Stupid mistakes you've made doing tree work

[Steve Bullman]

13 minutes ago, felixthelogchopper said:

Are you saying you can't remember?

*cough*

[felixthelogchopper]

2 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

*cough*

I've forgotten what I forgot. Certainly wasn't how to fix the tracks after some boy racer popped one off.

[john p]

You can have my stupid long spliced eye if you want, I hate it as well.

Plus one, ordered rigging line from h brother s, thought I’d treat myself to a spliced eye, assumed it would be like a climbing line, not a lasso! Back to stopper knot now

[Steve Bullman]

so...nothing life threatening......

 

I very rarely use mewps but have been using a tracked one all this week on a large deadwooding job.  Got myself in a position where I couldn't complete one particular tree without having to reposition, so I jumped out of the basket, anchored myself in the top of the tree and came back down to the ground deadwooding as I went.  Only one glitch, I didn't pull out the stop button in the basket and there was no obvious way to override this and start the machine and bring it back down with the ground controls.  Had to climb all the way back up on my nice wet rope on a crap anchor point just to start the machine up again

[Stubby]

40 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

so...nothing life threatening......

 

I very rarely use mewps but have been using a tracked one all this week on a large deadwooding job.  Got myself in a position where I couldn't complete one particular tree without having to reposition, so I jumped out of the basket, anchored myself in the top of the tree and came back down to the ground deadwooding as I went.  Only one glitch, I didn't pull out the stop button in the basket and there was no obvious way to override this and start the machine and bring it back down with the ground controls.  Had to climb all the way back up on my nice wet rope on a crap anchor point just to start the machine up again

That's a cracker Steve

[tony_t3d]

so...nothing life threatening......
 
I very rarely use mewps but have been using a tracked one all this week on a large deadwooding job.  Got myself in a position where I couldn't complete one particular tree without having to reposition, so I jumped out of the basket, anchored myself in the top of the tree and came back down to the ground deadwooding as I went.  Only one glitch, I didn't pull out the stop button in the basket and there was no obvious way to override this and start the machine and bring it back down with the ground controls.  Had to climb all the way back up on my nice wet rope on a crap anchor point just to start the machine up again

Iv done a similar thing. We was taking down some large white poplar that had grown over the roof of a building great access for a MEWP. We was doubled up in the basket one cutting the other throwing the cut stuff clear of the building.

Million to one shot! One of the branches hit the emergency stop button whilst we was at full extension. We couldn't override it from the basket had to be done from the ground.... Mobile phone out and ring for help [emoji23] [emoji23] luckily was only a 20 min wait and alot of p*ss taking!

[Gary Prentice]

No Mewp, but I was dismantling a poplar at the bottom of someones garden, beyond which was a disused, derelict mill. The lower limbs were so far over the mill roof that I thought it would be easier to drop them carefully onto the roof and then climb onto the roof to throw them down.

 

I lowered myself down onto the flat roof and unclipped from my harness, carefully securing my rope to something, threw the limbs down and went back to regain my rope only to see it sliding over the edge. One of the groundsman had got a branch caught up with it, gave it a good pull and off it went. 

 

No issue, I thought I could make my way down a couple of floors to the first floor, where there were lots of broken windows and then get a ladder put up to get out. Found a open doorway with stairs down a level to a firedoor. Opened that, then all hell broke loose. Burglar alarm started screaming, emergency lighting came on, the whole works.

 

Exited sharply, sliding down conveyor belts between floors down to the first floor. Didn't even wait for a ladder, just jumped from the first opening window I could find.

 

"Deny everything!" I told everyone. "We don't know why the alarms went off, maybe we knocked a window with a branch or something!"

 

Funnily enough, no one turned up and after half an hour or so it all went quite. I still had re-ascend again, my prussic was nice and secure, set up fifty foot up the bl**dy tree..

[billpierce]

Lol "deny everything"

[Rich Rule]

23 hours ago, john p said:

Plus one, ordered rigging line from h brother s, thought I’d treat myself to a spliced eye, assumed it would be like a climbing line, not a lasso! Back to stopper knot now

There is a reason rigging lines are spliced big as opposed to climb lines.  Rigging lines are more often than not subject to some form of shock loading.  The additional length of the rope forming the eye helps to absorb some of the force generated in rigging.  Whereas a climb line, not so much.

 

Use the rigging line as it is with a splice and either use a cable tie to cinch a crab or use one of those rubber things arb supplier sell the keep a bina captive, or even a bit of bicycle inner tube cut off and wrapped around the eye.

[felixthelogchopper]

2 hours ago, Stubby said:

That's a cracker Steve

I promise I wasn't laughing very much at the time.