Black & Blue Oaks Get A Bruising!

It's smart not to shake or suddenly unload a dead tree any more than necessary as a general rule to LIVE by Bixler.

jomoco
 
I agree.

That tree was alive.

That first limb we lowered had a good size hole in it, I felt that plunging through. Everything else was solid live wood.

I made it a point every cut not to have my flipline around anything I was cutting.

4:10 - 5:45 That clip isn't edited, all real time footage. I should have nipped the sides of it before the plunge... but It feels like setting the plunge and moving back a little helps relieve the tension.

I don't know what you consider a fancy cut, but I felt safe the whole time. Here I was thinking you would be proud of me for taking the head out of the top of the second tree, especially not lowering off it; using the retrieval reel; and the cambium saver! Are you watching this in HD???
 
Every climber should be able to do a bore cut or any other cut you can do on ground. It is a fancy cut when diameters get thin and I let the good times roll with a sharp saw. Your bark popping being ok, isn't. Even if you know your species a good strip of bark and cambium can have a really high breaking strength and it's got that dynamic momentum pulling on it. Should trim as much bark below the cut as needed and a bit more. Try and keep those "kerf cuts" in the sapwood or you could be creating another hinge.
 
Sounds good boreality.

Keep it in the sapwood.

Strapping the sides seems like it would help prevent the sides from forming a crack, which leads to barber's charing.
 
Why wouldn't it be a good idea to create another hinge? - that will lead to the first hinge which has a face cut.

The back hinge just releases the load, and the front hinge guides it down as usual, following the face cut.
 
Barber chairs kind of happen on the back side of the lean. Fiber tear kind of happens on the underside. Kind of because trees sometimes twist. One goes up one goes down. You could get both on one bad cut. If your kerf cut becomes the unplanned hinge you have lost your face cut's aim and the tree will just find the easiest place to crack because your face cut has become a half inch deep cut around the bottom. It's a fine line on how deep to make those cuts. Even a shallow cut will help when the section splits in half. It creates a weak spot where you get that last chance and hope it breaks there before it breaks you or your lanyard.

There are many options available that allow your climbing system to expand when the tree splits. You must know about them, like the adjustable friction saver. Maybe you had one, didn't look I was watching your saw and the cinematography. I liked the drama with the tip movement check and back and forth to the cut. I'm just assuming your into filmmaking because your from Cali.
 
Okay, now that that's sorted Bixler, let's discuss the wisdom of bombing brush and logs onto a still attached leader below you and rocking the whole tree?

That's also a very expedient and amateurish thing to do yu know?

What's your excuse?

jomoco
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Who's bruised, blackened and blue?

Here's Bixler gettin the usual attaboy, along comes Jo, and it all went down the drain....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEb-u66T64o

Instant karma for pickin on poor innocent oaks without payin them proper respect and obeisance?

You and Jesse are much alike, great climbers with huge potential, but a few bad habits that could cut your careers short in terms of bad methodology unless corrected before the odds combined with sheer numbers of trees removed take their inevitable toll.

Find the methods you know work consistently without fail. Then stick to them very conservatively as if your life depends on it.

You're a great climber Bixler, that's what worries me. That combined with sloppy discipline and methods can't last long in this biz. And I want to see you kickin butt in your vids just like Reg n Roger do so well mate, seriously.

jomoco
 
Boreality, I'm gonna have to read that last post a few times over, but I think I get what your saying. I'm into film making because my life is trees. But, part of it was for film sake, and part because wanted to see that top start moving.

-Thanks Jomoco, I figured.

Did you like my title of the vid?

That little stunt you mentioned about bombing brush onto a still attached leader... you are talking about that second tree right? Where a couple limbs got hung up on a lower limb, and I cut another limb to knock it all down? 8:15 limb got hung up. 8:30 limb hit lower leader knocking brush to ground. Nothing wrong with that in that scenario, the limbs were small, even if it broke the leader nothing would have happened to me. I don't want to go up and down more times than I have to. I don't want to make more cuts than I have to.

