Rare PNW lightning storm brings a fun fir removal

Roger_Barnett

Roger_Barnett

Participating member
Location
Seattle, in the PNWet
The appx 100 foot tall, previously topped 36" dbh fir was at the top of the steep bluff leading to Puget Sound, in Everett near Mukilteo, and with the RR tracks down below, but not close enough to be a factor. As I did not want to send Mike down the steep slope to pull sections over, I planned to only remove the limbs on the uphill side, so I didn't want to just gaff up the tree. Instead, I set an access line for the Wraptor, which took forever, as I got my only good throw line stuck. Having lost 4 line puch sets in the last 18 months, I'm left with that one, and another old old line which has been knotted together a few times. Well, it broke twice, ruining two good line sets...and one of these had taken a good 30 minutes to strum the throw weight to the ground. Needless to say, the appx 1.5 hours it took to get airborne was frustrating.....

After that, I slowly worked up, using the Wraptor, cutting and lowering the large down sloping uphill limbs.

Then. I took my time backweighting the top, and letting it fly, as well as the next two sections prior to coming down and felling the last 30 feet, as all the splintered wood kept me very cautious, and tying in to my bridge, to keep out of the "Circle of Death" should the tree come apart during a cut. I did leave my flip line attached to my side D=rings, but I kept it way loose.

A bunch of images are here, some of them have some notes entered.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rbtree/sets/72157630598466604/

And, as a slide show
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rbtree/sets/72157630598466604/show/
 
Here you can see the stuck throw line, and Mike strumming the second line down, which took ages... and then it broke, just before we got the access line over the top limb, ruining all that work.

Also, it was a no haul, and, when transferring gear to my pick me up truck, I forgot to get our helmets out of the chip truck........my bad.....

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To be continued....it's 11 dirty, past axe-tually...and I gotta leave at 7 tomorrow morning......
 
we had a nearly identical d-f up root in langley, as well as a few others in that same storm. almost all seem to be in a isolated path of dammage. i've heard alot of people call it a tornado or even 'waterspout' no one can conferm an actual funnel though... anyone over there see any thing? it would be interesting to plot the dammage on a map
 
You bet , Daniel.

I did a quick wrap with the Trueblue line prior to taking out the three tops--just below the old top cut...(which was where the strike first contacted the tree)
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and here:

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I thought this would make a good habitat snag, and conversation piece, but the customer's wife was unconvinced.

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so down it went

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The ground really dropped away. Woulda made a good spot to fashion my first springboard (there was a handy splintered piece of fir.....)
 
[ QUOTE ]
we had a nearly identical d-f up root in langley, as well as a few others in that same storm. almost all seem to be in a isolated path of dammage. i've heard alot of people call it a tornado or even 'waterspout' no one can conferm an actual funnel though... anyone over there see any thing? it would be interesting to plot the dammage on a map

[/ QUOTE ]

So the weather carried some wind with it up your way?

Odd, as Friday and Saturday, the weather here was dead calm.....There was a bit of a nice breeze--in our favor-- during the fir removal Sunday.


By the way, today, I'm pretty sure I heard a bit more rolling thunder....we were in Bellevue.....

Sean, from the Tree House, who works for the USFS now, has a lightning struck tree on Camano to take care of.....
 
oops getting my storms mixed up. no wind here last week either, but lighting like mad! i was miss taken, i was talking about the 'down burst' winds from your last viedo
 
Epic photos Rog, well done. Hey how do you like the Ergovation? I've been using mine going on two years now. The back leg straps like to loosen up a bit. I haven't cut any material off as of yet, the stopper knot on the rope bridge sticks out a bit and will catch on something every now and then, was thinking of trimming it down some. I had a caritool I would hang my saw on, the wire gate eventually broke, then not to long after the plastic broke away on me. Either way it lasted much longer than I thought, and I never lost a saw, which is good.

I love the saddle, It doesn't pinch my hips, and I can lounge around in it for hours, love that back support. A good saddle for working in a tree.

Love that makita falling saw! One hell of an office, nice view!
grin.gif
 
Yep. I have the same minor issues. That large caritool's gate is long gone, but the saw rarely falls off. (It's always attached at the back anyhow at the leash end. The saddle's kinda heavy and a bit bulky, but it is super comfy!

That's a Dolkita 6401 now 7901 with a dual port muffler. My 7900 is about 8 years old, and doesn't like to start when hot....but it was one of the very first woods ported 7900's. I think my now stolen 5100S was the first to be ported...I also still have the pipe that Ed Heard made for it...that might work on my other 5100S, which is only muffler modded. I have a pipe for a 372 that I've never run on it..someday, but it was for another 372 that was a near race saw...same prick stole it too....he's plead guilty to a total of 4 lifted saws.
 
hope he gets the chair...

I got a medium from what I remember, and it seems to run a little big around the waist. I really like the big velcro strap around the belly, nice for stowing gloves and stuff. Very practical saddle, I love the look of it, and yes super comfy.

I'm wondering if some small loops on the leg support part would come in handy.

I've been using only one ring on my rope bridge, has it been nice having two?

Anyway... great Dolkita, where do you go to get a saw like that? Italy?
 
That ain't the half of it. The druggie stole 8 saws, got 4 back, he plead guilty for the 4....restitution will be up to $2800, doubt he'll ever pay. He's pulled a knife on two tree service owners....and is the prime suspect in my most recent disaster....a destroyed side door, and a missing safe...in broad daylight. It had my new camera and my two big lenses, worth $11,000 alone..plus an old pro body, and two old lenses, passport, birth cert, some extra credit cards, and about $2k cash. Safe weighed ~225 lb...can't believe I didn't bolt it to the floor as I knew I should have.

Unrelated, but this afternoon, my neighbor's were a mile away, near the community college, very nice area, and left the car for 20 minutes, with her purse, and his wallet inside. Thethieves tried to crowbar the door open, gave up, and smashed the passenger window, and split with the spoils.

Death to all low life thieving drug addled pricks.

I got two 64 cc Makitas from Home Depot, about $200 each..add a couple hundred for the 79 cc jug, and you have the fastest saw in the 70-85 cc class...stock anyhow. 372's can be ported to run with or better than a ported Dolmar. I got my 7900 and the 5100's from The Cutting Edge in New York, who sent it directly to Dan Henry to massage.
 
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