Watch your ropes - shortcuts are expensive

[gwiley]

A friend asked me to take down 5 large white oaks and 2 pines near his rental house. Last weekend I went to take down the last 3 oaks and the pines - all within 20' of the house and all around 70' tall.

I rigged each one with a bull rope (200' black max 9/16") at about 40-50' up using a throw line, set a redirect and had one son in the skid steer to put tension on the line.

The fourth tree (pine) came down and tangled up the rope a bit - I was tired from having already felled and bucked the other trees so I figured I'd just be careful around the rope rather than take the time to remove it.

Did you know that IF you tangle an expensive rope you will damage at within 10' of its center. My 372 gobbled up about 2 feet of rope before it stalled.

I am kicking myself - $160 hank of rope which is now useless for tree pulling which is the only reason I own the dang stuff! All because I didn't want to take 10 minutes to clear it from the cutting area.

I was already doing him a favor - he would have had to pay a few grand to have these darn trees taken out and I am doing it for free (keeping the wood).

Protect your equipment - cutting corners is a good way to spend money.

 

[smokinj]

A friend asked me to take down 5 large white oaks and 2 pines near his rental house. Last weekend I went to take down the last 3 oaks and the pines - all within 20' of the house and all around 70' tall.

I rigged each one with a bull rope (200' black max 9/16") at about 40-50' up using a throw line, set a redirect and had one son in the skid steer to put tension on the line.

The fourth tree (pine) came down and tangled up the rope a bit - I was tired from having already felled and bucked the other trees so I figured I'd just be careful around the rope rather than take the time to remove it.

Did you know that IF you tangle an expensive rope you will damage at within 10' of its center. My 372 gobbled up about 2 feet of rope before it stalled.

I am kicking myself - $160 hank of rope which is now useless for tree pulling which is the only reason I own the dang stuff! All because I didn't want to take 10 minutes to clear it from the cutting area.

I was already doing him a favor - he would have had to pay a few grand to have these darn trees taken out and I am doing it for free (keeping the wood).

Protect your equipment - cutting corners is a good way to spend money.

Man that sucks have not none that and hope I never do 160.00 is a big hit!

 

[CrappieKeith]

There's Murphy's Law working for you again.
It never fails....

 

[ray benson]

Post question in commercial climbing forum. Quite a few guys are very knowledgeable. Maybe the rope could be spliced. Or knotted with a double fisherman or simple simon.

 

[avalancher]

Post question in commercial climbing forum. Quite a few guys are very knowledgeable. Maybe the rope could be spliced. Or knotted with a double fisherman or simple simon.

Exactly.I have cut more than one bull rope,although I havent managed to cut it in the same fashion as you did although I can see that happening.Nothing unusual with black rope to go un-noticed under a tree and take after the brush with a saw only to find the rope instead.I guess that is why I lean towards the brighter colored ropes,takes the mistakes out of the loop.
Bull rope can be spliced, but forget about it if you are using any ropes for climbing.Your life is worth a lot more than 160.00.If you want some help in splicing it,let me know.As long as you arent pulling them through pulleys its an easy fix.

 

[gwiley]

Exactly.I have cut more than one bull rope,although I havent managed to cut it in the same fashion as you did although I can see that happening.Nothing unusual with black rope to go un-noticed under a tree and take after the brush with a saw only to find the rope instead.I guess that is why I lean towards the brighter colored ropes,takes the mistakes out of the loop.
Bull rope can be spliced, but forget about it if you are using any ropes for climbing.Your life is worth a lot more than 160.00.If you want some help in splicing it,let me know.As long as you arent pulling them through pulleys its an easy fix.

Thanks. The "BlackMax" 9/16 is actually yellow - making the event even more embarrassing.

Your comment about life being worth more than $160 - that is why I am thinking I need to just buy another rope. I would hate to crush a house b/c I was too cheap to buy the rope.

 

[smokinj]

Thanks. The "BlackMax" 9/16 is actually yellow - making the event even more embarrassing.

Your comment about life being worth more than $160 - that is why I am thinking I need to just buy another rope. I would hate to crush a house b/c I was too cheap to buy the rope.

I have the same rope and its sweet. I would use the good parts out of it, maybe a block and tackle set up always wanted one of those.

 

[avalancher]

Thanks. The "BlackMax" 9/16 is actually yellow - making the event even more embarrassing.

Your comment about life being worth more than $160 - that is why I am thinking I need to just buy another rope. I would hate to crush a house b/c I was too cheap to buy the rope.

I hear you man, I really do.Nothing ruins a day more than dropping a tree on a buddies house and having to listen to him moan the rest of the day about his two story house now no taller than a short dog.
With that being said,I have two bull ropes that I have spliced and they are just as strong as the unmended ones.I used one last month to pull over a good sized elm, 30 DBH with 7400 lbs of pull from a portable winch and the splice held just fine.Now if it had been a real risky job,yeah I would dragged out the unmended one for the job,but this was in a yard where no matter which way it went it wouldnt have hurt anything besides a butt ugly yellow school bus that the neighbor had already dropped a tree on three years ago.

I gotta swing by that place again and take a snapshot of that job, the neighbor just decided one day to knock down every tree in the backyard and he managed to hit everything in the yard including the neighbors bus, his pump house, and his tractor shed.And left the yard in a permanent mess of brush.

 

[smokinj]

I hear you man, I really do.Nothing ruins a day more than dropping a tree on a buddies house and having to listen to him moan the rest of the day about his two story house now no taller than a short dog.
With that being said,I have two bull ropes that I have spliced and they are just as strong as the unmended ones.I used one last month to pull over a good sized elm, 30 DBH with 7400 lbs of pull from a portable winch and the splice held just fine.Now if it had been a real risky job,yeah I would dragged out the unmended one for the job,but this was in a yard where no matter which way it went it wouldnt have hurt anything besides a butt ugly yellow school bus that the neighbor had already dropped a tree on three years ago.

I gotta swing by that place again and take a snapshot of that job, the neighbor just decided one day to knock down every tree in the backyard and he managed to hit everything in the yard including the neighbors bus, his pump house, and his tractor shed.And left the yard in a permanent mess of brush.

lol PIC"S PLEASE!

 

[2FatGuys]

I gotta swing by that place again and take a snapshot of that job, the neighbor just decided one day to knock down every tree in the backyard and he managed to hit everything in the yard including the neighbors bus, his pump house, and his tractor shed.And left the yard in a permanent mess of brush.

Stranger things have happened in east TN....

 

[smokinj]

Stranger things have happened in east TN....

Stranger things have happen here but not with a chainsaw...lol

 

[arborjockey]

hey hey whats up with starting two threads with the same story?????:jawdrop: or am i just new

 

[Steve NW WI]

Once again, I can say "Been There, Done That". I'm starting to think I've made MOST of the mistakes there are to make, but I'm sure there are some that will continue to surprise me!

(I only shortened mine by 8' though, gotcha beat there!)

 

[gwiley]

hey hey whats up with starting two threads with the same story?????:jawdrop: or am i just new

Someone commented that I might get some better advice if I posted in the climber forum rather than firewood so I just did a quick cut/paste. Sorry for the confusion and unnecessary additional electrons on the wire.