Rather Gargantuan Lombardy Poplars

[Roger_Barnett]

I've made some posts at the TH, and will copy them over here, then document the job as much as I have time for with photos and videos....hope the weather isn't too bad...sun makes for far better images....and the winds of today dissapate!

posted 5 days ago:
<<There's a badasp poplar removal that some yahoo landed, but doesn't know how to do. My consulting arborist buds (ScottBaker)were concerned about this guy's abilities, and referred the client to me. He called me right away. This yahoo wanted to crane everything when there's no real way to do it. The crane co. told me what they had planned, but they didn't think it would work..and they also realized he was clueless.....He'd bid $12k, but his crane costs, if the job would even go down, would be $4500-$7000, and wood removal up to $2500. I'm gonna bid about $16000 plus or minus $1500, but will only need my regular crane guy for the wood. He has a rented 28 ton with narrow spread for the back outriggers (needed due to space between the houses being 20 feet or so)....plenty of room for the front outriggers.

Remember my story of him tipping his 23 tonner over? Well, I found out the deal. He asked the homeowner where the septic tank was..turned out the fool didn''t know. Anyhow, Mike had already picked 5 trees, when the crane punched through and tipped over fast. Mike could have been crushed when it tipped, but he fell into the septic tank......pppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuuuwww wwwwwwwww, ,, but better stinky as all get out than dead, huh??

Now he has a sharpened long piece of rebar and a mallet...to check out the ground......>>


<<now I gotta put together the army base bid...gonna be in the 35-50 k neighborhood.....and the big poplar bid-- the guy keeps calling. He really wants to talk, but I've been swamped. My guess is we'll land that job....there's only a handful of companies that could handle the job...a very small handful....>>

posted yesterday:

<<Scored the big poplar job!!! At about $16,000 and change. He may handle the wood removal with his trucking firm...same profit margin for us.....

Got a world class crew...Eli wants to climb..Cowboy Dave...Cert arb Ian (who' now pretty much running the show at another firm, on the ropes, and winches--he's been featured in my stories and photos for years.....tennis shoe Brian (who won't have them on) on ropes and the chipper- he's also great on the ground--and a climber....and this old fart on cameras, and everywhere else.....

figure 3 days of roping out brush and a bit of wood, then ACDeucy Mike with his 28 ton crane for the wood.....Monday, we're on for him, Wednesday to start the job. Estimated total tree weight---100 tons!

Cirrcumferences at ground level are: 21'9", 19'6", and 19' hope the price is enuf. turns out the client is a hard core skiier and instructor who knows all my Crystal Mt buds!! And he's getting married...maybe he'll want me to shoot his wedding?!

I gotta split, came home to take more salmon out of the food dehydrator (yumm, it's awesome --wild silver-alaska, for $3 a pound!!!!! and go do a little one man job, look at a job for SnoCo Public works--at 4 homes...she must love me, said do it, no bid!!!! UMM, I think I love HER!!!

Then meet Cowboy Dave later to cut back a silver poplar that had lost a limb and landed in the neighbor's yard, almost clocking the little Peruvian fella named Vita--who married to Rita...HAH!>>


from earlier today:
<<--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote:
Originally Posted by Skwerl
I'd charge 'em extra for building the new house smack up against the tree and then deciding to remove them before the house is finished.


Got the job, we start tomorrow! My client cut a couple 8 inch roots. Trees aren't any more hazardous than they were. But one of the two coowners of the trees wants them out. My client doesn't own them, but is footing the whole bill, out of his pocket. Major bummer. Tree work--$16,300, grinding the stumps $1500, relandscaping the yard where the trees are, $5000..hauling the stump chips---his problem, but there will prolly be 50 cubic yards worth!!


Rigging will be fun...marl every branch--spread way out to make safe....maybe run a carriage with lower/and speed line both at the top..but will need a tag line on the butts (either 3-1 mech advantage, hand pulled, or winched out--whatever works..or speed line on the butt....Will have to see how it plays out.

I'd like to be able to limit the branch rigging to two lines each rather than three.... a clusterfluck it could be.....>>

update, last evening, Dave wrecked that poplar overhang lickitysplit...in maybe 110 minutes...got out of the tree at 8:25 pm....there was some crazyline angles....he had to tie in (both rigging and life lines) lower than was optimal due to an old breakout on the spar. There are few climbers anywhere as fast and talented as he!

 

[Tucker943]

I hate lombardy poplar!

 

[Oxman]

Here's Dave Sturm in action.

We were making wildlife snags for the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The job was on White Pass, which is the saddle between Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Rainier in western Washington state.

We climbed trees way out in the middle of previously thinned stands of Douglas fir, Western Hemlock, and Western Red Cedar. At 65 feet, the bark is peeled away, and the cambium and first two growth rings or so of the xylem are chopped out. All live limbs below that point are removed, effectively killing the tree.

Cavity nesting species are allowed to enter and thrive (supposedly) in an area devoid of old growth containing cavities.

That's the theory. Your government tax dollars at work.

No need to click on the attachment, this is it. Congrats Dave, yer famous. BTW, thanks for the climbing lesson, you demonstrated real guts out there, busting thru all that gnarly deadwood.

