Work Photos

[pete3d]

Wedges act like a progress capture in addition to providing lift, but you could never wedge this over without the line.

And shaving off the bark was just to narrow up the tree and make it easier to cut and wedge.

Well well 27RMTON, thank you. You are educating me, making me consider safer approaches to felling leaners, and taking me back to a previous experience that though instructive was not ideal.

While trying to fell a large for here (30” dbh - 100’) back-leaning, back weighted pine I misjudged the force needed to pull it, particularly considering the gusty headwind. My Maasdam began to slip and was only able to “save” it by getting a second Maasdam on it and waiting for lulls in the breeze to pull it over - but it was “hairy”. The lesson I took from that experience was to be sure to have plenty of strength in the line(s) and anchors, and extra power in the winch setup. Your point about wedges as backup is well taken.

I do understand about shaving bark to see what’s going on with the wedge and get it into something meaty.

Thanks again for you powerful, illustrative posts and extra explanations!

 

[ARLO]

We have so much Douglas-fir firewood here in Oregon and Washington that it is often hard to give it away, especially if it is on a steep slope where you have to pack it out. The labor required to buck it up and haul it is just not worth it. If you watch August Hunicke's videos on Youtube he frequently talks about this problem. That is why he has the big 19" chipper. Everything up to about 18" gets chipped.

 

[canopyking]

@27RMT0N Very good reasoning and explanation with the doubling of ropes and wedges. There is a general idea I try to maintain, which is if something can be done safer, do it that way. I will add this to my options.

 

[27RMT0N]

Since this has generated some good discussion, I'll add a few more things as well. I love my Maasdam and have done more work with it (well, I'm on my third or fourth now, the ratchet wheel wears out over time) than almost any other tool besides saws and wedges. It can do a lot, but it has it's limits.

The Maasdam is rated to 1,500 pounds of pull force in a single-line pull, and I use Samson Pro-Master 3-strand rope on it, which has a 5,700 pound ABS. The Wyeth-Scott More Power Puller is rated to 6,000 pounds single line pull, and the rope it is attached to (with a bowline on a bight which yes, reduces strength) is 1/2" Samson static with a 11,000 pound breaking strength. Each tool preforms a little differently when you consider the Maasdam has 'unlimited travel' and the Wyeth 'only' has the length on it's own spool, 35' of Amsteel. Point is, it is easy to see just how much more powerful the pull is, and how much stronger that system is as a whole. I wouldn't have ever attempted this with the Maasdam, even in a 2:1 configuration.

But what the Maasdam did for me here was start the pull, which sucked the smaller downhill tree into the bigger tree, got the sag out of the line over that long distance, and pulled the line as tight as possible before hooking up the More Power Puller, since in a 2:1 configuration it 'only' has ~17' of travel. That let the big puller do the heaviest work of the job when it was needed, without losing any of it's more limited travel simply tightening the system before force started acting on the trees.

Here are the two pullers side by side, keep in mind they are $82 and $440, but I carry both at all times.



And here is the video of the fall:

 

[Fivepoints]

What a nice day. I started early with a 45-minute 105 steps/minute walk followed with setting a line for an upcoming dead limb removal. After that, I arranged and gave estimates (my favorite part... "Seriously, I don't charge anything.") on three new projects.

One is for removing two hanging dead limbs, one above the other in a big pine tree. The second is for two largish attached dead limbs in a big pine.

The third project was for removing two dead trees and pulling down some low dead limbs. Since it was mostly in a shady area with no climbing involved, I decided to do it this afternoon. The dogwood was severely rotted, and broke up as it fell. The pine was larger, and it fell just where I wanted it to with a little encouragement after getting hung up in nearby trees. The second picture shows all the debris from the afternoon's labor.
View attachment 83643

Is it legal to pile it like that there? Around here you'll get fined if they catch you.

 

[Fivepoints]

Since this has generated some good discussion, I'll add a few more things as well. I love my Maasdam and have done more work with it (well, I'm on my third or fourth now, the ratchet wheel wears out over time) than almost any other tool besides saws and wedges. It can do a lot, but it has it's limits.

The Maasdam is rated to 1,500 pounds of pull force in a single-line pull, and I use Samson Pro-Master 3-strand rope on it, which has a 5,700 pound ABS. The Wyeth-Scott More Power Puller is rated to 6,000 pounds single line pull, and the rope it is attached to (with a bowline on a bight which yes, reduces strength) is 1/2" Samson static with a 11,000 pound breaking strength. Each tool preforms a little differently when you consider the Maasdam has 'unlimited travel' and the Wyeth 'only' has the length on it's own spool, 35' of Amsteel. Point is, it is easy to see just how much more powerful the pull is, and how much stronger that system is as a whole. I wouldn't have ever attempted this with the Maasdam, even in a 2:1 configuration.

But what the Maasdam did for me here was start the pull, which sucked the smaller downhill tree into the bigger tree, got the sag out of the line over that long distance, and pulled the line as tight as possible before hooking up the More Power Puller, since in a 2:1 configuration it 'only' has ~17' of travel. That let the big puller do the heaviest work of the job when it was needed, without losing any of it's more limited travel simply tightening the system before force started acting on the trees.

Here are the two pullers side by side, keep in mind they are $82 and $440, but I carry both at all times.

