whadja do today?

[gorman]

Got a hank of squir 2.0 from Courant. Heard it’s a great line. Maple leaf ropes out of Canada is distributing Courant cordage to the americas so you don’t have to buy from honey brothers.

 

[mike515]

I personally would rather NOT work on an "hourly" basis. It makes people feel compelled to watch you. Tree work is a job of surges in effort with periods of recovery or reorganization or organization and sometimes people don't understand that lag period. Often clients will say to me that everything was quiet and nothing appeared to be getting done and then BAM...everything went flying and blasting and WOW...it was all done. I hate being watched for production...love being watched for proficiency and expertise.

I totally get that but they aren't really watching us for production. They don't even know where our guys are working at most of the time. A number of years back, it was like pulling teeth to find out where they wanted us. One day, the area supervisor just kind of shrugged and said "You guys are the tree guys. You probably know more about where you need to focus than I do". So I stopped asking because he's right....I have been a contractor here for longer than almost every single one of their employees has worked for the power company. I do usually know more about that than they do. As far as production....I don't really get second-guessed on how long something should take to do. One advantage for me...hourly...is that it's in the new contract that we have to pay to dispose of all debris.....even if they send us 1 1/2 hours away to do 15 huge removals. I pay to get rid of it. That's fine. In nearly 30 years, I've never paid to get rid of a load of chips or logs. They can pay us to haul it all 1 1/2 hours back to where we can dispose of it for free. No skin off my nose. Customer complains and wants a tree trimmed differently or taken down...fine. We get paid the same.

 

[mikewhite85]

We're very slow right now with work so my two employees and I are taking the Penn state arborist short course. They are studying for the CA exam while I've been toying with the idea of a BCMA. The class includes 10 3-hour sessions on Tues/Thurs mornings where the professors basically go over the ISA study guide. It's been great! Anyone else here taking it?

 

[mike515]

One of our chippers caught on fire today. So that was fun. It's the one I've been recently looking to replace so now I really need to replace it. I've been looking at one at the Morbark dealership that I'd really like to buy so I guess I might just do that. It was a demo so it has lower hours and still has a warranty.

 

[gorman]

Found this 50 feet up in a red oak today

 

[treevet]

Somebody probably rappelled off of it or it was a redirect they srt rappelled off of and didn't give a schit about the effect on the tree so they left it to girdle.

 

[mike515]

Bought this today. It's "new" but still not quite new. The purchase agreement says it's "new" because it's never been sold before but it's not really new since it was their demo unit. But I got a really good discount off the new price.

 

[Jester3775]

Bought this today. It's "new" but still not quite new. The purchase agreement says it's "new" because it's never been sold before but it's not really new since it was their demo unit. But I got a really good discount off the new price. View attachment 884195

Kind of reminds me of my Woodsman, which I love !

 

[mikewhite85]

Found this 50 feet up in a red oak today

Dang. From an old cabling system maybe?

I can't believe how many trees I find CHAINS in. I don't think I've ever seen a properly installed cabling system in my area.

 

[mike515]

Kind of reminds me of my Woodsman, which I love !

I've never used a Woodsman or even seen one in person but it's one of the brands I've always wondered about. They do kind of look similar.

 

[treevet]

Dang. From an old cabling system maybe?

I can't believe how many trees I find CHAINS in. I don't think I've ever seen a properly installed cabling system in my area.

You don't get any more old school than me as far as age still working. And even back then there were standards that were the basis for ANSI mainly came from high level companies like Bartlett and Davey and offshoot companies. I learned from Bartlett and have put in probably a thousand cables in in my life with them and more on my own. Very profitable if represented and sold right. I think the elastic systems are a scam.

 

[Jester3775]

I've never used a Woodsman or even seen one in person but it's one of the brands I've always wondered about. They do kind of look similar.

I bought mine used from Scharber & Sons in Rogers MN, now renamed Minnesota Equipment. ( John Deere dealer, I love that place !) Apparently Woodsman got bought out by Terex. I guess they were making a bit of a name for themselves. I ended up doing some modifications to mine and have plans for a few more if things ever slow down a little. If anyone was interested I would gladly share what I have done and what I intend to do. Perhaps yours is a little more refined than mine but...

