeled cart looks great, but just think how awesome a sixteen wheeled cart would be! 
Solo Tree care
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Tree Machine
Addicted to ArboristSite
Solo Cat had all kinds of tools he said 'replaced the needs for an employees in about 19 out of 20 jobs'.
I said, "Solo Cat, you're a big, foolish turd. Look at the simple math."
Two men can get twice the work done of one man.
If it takes one man 8 hours to complete a job, with just one employee it would take 4 hours. With four men on site it would take two hours and with an 8 man crew JUST ONE HOUR.
Being the math wizard that I am, I continued:
16 men, one half hour
32 men, fifteen minutes
64 man crew, whack the job in 7-1/2 minutes
128 men, you'd be in and out of a job site in 3 minutes 15 seconds
I mean, an 8 hour job, done in just over three minutes
He said, "Thanks, I've sorta got things under control."
I said, "You're a fool, fool, fool, you foolish fooly fool." Disgusted at his insensibility, I stormed off to my upcoming 512 employee interviews.
I said, "Solo Cat, you're a big, foolish turd. Look at the simple math."
Two men can get twice the work done of one man.
If it takes one man 8 hours to complete a job, with just one employee it would take 4 hours. With four men on site it would take two hours and with an 8 man crew JUST ONE HOUR.
Being the math wizard that I am, I continued:
16 men, one half hour
32 men, fifteen minutes
64 man crew, whack the job in 7-1/2 minutes
128 men, you'd be in and out of a job site in 3 minutes 15 seconds
I mean, an 8 hour job, done in just over three minutes
He said, "Thanks, I've sorta got things under control."
I said, "You're a fool, fool, fool, you foolish fooly fool." Disgusted at his insensibility, I stormed off to my upcoming 512 employee interviews.
Stumper
One Man Band
Actually, There are some jobs where having a second or third person boosts efficiency. Generally speaking though I have always been delighted if a helper cut times by a third. On more than one occassion I've driven by a jobsite in the morning and come back by later and noted that a three man crew spent about the same amount of time as I would have on a couple of trees.Working with my Dad, we could really crank out work because we both worked hard and knew how to do everything.-Still there were moments when one had to wait upon the other.
Mike Barcaskey
ArboristSite Operative
you know, I've been wanting to post on this thread, but following Tree Machine..............there aint no one posting that good 
Tinwoodman
ArboristSite Member
Sometimes having another brain handy helps-- even if less inteligent than one's own-- Seven years old, I went in the woods with my father all the time. In those days he was hauling out firewood and pulpwood on a woods trailer behind old John Deere tractor. He got stuck in the mud with a full load on and sat down to figure out what to do. I pestered him a little, and he started telling me about another time something different but similar had happened, only without a load, and he ahd disconnected the trailer. Then he realized if he shifted the wood on the trailer so it balanced on the axle, he COULD disconnect it and pull it out with a chain from firm ground. He did it, it worked, and he told me, even though it wasn't my idea, he never would have thought of it if he hadn't been forced to talk it through out loud. Sometimes somebody else can point out the obvious too, when you may have missed it. But so far I'm doing ok by myself. Do things safely, or do them not.
basnighttrees
ArboristSite Member
TM, The six wheel cart is nice. Do you use a rescue figure 8 tied with a loop runner to lower down the rigged wood?
Tree Machine
Addicted to ArboristSite
I'll tell Solo Cat that you liked his cart.
I did offer to help him with the lowering of a decent-sized limb. He said he's been doing it alone for years, so I just watched.
He positioned himself above the limb to be lowered, threw his climbing line over one limb, and attached it to another limb at the same level as the first, giving him a short span of horizontal line. He grabbed the middle of the horizontal length, pulled it down to the limb to be cut, applied a sling (web loop with a steel biner on it) to that limb and clipped it to what was once a horizontal span, which was now a 'V'.
He then installed his flipline, looked down at me and said, "TITS!" I looked around. I didn't see any women.
The rope draping to the ground he simply clipped a biner through, attached to his right side, just so he knew where it was. His remark was, "if you have to rig something down more than double your weight, you're best advised to have help". He also mentioned never solo lowering of limbs over wires of ANY kind.
He verbalized what he expected the limb would do, then cut a v-notch out of the underside, and then a tapered hinge on top. He didn't cut all the way through. Once he started the top cut, he was looking out at the tip of the limb. As soon as he saw the slightest of motion out there, he shut off the saw, and pulled tension on the vertical portion of the rope.
All this happened in under a minute, the rigging and the cutting. He explained that he had a Z-rig, a 2:1 mechanical advantage with predictable friction over top of the limb. Then he pulls out a Silky. One hand on the rope, one hand on the Silky saw, finishing the cut.
