RC0

The thread is primarily to show the new climbing rope bag by Stein, but I’ve just included a few extras from today’s job anyway. The rope bag is an adaption of the Stein crane bag, only it comes with a shoulder strap and inner Velcro flap (not shown in the photos) to prevent any rope from falling out as can happen with the traditional bucket style. I am not deliberately trying to knock the bucket style, but apart from stuffing a rope in on the ground I honestly struggle to see how they’re practical for use in the tree i.e bulky, awkwardly shaped, and put all the weight on the climbers harness....and on more than one occasion Ive unknowingly lost a couple several feet of rope out of the bag only to then realise that the entire reel is in hot pursuit on its way down to the ground. The Stein bag sits over your shoulder and can then be positioned/clipped to either front, back or sides of your harness, depending on what’s most comfortable at the time....and the very fact that the weight is primarily in the shoulder strap makes all the difference, even when flaking your rope in on the ground simply stand up straight and hang it on your front. The shape is obviously far better suited for working in a tree, I don’t think I need to elaborate further on that one....and what’s more that the opening is only semi rigid means that it’ll keep your rope squashed in there even with several feet hanging out....the rope is far less likely to fall out accidently. We decided to leave the flap on the bottom of the bag like the original crane bag for the odd occasion where you might want to just weave the tail of your rope down through a congested canopy before throwing the bag with remaining rope down the same route. I hope to post better photos and video within the next couple of weeks, and not just crane work. We hope to have the climbing bags available within a couple of months. A little about this job: 2 decayed lombardy’s breaking the wall so the decision was made to remove them. About 80 and 90ft, 2 cuts and half an hour per tree. The tops came off in a 50 and 60ft sections. It was not my intention to ride the hook and I'm in no way encouraging it, but the weather turned so volatile that it really was the only safe option on this occassion. Thanks

Just caught this on my way out. Apart from that log at 6:10 josh it appeared the whole job went splendidly. Your first crane job, very well done....good balance an cutting:thumbup1: You need to get your own personal slings and shaclkes really i.e. long, short with varied ratings. Again, great work, may it be the first of many.

Well we sell the crane job to the client on the very basis on what you say would actually cost you the job. The fact that we are in and out in a couple of hours really appeals to a lot of people. No guys trampling and dragging stuff all over the place all day or longer....sawdust, collateral etc, zero! Blocking highways is another matter altogether, that can also happen without a crane is not really what Rupe and I were discussing anyway friend:001_smile: Marc, I have lots of footage of the 10T but nothing really smaller than that.

Rupe I’ll reply in bold scattered around your quote

Not sure whether you realise this or not but 99.9% of the time I’m the hired help on jobs, same as the crane company. We are both on a day rate, not profit share….so I don’t pay his wages, same as he doesn’t pay mine. More often than not though, we both take time out to look at jobs for free, where the tree company is unsure. FWIW, I have been guarantor on behalf of several tree companies to reassure that the Crane co is going to get paid. That was and odd question Rupe, why did you ask it? I have used bold not to be assertive, confrontational or anything like that, but just in case you otherwise overlook the question again. Thanks

Rupe, that chestnut looks less than $500, although how much less is hard to tell without seeing it, the site and negotiating with the owners in person. I can get a 10T city crane here for £350 per day. Gross weight of 12T from memory, 6ft wide and will boom out to just over 80ft. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ywZIT5O3A4]YouTube - 10 ton City crane, tree removal[/ame] The chestnut looks like a 2 hour job, assuming the wood was staying put and being cut up etc. What you do for the rest of the day depends on what you have on the books that will suitably fit in, with or without the crane. I obviously can’t speak for you or any potential profits savings in that respect.

Call it an educated hunch Tom. Right now we are still in a dark corner, but I don’t think it’ll be long before individuals, or groups of them start shining torches in here to see if there’s money to made in the name of and H&S.

Now you’re asking me something Tim, over the years, companies....maybe 20 or so different ones. Granted the last 10years in Manchester have mainly been the same crowd of 4 different operators/sized cranes....but I would sooner work with 100 different unknown crane-operators than 100 different unknown groundies - manually rigging down big wood. You have to realise that these guys are rigging and lifting horrendous weights around and above workers on construction sites etc, on a daily basis....so treework is not such a big thing. When a mistake happens, 99-100 its down to a climbers bad communication, pre-loading, slinging, hook/boom-placement or cutting....the crane guy just follows pre-instructions and reacts the best he can if he sees something going wrong, or about to. I'm not suggesting a novice rigger just go ahead and chance his arm at crane work....but experienced guys should consider making more of the option while its still available in the UK.

Tight farmers and short notice, fair enough....but personally speaking a 10 ton crane would have still been the first option to come to mind. On a job like that its the difference between spending a full day or taking two hours with a lot less effort and risk, with the latter option giving you the rest of the day to do something else....with or without the crane! There is a popular misconception that cranes are only cost effective on large trees, not true at all. You can knock off several smaller jobs in a day while cutting down on so much of the manual labour. Rupe, if you are regularly raising limbs and logs with your GRCS then the transition truly won’t be that difficult....and once you get a taste there’s no going back.

Pardon me Lawn and Leaf Did you notice your own chestnut thread that I asked you an honest question in days ago Rupe? Where are your manners:thumbdown:

Tricky job Rupe, well done:thumbup1: No crane access there?