 

[gorman]

I bought mine used from Scharber & Sons in Rogers MN, now renamed Minnesota Equipment. ( John Deere dealer, I love that place !) Apparently Woodsman got bought out by Terex. I guess they were making a bit of a name for themselves. I ended up doing some modifications to mine and have plans for a few more if things ever slow down a little. If anyone was interested I would gladly share what I have done and what I intend to do. Perhaps yours is a little more refined than mine but...

I have a woodsman. Like it a lot until the autofeed doesn’t work

 

[treevet]

I have a woodsman. Like it a lot until the autofeed doesn’t work

I got auto feed on my Vermeer BC 2000 but we hand modulate it anyway because the autofeed is too damn slow.

 

[Jester3775]

I have a woodsman. Like it a lot until the autofeed doesn’t work

It has been a while but I remember reading about the guy that supposedly invented the latest auto feed "thing" but some company supposedly kind of "stole" the design. I remember reading about how to program it, change the settings ? Mine stops the auto feed and reverses it a little at 2600 rpm and I can run the motor up to 3000 rpm. When I run it at 3000 rpm and then run some big stuff in it seems like it would end up bogging way down before it would recover. Then I started running it closer to the 2600 rpm and it seemed to react much faster. I had redone the mounts to tension the belt and had to readjust it, part of me thinks maybe the belt needs to be tighter ? I think maybe the cutter wheel was slowing down but the engine would not slow down in direct relation fast enough ? Problem with that theory to me is that I am nervous to tighten the belt anymore and running it closer to 2600 rpm sure seems to take care of the problem ?

 

[treevet]

I suppose the engine hps and torque have a lot to do with it as well. Mine has a 200 hp turbo diesel that is well known as an outstanding bulletproof engine. Never shut the engine down but maybe once a month get the chute clogged with birch twigs or stuff that will do that.

 

[treevet]

Every 6 years I buy a new 3500 4x4 Silverado. 5 times now. This is the year. But I been toying with buying a 3500 or 5500 9' bed dump truck for a drive around instead since the pickup is underused except a tow motor. I own a 2006 F350 superduty 4x4 dump with low mileage and 11' dump bed. So I sell both and buy a new drive around F550 4x4 dump for a drive around and save the insurance on one truck. Anything wrong with that thought process? I drive very few miles almost all locally and it will fit in my driveway easily. https://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/listing/2020-FORD-F550-5013205637

 

[bck]

Every 6 years I buy a new 3500 4x4 Silverado. 5 times now. This is the year. But I been toying with buying a 3500 or 5500 9' bed dump truck for a drive around instead since the pickup is underused except a tow motor. I own a 2006 F350 superduty 4x4 dump with low mileage and 11' dump bed. So I sell both and buy a new drive around F550 4x4 dump for a drive around and save the insurance on one truck. Anything wrong with that thought process? I drive very few miles almost all locally and it will fit in my driveway easily. https://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/listing/2020-FORD-F550-501320563

What about a f-550 with a 12 foot dump? Much more versatile

 

[mike515]

It has been a while but I remember reading about the guy that supposedly invented the latest auto feed "thing" but some company supposedly kind of "stole" the design. I remember reading about how to program it, change the settings ? Mine stops the auto feed and reverses it a little at 2600 rpm and I can run the motor up to 3000 rpm. When I run it at 3000 rpm and then run some big stuff in it seems like it would end up bogging way down before it would recover. Then I started running it closer to the 2600 rpm and it seemed to react much faster. I had redone the mounts to tension the belt and had to readjust it, part of me thinks maybe the belt needs to be tighter ? I think maybe the cutter wheel was slowing down but the engine would not slow down in direct relation fast enough ? Problem with that theory to me is that I am nervous to tighten the belt anymore and running it closer to 2600 rpm sure seems to take care of the problem ?

What engine do you have in it? 3000 seems kind of high to me for a diesel. The one we got yesterday should run at about 2200. They were showing me that you can manually run it up to 2600 but it you do that and then walk away, it will gradually lower itself back down to 2200. Our other Morbark is bigger and runs at about 2350ish. The feed wheel won't even start turning until you get it up to 2200 or so. Not sure what our Vermeers run at but I think all of us are pretty over those chippers at this point.

 

[treevet]

What about a f-550 with a 12 foot dump? Much more versatile

I was gonna go 9' to be similar size to a pick up for a drive around. I have a 20' dump log truck and a 12' dump trailer and my Mack 17' dump chip truck has a removable top. But you're right...much more versatile. Is the F550 cab the same as the F350?