RC0

No I had a demo for the day. Here's a link to another forum with some disscussion. TreeBuzz Board: Stihl MS201 Only thing I dont like is the auto-setting carb thing, which apparently the best way to run in is to hit the big wood straight away....contrary to the norm. Having said all that, for 201 users you might consider having the saw modded, massive improvement. I got mine done here: Walker Power Equipment ....they get plenty saws sent from Europe and the world over. Just picked up my 3120 earlier today also....I need a second set of plugs inside my earmuffs now. Great saw anyway, now its phenomenal.

Fear not, it kills them both:thumbup1:

Above my head, no not really. just a series of massive leads which break off from the main stem on the way up. Its almost like a multi-top but the leads dont all start from a single point, more all over the first 30ft yet seemingly reach the same height up top. Not a tree-surgeon friendly shape really.

Looked at a big lombardy removal this evening....the photo shows it at the base but what you cant see is another huge part to it just behind me on the left. Terrible spot at the back/borderline of two properties. Whopping big top, multi-stemmed thing about 110-20ft, will all have to be rigged which is quite the task....but the real hard work is in that lower portion which will have to be blocked and ripped into 4 perhaps and then pushed off, such is the tight drop zone. Not sure if it'll come off just yet as the city want it retained....meanwhile the residents are pretty much terrified of it. We bid it (both parts) for 6 days for 4 workers.

From Canada, got it yesterday Steve. Thanks, and good job:thumbup1: anyone else?

Thanks, but you're about 12 years too late. I lived in Mt Eden 99-2000, contract climbing. Excellent beers and the best food I've ever had before or since, thats New Zealand.

Glad to see you're still funny, Ben

yup, Juliet hates it:thumbup: more sleep

Thanks, it wasn't initially in my mind to put this on the forum, but just to send the link straight to the guy in the US. Good to hear James, thanks. Like any aspect of rigging, good foresight and planning is what makes things work, or not. When raising limbs the correct positions of the rigging point, rope attachment point and use of a hinge can work like a force multiplier....whereby you can stand something up thats twice as heavy as the force being applied. Young Danny on the lever is only 17, 18 as I recall at the time....dont know what he's doing now, not trees though.... but when I hear experienced guys saying they cant figure this and that it kind of leaves me scratching my head. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_ZmEfuD2Os]RC3002 lifting web.wmv - YouTube[/ame]

I heard from a guy just yesterday on the web who cant seem to use the pre-load lever....even after a year or so of owning one If you either use a Stein Dual, or perhaps in the mindset to purchase one then you might want to take a look. If not then dont bother. Thanks Switch to HD and turn up the volume. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QVHFZL8hqE]Stein Dual Pre load lever. - YouTube[/ame]

Thanks. The top of the poplar was actually a royal PITA. Started it the previous day at 4pm....last thing I wanted to be doing at that time after a big day there already, but I knew we needed to get a head start for the next morning. The first time in a while also that I had to use a natual crotch instead of a block at the rigging point - to avoid the multiplying effect. Lots, actually John....but the vast majority are not very informative. Follow that link to my channel, must be 70 videos there, at least since arbtalk was started.

Thanks....and for reminding me to put it on here. Switch to HD on youtube [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcv_Bix8GWo&list=UUpYc97NCVnOjJtrDQlQjtbA&index=1&feature=plcp]Cottonwood, pull - YouTube[/ame] Edit: the description on youtube. Latter stages of a poplar removal. We had a busy day rigging out the top and were left with quite a chunky lower part with a heavy back lean. Having to take it down to such an extent before we could fall it meant left us short on leverage which meant a strong and careful pull was required. Pulling directly with the truck in 4x4 was very tempting, especially when the finish line is in site at the end of a big day....but by using the portable winch meant that I could calculate and limit the force on the rigging, and so stay within the working load limit, which I knew beforehand would be a close run thing.

where was the BIG top? Messy, ugly trees....Git R Done, Ed, Is he still alive even? ....as I seem to recall him posting that he had liver disease or something, in explaining the reason he'd put on weight some time ago. I met Ed at the AA show several years back. Veeerry well spoken and charming fellow indeed....I'd bet he could/can sell a job for sure. 4500 regular posts, and then nothing....why? I've yet to reach 800 even, been a member all along. Ed, we miss ya (those who were here), come back baby

Yeah, it was a VSL if truth be told.....the block really just a redi at the bottom of the tree:biggrin: Carl I think the last one was a leaning dead willow....and then a large co-do beech some time before that where one half had tore out at about 40ft. And in the past I've done similar where knowing I'm going to get rag-dolled because the groundworker has the look of dread in his eyes before-hand, so to limit the severity of it. In such situations I'd actually switch to 12mm rock climbing line, although I dont have any with me here.