The limb seperated, he let it smoothly lower to the ground, feathering the belay line through one gloved hand, slowly controlling every moment of the process. He stopped it momentarily to show he had authoritative control over the descent, and finally let it set on the ground. Then he pulled his rope up, hand-over-hand until the bitter end had come through the lowered limb's biner, and the rope was free to do it's next job.
He donated one biner'd sling, but had four more on his saddle.
I think this Cat is crazy. Later on he showed me some very effective sling techniques.
I did offer to help him with the lowering of a decent-sized limb. He said he's been doing it alone for years, so I just watched.
He positioned himself above the limb to be lowered, threw his climbing line over one limb, and attached it to another limb at the same level as the first, giving him a short span of horizontal line. He grabbed the middle of the horizontal length, pulled it down to the limb to be cut, applied a sling (web loop with a steel biner on it) to that limb and clipped it to what was once a horizontal span, which was now a 'V'.
He then installed his flipline, looked down at me and said, "TITS!" I looked around. I didn't see any women.
The rope draping to the ground he simply clipped a biner through, attached to his right side, just so he knew where it was. His remark was, "if you have to rig something down more than double your weight, you're best advised to have help". He also mentioned never solo lowering of limbs over wires of ANY kind.
He verbalized what he expected the limb would do, then cut a v-notch out of the underside, and then a tapered hinge on top. He didn't cut all the way through. Once he started the top cut, he was looking out at the tip of the limb. As soon as he saw the slightest of motion out there, he shut off the saw, and pulled tension on the vertical portion of the rope.
All this happened in under a minute, the rigging and the cutting. He explained that he had a Z-rig, a 2:1 mechanical advantage with predictable friction over top of the limb. Then he pulls out a Silky. One hand on the rope, one hand on the Silky saw, finishing the cut.
The limb seperated, he let it smoothly lower to the ground, feathering the belay line through one gloved hand, slowly controlling every moment of the process. He stopped it momentarily to show he had authoritative control over the descent, and finally let it set on the ground. Then he pulled his rope up, hand-over-hand until the bitter end had come through the lowered limb's biner, and the rope was free to do it's next job.
He donated one biner'd sling, but had four more on his saddle.
I think this Cat is crazy. Later on he showed me some very effective sling techniques.
Redbull
ArboristSite Guru
Soooo, can Solo Cat enlighten us on any other solo acts? Tips, tricks?
jkrueger
ArboristSite Guru
Seems, well I know, is a lot of good stuff. I do work alone a lot of the time and have heard about, and attempt these as well as versions of the techniqes described. These techniques are not only good for working alone they are very good was of working with a small crew and more than one climber.
Ya, any more about this 'solo' can be good for all,
Jack
(remember Nick loves ya)
Ya, any more about this 'solo' can be good for all,
Jack
(remember Nick loves ya)
basnighttrees
ArboristSite Member
So then was this tread a good idea? 
MasterBlaster
TreeHouse Elder
So, why did you delete your initial post? Can't pat you on the back w/o an opening post, eh? :alien:
jason j ladue
Vanilla Snoop
dont try sneakin nothin past the blaster...
Tree Machine
Addicted to ArboristSite
I'm not so sure. It could encourage guys to work alone when they really shouldn't. I'm not talking about pruning from the ground and cleaning up by yourself, I'm talking about climbing and aerial cutting.basnighttrees said:So then was this tread a good idea?
I would hate to describe some of his methods, have one of you guys go out and try it and get hurt or cause damage. Solo Cat is into the physics of what he's doing, and finds exceedingly delicious, the problem-solving aspect of his aerial biz, whether it's work positioning, movement around the crown, rigging or directional felling. The more complex and difficult the problem, the more he likes it. I saw him do something yesterday that really blew my mind. I'll share it with you if everyone promises not to try it on their own.
Tree Machine
Addicted to ArboristSite
Do ya wanna hear about it?
Tree Machine
Addicted to ArboristSite
OK. He had just taken a 14" diameter maple down, from the ground-up. The maple was situated under a monster walnut tree. He set a line in the walnut, climbed up and secured the rope to the top of the maple, where it was about wrist diameter, came down, put two rated endless-loop slings together and fashioned a choker around the base of the walnut. To this he clipped in a GriGri and installed his rigging line, what I thought was tenex, but turned out to be 11 mm stable braid. He tensioned the rope, fired up his big saw and did a sharp angle diagonal cut from the ground level right side, upward and leftward, exiting at about 16" up. The tree dropped straight down, impaling the point of the wood into the earth. "Inverted spear cut", he remarked.
