Climbing & Rigging Pieces off This Tree

climbingmonkey24 · Apr 19, 2020

What are your thoughts on climbing and rigging off this with no crane or bucket? Some obvious dead branches and not the greatest top where you can see stuff has broken off but that could likely be worked around. There’s evidence of the start of a split going up the trunk.

Also, I should say that the reason I post pics of jobs sometimes and ask opinions isn’t because I don’t know how to do it, but more so I like to see what other people’s rhoughts are for the sake of learning and seeing different ways to approach things that I may not have thought of, etc.

*useless info* · Apr 20, 2020

Generally think if stands up to thrashings in storm and not shock load, keep bod center mid high, is very doaoble.
But has 1 leg of support to 1 connection to ground, possibly 'sand boxed' roots. How does trunk and roots look?

RogerM · Apr 21, 2020

Pictures never( rarely) tell the whole story... so here is my guess.
obviously drop as much as possible. 2 blocks, use compression forces, look out for shrapnel (sp?) flop as soon as practical. Maybe bind above split before felling, if there is good response growth at the split, might not be necessary.. Bid higher than you think(lot of extra clean up and maybe extra cutting, i.e. smaller pieces). .02, but i'm rusty. .Fences; property in drop zone equals more time.

oldoakman · Apr 21, 2020

I wouldn't be afraid to rig that one out. Definitely small pieces and document the condition of the roofs as the one is not in good condition and if you bounce it you may get blamed for damaging it.

Jemco · Apr 21, 2020

That tree's got speedline written all over it.

Looks like plenty of high green TIP's.

Two days 2.5K.

If you're not confident, don't do it.

Hire a pro who sees it as cake n ice cream.

Jemco

rico · Apr 22, 2020

Ditto on Jemco's speed line idea....I never like making recommendation from a pic, but it sure looks like speed-lining that brush is the way to go....

flushcut · Apr 23, 2020

Skinny it up and flop'er.

CjM · May 13, 2020

Not an Ash, so most likely.

*useless info* said:
Generally think if stands up to thrashings in storm and not shock load, keep bod center mid high, is very doaoble.
But has 1 leg of support to 1 connection to ground, possibly 'sand boxed' roots. How does trunk and roots look?

This. What is the condition of the stem and root plate under your block or speedline? Wood is weakest in compression.

Is that a Maple? rubra? Here's an old silver maple we did over the winter, and a more recent pine for an idea of things I've speed-lined.

Here's Trev, who climbed on day one, at the end of day 3.

*useless info* · May 13, 2020

Great Work!
.
Would try to keep forces centered and not on the axis with the damage, w/o shocking, low and slow as could.
.
Counter-Intuitive Stat/thumbrule:
w/o any external damage,
in theory can remove 50% of core,
and only lose 6% leveraged strength ,
Escalates quickly after that.
.
Leveraged strength is at the outside/ most leverage-spread positions,
Just as in steering fall on hinge.

Serf Life · May 13, 2020

Rig it, good candidate for a balancer setup on those lower long limbs. Leaving wood? Using a material handler or dragging it? I drop anything I can and climb farther out to handle limbs as 90% of the time it’s faster. Good thread, love hearing others opinions.

Mitch Hoy · May 20, 2020

Looks like a typical silver for my area, bread and butter here as they are all aging out. Trees up here are small and spreading, often without much clearance over structures and not tall enough to have a great rigging angle. Most of that tree won’t have clearance for a speed line unless you really nibble it down. We’ve experimented with speed-lining and it can be really useful in our area when you are dealing with low obstacles like terraces or fences. Otherwise it is more productive to swing big balanced cuts to a high redirect out in your drop zone. A lot of good climbers in this area tie a balanced point and then let the piece rotate on a strap of cambium before severing. It’s a useful technique to take it big with little clearance while mitigating forces. I think it gets a bad rap because it is species dependent and you can have a jagged split come back at you when you free the piece if the redirect is closer than the length of the piece. I would like to see how some of you west coast speed-line guys would approach it, however. I could probably learn a thing or two.
Split silvers in that state of decline are typical for us. As a habit, I back up my tie-ins and rigging points with redirects in any big tree.
That tree, I would set rigging, make a few swings, strap the trunk, and drop it. It looks open from the pictures. As a disclaimer, there may be plenty I can’t gleam from pics.

Mitch