vertical speed-lining when it counts

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good question..
the small notches are extrememly important in this situation. The pieces had to lean out far enough to ensure they had plenty enough lean to commit to the lay, BUT no more. The width of the notches were adjusted so that once the piece was over far enough to commit, the hinge would then break and allow the butt to drop like a stone, thus preventing damage to the surrounding canopy, as the big pieces dropped down past, rather than through the adjacent trees. I probably should have cut the smallest of the three cuts with even a narrower notch. If the hinge had broken before the piece got hung up, it would have saved some trouble, though that limb had a bit of side lean, and I wanted to make sure it went over far enough to commit to the lay..

When tops hang up, it also posed an increased threat to the climber, as they will have a tendency to want to push their buts back over the cut and can land in the climbers lap, which could easily kill you! SO those cuts MUST be RIGHT!

The notch on the third cut looks like it is wider than it actually is. What you see is the cutting of a "partial snipe" which created a steeper downward plane on the bottom cut of the humboldt. See Gerry B's "fundamentals of general tree work" pd 306-307.. After re-reading that page, I may actually practice a rolling snipe, which could offer some added protection in similar situations..
 
Would just climbing higher and having your climb line in another tree near the trees being removed allow you to take smaller pieces so that in the one example that branch wouldn't have got hung up and then eventually end up right in your face?
 
Maybe it's the camera but the last top you took sure looked like it would have been in your lap without that last second side step. Like I said though the lens compresses alot so..... Anyways the butt line was run dry crotch and down to a lowering device? Or were the pieces attached via sling to a line anchored to both top and bottom of the tree? I can't really tell what's going on there. Thanks
 
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Would just climbing higher and having your climb line in another tree near the trees being removed allow you to take smaller pieces so that in the one example that branch wouldn't have got hung up and then eventually end up right in your face?

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Casey there was no good option for tying into another tree.. This was not that big of a tree and certainly could have been pieced out, and there was a large live lead to tie into, but that would have been much harder, as a lot, if not most of the tree would have had to be lowered. Handling that would have been quite difficult on the ground as the terrain was very steep and there was a beautiful dogwood dirctly below the main live top.

Bt taking the pieces long liek that, I was able to clear the hill and the dogwood with the brush, which all ended up out on the lawn, (except the piece that fell back into the tree, which we picked with the skid loader). Had the loader not been there, it would have been troublesome..

If I wanted to be certain to keep that piece in the lay, all I had to do was tie a long sling to it and send it down the speed line as well. If there was a mistake made here, not taking the time to do so was it. I honestly thought it was short enough to clear the adjacent tree and still fall to the lay. So I definitely learned something there. Maybe if I had cut it better and the hinge failed a little earlier, it would have made the lay. In any case I was pretty sure it wasn't long enough to do any serious damage, and I will defintely file all that was learned from that drop in the computer. So I'll call it a learning experience.

One issue was indeed time. I was using all throw away lines and slings for the speedline, and that would have taken a few minutes to find or cut a proper sized sling for. It also took a few minutes to fish out the butt.
 
I like the slow motion shot of that top rolling off the cut a lot. Its a good learning piece. Being able to watch this short of thing in good quality video, after imagining/doing it has been a huge asset. I watch this stuff in slow motion and tease every little bit of knowledge possible out of it.

That was a narrow humboldt face cut with a partial snipe. There is a shot of the snipe being cut that makes it look like a wide humboldt, but its not. In retrospect, you can see the snip catches the butt, and act like a backstop for a second or two, til the butt rolls slightly and drops. I probably should have used a little more stump shot to create more of a lip to keep the butt from shooting back off the cut, though the snipe worked well enough in this case. That piece was not as big and heavy as the first. Unfortunately I missed the close up of the first piece coming off the cut, due to poor camera set up, and equipment issues.

The speed line is set up with an old piece of double braid, choked to the top, then run over a crotch and tied off at ground level with another running bowline.. One sling was a factory second I use for misc rigging and slack tending on pull lines, and the other was just a 10-15' piece of old climbing line. They were secured to the vertical speedline with a small shackle.. might have been $20 worth of rope/gear used there..

The last piece actually broke the old piece of climbing line used for a sling... if you watch carefully, you can see the speedline flying around after the drop. Now thats what I call "unknown forces"..