Hey Dan. Yeah the top of the dead zipline fir was always going to be the potential deal-breaker. Didn’t have the slightest concern about the lower limbs on the way up but I knew that higher up it was all a lot more fragile. Thankfully I have the gift of blankness for such moments. I used to favour setting the block as high as possible also for the reasons you mentioned....but as you know other considerations often come into play. More often than not nowdays I’ll favour setting my lanyard and climb-line above the block, and to do so I like to maintain a good safety margin (at least 12 in) between the block and the cut. I know what you’re saying about the fall factor but consider also the parachute effect of falling a top i.e. is not really the equal in acceleration of a falling log, so that extra foot you mentioned probably doesn’t figure too much....especially on a top in full leaf or the conifers in the video. If you remember the conifer right at the end, and I think another bigger one there abouts in the middle of the video, we had on both instances over 100ft below us to slow the tops down. Notice also the retention of limbs on the backside to act as a ballast, and I think even considering how much more springy conifers are the hardwoods then they didn’t turn out half bad. Furthermore, I’ve worked on lots of dead and compromised hardwoods in the past, and especially on leaners I’ve set the block as much as 15 ft below the cut on occasion. The reason obviously being that the higher the block the greater the leverage on the tree....and in the case where the tree itself is the weakest link (and not the rigging), I’ve made that call and was satisfied thereafter it was the right one. Remember though, this is not advice to anyone....I’m merely pointing out that the rule-book doesn’t cover all situations or in fact the overall best means for risk management. That ever popular publication ‘the art and science of practical rigging’ was part written by a guy who was killed either during or shortly after( I cant remember which)....rigging a tree. Who woulda figured that, not him obviously, poor guy, RIP. But it just goes to show. A healthy knowledge in physics is one thing, but you can’t beat experience, the right experience. If I get taken one day it won’t be through ignorance though. I have the 5/8 polydyne, but it only comes out for best. Definitely notice the difference in the shock reduction on a spar etc. I would recommend it to anyone for that kind of work. Thanks again.

I agree Pete, they look great. I know you tried one out previously, and that Roger has one himself also. If I'm still at it mid 50s, maybe as a treat. But right now I wouldn't want to start relying on something like that and let my conditioning slip. Afterall, when you're doing something everyday whether be spurring or SRT access then its not that hard at all....especially since we're mostly working on second growth out here so for the best part less than 4ft dbh. So on a removal you'd have probably spurred half way up while a wraptor user might be still trying to set his lines. Good conditioning and repetition is obviously what makes a big part of a climbers confidence and decisiveness. For that reason I feel like owning a wraptor might just take the edge off me, or something. Thanks again

I'd go back to a 338 even!

Well, hopefully I can stop short at some of the bad haircuts you see around here....

Its already had a muffler mod and a re-tune Pete, so much better than it was but still pretty gutless with a 16in bar. If you back off a little and then engage on high revs its does ok but really lacks the torque anywhere below that. As you know cutting against gravity you wan that instant hit, especially since conifer limbs are so heavy with all the end weight. Hoping that changing the ignition timing is going to make the difference now.

On the contrary Rog I’d might send ya home with the 346 stuck up your as$, along with that 372 you used to brag about if theres any room left....after I smoke both of them with my ported 390. The 201t, yeah probably, rub it in why dont you. Wrong also about the wood being light....they was extraordinarily heavy for a fir....far exceeding the green log chart estimate. The trees were actually much older than their girth would suggest....minute growth increments, between 150-200. I can only assume its with growing right on the sea-front like that as has been the same with several other situated jobs we’ve done, but I’m not a fir expert as you know. Soon as you put the saw in you can feel the difference, even with Fomes pini conks all over the place. The last spar was also out of reach, so we had to used VSL to stop the logs rolling on impact, then winched em up bank until the crane could reach....but again, what looked like little logs were actually weighing in at over 1000lb. Whachya say da that, ya bum?

The set-back you get on some of the tree's here is quite something....especially the really skinny ones that have grown in groups upto about 140. I had a rookie climber grounding for me on one job and could just make out his lips say 'f*** that' while shaking his head as I got pushed back about 12ft on one such top. I should mount a camera looking up at the bottom of the tree to show it better, but I've only just started filming again just lately.

Thanks again. Craig I'd like to get down there but its awkward fitting in with my wifes work commitments while looking after our 3 year old. I'm not going to leave her with some stranger so I'm not sure how to get around the situation. I'll be at TCI in November though. Tim thanks for the concern, but its not going to happen topping a straight up conifer. Yep, the stock 201t -woeful cutter and quite dangerous where a top starts to tip and that thing wont cut fast enough to keep up. Ian there were some quite tall tree's on that property you refer to, up to about 140 and like beenpoles. 3 had come down in a storm on the guys property a week earlier. By law the owner was aloud to remove so many this year and modify (top) some others....with a view to revoving the topped ones next year under a new application. When the trees fell on the house his wife was really shaken up, so they just wanted peace of mind.

Thanks. But did you make out the portable winch was actually dragging/lifting those limbs mid air at the far rigging point Pete? I assume so because I was there but not sure if its obvious on the video. Only way it could have worked and saved us about 5 hours labour otherwise.