My Latest Contract Climbing Adventure.

I was hoping for some advice from you Royce. All of that sounds very sound. How useful are wedges for keeping your cuts open/ saw free?
Z, the first thing I was taught about crane work was "Just because you can pick it up, doesn't mean you can put it down." Very good words to think about when planing each pick.

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I like to use 3 slings on all of the brush. Try to capture the center of gravity somewhere in between the three and it shouldn't move much. You'll find that leaves weigh A LOT. If you're making snap-cuts, make the most awkward cut first. I tend to try to make my cuts slightly over my head for the most part. I usually use a 200t with a 16" bar for most of the brush, then switch out. Sena comms are a necessity for me and I'm guessing many others. Good luck and have a blast. Riding the ball is a treat
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Home is set up, dinner is off the fire. I've got a silver maple in the morning to crane out.
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Tyler Durden said:
How useful are wedges for keeping your cuts open/ saw free?
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I've never once used a wedge with a crane removal! Remember, the tree will lift up on which ever side the choker is set on. Therefore, cut the other side first (break the bark). Then finish the cut from the choker side, and as the crane op puts tension on the piece, the saw kerf will open up, guaranteeing not to pinch you saw.

REALLY good advice from all the previous posters - I nodded my head in agreement with almost all of it! I've found a 562Xp with a 20" is a great crane saw.
 
Your working with Mike Poor, that is sweet, I watched him in ohio at a k boom demo, super cool guy from what I could tell and down to earth! Very knowledgeable about k booms!!!

Have a good time and come home to that cute lil guy every day, theres nothing better than to see there smiling faces each day after work!!
 
Tyler Durden said:
I just made it to the yard. Who else is humbled every time they stand next to a crane?

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I'm in that club. Even more so when standing near large bridges or buildings, knowing just how many peoples lives were partially spent in order to complete their construction. All of the planning and engineering that goes into it.

Regarding the cranes, another similar machine that inspires awe, just because of all the obvious design and engineering work that goes into it, is the big boomlifts. To think that it's possible to move a person's body to a point in space 125 feet up or more, in only a few minutes, with minimal effort, just is amazing to me.

It is awesome to see a crane do a large pick, too. All of the labor it saves.

Tim
 
I truly love crane work. Its my most enjoyable type of work besides a big broad canopy prune. We use a 17t crane. I've been working with a 60 all week and went back to the company crane for the last job yesterday. I felt very uncomfortable all over again. Compared to taking a 13k pick with the 60 I felt like it was trying to lift a 5lb bag of potatoes with a #2 pencil. I try to make crane work with the big cranes a personal challenge on every pic. How perfect can I balance it. It's really fun. Very little climbing though. I wonder if the kbooms are like our little crane. I do little to no balancing with the 17 because with 70' of boom and 30' of jib the tip of the crane is often about 3' from the load. There just isn't any room for crane slings or balancing. Theres a lot of slow cuts with the crane lowering the load into itself as I cut if that makes sense. Lots of tip down but high landings. I don't necessarily like how the whole operation works. Seems counterintuitive to what I learned at crane school. However, he has been running tis crane for almost 20 years and his system seems to be sound. Some days I wonder how he hasn't ripped the boom of the chassis yet but it always seems to work out. I guess the point is, crane work isn't just crane work. To me every situation and every size of crane forces you to need a large bag of tricks and some different tools. It's very dynamic to me.

My 18 year old 361(muffler mod only) with a 20" bar is my go to for crane work. Its a great sized saw and it rips like a devil. I love that saw. It's the only original saw I still own from when I had my own biz.

Enjoy yourself. Challenge yourself for perfection on rigging and understand you are now ruined for regular tree work. Now you'll look at every tree like "man if we could just get a crane to it, we'd blow it out in no time."

Have fun
 
Yeah big chippers and a crane make for really quick jobs. Once you run a big chipper your instantly spoiled. I was doing some field testing with a 20" chipper and it ruined me. When I had to give it back I couldn't go back to my 12" so I was forced to go out and buy my own.
 
tc262 said:
Yeah big chippers and a crane make for really quick jobs. Once you run a big chipper your instantly spoiled. I was doing some field testing with a 20" chipper and it ruined me. When I had to give it back I couldn't go back to my 12" so I was forced to go out and buy my own.
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It's crazy though how big you get!! 20" chipper, then your filling a truck fast, so you need a 30 or 40 yard truck. Then your ground crew is fast so you need a bigger crane to keep them busy. It just goes on and on.
I was getting frustrated the other day because I felt like a job was taking a little bit too long. (it really wasn't I just had over booked the day) I had to take a step back and remind myself that if I didn't have the crane how long would this tree be taking us? In the end we were leaving the yard by 5. So it all worked out!!
 
With the amount of time it takes to grow a tree to the sizes you folks are referring to, and the speed and efficiency with which you work with your big equipment, it kind of amazes me that you never seem to run out of work. It seems like you'd run through all of the ones that need to be taken down, and then say "Well, I guess I have to find another way to make a living, now." The number of trees that exist that need work just seems a bit mind-boggling.

Is it ever even a slight concern to anyone that they might actually run out of trees to work on? Or is it like trying to empty the ocean with a teacup? Thanks in advance for any answers you choose to give, and for putting up with such an ignorant question.

Tim
 
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