 

[Oxman]

Sorry about hijacking the thread, now back to the gargantuan Lombardys. I swung by there today on the way back from the dump. The brush was all but off the trees.

Heres a shot of the 3 trunks, with Dave on the GRCS. He's under the eaves of the garage roof, fairly protected from anything Eli might drop that weighs less than a piece of firewood.

 

[Oxman]

Here's the view from down the street. Waaay down the street. See if you can spot Eli.

 

[Oxman]

Setting the rigging. Each of these 3 trees split into several leads. The main leads were all tied together, to keep the dominos from falling.

 

[Oxman]

Getting ready to make the next cut, right where Elis right hand is setting.

 

[Oxman]

Right about here, I switched to taking video. Kind of a crime that it takes so long to edit, and that the buzz has a 1 MB limit on file size.

So, on to the after shots. Eli is starting to derig the pulleys and reinforcing slings, now that all the lowering is done. I understand Dave and other climbers also worked the trees up until this point.

These pics were taken with a Sony H9 point & shoot digital camera with a 15 power lens. Looks like we are right up there with him, doesn't it?

Because of the backlit sky, this shot was originally rather dark. I brightened up the image and lowered the contrast to bring out the detail. This left the image a bit washed out, but now his mom can see her boys face, and we can see the swivel and other gear on the saddle.

I wonder what the swivel was used for? I don't think we are going to be able to get out of Roger telling us.

 

[Oxman]

More derigging. The lines were everywhere.......

 

[Oxman]

Now its all over but the chunking down of the wood. The height had to be reduced to facilitate the crane work that is to commence on Monday. We'll keep you in suspense until then.

Meanwhile, here's Eli, in his glory with the MS200t. He earned his money today.

 

[chris_girard]

Awesome pictures!

 

[Gord]

[ QUOTE ]
I hate lombardy poplar!

[/ QUOTE ]

I think anyone that has had to work with them echos this!

Nice pics looks like it has gone well so far.

 

[Roger_Barnett]

Not necessarily, Gord....They can be mighty easy sometimes...or harder....these were a bit of work to engineer the work....

Black cottonwood, to me, are often far more of a challenge, depending on, again of course, the surroundings, and the tree structure....

 

[Roger_Barnett]

[ QUOTE ]


I wonder what the swivel was used for? I don't think we are going to be able to get out of Roger telling us.



[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think anyone used one up there, Mike.....

Dave Stice has a beefy one that he likes to use between a block and sling, to allow more rotational movement, and keep everything running smoother..

Glad you could stop by, and thanks for the photos.

It's 8:34 and I'm now off to dump the last load of chips....my 30 yr customer is going to be out on the lake for both weekend Seafair days. I invited myself aboard..presumptuous fella, eh.....looks like the camera will be in overdrive mode yet again!

 

[Oxman]

Lets try a video: Eli the Tree Guy

 

[TC]

They're the biggest Lombardys I've ever seen by a long way, probably the tallest in the world by the looks of them.

Pretty disgusting trees to work on, never felt safe rigging them down. look nice from a distance though.

 

[TC]

Thats a good shot.

 

[Gerald_Beranek]

I never particularly cared for Lombardy Poplar, but didn't much choice when I was working in Santa Rosa. Those are some big ones though. Look fairly sound too.

I recall some of the largest in Sonoma County were just west of Kenwood. I think on the Boyes Springs road. Planted in a row along side the road. Honest 6 footers plus. Old and hollow and always causing trouble. Spars breaking off all the time. Glad I never worked on them.

Good work Roger!

 

[Reg]

[ QUOTE ]
They're the biggest Lombardys I've ever seen by a long way, probably the tallest in the world by the looks of them.



[/ QUOTE ]

We must be seeing it totally different Grove. In the video-clip the climber doesn't appear more than 50 ft up (unless the trees are in a dip) and he definately doesn't cut off 50 ft surely?, which makes the tree under 100.

I could be way wrong on both counts as I only have the climbers image to give a sense of scale of course. But they do appear quite huge at the base for lombardi's

Looks and reads like a job very well done though, great pictures also

 

[Oxman]

Finally got the video clips stitched together into a nine minute vignette. Sorry about the shaky camera operation, due to lack of a tripod.

The comments about the foreshortening of the image are accurate. Except for a few long shots from waay down the block, behind the houses, the view was restricted. Any photographer likes to include the entire tree in the frame, from ground to tips. The only place to do this from was directly underneath.

With the long lenses at full magnification of 15X, things do look much shorter than they are. As a lazy videographer relying on the zoom to compose the shot, it would have been better to get up on the roof of that 3 story house next door to capture the action.

Of course, the work was in getting the congested limb clumps to come apart in the early stages of the job. This means cutting one branch, then having to climb way up to set the rope in another because the window for it to fall isn't adjacent to where the last one fell. This job was time consuming & laborious. The climbers are energetic and thoughtful.

The noise from the chipper required hand signals from the ground crew to the climbers, and vice versa, as the brush simply had to be dealt with as it came down. Timing is an important factor in safety, as the drop zone can't be occupied until the all clear is given. Sometimes that 'all clear' is a given, rather than a statement that is clearly expressed. I didn't see anything get broken, and nobody got hurt.

Garguantuan Poplar Takedown Video