Treeslaying Illinois style

[treemandan]

If you have a very cluttered tree....let's say a pinoak. You cannot shoot a high crotch and do you go up the tree to tie in by attaching a lanyard, then throwing a line over and over and over and over ??

You have a take down and it is a easy spike. Do you buck in over and over and over??

This is very similar to the "if you don't wear a hard hat you are not as good as me" routine.

You bet, that is the job.
I hope not to sound like what you describe, it is nowhere near my intention.

 

[lego1970]

I still free climb on occasion but not so much anymore. Not trying to prove anything, just enjoy it.

Know of many instances and one in particular where serious falls have occurred spiking up a tall straight pole not much unlike a free fall while bucked in.

We used to always use flat lanyards and you could wrap them around the trunk twice and it would cinch up on just about everything except a Sycamore if your gaff kicked out and you slipped down.

I used to do alot more free climbing but anymore I worry that if the gaff kicked out or I lost my footing that I might not be strong enough anymore to pull myself back up, especially at the end of a long day. Don't get me wrong I'm still in good shape, I jog and play with the weights a little three or four times a week, but I get cramps pretty easy. Also about 8 years ago there was a fellow at Asplundh that fell about 35' while free climbing. He landed on his knees and hands. He broke multiple bones but what was really nasty is that it broke the bones out of his forearms and the bones jammed into the ground. A few months later he came out with the General Foreman and showed us the pictures as a reminder of what can happen if you screw up when free climbing. Between that and having a kid, I'm a little more cautious, even though I screwed up a year ago and broke my leg. Like you said in a Pin Oak, I'll free climb, but otherwise I'm normally bucked in after about 10 feet.

 

[treeslayer]

real tempting in pin oaks, cluttered pines and the like to just climb up by hand, but when connecting to the rope, and / or cutting, I gotta be clipped in to something.

 

[ropensaddle]

I would be lying if I said I have never free climbed but do try to avoid it. Always have a three point hold if doing so though.

 

[treeslayer]

always have one hand on the tree, and one hand on the saw.

 

[outofmytree]

I always have one hand on something... but thats another story...

 

[outofmytree]

No fear here.....been up in the treetops decades longer than your 8 years. Just settled into a little more common sense and don't push the envelope. Seen lots of guys like you take nasty falls. Fell almost 60 feet once myself.

I can see using that old firetruck for climbing off of for tree work but all the other foolishness, while entertaining on this thread, is really kinda silly, and at the basic level, what does it have to do with this forum anyway? .

OMG OMG OMG. Has the world stopped turning???

Did TV just pull someone up for being unsafe in the workplace?????

Perhaps I have accidently logged into an alternate universe......

 

[treevet]

I wore a spongebob paper party hat, with the elastic chinstrap firmly engaged.

safety first!

not pulling someone up for safety violations my friend but rather just enjoying the contrast from this post (while hanging upside down and working the hitch with his feet after free climbing a 100 ft ladder) and the booming over uncovered primaries etc. to Mr. Treeslayer becoming the safety spokesman. (lol)

 

[treeslayer]

not pulling someone up for safety violations my friend but rather just enjoying the contrast from this post (while hanging upside down and working the hitch with his feet after free climbing a 100 ft ladder) and the booming over uncovered primaries etc. to Mr. Treeslayer becoming the safety spokesman. (lol)

watching that load go over the power line freaked me out, too, my brother. I only make the cuts, somebody else runs the crane.

and c-mon, the ladder climbing stunts are less than an hour a week. And never on a jobsite, and always just plain fun.

anybody that has ever worked with me knows I take this schit serious.

and me the spokesman? with a spongebob party hat on?

Safety is every-bodies job, too, right?

 

[treevet]

ya know, while not maybe following every little edict in the "idiots guide for safety in the tree biz" I will match my safety record against anyone's and I prob have as much or more time in the trees than anyone on this forum.

When it comes to employee safety I am flawless. What's more I have never sent a climber up a nasty barkless 100 foot tree all rotten in the base or way over primaries with no aerial access.....when I could have many many times.

I have always done those myself and had the climber work the ground. That may end soon because of my age but still I can say I would have done that myself if I could have.

See so many climbers sent up in ultra dangerous situations and it is just a Work. Comp. claim to the big company owner that professes safety purity.

 

[treeslayer]

When it comes to employee safety I am flawless. What's more I have never sent a climber up a nasty barkless 100 foot tree all rotten in the base or way over primaries with no aerial access.....when I could have many many times.

I have always done those myself and had the climber work the ground. That may end soon because of my age but still I can say I would have done that myself if I could have.

music to my ears, very commendable.

but I'm sure you've had some employees who complained anyway, right?