The Hobbs is better for negative rigging for all the reasons mentioned already, as well as the mounting options. The preservation mounting on the Hobbs is ok but could still do some damage on certain trees and times of year. Pre-loading the line during negative blocking can reduce the distance of fall as well as the burning which can occur when a sections has to be pulled up abruptly. You can draw out some of the slack as log folds on the GRCS aluminium bollard and similar fixed devices on 2 wraps or less....not as much as with a capstan winch (hobbs) but still enough to make a difference with practice. Pre-loading the aluminium bollard can be done to a 3:1 easy enough with a little pulley and friction cord. With the GRCS (harken) and Hobbs you are committed to taking full wraps as opposed to having the option of half’s which you can do on the aluminium bollard, sometimes 1, 2 or 3 full wraps might be too much in a critical situation where there is no room for error....the hobbs relatively tight bend radius on a 19mm line doesn’t help matters either. The Hobbs arguably promotes safer practice in regards to raising a load, two heads are often better than one; more than likely there’s going to be more than one grounds-worker on the job anyway, and that piercing ratchet noise from the hobbs is always a good ‘heads-up’. The GRCS on the other hand offers many, many more possible applications and is more user friendly.....but without the foresight to make the best of all these applications, lots of current Grcs owners out there could probably get the same results from a basic portowrap i.e. there is little point in buying an Aston Martin and driving it at 30 mph. Great tools both of them....from a totally unbiased point of view now days, I honestly couldn’t pick the winner. Good luck

Treework isn't the be-all and end-all, you got years ahead of you to go back to it. Go where the money is, fantastic photo's, stay safe Jamie:thumbup1:

Thanks, maybe, but not for a few years. If I interpret this correctly, I'm impressed....nobody has ever asked about this before. Yes it is possible to apply the same disciplines to specific tasks which collectively speed jobs up, almost every time. The trick is doing it automatically, like mindlessly following a set of rules, amazing how things take shape, same rules. Remember the rubix cube?

One day the Husky just stopped, I dont know why. I have fuel and spark but it wont run at all. I haven't the time to mess with it since. Thanks

Nice set-up, execution and video Matt:thumbup1:

Apart from December, which was terrible, the winter was ok work-wise. Nothing spectacular, but just steady for the best part….and in spite of how it looks on video, we did have some cold days with ice and snow etc. Anyway, some footage from the days where I had the cameras. Bare in mind the 3 videos altogether take over half an hour to watch. Thanks. Part 1: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyM693KJVaQ]YouTube - Tree Work, Winter 2010-11 part 1 of 3[/ame] Part 2: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Rgvtg4cxs]YouTube - Winter Tree Work 2010-11 part 2[/ame] Part 3: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLoZxsalHKg]YouTube - Winter Tree Work 2010-11 part 3[/ame]

Squirrel, your feedback is very much appreciated, as is everything that is sincere....so long as people dont lose sight of the fact that it is not a Rolls Royce, but probably closer to a landrover....a robust piece of hardware for moving piles wood that you otherwise wouldn't want to carry. And like everything, it takes a little time to work out how to get the best out of it....of which offers more options than anything similar on the market. It probably took me a month to work out how, when and when not to apply it. If for one moment I thought it wasn't up to the job I'd have pulled the plug on the whole thing rather than be embarrassed later by dissatisfied customers....I have too much self respect for that. The trolley will pay its way, time over....with a little perseverence and experimentation in those first few weeks. To answer your question Squirrel I'd say neither....but hopeful comes to mind. Thanks again

Are you speaking from personal experience in this sort of thing Squirrel? Did you read the whole thread through? or the initial Arbor trolley thread? Please explain. Thanks in advance

Yes Johnny, like I said in an earlier post.

No problem Jon, I'm sorry to hear your back gives you grief. For forward pulling brush, perhaps try this (video) technique - replace the handle with a rope and then wrap the rope around the brush to create some lift. You can load much more and longer peices this way also, because you dont need to hold the handle. Just got to remember to weight the trolley a little further forward than normal. Note that the guy in the video is pretty average build and 54 years old. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djXNzLekJec]YouTube - Stein Arbor trolley - pulling brush[/ame]

Hi Jon. I'm sorry to read the trolley has already not met with your approval. I'll answer within your quot in bold, just easier that way. I've never actually used the the 3-piece trolly by the way, only the 2 piece that came before it. Paul, the engineer had to make it 3 piece purely for post and packing. I can only assume though that it works just the same once put together.

Purchase 'Working Climber series 2' dvd by GF Beranek (Treeworker.co.uk)....and hear it from a genuine time-served treeman, not some fancy dan in branded clothing.

Thanks, glad you all liked the photos. Apologies’ if I miss anyone’s question: Phenom, its 19m portland braid, almost as good. Stevie, it was about 80ft, top section was probably a little over a 3rd, then a couple of big logs and then we felled what remained. Ben, the support line was only used for that top section. I was tied just below the cut, through a block in the adjacent tree about 5ft below and then down to a separate lowering device where it was pre-loaded and tied off. Dave, the wood was all cut to firewood size on site, so just a few rings at a time on the trolley. The other tree looked ok up close. Yes it’s going to be badly exposed, especially if the big one to the side has to go which has honey-fungus. I don’t know what the plan in just yet. Gibbon, obviously you have to make it worthwhile to set up the extra rigging. A Dual bollard, or identical singles. Set the blocks apart so they don’t clash on impact. You may need to redirect the lines lower down so the logs don’t hit the lines (see photos). Preload the lines to equal amounts down below and then join them to a 3rd line via friction hitch and karabiner....the ground-person then uses the single line instead of trying to hold both at once (see below). Carl, yes 24mm polydyne I believe. Frank, the support line for folding the top was imperative....without that I’d have had to rig much smaller. Tying in was also a big plus because I didn’t have to worry about gaffing out when the tree threw a wobble. It still wouldn’t have otherwise put me off because the guy running the ropes knew what he was doing....but of course it’s all good and well saying that after the event.