jomoco

That saw's worth fixing properly and holding onto IME. One of the best and most durable midsize work horses ever made. I've got two of em, still goin strong after all these years, all original. Their weakest point's the starter recoil mechanism. They are a tad heavy as well. Jomoco

I'm about to pull the trigger on a new 201T Spud, any recs? Better and more durable than a 540? My 200's fine, but my backup 020t AVE's still a bit temperamental at times, but still screams! Do you trust these microprocessor driven new saws like the 201? I run very high octane racing fuel, mixed with stihl's silver synthetic mix. Thanks for any advice mate. Jomoco

Rookies have this thing about stubs, as if their gaffs aren't enough! But not bad for a sixteen year old mate! Even starting at fourteen! I was a dufus about bodylines and their usefulness until I was twenty! Method, and stickin to it, will see you too into your senior years young man. Prepare for the worst, have a backup for everything as if you're supplying two climbers. Get a forestry med kit, backboards, arm n leg splints that are pneumatic and apply direct pressure to chainsaw cuts. Spend X amount of your earnings making yourself the best equipped removal climber in town. Trust your gut instincts, and go moderate, don't shake or torque any removal more than you need to. Method trumps speed, and is far more conducive to a long life in this industry IME. In all honesty though, I purposely steered both my sons away from this industry, precisely because if you do it long enough? There will be blood, trauma and challenge, much like a soldier faces under duress. Best of luck to you mate, but training, reading and investing in what you do's the ticket IMO. Jomoco

Put a hitch on the front of your truck? Even serpentine never ending driveways are cake! Just do it. Jomoco

Yep Steve, just like a dinosaur! When I go SRT? It'll be push button all the way up, or down! Jomoco

Lotta redirects today.

I gotta wild hair bouta a year or two ago bout gaffin out at acute angles, and started messin round with circular gaff points rather than triangular points. Then I realized that an extremely sharp pointed inner 3/8ths needle round gaff could be made extendable and retractable for superior hardwood penetration. IME over the last Four decades in this industry, other climbers abilities to sharpen a saw correctly, much less their gaffs, is unusual, and the sure mark of a pro. I'll start a new thread soon on my Inoculator gaffs soon, and go into detail about why they are the cat's meow, aside from their inner needles being essentially long grade 8 aircraft bolts, replaceable for about 7-8 bucks apiece! Just cut the heads off, stick em in a jig, grind them needle sharp, thread em into the hammer slide, lock em at the right depth with a locknut, and you're good to go. Using two sets of needles allows you to keep freshly sharpened sets on hand at all times, and up to 3/4's of an inch of wear length, before dishin out another sixteen bucks for new needle sets! My apologies for postin my stuff in the today's job thread, but I am indeed off to test my funky gaffs in the field again today. They are one and three quarters retracted, and two and a quarter long fully extended. Work safe today lads! Jomoco

I won't be happy till that whole needle mechanism's bouta 1/2 inch closer to the titanium shank, and considerably lighter, and of course adjustable for needle wear. But they're a dream come true for dealing with petrified dead woods so far. Jomoco

Thanks Silky. Once I can make my Inoculators needle wear adjustable up to 3/4's of an inch, I may start manufacturing them.

Lotsa very dead old coastal oaks today. Wore my highly modified Buck Titanium Inoculator gaffs, no stomping about whatsoever, more like tip toeing with a very light step. Note the grease zirt to insure smooth prompt needle retraction.

Nice riggin Ben. I too like snap cuts powered off by the crane. Work safe mate. Jomoco

August's setting the standard for 21st century tree care! But is he more valuable to the industry as a videographer of high end rigging ops? That vids like watching a condensed Francis Ford Coppalla action movie. Thanks for posting one of the very best tree vids I've had the pleasure to watch. Jomoco

