Climber/crane connection

I was taught how to do crane jobs from a man who had done many hundreds safely.
For the vast majority of cuts, we do not attempt to 'balance' a limb. Tie it high, so it is butt heavy. Came back and make a notch on top, notching towards the crane's line of lift. Make your back (under)cut an inch out from your notch, leaving a little hingewood along with the little 'step' so the butt will not drop and swing wildly. PUT YOUR SAW AWAY AND MOVE AWAY TO A SAFE POSITION. Then and ONLY then, you give the crane operator the signal to lift. He lifts the limb and it breaks off as it stands up, with virtually no impact to the crane and no chance of hitting the climber.
I have worked with crane operators who started snatching on a limb while I was still cutting, and I damn near came out of the tree to wring his neck!
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I had to make it perfectly clear that he was NOT to snatch ANYTHING while I was close enough for him to hurt or kill me. I am not into big wild swings with thousand pound chunks of wood.
Anyway, I learned from a very good climber and feel very safe with the method described.
 
Brian, I agree with you on this one.In our urban area there is often very limited room to lower the limbs, the best way to get them to the ground is to have them butt heavy. We often rigg just how you discribed, it is a little easier for use since we own a crane. We often put a butt a hitch if we feel there is a chance of over cutting and the piece coming free prematurely. Just a little precaution. This technique is often scary for the climber, but once you have the experiance it works very well.
 
Yep - I can see the benefits there!

Perfect cuts and step at the back are very important so as not to lose the butt!

What do you use to choke the wood? I use two choker chains - they're heavy but really get a grip on the section! It is also easy to adjust the length too.
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What do I use to choke the limbs? I prefer the Tuflex slings, yellow ones are rated at something like 9000lbs. I bought several when I worked for myself. 6'-8' loops were minimum lenghts, had a couple long ones for big wood.
But when I worked at Davey Tree they used 9/16" or 5/8" steel cable chokers with large clevis hooks. Bulky and heavy, and you had to be extra careful not to drop the threaded pin out of the clevis. You also had to make sure the clevis pin was not tightened too tight, or else you needed a hammer to undo it after it was loaded.
 
A couple other things I've thought of:
When 'notching for the sky' I remember constantly making my notches too large at the beginning. You need to be able to visualize what angle the limb will be at once it is free, and make your notch so it will separate before the limb is raised to that angle. Later as I got lazier at it, I would many times just make a top kerf cut and then make my undercut with a larger step. It all depends on the angle of the limb and how you attach it.
Also, I prefer working with 2-3 slings instead of just one. I can set up one or two slings ahead of time and be waiting for the hook when it comes. The ground crew sends the empty sling back up and I can just set it aside before hooking the one I have prepared. This keeps everyone from having to wait at each step.
I typically can send down leads faster than the ground crew can dispose of them, the crane operator will sometimes hold a lead over them for shade while they bust ass cleaning up the last one.
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wouldn't consider myself to be an expert on this topic at all. I have done some smaller work with crans but nothing really extensive.
How much preassure should the crane operator put on the limb before making the cut?( if any at all). You wouldnt want it to break pre maturally while making your cuts. So is there a fine line?.
I have much experience in climbing and bucket work as well, but cranning is not my forte. I will be cranning out a 5'5" 130" water oak in the near future with a 75 ton crane.We could use a lighter crane , but wouldnt get the extenstion we need for the 100' spread.
It will be good experience and reading all your comments has been very helpful.

Thanks
Greg
 
Hey Greg,
Typically I ask the crane operator to put some upward pressure on the limb to keep my saw from pinching when making my undercut(using hand signals). If my saw binds, I signal for a slight pull up, then stop him when my saw gets free. When I have enough undercut, I put my saw away and step clear. When I'm secure, I signal for him to lift away.
Then I mosey over to my next hook point, set my sling and wait for the hook again.
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My company has been doing alot of very dead oak crane removals ,in this situation I will ride the crane to the position I want to choke the lead or leads and then descend to the cut,pull my line out and go.I will choke a short sling on the top part of the ball and back it up with a clevis and tie in there,this way I can place the chokers without my rope being in the way.Any other time I am always in the tree except when working the trunk,choke it ,ride it, cut it.
we also did the to climber gig and it was great I never had to move made my boss do all the choking I just set them free ,nothing like watching the boss swet for a change.
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I have done alot of crane removals in the past 3 years. Sometimes I am in the tree other times I run the crane. I wouold say on the adverage that all you need is one choker to take most trees down. We usually use a 2" choker or 4" for the majority of limbs and wood. Adverage pieces are around 3000 lbs. Limbs usually weigh between 500 and 1500 lbs. IF I had an operator playing with the controls consider him fired!!
 
For big wood we are using 9/16'' and 5/8'' steel sliding chockers. They are very easy to set, we set them on opposite sides with a step cut.
 
Tying a piece butt heavy is not always an option . You get a long piece of Poplar , you just might lopper the head of if you try and take it butt heavy .You have a better chance shopping at Gimbels than getting a Dead Poplar butt heavy . I've marled the sling down but two slings isn't much harder to set than one . Also when you take out a head that is going left and right placing a choker on both keeps the head from twisting . Some cranes are rated with the boom straight up and others with the boom at 12 degrees , so a 30 ton could lift more than a 40 depending on the make of the crane . I don't care what size crane you get most are only set up for a 3 to 6 ton lift . This crane talk is endless , let's see some pictures .
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I just realized one other thing here. The article in the May TCI mag with Mark rigging out that tree was going on the premise that the tree wasn't safe to climb. I don't believe I've ever used a crane on a tree that wasn't safe to climb. Access/Landing area/obstacles were always the deciding factor in using a crane. If you could access an unsafe tree with a crane, then you could access that same tree with a bucket truck instead and work down smaller pieces. If the tree were truly unsafe to climb, then it would be too dangerous to take huge pieces that would drastically shift weight and stress on the unsafe tree.
I'm not trying to be argumentative, just trying to see how 2 cranes/climbers on one tree could be economically viable in the real world. I still don't see it.
 
For the most part, Brian I agree with you. Up to date, I have only used two cranes for one tree on one job-that job in the video/article.

I don't think that you have viewed the tape from the sounds of your perception on that specific job, so I'll try to relay some of the circumstances.

First, the tree was struck by lightening twice in the past couple of years and caught fire about 45'-60' up. The size of the hole (which I put my foot in for standing during the removal) was too great for me to consider rigging it conventionally.

Second, there was a 6,000 (I think) volt line running about one foot off of the trunk. Ripping it down was not a choice. It had to be saved and we decided to have it de-juiced for the day.

Thirdly, I would have had to rent a bucket for this tree since our two are only 57' tall and this tree was at least 130'. That size bucket was the same price/day as the crane and much less mobile yet more cumbersome.

Lastly, by using two cranes I was able to remove large sections (most were 3000#-11000#) without subjecting the tree to long drops, shockloads and swings. I would also like to add that both leads (one 46" dbh and the other 54" dbh) were removed without incident within 3 hrs., that is the aerial work. I have the timeline to show it too. Both trunks were removed, all brush chipped and two 18 wheeler loads of wood and 1 load of rotten wood was on the road in just under 6 hrs. It was profitable.

The two loads went to the mill and yielded over $2,000.00 as well (we split it with the drivers).

This was not my average job, but I feel that we addressed it in the best possible manner for our purpose.


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[ August 20, 2002: Message edited by: MARK CHISHOLM ]

[ August 20, 2002: Message edited by: MARK CHISHOLM ]
 
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