Tips on getting started with crane work

[Stumpsprouts]

If the ground can’t keep up with what you are sending out, take smaller pieces

This is great advice and also made me think of the very important task for the climber, which is to sling the pick high as to keep it from inverting! Sometimes going smaller can make pieces more prone to inverting for lack of bottom weight. And brush is always heavier than you think it is. First half hitches IME may need to be a lot higher than you’d think.

 

[oceans]

This is great advice and also made me think of the very important task for the climber, which is to sling the pick high as to keep it from inverting! Sometimes going smaller can make pieces more prone to inverting for lack of bottom weight. And brush is always heavier than you think it is. First half hitches IME may need to be a lot higher than you’d think.

Maples in full leaf, especially. The upright tops are easy, but it can seem like you have to sling into toothpicks to properly balance the more outward arching stuff. That’s where i like the technique of round turning over a few branches and terminating onto something lower…gaining the strength of multiple branches. I do this alot with heavily asymmetrical Pine and Spruce sections to tame movement as they lift away.

 

[southsoundtree]

Seeds add significant weight to brush-pick balance.

 

[Mowerr]

As always it depends on the tree and structure of it, and the reach of your lift. No matter what I've never seen 1 man in a lift hook and cut quicker than 2 climbers, one sling setter and one cutter.
Spend your money how you want to but if you have sena comms, you can send anybody up there to set a sling .

 

[canopyking]

So I might be bringing in a slightly different take away. I have been climbing for a year and a half, and a crew that I work closely with runs crane jobs one a week-ish. I have been helping them for the past six months, and I found the transition to be fairly easy. Sure, in the beginning I was completely relying on the operator to tell me where to be, what to keep in mind, but I just did what he said. And now, we regularly encounter times where he is unable to see a limb and I just tell him which way to move and when to grab. All that to say, if you are good at rigging, understand branch weight, and crane limitations, then you'll probably be alright. Also, I've only used a grapple crane, cable craning seems to require a lot more work balancing branches. Again, I'm new, I might be kind of right, but I'd put myself lower not he people-to-listen to scale.

Also, what has already been said, helmet comms are a must, approaching the work in the safest manner possible, no rush, even when the climber needs more time to get the slings around the bigger logs (I am particularly slow at that part, although I am improving. Long slings can be incredibly difficult to manage......patience).

 

[Sfoppema]

Slinging for a cable crane vs cutting with a wallboard or kboom mecanil setup are different animals. Being a relatively new climber be careful is all I can say. Cable cranes usually have the ability to preload certain weights whereas an older wallboard crane like the one in the photo probably they are just booming up to preload an uncertain amount of weight from the operators seat with a lever. The peices can drop a fair bit or be tensioned in a way that is not really known or intentional. It's not necessarily a bad thing it just is what it is.

Slinging and cutting properly is a learned art and once a week with a year or twos worth of overall climbing experience is tricky. Keep your head on a swivel my friend. Slinging big wood is the most predictable part of the process. New climbers and operators tend to over complicate the process because they are not confident in the way they are doing things. I've witnessed it personally from an operator and climbers perspective. You both need to know what's going to happen and if you don't you need to discuss it. It's tricky to get into a groove if done infrequently with different people. Be careful and soak up what's going on. The grapplesaws are awesome for crane work but you need to pay attention because there are different forces on the peices than there would be with a cable crane. And you're not going to be able to move very far away from where you are cutting unless you have planned ahead for possible excess or unpredictable movement.. .

 

[Sfoppema]

I'll add to that that myself and other 10+ year climbers that i work with have commiserated about the unpredictability of mecanil kboom crane picks. Not all operators are created equal but in all of our experiences we agreed there can be more unpredictable movement than with cable cranes where the climber is in control of sling placement and can tell the operator where to center the ball/pretension

 

[oceans]

I can pretty much agree with you @Sfoppema Much of the cable crane’s “forgiveness” comes from the scope of winch line between the jead pulley and the ball. By nature, the cable crane maintains a stick height well above the pick. As the tree gets shorter, the boom will remain at the same height.

A k-boom of any kind only has the sling length between the hook and the pick. Much less forgiving. A grapple truck, basically no scope at all. The less scope, the more immediate, dramatic and potentially severe the consequences of any poor judgement.

My particular crane has the flexibility to work as a cable style machine or like a k-boom, and I will choose what is best for each scenario I encounter. I also sub in a larger grapple saw truck for the largest trees in my area. Most days I am not in the mood for the saw head and would much prefer setting slings, but each job has its own factors.

At the end of the day (or maybe during the day?), the best thing you can do is try to keep an open dialogue about how things can go smoothly. If things don’t seem to move smooth, don’t tell yourself that is just the way it is. Iron out the kinks. Be open minded and make sure to accept your own mistakes. Hopefully, after enough time with the same team, the issues become less and less crucial.

 

[Sfoppema]

I can pretty much agree with you @Sfoppema Much of the cable crane’s “forgiveness” comes from the scope of winch line between the jead pulley and the ball. By nature, the cable crane maintains a stick height well above the pick. As the tree gets shorter, the boom will remain at the same height.

A k-boom of any kind only has the sling length between the hook and the pick. Much less forgiving. A grapple truck, basically no scope at all. The less scope, the more immediate, dramatic and potentially severe the consequences of any poor judgement.

My particular crane has the flexibility to work as a cable style machine or like a k-boom, and I will choose what is best for each scenario I encounter. I also sub in a larger grapple saw truck for the largest trees in my area. Most days I am not in the mood for the saw head and would much prefer setting slings, but each job has its own factors.

At the end of the day (or maybe during the day?), the best thing you can do is try to keep an open dialogue about how things can go smoothly. If things don’t seem to move smooth, don’t tell yourself that is just the way it is. Iron out the kinks. Be open minded and make sure to accept your own mistakes. Hopefully, after enough time with the same team, the issues become less and less crucial.

Right on about ironing out the kinks.

 

[canopyking]

The peices can drop a fair bit or be tensioned in a way that is not really known or intentional.

Oh I'm definitely aware of this!