So the onslaught of Sudden Oak Death here in California's wiped out Coastal Live Oaks locally on a massive scale, leaving poor rural area residents who own many acres with a huge fire hazard potential. However the state of CA has initiated a program that allows the homeowners to have any staged debris/limbs/brush to be chipped up for free by participating tree services, usually a two man chiptruck crew. This enlightened approach to fire hazard mitigation has been very beneficial to very many of my clients in the past few years. It allows them to realize substantial savings by having me safely rig down their huge oaks, stage the brush, and walk away. However just the staging of that brush has reopened my eyes to just how valuable each crew member truly is, particularly the brush draggers who know how to stage brush in an optimum configuration for chipping, even if the tree's big enough to require fifty square yards! Summer's begun, and I'm taking great satisfaction from earning my keep by giving my clients true value for their money. Takes a gallon of water a day to stay hydrated staging that brush! Makes the beer taste better at the end of the day for sure! Here's to hard working groundies everywhere lads! Jomoco

A redirected speedline's pretty hard to ef up IME. Jomoco

You're like a total control freak Benn! Worthy of five Benn's a day! I'm not a mid tie balance riggin kinda guy, but it seems to work relatively well for you, and others. Only time it makes sense to me is feeding whole tree chipper's with a crane. Drift lines? Jomoco

Nice find! Pretty savvy climbing contraption too! There's a vid somewhere of a very old Indonesian coconut palm climber who makes foot straps n wrist straps by twisting juvenile understory palms together. The old guy zooms up about 60 feet, then appears to fall all the way back down, before peeking out of the understory hail n hardy, not a scratch on him, just a few smokin hot homemade palm lanyards! I started my career at age 14 trimming wash fan palms in 73. Using long handled limb loppers, three cuts per palm frond! Got me in good shape ror pruning real trees in my 20's. Jomoco

I listen to old steely dan and write epically bad poetry myself. Kinduva societal pressure relief valve that has to be indulged or else... I enjoyed watching John Cusack's portrayal of Edgar Allan Poe at the end of his tumultuous life. My boys work at sony's VR game testing division and say it's way cool, if you're not prone to getting seasick? Interesting thing IMO. Begs the question of whether pro climbers are less susceptible to seasickness, than the general population? I know as long as I can avoid close proximity to the puking masses on the cattle boat to Catalina, stay on the upper deck's prow? I'm good to go regardless. Apparently a certain percentage of VR headset testers, have to keep a hurl bucket conveniently close at hand. Jomoco

Musta been a welcome change to get into a broad decurrent technical removal again, eh Reg? You certainly seemed happy to get away from bean poles for a bit! Just finished an extremely broad dead coast oak a few days ago myself, solo. Lucky for me the truly tricky stuff over the animal and bird pens, all had obliging leaders above, perfect for a redirected TIP. It's an interesting perspective looking over at your original TIP, sixty feet away from you laterally, often with two or three redirects between. It allows me to piece it all out by hand, brush by handsaw, wood by trimsaw. Very time consuming, but appropriate for an old slow moving tree sloth like me, dependent on braces n cell phones.

Would you have been a bit gentler about rockin that maple about, had you known how hollow it was before hand Reg? Pretty brave n ballsie stuff mate! Jomoco

Kinda sad that hundred plus year old coastal live oaks are dying by the tens of thousands here in CA. Sudden Oak Death, Phytopthera ramorum, kills off the senior citizens first. I talked my client into leaving the lower wood structure intact at about 25-30 feet as wildlife habitat. Even dead this ole timer's beauty and dignity lives on.

Nice find Balli. A veritable DaVinci like treasure trove! Soaked for a year before milling, interesting. Thanks. Jomoco

Wow Ian, fantastic pics! Far out even! Thanks for posting them mate. Jomoco

Must be a Stihl sponsored show off like Chisholm! Jomoco

This thread's resulted in at least one good thing. Friday's monument fig cabling inspection at the natural history museum here, got the gears moving again in my head. I called three of the folks who've played big roles in that particular tree's maintenance in the past, and planted the idea of developing a long term 25 year plan to propagate aerial pillars on each cabled leader, at ideal locations, 2/3rds out, until they're stout enough to cut every cable out of that tree, and let nature do its thang. We may have goofed up a bit in our past practices in varying species, but I've no doubt we did so with the very best intentions in mind.

Cheers David! Almost missed your post. I'm a great admirer of your work, and many great educational threads here. Jomoco