 

[treevet]

watching that load go over the power line freaked me out, too, my brother. I only make the cuts, somebody else runs the crane.

and c-mon, the ladder climbing stunts are less than an hour a week. And never on a jobsite, and always just plain fun.

anybody that has ever worked with me knows I take this schit serious.

and me the spokesman? with a spongebob party hat on?

Safety is every-bodies job, too, right?

You would have a little trouble giving a crowded seminar with that lid on lol you are light hearted and fun guy. Safety is helped by that. I could tell some stories of uptight jobs and accidents.

 

[outofmytree]

When it comes to employee safety I am flawless. What's more I have never sent a climber up a nasty barkless 100 foot tree all rotten in the base or way over primaries with no aerial access.....when I could have many many times.

I have always done those myself and had the climber work the ground.

Damn it Dave. How can I give you a hard time when you post this sort of thing!!

I operate the same way. My guys often complain they don't get to climb enough but if it looks nasty I would rather do it myself than put someone else in the firing line so-to-speak.

 

[treeslayer]

we need somebody to pick on.

guess I'll take the camera out today and do the old, "hold my beer, watch this" :hmm3grin2orange:

Treevet, you a Dave also?

 

[ropensaddle]

You would have a little trouble giving a crowded seminar with that lid on lol you are light hearted and fun guy. Safety is helped by that. I could tell some stories of uptight jobs and accidents.

I once knew a guy that would write a guy up for one ear plug falling out he was plagued with accidents. You really got to make the job fun including safety or be prepared to go through tons of help. No one wants to work for a prick. I have been fortunate and hope to stay so never a serious accident, no one hurt including myself in 26 years. I am safety minded but not uptight with it tailgate meetings with what if scenarios they know ppe is required. It is boring to go over and over about ppe as some do but never train about what to do if in real trouble in a sticky situation like a limb on the 3 phaze or mentioning accidents that happen even when all safety rules are followed. Example; I was shown pictures working for the big o of a guy topping a tree to be removed and he made a great notch had a pull rope and adequate pull but while on his backcut the spar split and he instinctively grabbed the spar just about the time the top broke free of the other half and the trunk closed and smashed all his fingers. It was one of those freeky things like wearing a hard hat doing nasties then while on break a large limb falling and nailing you drinking water,weird #### happens and really some are not suitably preventable unless you stayed home.



I learned to put a ratchet binder at the cut from that accident when doing large top and drops, trees do split and so do limbs freeky #### happens and that is the true safety meeting stuff after the :newbie: gets broken in.

 

[lego1970]

What's more I have never sent a climber up a nasty barkless 100 foot tree all rotten in the base or way over primaries with no aerial access.....when I could have many many times.

I have always done those myself and had the climber work the ground. That may end soon because of my age but still I can say I would have done that myself if I could have.

That's pretty honorable.

Luckily most guys I've worked under were either more skilled they I or at least
very respectiful towards the danger of the work.

I also drive semi-trucks and last year when my leg was healing I was driving trucks in the winter. This truck didn't have heat from Dec 13th until March 4th. I'm used to backpacking, doing tree work in the winter etc, etc. But driving and sleeping in a truck for two weeks at a time with no heat in the dead of winter was plain miserable. I had to sleep with my ink pens so the ink wouldn't freeze so I could fill out my log book in the morning. Couldn't keep water in truck unless you slept with it. One night in Williston North Dakota it was -4 F inside the cab of the truck. This guy made one lame, half ass attempt to fix it. His Dad even owned a International repair shop, yet they never did fix it. When I would come thru the terminal and see him stroll into work in his Caddilac Escaliade while I'm in some POS ragged out semi, I just wanted to punch him. I had no respect for him.

Most tree guys I have more respect for because most of them start from humble beginnings.

 

[treemandan]

always have one hand on the tree, and one hand on the saw.

I see.

 

[ropensaddle]

I see.

I see a saw and a log but where is the slayer ohhhhhh he must be in camo lol.

 

[prentice110]

Hey slayer, watch out when Toms in the lift. He doesnt like to look down when hes cuttin and drops stuff right next to the gruntys. And you might want to start looking for a differnt job cuz with the way he bids i dont think hes gonna make for too much longer.

 

[treeslayer]

Hey slayer, watch out when Toms in the lift. He doesnt like to look down when hes cuttin and drops stuff right next to the gruntys. And you might want to start looking for a differnt job cuz with the way he bids i dont think hes gonna make for too much longer.

1) I am the climber now. and a "grunty" running under a lift is asking to
get nailed, the work above is dangerous, and you were probably in the
way, anyhow. :hmm3grin2orange:

2) I do almost all the bidding, and am running the crew. a good crew, too.
He's rebuilding after getting screwed in TX and LA, you were probably
one of the reasons. :hmm3grin2orange:
3) talking trash about someone on an open forum shows something about your
own self worth. Who are you to criticize him? And what do you own?