Homeowner taken photos of Pine removal

Phil

Phil

Carpal tunnel level member
Location
Oak Lawn, IL
So this was a tall white pine removal by a 7.2 kV single phase power line. There are 2 trees about 70-80' tall. the oneon the left broke out in a wind storm about 1 week prior to this while a man was grinding stumps nearby. the top landed about 1' from him. The homeowners, previously opposed to removing these, said take them down. The tall had no easy bucket access unless we wanted to make ruts. I suggested diging up 4 small plants to give us a landing zone which the homeowner agreed to. My plan, climb up and bomb the tree in about 4 pieces, clean up mess later :)

This was a simple tree, but the homeowner and her father, both who love trees and their landscape, postponed their plans for the day to stay and watch us work this to the ground. They ended up giving me and the ground guy Ohio buckeye trees to take home. Super nice people

Thepower line runs behind the tree on the side with all the branches. The tree I climbed took about 1.5 hrs to cut down and clean up
 

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another 1. no spikes for his tree. sometimes they would just get in the way
 

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I prolly could have shaved 20 minutes off this job but when i got to the top and pulled the rigging line up, my climb line got fubared on the 100s of stubs and nubs sticking out so i had to climb back down 20' to be able to untangle it. Plus my ground guy didnt know how to tie two ropes together so the first time I attempted to pull the rigging line up, it come undone and fell about 30' back to the ground. Oh well. Now my guy knows how to tie a sheet bend and slippery sheetbend :)

the next time i have to do this i'm taking the rigging line and saw with me on the way up.
 
Professional looking work, Phil. Good job.

Gotta ask, though, just like in that other thread, how you can think spikes get in the way.

I agree that pines are like ladders, and are easy to climb with or without gaffs, but for positioning, spikes help us. Spikes help with both ergonomics and efficiency.

The only downside to spikes (on removals, of course) I can see is stepping through your climbing line. Maybe that's what you mean. Otherwise, they just can't get in the way.

I think people who don't wear spikes on removals are sort of like those who don't put dressing on their salad. Sure, the salad tastes okay dry - but are you trying to prove something?

BTW, I used to eat dry salad - I was trying to prove something.
 
When working near power lines, using spikes puts you directly into the path to ground if something were to go wrong. Let say that rigging line snapped or my ground guy had a heart attack and let go of the rope. The piece falls to the sides or whatever, and hits the line. With spikes in the tree, I get way more shock then if i had no spikes. But seriously, how in the world would spikes benefit that pine removal? the branches went to 10' above the ground. If this was a forest grown pine with the first branch 60' up, yeah, i'd use spikes. But again, being near power lines, spikes are a last resort for me. I do use them plenty though.
 
Fair enough - power lines. 'nuff said.

(eating my slice of humble pie)

"But seriously, how in the world would spikes benefit that pine removal?"

Positioning, comfort, not standing on branches to make a cut, etc. Seriously, they help a lot in close to every removal.

But the power lines. Got it.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Positioning, comfort, not standing on branches to make a cut, etc. Seriously, they help a lot in close to every removal.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats it right there my friend "close to every removal" not every removal. This was one of the exceptions, to me anyways. But it is just like good ole fashioned tv has taught me, "It takes different strokes to rule the world". So if spikes every time is what floats your boat, by all means, strap em on.

Thank you for the professional work comment by the way. That is one of my main goals when doing work. I want the homeowner or whoever is watching to say to me at the end of the job, "I've seen a lot of people do tree work before, but never have i seen it done like that" It makes me feel good, and promotes proper arboriculture way more in the eyes of the homeowners. I got a good taste of this when a homeowner gave me a $100 tip after removing a white oak that overhung his house and porch. All he said was, "I can recognize a skilled person when I see em" Made me super happy, even if he didn't tip, it would have made my day. I am not the best arborist out there, but I can try
 
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