frans

Have you tried putting a shorter bridge on it? I also could not stand that bridge so put a shorter one on. Helped alot.

patience is the operative word here. And lots and lots of it! Don't blame you

Can you get another dog who is totally fearless around water and get them to swim together? That worked for one of our dogs. Now you cannot keep 'Kimba' out of the water. Here she is doing a body slam dive into a cattle pond chasing the stick!

$4.50/gallon here. Odd because diesel does not require much refining to produce...

Hey don't make too much fun of the guy. It was a mistake which he caught and then posted his experience on the Buzz. **** happens and this is a good reminder of that. We are after all, human. To err is human, to forgive is divine.

MadMatt: I notice you have a ball hitch on one side of the bumber you created.... I have three different hitch positions on the front of my work truck. After pushing equipment around my thought is that your set up works best. If you are pushing a chipper, it is best to have the tongue of the chipper set to one side of the pusher truck, not in the center.

What does: "Dogs testicles Cordwood" mean? Pecontools said this earlier. ????????????????????

Tip of the day? Here is one: Do not catch the throw ball!! I just did today and now my hand is bruised....

Jeeez this saddle has been out for awhile here, whats the hold up?

I really like the photos you post

Timber is a breed that is very very smart. I have known so many people with those that are super friendly, loyal, and able to be brought into all kinds of situations with no hassles.

I too take wraps around the tree in certain situations. One point about wraps is that it is very easy to control the 'run' of the wood. All of these lowering devices require the operator to learn to work them properly. You have a much larger margin of error in taking wraps. On a capstan (grcs, hobbs, portawrap, etc) the 'edge' of when you have purchase is very small.

I want to chime in here....of course I disagree with what you said and here is why: Yes I am a GRCS person but the bottom line is that ANY lowering device makes your job much easier and because you DO NOT have to take wraps around the trunk, you IMMEDIATELY see that the jobs go faster. Hobbs, Grcs, Porta-wrap, it does not matter. Once you realize that you can whip a wrap around the (device of your choice), lower the limb, then undo the wrap and haul the lowering line back up to the climber, really really quickly, then you understand that ANY LOWERING device is MUCH FASTER, easier on your ropes, and much safer. I worked as a contract climber the other day on a removal. They did not like the looks of my grcs, and thought it was something from outerspace. As a contract climber doing a removal I said no problem we will do it old school. I mean what did I care? Their ropes, their job. I just wanted to get the job done for this guy without causing any trouble. So we did it old school. What a mess! I just sat up in the tree and when they were ready I tied off a limb and cut another limb off the tree for them. I could cut and tie way faster then they could get the ropes together for me so my time was spent just sitting up there and making a cut when they got their act together. I wished I had a little radio I could listen to. 8 guys down there all scrambling around fighting the ropes and hauling branches to the chipper... No, a capstan, lowering device, whatever is MUCH MUCH faster....

check the review section of ArbTalk for my review

I use mine as the manufacturer intended which is a one way hauling cam to get stuff into the tree. I have tried it other ways but was not happy with it. Using it as the final lock off on a 5:1 pulley system just might be a very good use of it. Harken makes fiddle block systems which use cleats to lock off the rope. The cleats are real easy to unload under load.

The key with fert. is if you are using it for woody plants or vegetative plants. As you probably already know, trees are woody plants and any new foliage is created from stored reserves. Organics are by nature slow release while synthetics are quick release. So using quick release ferts are bad for a woody plant because they force the tree to use up stored reserves which stresses the tree. Lawns (grasses) are vegetative plants and do not store reserves so any quick release ferts are good for them

'Fluted' growth is often just immature growth

A spliced eye has it's own problems. For example: say you throw the throw line into a tree, the throw sucks, so you want to retrieve the whole thing and start over. So you disconnect the throw line from the throw bag to make it certain that you will not get anything hung up as you retrieve the line. Then that spliced end you were so proud of hooks itself perfectly through the base of a stub and for the life of you, that damm throw line is stuck. Using a figure eight slippery knot eliminates this issue

These pictures and experiences that Sohner is sharing are pictures from the actual company which started commercial tree work in California. How lucky are we to have this privilege? We are lucky to have this person share these photos and be able to put forth a verbal history for us. I hear historians talk about how they wish they had better information about different segments of history which has changed our society. Well, here we have it!

I thought of a couple of other tricks. When throwing into bushy canopies, it is hard to make the throwbag shoot directly into the small target area because when you toss the throwbag, it has to arch into the tree. As the throwbag flies it gets hung up on the twiggy stuff. But if you use a big shot, the throwbag travels in a direct line to the target. Only thing is, with a big shot most often you end up over shooting the target. Ever shoot a line with the big shot and have the throw bag go over the target limb perfectly but then keep traveling into the next neighborhood? Another trick is if you throw your throw bag over a limb which is lower and under the limb you want, you can flip the throwbag up and over the limb above. Hope this makes sense and remember: You get it on the first shot, or the 15th shot. Visualize your target in your mind, get into the zen of it. IF you just cannot hit your target, pick another one lower down. Or move to another position and try to hit your target from a different angle. Often it is better to just get a line set and start climbing than to spend an hour attempting to hit the perfect target. I have spent so much time before trying to hit the perfect target that by the time I do get it, it is lunch time and no work was done.

Steve beat me to the answer. Isolating your TIP is an art form for sure. Try thinking outside the box. Like Steve said, use both ends of your throwline. Sometimes in brushy stuff it is good to use a real heavy thowbag. If the throw line is over your desired TIP, but also over some lighter twiggy stuff, it can help to run your climbing line up and use the climb line to break the twiggy stuff. If your throwline is not seated within the crotch you like but out a ways, it is easier to flip the climb line instead of trying to flip the throw line. Ever use the stick trick to flip your climb line into a crotch? If the climb line is out a ways on a branch and you need to seat it into the branch crotch, you get a stick tie the climb line onto the end of it, hold the climb line and the stick at the other end and flip the rope using the stick to help you get a good strong flip. Using the stick trick you can get a loop running up the rope very high. I have flipped my climb line into a crotch from about 60 feet up! Sorry I dont have a picture of it. This concept is borrowed from the Australian aborigine and Aztek spear thrower trick. Here are a couple of links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlatl http://news.softpedia.com/news/Get-Altenative-Fuels-45078.shtml

Alex, this is some of the best advice a climber could ever get. The question is NOT 'what is the best harness'. You gotta try a few out. Not by feeling it in your hands but wearing it for a bit in the tree. There is no 'best harness' we all are way too different in how we move and our body shapes. A good example is to think about the different types of cars. Here is a car that some would not be caught dead in. But for others, it is the best http://www.therockalltimes.co.uk/2002/02/25/trabant.pub.html

I think they come in short medium and long. Kind of forget really

Can you tell me what type of boat this is? I sailed for a good many years on a Catalina 32...

I second that. I spotted this winch at a TCIA show. http://www.wesspur.com/portablewinch/portablewinch.html When the guy was unpacking it, the capstan got bent from simply being carried around. It is made of super thin alum. Also, any chunks, bits of tree, pine cones, whatever will come right down and crush the super delicate parts on the engine. Usually with tree work, communication with the climber is essential. With that engine running you cant hear anything