Floating chunks

[pantheraba]

OK, so it sounds like something you see in the commode after bad sushi...or a hard night at the local for some of y'all.

That leaner I recently took down generated some pretty good chunks. They yard was recently landscaped so I can't get a truck back to the cut site. A wheel barrow or just rollling them sounds like too much hard labor. We rigged a zip line, hoisted the chunks up high and walked them out to the curb. I have a 600 pound rope hoist that I would have used but this is the first weekend in years that somebody borrowed it to lift an attic staircase (solo job for him). We rigged the hoist with pulleys...wish I'd had 2 more for the bigger chunks.

Anybody have pictures of a similar system you have used? Any info on how much drop is needed to work best?

The pictures are posted at:

http://layton.smugmug.com/Tree%20Job%203-30-05

 

[Colin]

 

[Tom Dunlap]

That's a good use of your head. Think about doing things the easy way.

If you need elevation out front you can make a gin pole out of a stought limb. Guy it out like an antennae and you're cookin' !

Take a look at how the big dogs do aerial work. Scale it down and you'll save a lot of work. I've used an ATV to haul the traveler. It takes a bit of time to rig but it saves a lot of time and back ache. With some planning you can lift things over obstacles too.

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/logging/manual/yarding/yarding.html

 

[pantheraba]

That's a great idea...some of the heavy chunks really robbed the rig of elevation. I could have gin poled to get it back.

It did save a lot of straining and wrestling with big chunks.

 

[Lumberjack]

I didnt get to see the jobsite, but from the pictures of the chunks and what i saw i think it would have been much faster to use a dolly to move the chunks, not knocking your rigging, just my perspective.

The pieces you where moving seem small to what I would call a big chunk. What did the peices weigh? 200-300 pounds or so? As long as there was a path 2 feet wide to travel on, and the ground wasnt too steep to walk on then a dolly is mighty fast compared to all the rigging. How far did you move the pieces both [/list]

 

[pantheraba]

[ QUOTE ]
I didnt get to see the jobsite, but from the pictures of the chunks and what i saw i think it would have been much faster to use a dolly to move the chunks, not knocking your rigging, just my perspective.

The pieces you where moving seem small to what I would call a big chunk. What did the peices weigh? 200-300 pounds or so? As long as there was a path 2 feet wide to travel on, and the ground wasnt too steep to walk on then a dolly is mighty fast compared to all the rigging. How far did you move the pieces both [/list]

[/ QUOTE ]

A dolly is a good idea, might have worked if I laid down a bed of plywood to roll it on...the only dollies I have are for warehouse/office moving of equipment, the wheels would bog down in the dirt (maybe they make balloon tired dollies for this type work?)

Three factors were really at work...

1. the landscaping was brand new and I didn't want to mess up the yard (mine!).

2. To me the chunks were big...it's all relative...some of you pro guys do this all the time...it is sporadic for me. I learned this work in the 70's (manila ropes and all) and did it as I went through college. 200-300 pounds is a lot of wood to me when I can't get my truck near it.

3. I wanted the practice of rigging a load bearing zip line. We did roll some of them to the road (about 90 feet) through my neighbors yard but floated/zipped most of them. It was a great excuse to use a lot of gear, try to keep the skills up and learn a little.