"Instant karma for pickin on poor innocent oaks without payin them proper respect and obeisance?"

They were kind of small, not that special, but the Blue Oak was pretty neat. I got it on video, my way of showing respect, they will live on forever now. The homeowner wanted them down, so I took them down. - What do you mean? How did I pick on them? Remember Jomoco, it is just a tree.
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I believe that there is a tree out to get every climber, it's our job to recognize that in the moment, act accordingly, and live on.

I defiantly don't want to end up in the emergency room, if that means changing things, taking some more time, a little more effort in the tree, sounds like a good trade off.
 
Keep bombing logs onto attached lower laterals and you'll find out the hard way what extreme lateral deflection means youngster.

Your method sucks in terms of controlled dismantling!

jomoco
 
Climbing in my honest opinion is the easy part of treework, it came easy to me cause I really like it....the part of treework that I am always working on is understanding how forces act on the tree and the type of wood I am cutting...I am always looking for ways to minimize shockloading the tree, I have a fairly simple recipe that keeps me safe and believe me it works....to each his own, but folks will always have to live with their own recipes that's the bottom line...use what floats your boat, but live with the consequences....I studied engineering at university, the forces that play out in treework are very familiar to me, it ain't rocket science but we definitely need to understand the dynamics that rigging has on the tree in order to stay safe.... I tend to be conservative but that's just me ( I have nothing to prove ).....I am older ( 45 ) with a young family to think about, just saying ( not directed at you Bix, I am just putting my thoughts down ).....
 
It wasn't a log Jon.

Neither tree was dead.

But either way, I keep what you say in the back of my mind while working, I know you have a million years of experience, so you must be doing something right.

Deflecting limbs off other limbs and using all of the tree to help you take it down is an art. And, I'm always in control... -like a boss.

Did you watch it in HD? Did you have your bifocals on?
 
Some very gifted and experienced old climbers have died from shaking old trees too much, or even just dismantling then in an unbalanced manner.

Smooth balanced weight relief is a form of respect for what can potentially happen to both you and the tree as you dance together so briefly.

If I was a poor guy....I wouldn't need no alibi.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfeRJ4JBEHc

jomoco
 
I've said it before... sometimes It's important to take trees down in a balanced manner. I can find the quote if you don't believe me.

And sometimes, it doesn't matter. In this case the trees were so full of water, healthy and alive, I worked the tree so it's the least amount of strain on my body, the video wasn't anything special, just another day of work.

If you were on the ground that job, would you have hollered up at any point to try and prevent something bad from happening?

I don't think you would have.

I've hollered up at a climber with 5 times the experience I have, almost as old as you, because I didn't want to see something bad happen. That one time, he understood, and was grateful.

Like I've said before... If we don't have each other, what do we have?

... and my favorite... "Nothing is that important, but everything matters."
 
Bix I like your style period, keep the vids coming....If I lived on your side of the world I know we would get along just fine.....
 
If I were on that job as a groundman?

I'd wonder what kinda pro climber starts removing a tree from the top down bombing branches and logs onto lower laterals, creating dangerous hangers over the LZ, that once finally on the ground are a tangled rat's maze that needs to be cut by me into draggable portions?

Your idea of complimentary teamwork seems a tad one sided, burying your groundies with a tangled mess, because you don't feel like climbing and cutting anymore than absolutely necessary?

Your laziness at your groundies' expense seems a bit unbalanced mate.

jomoco
 
Oh Jomoco... Your even more dramatic than I am.

I do the best with what I have. My guys aren't the most productive ground workers, on the other hand they have so may attributes that trump that.

I chipped all the brush from both trees, I am also a groundsman. Imagine that.
 
No worries about that Bix me and you would get along just fine bro....you and me might be a FEW years apart in age but when I was young like you I can see a lot of similarities...you good bro....as I say keep the action rolling....
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