He cut a 16" block, dropped the tree down vertically, released tension on the rope using the GriGri, and continued with a series of firewood-length blocks until the lowest limb was about chest-level. He cut the end of the limb off at about forearm diameter, had his six-wheel cart right under it, plop. Then in mere seconds that remaining limb became a number of firewood pieces, the last one being cut flush to the trunk, then he started dicing firewood chunks off the trunk again, the tree getting progressively shorter as the pile of firewood got higher and the limbs on his cart got taller. Also he had laid a small tarp to catch the sawdust.
The tree got smaller and smaller until there was a pile of firewood, a cart full of brush, cut-ends all facing the same direction and a pile of sawdust on a small tarp. He wheeled his cart to the chipper, with the sawdust tarp clipped to the back, about 50 steps away, dumped it over sideways in front of the infeed chute and walked back. 24 minutes. $175. I was impressed
"Not that the maple is out of the way, we can get to the real work. "Real work?" I said. "Yea, that was entertaining, but this next stuff is what I live for.
He cut a 16" block, dropped the tree down vertically, released tension on the rope using the GriGri, and continued with a series of firewood-length blocks until the lowest limb was about chest-level. He cut the end of the limb off at about forearm diameter, had his six-wheel cart right under it, plop. Then in mere seconds that remaining limb became a number of firewood pieces, the last one being cut flush to the trunk, then he started dicing firewood chunks off the trunk again, the tree getting progressively shorter as the pile of firewood got higher and the limbs on his cart got taller. Also he had laid a small tarp to catch the sawdust.
The tree got smaller and smaller until there was a pile of firewood, a cart full of brush, cut-ends all facing the same direction and a pile of sawdust on a small tarp. He wheeled his cart to the chipper, with the sawdust tarp clipped to the back, about 50 steps away, dumped it over sideways in front of the infeed chute and walked back. 24 minutes. $175. I was impressed
"Not that the maple is out of the way, we can get to the real work. "Real work?" I said. "Yea, that was entertaining, but this next stuff is what I live for.
Tree Machine
Addicted to ArboristSite
Do you guys wanna hear about this part?
Tree Machine
Addicted to ArboristSite
He put on his saddle, set his climbing line pretty close to the rigging line already up there, but higher. He had a 10 oz Harrison Rocket for a throwbag. He let the eyed end hang just above the ground, and inserted the other part through the GriGri. "This way if I get into trouble, someone can easily lower me down." He was climbing SRT on 11 mm Velocity and brought up with him a shorter section of 11 mm Fly. "Control line." he said. "For controlling the limb?" I asked. "No. For controlling me."
He got up there, set the second climbing line and got clipped into both lines. "Double SRT technique", he said, smiling. "Could you knock on the door? The client and his 8 year-old son are going to want to see this." He then proceeded to limbwalk about 3/4 of the way out, chokered the limb with the stable braid. Then he took a tenex sling, did a 4-turn prussik onto the lowering line and clipped it to the limb further upstream. "Spider." he said.
The Father and kid came out. He told them what he had just done, what he was going to do , and what was going to happen. "Eight ball in the side pocket." he smiled. The limb was horizontal, extending over top of the house within an arm's reach of the top peak of the 2nd story roof. I'm going to do another slice cut here, only this one will be from a horizontal perspective." He explained to Dad and son, "Because of the angle of the lowering line, when the limb releases it'll shoot underneath me, and to the left." "If something goes wrong, the roof takes it on the chin." He chuckled and fired up his saw.
Cutting diagonally, from the bottom, upward, he stopped 3/4 of the way through and shut off the saw. "Any further, the saw would have pinched." He pulled out his Silky to finish the cut, cutting from the top, down. "I watch the tips of the limb, and listen for the fibers starting to tear. I love the moments right before the limb lets loose. I try to bring it right to the edge, then revel in the moment. This is where you're in the crucible. This is where I feel most alive." He was pulling his Silky, ever so carefully, watching, listening, then he stopped. "Last minute triple check for safety.... OK, all systems go. You all ready?"
With one swift pull of the Silky Saw the limb released, shot left and below him, completely missed the roof and came to rest horizontally in mid-air. "WooHoo! I don't normally do this", he said, "but I just feel like dancin". While keeping the limb suspended, Solo Cat rappelled from the two climbing lines, landing like a butterfly on the suspended limb. More for his own entertainment than anybody's, I think, he did a little tap dance on the limb, fourty feet up. Then he lowered himself down and sat on the limb. "What do I do now? I'm stuck. I'm skeered." The all of a sudden he dropped the limb down about a meter while maintaining the same, exact sitting position, then he busted out laughing. Loweing himself to where he was again standing on the limb he said, " OK, NOW it gets tricky. I have to control all three ropes with just two hands." and he did. Both he and the limb descended in unison. "Aerial limb surfing, woo hoo!" all the way to the ground, nice, slow, completely in control. Just before touchdown he said to the client and son, sternly, "Do not try this at home. These are professionals. Not recommended for kids 8 years and younger".