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Maybe it's the camera but the last top you took sure looked like it would have been in your lap without that last second side step. Like I said though the lens compresses alot so..... Anyways the butt line was run dry crotch and down to a lowering device? Or were the pieces attached via sling to a line anchored to both top and bottom of the tree? I can't really tell what's going on there. Thanks

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WTF? That was CRAP! Your gonna get yourself killed pulling those cowboy antics, thinking you know what you're doing. I will use this video as a training aid for what NOT to do. Plenty of other options rather than putting your body in such a compromising position.

I disliked almost everything about the whole video except maybe hoisting out the Holly which could have been done with the tops in the ditch had you just bombed them out smaller. All the camera angles paint a pretty good picture.

I especially hated how you cut the spar - overhead with the long bar, no notch?!?!, pulling with ASV instead of fiddle block, leaving a six foot stump to be "fished out" later. You spose to fell it all in one piece with a real notch for directional control then drag it all out at once. Where'd you learn to cut trees man?

Thanks for posting, but please don't think you're teaching anything. I do not recommend these techniques to anyone.
 
Alright I get it now, ive used the vertical speed line some for bringing down trunk wood and set up with a wrap at the base of the tree to lessen the blow a little while still maintaining control of the piece, plus it helps with getting the piece off the line. Never used it in a situation like yours though. Interesting application, got the gears turning a little. May be useful for minimizing shock load in some sketchy rigging situations.
 
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Alright I get it now, ive used the vertical speed line some for bringing down trunk wood and set up with a wrap at the base of the tree to lessen the blow a little while still maintaining control of the piece, plus it helps with getting the piece off the line. Never used it in a situation like yours though. Interesting application, got the gears turning a little. May be useful for minimizing shock load in some sketchy rigging situations.

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generally its used to control the bounce when bombing out wood that could take a bad bounce after impact.. in this case, it was used to make sure the butts didn't swing away from the trunk only.
 
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WTF? That was CRAP! Your gonna get yourself killed pulling those cowboy antics, thinking you know what you're doing. I will use this video as a training aid for what NOT to do. Plenty of other options rather than putting your body in such a compromising position.

I especially hated how you cut the spar - overhead with the long bar, no notch?!?!, pulling with ASV instead of fiddle block, leaving a six foot stump to be "fished out" later. You spose to fell it all in one piece with a real notch for directional control then drag it all out at once. Where'd you learn to cut trees man?

Thanks for posting, but please don't think you're teaching anything. I do not recommend these techniques to anyone.

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What looks like cowboy antics to you is a level of skill and control that is beyond you. I love these type of criticisms.. take them as compliments these days..

The stump was left high for the kids. Customer has a 3 and 6 year old boys.. that stub is 6 foot on the low side and 9'+ on the high side. Its gonna make a perfect ground anchor for a zip line across the back yard, as its on a hill and there is a perfect tree some 75-100' away for the lower anchor. Its gonna be a hit in the neighborhood.. When I looked at the LZ, I just knew that it had to be..

Hit my mark perfectly on that drop.. no accident either..

That said, I don't recommend these techniques either. One small error in cutting those notches and back cuts upstairs, and its all over. So don't try it. Just know it can be done. Its a demonstration of what is possible. And if anyone learns any little thing that can applied in other situations, its all good.
 
Daniel,Daniel,Daniel.....
Those 2 very long limbs you notched up while up in the tree and you kicked off made me cringe so much i genuinly felt worried for you.
First you made the decision to notch that first long limb, that, to most people would obviously get hung up in the surrounding canopy.... i am speechless.You have left yourself in a very dangerous position if it where to spear back towards yourself.
I am giving you some credit cause you probably know that was dangerous,so what do you do.....you do exactly the same thing again...!!!!!!
You trying to get yourself killed??!!
Your tree work from the ground,to me seems quite effective but from what i see with your climbing,you are not comming close to providing the right solution!
 
Daniel this video is superb. It shows your unwillingness to climb higher, maker safer decisions, and leave the skid steer parked.

Honestly, this looks like a job that if I was driving by, I would have to stop and watch just for the faces of death aspect.

Your treework is not over my head, I've seen guys using lawn mowers to pull trees over decades ago. But I do get a kick out of how much you want to felate yourself and your secret cuts.

Keep up the good work, Pal.

SZ
 
I hope you pay your guardian angles a lot off money to keep you safe every cut you make ;-)

It's just another example off serious poor climbing skills and even more poor chainsaw skills up in the tree.

Hope you won't get hurt and my advise to u is to hire a professional arborist for these jobs, cause you sure don't have the skills for this line off work !

climb safe
wouter
 
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