rbtree

If you''re a skier, you'll love it. If you want to see cranes in action working on a lift tower at 200 feet, and the iron workers hard at it in an amazing setting, then watch. The crane action is at 8-9 minutes in.... This is the longest single span gondola ever built, by far. Whistler Blackcomb - PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola - Story

You be fast, Steve....good thing you're not furious! I copied it over from TreeBuzz....the tag code there is "image" I had to change them all to "IMG" I posted it first, in case it worked, then corrected it in edit mode..... sneaky fella, huh? Looks like you and Reg enjoyed the Expo.....

Well< not as old as many venerable trees in ya'll"s stompin" grounds, but still a biggie. The huge maple, about 7 feet dbh, was topped off at the height the guys are standing, about 10 feet, back in 1915. It has verticillium wilt. I'm removing the dead lead that I'm in, plus some other branches. There's still 5 main leads left. As you can see, there's room for a bunch more folks to stand. I was in a hurry, and neglected to get more photos.....

Can't easily get Aspen in the US of Eh. I run full synthetic mix, at about 36-1. Many of my saws have been woods modded, the rest are muffler ported. all run 20-60% faster than stock. I want to be assured that a lean condition never develops, so I make sure the carbs are adjusted properly. A little extra mix is good insurance, and, if its full synthetic, will still burn clean with little or no carbon buildup. Same can't be said for dino mixes.

Bummer. Here, we are able to salvage any good or interesting urban woods. There are wood turners who make bowls, etc, chain saw carvers for soft wood like cedar or redwood, furniture makers who like free form slab art, all the way to the large mills which buy our native woods---douglas fir, cedar, birch, maple, alder.....with the economy in the toilet, these mills are paying way low these days. some links http://www.citytreesalvage.com/Why.htm http://www.gogreendesign.biz http://www.urbanhardwoods.com The largest tree I've removed was a 9 foot at ground level sequoia. We craned it out, put the wood in a trash truck, and gave it to a chain saw carver. The 24 foot butt log weighed 24,000 lb. It had to be trimmed to fit in the dump truck, and then got stuck on its way out. I never did find out what the craftsman did with it. I have no pics of the vertical speed line. It's just a method to stop a free dropped log from bouncing...it contains it in the drop zone quite well.

As I noted on the other site, no crane access, as you said. Oh well... TreeCycle's a friend, thus the jab at him.. It is still a shame that the wood couldn't have been utilized. What did you think of my vertical speedline description? I don't do it often, as there are few sites where we're not able to freefall log lengths from 6 to 100 feet, but it really works. May I ask the appx job price? Again, great work!

My comments inside, in bold

I love mine (orange, far better for visibility) I've had it for a year. Been climbing on Blaze as well, both are nice! Love the size versus the 13 mm lines.

Gotcha! But how did you lift the sections to fit the ratchet strap underneath...? Small space for sure.....but I've employed a vertical speed line in tighter spots..but never with wood that large! (did you understand my explanation of how it works?

You got that right!!

Welcome, Georgio! Impressive tree and work! I posted to you on You-Tube! A question (and tip to all you arb's) : Were there any ground obstructions within about 15 feet of the upper side of the tree? I saw the wall...and a structure......Was there anything underground that could have been damaged? The reason I ask, is, sometimes, on a slope, if I don't want to be bothered lowering wood, but have a limited drop zone, I employ a vertical speed line, which is this, for those who don't know: Attach line just below piece to be cut, and run it down to a portawrap. Leave a bit of slack. Attach log being cut to the line via a sling and shackle. Let it drop. Have portawrap positioned where the log won't hit it (Impact is possible, so best not to use a fixed, expensive lowering device.) Rope handler can let a tad of slack out to reduce possible shock load on the line if the log tries to take off downhill. If the lay of the land allowed this technique, you could have had a portable saw mill of some kind all ready to go into action, producing very valuable lumber. Also, another tip. Check out Reg's block driver (some here can link to it for ya) or employ a couple dowels, anywhere from 0.8 cm to broken rake handle size to roll large chunks off the stem with ease. You just need a crowbar to lift the sections. (Which you obviously had, as you had to lift the sections to fit the ratchet strap. (That was a very slick idea! Thanks!)

