tockmal

I always give a hand signal to the groundy as to how many turns I want in the Portawrap. If you want 2, you just give him the V sign then put your middle finger down and make a swirling motion with your pointing finger......If you want him to let it run follow the swirling motion with a downward motion of your pointing finger. If he doesn't understand that.... fire him.

It depends on how heavy your loads are - during this removal, I used a Mongoose climbing biner with a pulley for redirecting my rigging point. I felt comfortable doing this as the loads were very small, if I'd had a steel biner I would have used it instead.

I agree with the bigger saw idea, I've heard of a number of local authorities who have removed their bigger saws(088s and 660s) from use by their workers for fear of the workers developing HAVS or white finger. The problem with this idea is that the chainsaw operator just ends up using a smaller saw for longer, thereby increasing their risk of developing HAVS. IMHO the worst for HAVS has to be Hedgecutters.

Ed, one of the guys I work with has used this 6" turntable Jensen for 6 years, after doing many jobs with him I reckon it is a great feature to have on a chipper. In the set up we use, combined with the area we mostly work in - having wide streets and large driveways the turntable makes life so much easier, the Ifor trailer can take about 3 ton(sometimes more ) of chip, which is a lot more than a transit or similar. Having said all that there have been a few times when a tipping truck towing the chipper would have been so much easier. But I suspect there would have to be an extension on the outshoot as the draw bar is so long. Sometimes we have to unhitched the chipper and have it sit behind the trailer with the tow-hitch sitting at a weird angle running past the back of the trailer. Anyway, overall - a good option to have, heres some pics of the chipper and set up; another;

Your view is a tad negative Nick, The fact is...the only way to make decent money in arboriculture in the UK is by working for yourself. Since I have become self employed my financial income has increased greatly. I enjoy the challenge of finding work and maintaining a professional work ethic. I would strongly advise any climbers who are thinking of going self-employed to do it, it will be worth it in the long run, just don't run out and buy loads of expensive equipment, start small and work your way into it. If you ever find yourself getting low on work just call a few companies and do some sub-contract climbing to get through the quiet period. Work with other guys in the same situation. There are far too many employers and companies who act like leeches.......only too willing to exploit their climbers, paying them low wages whilst using their skills to build their company's name. If your a good climber you will be aware of that feeling when you have just spent the whole day distmantling a huge tree then finding out the massive profit your boss is making from your skills and efforts. Being self-employed is liberating, you get what you put in, so if you are enthusiastic about treework, good with clients and a hard worker you will get a lot back in return.

Great points Tony, I'll have a think about what you said.

Tony, Did Roy Finch take the time to consider the safety implications for a climber when performing a coronet cut from a rope and harness. I have done them in the past from rope and harness at varying heights...from 15ft to 75ft....using every kind of saw from a Ms200t to a Ms460. I will never do them again from a rope and harness. Coronets cuts from a bucket truck/platform FINE! I don't have an issue with that, but I definatley have an issue with performing coronet cuts from a rope and harness. Coronet cuts from a rope and harness.........?? You are making an already dangerous job(tree surgery) more dangerous, by making all these awkward cuts....against the grain, you are multiplying the risk of injury to the climber. For what exactly? So that a few natural heritage types can cream their pants at the thought of some pathogens and fungi entering the wood to create a more diverse natural habitat?? Or, is it to imitate storm damage creating a more aesthetically pleasing view for the punters as they ramble their way through the British countryside??

Yes, I don't like them, notice in the pic how it is slightly warped, pushing out to the left at the top pointed end, the metal is actually digging into the rope damaging it. It needs to be cut off.

You obviously never heard of a 'sap run' then? Another astounding idea from the people that brought us the atrocious 'coronet cut'. A sap run are created by running your saw down the stem to create a sap flow that attracts bugs, which in turn attracts the birdies and bats. You can add 'sap run' to your vocabulary of arboriculture .

I agree rentachimp, the Treeflex dioes look like a great harness, I don't think its exactly the finished article(designwise), but a great harness nevertheless. The construction and build quality look excellent. Let us know how you get on with it.

Being self employed is fine when you got work, when you don't it is frightening.

Its surprising how many people don't know about the long cut down the stem to peel off ivy in one go. Doesn't always work though as some ivy is welded onto the trees.

Good pix all round:grinning-smiley-003

Glad to se it all worked out ok, I still wouldn't trust that firefighter with the chainsaw though, would have to be one of you guys doing the cutting above my head like that!!!! Are there palm trees in the UK? I know for fact there are about 20 at Logan gardens on the south west coast of Scotland, in total.....there is probably less than 100 in the whole of Scotland. Here are the ones at Logan, I think they are Chinese.

Did you ever see the close up photos of the Perenniporia bracket that was responsible for the decay in the 'Birmingham Ash' that killed 3 people in 1999? that looked like a massive bracket. No photos of the bracket but here is the story - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1489072.stm I've seen some pretty big Ganoderma brackets, got a couple myself from about 7/8 years ago I'll dig them out and take some photos.

In the interest of fairness to the climber I found this pic from the same job, he has cleared the ivy ready to take out the main stem. I've got a vid of this top being felled out - its pretty good, just need to figure out how to edit it and post on youtube. Big old notch!!!Yikes!!

Clearing the ivy around you, i agree, but some trees are riddled with the stuff, it would eat up so much of the time on the job if you always cleared the ivy before every climbing removal. I've seen people cut their ropes in thick ivy, luckily they noticed before anything bad happened.

Dats what we were doing steve.

He's fine, he's as tough as old boots. Seriously though - if this had been a much larger piece of timber there would have been a bigger problem. I always check my ropes to when climbing, but it is not always possible. Sometimes you have to have trust in your groundies.

Pete, The climber is blameless in this situation, me and the guy running the portawrap should have made sure the lines were well clear of each other. I take full responsibilty. Your right about the Ivy, but all we had to do was distmantle the crown then fell the spar at about 20ft, so we felt removing the Ivy was unnecessary.

After he unclipped the main attachment biner for his lifeline the half-hitch just fell out loosely. Then we just flipped it round the the section a couple of times and the ropes were clear of each other. It was good reminder of why the groundsperson/s should always make sure the ropes are clear of each other. I'd never seen this happen before. Treework has a habit of doing that, just when you think you've seen it all, something new bobs up to surprise you.

If you look closely in this pic you can see the climber's head(helmet visor) at the top right of the shot, at this point he was trying to lift the section of timber to undo his lifeline by unclipping the main attachment biner in the hope his line would come loose. Luckily it was not a big piece. We were also thinking of cutting one of the ropes, but as it was not a huge piece we had time to think of a better way. [/img]

The serious issue with this particular twist was the way the half-hitch jammed under the rigging biner and started to pull the climber out the tree. The piece of timber was being run down through the portawrap coming to a sudden stop when the climber was yanked out of his position. We locked the portawrap off and started to think of way to get the half-hitch out. Forgot to say, the tree was covered in Ivy

The other day during an Ash removal, someone forgot to make sure the rigging line and the climbing line were clear of each other - this was the end result - climbing line twisted round the rigging line in a upsided half-hitch formation.

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