Fir zip-line

Nice Reg.

Welcome to the Wet Coast!

Bet yer glad to find some tall trees, eh?

I'm finally busy..need to find time to put up some media from the big fir that's half done..Wednesday's wind blew Cowboy Dave out at 110 feet.

48" dbh or so, 150 foot tall.ziplining limbs and top over house, then craning from 50 feet away with only a 38 tonner.

Was to finish Monday, but I was told the crane broke down. Should be fixed Monday.

I'm gonna Wraptor up the fixed lines Sunday and bump some knots to prep the stem for the log sale, and take some measurements. We gotta be precise on the weight calc's, as we'll be right at the limits of the crane.

38 ton Terex with 140 foot tip height.
 
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..need to find time to put up some media from the big fir that's half done..

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Wont hold my breath Rog....

Still waiting for the video you promised me of those big lombardy's, about 4 years ago!
 
How are you likin' the land of giants Reg?

got any passion back for the trees?

Always seemed a shame that you lost it... Big Jon was like that too..

Looks like your working with someone that knows what he's doing.. Better to have one that does than three that don't... AND I think it can be a safety issue, working with just a single ground man.. Two guys on the ground can watch each others back and tag team certain situtations, making it a lot easier and often much safer.. A lesser arb might have had the ground man working the ropes, rather than watching the sidewalk.. Sucks when you have to make those trade offs

How much of your work out there is takedown, vs pruning/cabling.. and how much on stick conifers vs rounded canopies?

Just looked out the window and its snowing!
 
Just watched the video and liked the cut a lot.. It's be fun to discuss the details of why you made the cut as you did, depth/width of notch, humboldt etc... but no one around here seems much interested in such things..
 
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Just watched the video and liked the cut a lot.. It's be fun to discuss the details of why you made the cut as you did, depth/width of notch, humboldt etc... but no one around here seems much interested in such things..

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Can you tell me more about Big John. Like was he huge, or was the motion of the ocean what made you fall head over heels for him?

SZ
 
Haha, Daniel. Humboldt slides the butt off the stump. That's why the old girl landed flat, and slid a ways out from the stump. A trad. notch might have inclined the top to head down tip first before straightening out. Which may have put the butt a little closer to the stump..and the house. But wtf do I know?

A fine performance, Reg. The island make a humboldt man outta you? It seems like most of your felling cuts in the UK were traditional cuts, but I could be wrong. I think the West Coast of N. America has that effect on people, it did me.

Love the humboldt!
 
He could have gotten the same effect from a narrow traditional face.. the forward motion has much more to do with the "object in motion staying in motion"... forward motion, than the inclined plane effect of the humboldt.. humboldt is crucial if there is any chance of the tree top catching other trees as it starts to go. Its a good move here but not "required".

I was impressed with his confidence in the face, in that it looked like he didn't check the notch to make sure there was no bypass on the far side of the notch.. I always bend down to check the humboldts, especially becasue I rarely cut them...
 
Right on, good work on getting that done in with the time and manpower that you did Reg. You're bang on with the humboldt, now you need one of those stanfield's like your coworker's wearing and you'll pass for a local!
 
Gord I think I a need a few more years out here before I dare put on a Stanfield
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Dan, nice of you to ask....thanks, yes I do feel a somewhat renewed enthusiasm, probably because the work is quite a contrast....I was feeling really Stale back in the UK, although I really miss my workshop.
The work is mostly tall, single-stemmed conifers....although the situ can vary depending on where we are. Believe it or not the toughest job I’ve had so far was not a conifer, rather a couple really tall Cottonwoods over a building. They were horrors....and with gusting winds and inexperienced ground-workers it was quite an uncomfortable job all-round.

Re: the topping cuts
To save time I just copied and pasted this where I’d answered on another forum, where the Humboldt is unheard of by many....just so you don’t think I’m being condescending or anything.
The diagonal cut of a face generally extends further than the horizontal, which ever style face cut you use. When the face closes the diagonal cut nearly always overhangs past the horizontal until the hinge breaks and the tree is released from the stump, the wider the notch the greater degree of extension.... for this reason the Humboldt cut appears to break the hinge quicker (say the traditional face requires 30 degrees of movement before release and the Humboldt takes only 20). Make your notch relatively narrow so the tree is released at the point when its forward momentum is the greatest, which is more effective in throwing the tree clear of the stump....that top corner of the Humboldt (horizontal-cut) also appears to help with the throw as it deflects of the diagonal.

There must be sufficient top weight to make it work though....say on short logs it can stall as the face closes and just sit there. Then you’ve got to sever what remains often resulting in the log falling off sideways.

I thought the Humboldt was BS until I started experimenting with it a few years back....now I’m a believer, although nowhere near an expert. The Treehouse is probably the best place for Humboldt talk....far more experience there than what I can personally offer.

Out here I’m obviously doing a lot more free-falling and topping-out tall trees....while back in the UK the technique had very little benefit to the type of work I was generally involved with. Thanks again.