What a knucklehead. To think he was getting paid for that.
He got up there, set the second climbing line and got clipped into both lines. "Double SRT technique", he said, smiling. "Could you knock on the door? The client and his 8 year-old son are going to want to see this." He then proceeded to limbwalk about 3/4 of the way out, chokered the limb with the stable braid. Then he took a tenex sling, did a 4-turn prussik onto the lowering line and clipped it to the limb further upstream. "Spider." he said.
The Father and kid came out. He told them what he had just done, what he was going to do , and what was going to happen. "Eight ball in the side pocket." he smiled. The limb was horizontal, extending over top of the house within an arm's reach of the top peak of the 2nd story roof. I'm going to do another slice cut here, only this one will be from a horizontal perspective." He explained to Dad and son, "Because of the angle of the lowering line, when the limb releases it'll shoot underneath me, and to the left." "If something goes wrong, the roof takes it on the chin." He chuckled and fired up his saw.
Cutting diagonally, from the bottom, upward, he stopped 3/4 of the way through and shut off the saw. "Any further, the saw would have pinched." He pulled out his Silky to finish the cut, cutting from the top, down. "I watch the tips of the limb, and listen for the fibers starting to tear. I love the moments right before the limb lets loose. I try to bring it right to the edge, then revel in the moment. This is where you're in the crucible. This is where I feel most alive." He was pulling his Silky, ever so carefully, watching, listening, then he stopped. "Last minute triple check for safety.... OK, all systems go. You all ready?"
With one swift pull of the Silky Saw the limb released, shot left and below him, completely missed the roof and came to rest horizontally in mid-air. "WooHoo! I don't normally do this", he said, "but I just feel like dancin". While keeping the limb suspended, Solo Cat rappelled from the two climbing lines, landing like a butterfly on the suspended limb. More for his own entertainment than anybody's, I think, he did a little tap dance on the limb, fourty feet up. Then he lowered himself down and sat on the limb. "What do I do now? I'm stuck. I'm skeered." The all of a sudden he dropped the limb down about a meter while maintaining the same, exact sitting position, then he busted out laughing. Loweing himself to where he was again standing on the limb he said, " OK, NOW it gets tricky. I have to control all three ropes with just two hands." and he did. Both he and the limb descended in unison. "Aerial limb surfing, woo hoo!" all the way to the ground, nice, slow, completely in control. Just before touchdown he said to the client and son, sternly, "Do not try this at home. These are professionals. Not recommended for kids 8 years and younger".
What a knucklehead. To think he was getting paid for that.
MasterBlaster
TreeHouse Elder
So I guess this guy doesn't have a computer?
Stumper
One Man Band
Psst..... Butch, Solo Cat is one of Jim's multiple personalities. Humor him.
Tree Machine
Addicted to ArboristSite
Yea, right Stumper. And do all your own cleanup? I lstened to this guy running his power blower, singing out loud thinking nobody could hear him. Man, I think this Cat is crazy.
As a matter of fact, I ask him about visiting Arboristsite. He said he's usually pretty beat when he gets home, and he treasures the few hours he has with his lovely wife. He said it would be pretty stupid to intentionally sabotage his own marriage, and besides what could he offer Arboristsite. "Go on there and toot my horn about me me me? Sounds pretty arrogant. I'm sure they'd like that. Sorry, I'll pass." I can see his point.
His methods are pretty advanced, very simplified and precise in the way he controls friction. This is one of the things he asked me not to share or take pictures of. I had to respect that. I have watched him use DdRT, DbRT and SRT interchangably during the same climb, and of course the double SRT dual rappell-single belay thing he breezed through like it was a walk in the park. Solo cat has got it going on, but he's a very private guy- just wants to serve his clients, care for trees and be left alone.
Very kind of him to allow me to share some of what he does.
As a matter of fact, I ask him about visiting Arboristsite. He said he's usually pretty beat when he gets home, and he treasures the few hours he has with his lovely wife. He said it would be pretty stupid to intentionally sabotage his own marriage, and besides what could he offer Arboristsite. "Go on there and toot my horn about me me me? Sounds pretty arrogant. I'm sure they'd like that. Sorry, I'll pass." I can see his point.
His methods are pretty advanced, very simplified and precise in the way he controls friction. This is one of the things he asked me not to share or take pictures of. I had to respect that. I have watched him use DdRT, DbRT and SRT interchangably during the same climb, and of course the double SRT dual rappell-single belay thing he breezed through like it was a walk in the park. Solo cat has got it going on, but he's a very private guy- just wants to serve his clients, care for trees and be left alone.
Very kind of him to allow me to share some of what he does.
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