View attachment 83694

And here is the video of the fall:

I also use a Wyeth Scott puller. They are very useful for sure. Kinda like a very heavy duty mechanical 5 to 1. Im kinda surprised how little i see others using them. We use ours with a port a wrap as a progress capture normally. Wish they were a bit lighter.

 

[Winchman]

Is it legal to pile it like that there? Around here you'll get fined if they catch you.

Yeah, it's rather unsightly, but that's where the yard debris pickup crew wants it. Some people put it on the grass, but the clamshell always picks up a little dirt, and eventually there's a hole there.

While I'm here, this is what I got out of the tree I climbed early this morning.


And I had to pass on a job offer this morning. It was several medium sized limbs from the neighbor's tree crossing the property line, and overhanging a very nice storage shed. Confined workspace, no drop zone, no speedline anchor point, and no TIP above the limbs. I hated telling the lady no, but the job requires a towable lift or tracked spider crane.

 

[Jehinten]

Some people put it on the grass, but the clamshell always picks up a little dirt, and eventually there's a hole there.

This is my solution for that. Stack brush in the grass if it's not being hauled right away. Then once the majority is picked up I grab a BMG rake with my grapple truck and rake the rest out into the street for an easier cleanup.

With the rake there's no reason to grab into the grass to pickup debris.


stacking the debris on plywood would help too, although then you'd have to go back and pick up your plywood.

 

[Winchman]

This morning I removed two hanging dead limbs from a pine down the street.


It took lots of hand sawing to take them apart and untangle the pieces before I could lower the big parts with ropes.

 

[Winchman]

Climbed here Friday morning...

to remove all this.

 

[Winchman]

I haven't posted for several days, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy. This is the pile I removed from three trees in the same yard.

It was pretty breeze thanks to Ian, and I enjoyed being on the rope with the trees swaying.

 

[Winchman]

My day started out well with my throwline smack dab where I wanted it 65 feet up on the first shot. Got a clear drop on the near side and an easy isolation on the far side. I won't get a chance to climb till Monday, though.


I got a call around noon to come cut down a 45-foot magnolia in a friend's yard. She was tired of waiting for the tree service company she'd made arrangements with two months ago. By a little after 2pm it was looking like this.

I like to keep the work area clear, so I'd already cut up and hauled all this to the pickup spot.

Sunny October afternoons in SW Georgia can be pretty brutal, so I played my "I'm 77 and it's just too dang hot" card. Yeah, the yard's a mess, but the driveway's clear. I'll be there early Saturday to finish up.

 

[Winchman]

The lady's sons came today with a stump grinder rented from Home Depot. It took them two hours to grind the magnolia stump and two similar sized oak stumps that were about four years old down to where they could be covered with a little dirt and mowed over.

I'm pretty sure it was the very same stump grinder I rented in 1982 with the same teeth still on it.

 

[Vicente]

The lady's sons came today with a stump grinder rented from Home Depot. It took them two hours to grind the magnolia stump and two similar sized oak stumps that were about four years old down to where they could be covered with a little dirt and mowed over.

I'm pretty sure it was the very same stump grinder I rented in 1982 with the same teeth still on it.

Our home depot has really nice new rental stuff, most of them out here do.

 

[RopeShield]

 

[Winchman]

Had a nice climb this morning to remove couple of dead limbs high up. I've never seen a tree with so many gut-rippers. I only cleared a path, but left most for the birds and squirrels.


My one-shot perfect line placement turned out to be not so great. On the way up, I noticed the anchor line wasn't as taut as it usually is, so it had to be wedged tight in a V near the top that I couldn't see from the ground. I had a terrible time working it loose after coming down. It would support my weight in either direction, but some furious whipping action finally worked it loose. I did a careful inspection of the rope later to be sure it hadn't been damaged.

This is something I'd never even thought about happening, and it prompted me to come up with contingency plans. It also points out the importance of of eyeballing the entire length of a moving rope setup to be sure there's nothing nearby that could trap the rope.

 

[chiselbit]

Had a nice climb this morning to remove couple of dead limbs high up. I've never seen a tree with so many gut-rippers. I only cleared a path, but left most for the birds and squirrels.
View attachment 84054

My one-shot perfect line placement turned out to be not so great. On the way up, I noticed the anchor line wasn't as taut as it usually is, so it had to be wedged tight in a V near the top that I couldn't see from the ground. I had a terrible time working it loose after coming down. It would support my weight in either direction, but some furious whipping action finally worked it loose. I did a careful inspection of the rope later to be sure it hadn't been damaged.

This is something I'd never even thought about happening, and it prompted me to come up with contingency plans. It also points out the importance of of eyeballing the entire length of a moving rope setup to be sure there's nothing nearby that could trap the rope.

I carry compact binoculars on the truck just for that reason. Has helped me spot some questionable tie in’s that I couldn’t see from the ground many times. Sure wish someone was close enough to you so we could get you dialed in on an srt system. I’ll bet you’d like a rope wrench set up

 

[Winchman]

This one limb made this morning's climb worthwhile.

Used a speed line with control rope for a soft touchdown well clear of targets.

 

[Winchman]

This stuff is all wet because It started raining pretty hard while I was in the tree.


The mattock and I spent some quality time with the remains of the magnolia stump and the root mound.

I just couldn't leave it like it was.

 

[Boomslang]

Welcome to the exciting world of hedge trimming