Edit: Dan I do look in the face to see that its clean, but the camera is half a foot higher than my line of sight so you wouldn't know by watching the vid.
 
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...and with gusting winds and inexperienced ground-workers it was quite an uncomfortable job all-round.


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That's never any fun doing a tough job with inexperienced ground help.

Reg, in the UK you were a contract climber, afaik. Are you going to stay being an employee for a while or will you go back to subbing. It must be very different working 40 hrs a week for someone else.

How did you choose your current employer, and how did you choose what section of the world you were going to relo to, was it based on the trees there or contacts you had or what??

Just wondering. Thanks for all the great pics and vids and thoughtful responses.
 
Nice explanation.. thanks for that.. I never thought about the diagonal cut being "longer" than the horizontal, and it makes perfect sense, though still not sure what difference that makes.. I have noticed that with the traditional face, it takes a good bit more than 45º (or however wide the face is cut) of movement in the spar to break the hinge and cause seperation. So its definitely a consideration, if the humboldt does break sooner after the face closes, that is good to know, and use to your advantage, when needed..

It may just be with the humboldt that all the enegy of the moving spar goes into breaking the hinge , while with the traditional face some of the energy of the moving spar goes into trying to push the but back off the stump (even if it doesn't have enough force to do so, it is still trying, if that makes sense)...

As far as the inclined plane of the humboldt acting to give the top a "little push forward", it seems that it casues the butt (and only the butt) to drop down in front of the stump (or remaining stem) rather than push the entire piece forward. The slow motion replays I've seen of traditional faces closing, clearly show it is the forward movement of the piece at seperation that does the "throwing". After seeing that, I've conncluded that the inclined plane does little if anything to propel the piece forward.
 
Cory, I'm still a contract climber, I have no plans on changing that.

Dan I think its hard to put ones finger on and say absolutely....but even in the short time of being here in BC the difference in the rotation of tops is quite evident i.e I tried both types, same depth and the conventionals are falling more on there heads while Humboldts are still landing flat, even from way up.

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As far as the inclined plane of the humboldt acting to give the top a "little push forward", it seems that it casues the butt (and only the butt) to drop down in front of the stump (or remaining stem) rather than push the entire piece forward. The slow motion replays I've seen of traditional faces closing, clearly show it is the forward movement of the piece at seperation that does the "throwing". After seeing that, I've conncluded that the inclined plane does little if anything to propel the piece forward.


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'Little push forward' may indeed be a little flattering, but it does deflect differently regardless....perhaps reflecting more on how a conventional can further delay the release so incuring a small amount of extra rotation.

Like I said, I can only speak from my own observations of recent years....I dont like mysteries or mythologies for that matter but somethings going on there.
 
Oh, ok, I thought you were working for Harbourview from that earlier vid.

Has it been difficult to get your name out there and get work in a new area or have you been plenty busy?
 
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Oh, ok, I thought you were working for Harbourview from that earlier vid.

Has it been difficult to get your name out there and get work in a new area or have you been plenty busy?

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I'm fortunate that Harbourview have passed a lot of work my way but no I'm not full-time.

Yeah its been difficult, especially the first couple of months....but things have gotten much better in the last couple. So long as I put out my best effort every day I'd would expect my position will only grow stronger. Thanks
 
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it does deflect differently regardless....perhaps reflecting more on how a conventional can further delay the release so incuring a small amount of extra rotation.

Like I said, I can only speak from my own observations of recent years....I dont like mysteries or mythologies for that matter but somethings going on there.

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Glad to hear the observations.. I do not use the humboldt enough to see the differences you describe ... ANd it makes a lot of sense in thinking about the videos of humboldts. There is definitely a big delay in hinge failure after the face closes in the traditional notch.. seems like it can be as much as 15º depending on species. If the Humboldt releases immediately, then that is one less variable to have to deal with.

Again, I AM pretty certain that it is the early release from the hinge, not the inclined plane that improves the humboldt's ability to throw a piece forward.. In that case you should be able get the same effect from cutting a narrower traditional. The traditional could take more energy to break the hinge though, which could slow the forward movement down more.. the amount of energy used will also depend on the thickness of the hinge and species.. so again there are a lot of variables..

The notch in this video at the 8 min mark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y5_bGt-sL4

was used to throw a big pine top as far as possible. It was a very narrow humboldt.. it was almost instincitve that the humboldt is a better cut for throwing a top. Now I have a better understanding of why! Getting that hinge to break while the piece was still nearly vertical was crucial to allowing the pull line to have the most effect..
 
Reg, there hasn"t been a video that you (and Gord for that matter) have posted that I haven't picked up a positive tweek in my technique. I think it's safe to say many if not all of us here benefit from your efforts. Thanks.
 
Reg your vids are truly da bomb, I have really learned so much from them and am really impressed by your technique and especially your rigging and attention to detail. You make our work look so simple, though I know it isn't. I hope someday I will be able to rig as professionally as you. You seem to move with such grace and your chainsaw handling is supreme keep posting and stay safe, you are truly an inspiration. Paul down here in the tropics where trees are nowhere as tough.
 
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