Ed, 46 metres is about 150 feet. And that tree could well have been that tall. Though sequoia do tend to be less tall than a similar aged redwood. I may be removing a similar sized one here in Seattle. It's canopy is wider than Georgio's tree, and thus probably not as tall. I think it is about 120-135...... Plus, it is only 86 years old---and 10 feet at ground level. We grow 'em fast up here!!

See that branch on the right of the tree? It's at least 55 feet long. Huge farking tree!

REad Georgio's response to me at Utube...he said it took 5 days!! That would be $15,000 or more, over here.

Impressive work! The largest tree I've removed was a similar sized giant sequoia, which, compared to redwood, have fatter butts, and more trunk taper, typically not as tall. It was 9 feet on the butt.... Produced about 40 yards of chips.

Whaddya mean? That tree is about 150 feet tall. Also, note the slope. You can't even see the bottom

Sorry, here's the photo, and it's more like 80-85 feet to the first limb....

Pic doesn't do the tree justice. It's prolly 70 feet to the first limb, and probably still 40-44" at that point

Reg, empty your PM box at da Buzz.....Here's what I wrote, no problem posting it in public here.... I was two hours late putting in a bid on a giant cottonwood (140 footer, 65" dbh) removal, so the city rejected it..I was low by abt $1700 at $10k. Asplundh was by far the highest at $34,000!!....The job requires a 100 ton crane, weekend only. I figured we could brush the tree craneless on a Friday, and keep a lane open for buses. Prevailing wage requirements, etc etc....flaggers, traffic control...a real pain the ass tree. The other tree is privately owned, but is wider and maybe taller, with maples under it, so needs to have 80-100% of the brush craned out...which means two days with the crane...Easy $8000 crane bill or more.......$460 hr on Sunday...Certified flaggers have to be paid double time on Sunday. I don't know if I'll bother giving the folks a bid...as I was thinking, if I got the jobs, that we could fly through both trees in two days with the crane, plus portions of two days brushing the one and part of the biggie...some of that time we'd be parked in a driveway, and need no flagging.... For just the tougher tree, I'd bid $20,000. $17,000 maybe.... The winnning bidder on the city tree may not realize how much harder the private tree is, and bid less than that.

There's slackliners...... and then there's Dean Potter...That feat, crossing to Lost Arrow Spire with 1200 feet of air under his twinkle toes, and untethered, is freaking mindblowing, and insanely incredibly crazy. That's him, one of the few climbers in the world who free solo 5.12 and above, and also speed climb big walls. He's done, with partners, both Yosemite's El Cap and Half Dome in a day...and each around the 3 hour mark....

I beg to differ....a bit I'd heard that the 6A was a good saw and ahead of its time, but never used one, even though I've been around since the mid '70's.... Bought a refurbished one from a company about 10 years ago. It was gutless relative to my 335 Huskys and 020 Supers, and weighed about the same as the 335....it was definitely not a 6 pound saw, not even 7, but 7.3 or so... I sent it back.

Use a prussic-- VT or Klemheist. To keep your loads from hitting it, keep it as close to your lower anchor as possible, and still be able to tension the line as needed. Depending on the amount of tension needed, we use a Z-rig, or more if say, 5-1 mech advantage is needed. The groundies will tension the line, perhaps after the load is on it, then quickly let it go as it is sliding down, so that the load hits ground. Sometimes, it will impact the prussic, which only means a bit extra time to detach the slung branches. Put a knot in the rope end, so it won't come out of the pulley system. In this video, you'll see us using the chipper winch to tension the line, with an old Portawrap 1 as the adjuster. It was out too far a couple times. With some, we were applying a lot of tension to lift and swing lower limbs around the tree. Some are let fly, some use a control line. [ame] [/ame]

Windows Movie Maker will allow you to rotate the video. Easy. Wind is fun, if you don't have to go up too high.

I have an Alpine Magnum that weighs 88 pounds, will outcut those heavy toys, and go anywhere. Pain to keep sharp teeth on it though.

How'd ya like that tree, Reg. I think it coulda been 144 feet tall.... ...or at least... uhh... It saved us a good 1.5-2 hours by crashing out the brush on the downhill side of the tree, and tossing it into the woods. Woulda been some long swings to bring them to the LZ--mighta hit ground or required a lot of tedious mid tying and GRCS work. 85.... At 3:11, Brian lets the section run too fast, then stops it too quick....a bit of shockloading, I'd say. Woulda been better to have preloaded it.