scotspine1

cheers Hi Tony, we could discuss safety ratios, working load limits, cycles to failure, minimum breaking strength, fall factors, green log weights, equipment choice etc at length but I dont like to dwell on these things or put too much faith in the science otherwise you may find that you've rigged yourself into a quandry which could mean serious trouble in the tree. So, instead I've just posted some thoughts on rigging in general, which may answer your questions.... 1. you can't know the working load limit of any part of a tree. Assume it's the weakest part of your system. Even if you have a good awarness and understanding of Visual Tree Assessment/the body language of trees (being able to identifiy obvious structural weaknesses), there will still be hidden weak spots inside the tree. This should always be at the forefront of your mind when choosing how your going to set up your rigging. Are there any obvious structural defects in the tree? if so, how will you work around this issue? Do we need to use rigging at all? use a MEWP? crane? fell in one go? 2. be aware of current industry best practices, think about your rigging setup/equipment and base it around recommended safety factors..... 3. choose ropes and rigging equipment that are very strong for the forces and loads that you expect to create....safety factors, working load limit etc. 4. what is the objective of the rigging? to avoid damage to structures etc but will it fit in with the space around the base of the tree/landing zone? how much space have you got to rig the timber/branches into? this will help guide you on the sizes of branches/timber you rig. 5. What rigging equipment do we have available? what's the condition of the rigging equipment? how much use has that rigging line had? was it badly shockloaded at the last job? has the rigging equipment been in constant daily use on big jobs? does any of it need replaced? do we need to take smaller lighter pieces/branches? do we need to replace the rigging line before we start this job? 6. whose working today and what level are they at in relation to rigging experience? how many people on the ground? 7. where will I position the block(s) to get the achieve the best results? think the about angles and forces being created, will it swing far enough away from the house? where will I set my tie in point for my climbing line? 8. what is the estimated weight of the branches/timber? should I start off rigging small so that I and the groundie can get a feel for the weight? might be a good idea. 9. What species of tree are we working on? fibrous wood, brittle wood? how will this affect control of hinges, what type of cuts will I use? 10. The client has paid for a professional job, how do we avoid damaging buildings, walls, pots, garden furniture etc? can we move things out of the way/landing zone? plywood the roof of the conservatory? 11 what is your acceptable level of risk when making decisions in the tree? take big pieces? will the rigging point tree take the heavy loads? go small? how will this affect the time on the job? ie choose the optimum size of timber/branches that your comfortable with and your experience dictates. 12. What is the general health of this tree? or the parts of the tree I'm rigging off? 13. are there any underground utilities that have the potential to get damaged during the rigging? are you letting heavy pieces run through the rigging all the way to the ground etc. 14. weather conditions? too windy? too wet? will the weather interfere with the rigging to a point where the job has to be stopped temporarily? could go on, hope this helps.

no, just held it in my right hand while pushing the timber off. It's also why you dont see any cuts being made in the vid. You could try clamping it to your hat somehow, never tried that. A Gopro or Drift would be better though as they have wide angled lenses so you can see what's happening right in front of the climber when he's in the tree. couple bags of sawdust yep, will check out that version Rab, cheers.

no problem Adam, it was a good question, if you pause the vid at 2.43 you can see how close the tree is to the conservatory, just too close for a vert speedline. The pieces of timber would've been free-falling from a long way up.....fast and heavy bits of timber bouncing around near near a glass conservatory, no thanks. yeah, got loads of treework footage here, regularly take the camera out on jobs it's just finding the time to edit it together, cheers.

cheers lyons, jack, lyons, it wasn't a headcam, hand held Canon Powershot 3300, about £70 from Asda. Hi Adam, rigging the timber down off the stem like in the vid is straightforward and controlled, with vert speedlines - the lack of control (you dont know how the piece will land) increases the risk of serious damage to property. Vert speedlines do have their uses, just not on this job.

pete, yeah that guy running the rope is a very experienced climber which always helps when rigging for other climbers graygit, ply was excellent for stopping the small bits of dead debris and cones that came off the branches as they were rigged down. ricsydney, cheers, glad you liked it. if anyone's interested, rigging gear was a Buckingham Port A Wrap III, Samson rigging line, Yale slings and ISC block and a good pair of thick leather gloves

never seen roots block a drain like that before, cheers for posting.

job from last aug, all the the branches were lowered, top was rigged out, timber rigged down, which is what you see here - made this vid is for fun, it's not an instructional video.....enjoy [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwddjlCfawE]Redwood Blocking/Rigging - YouTube[/ame]

same here, 200t with 14" and 16", 66 with 25" Stihl and 28" Oregon Powermatch both saws full chisel

yep, they do, cheers

you know I was only kidding Wouter, any progress on that 'prototype ascender'? you guy's got it working for real? skip to 1.40 [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prZ24ZKCvks]Tree Climb.mpeg - YouTube[/ame]

clues in the vid title Benny Boy

Nice rigging Wouter, cheers for posting. What's that attachment point on the Husky at 3.55? do Husky sell that? looks like a very good idea.

nice vid and demo Mark, just one problem - [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt9zSfinwFA]Vertical Video Syndrome - A PSA - YouTube[/ame]

cheers for reminding me about this, been meaning to do it for ages

How about adding another Aquatec rope to the setup with the idea that your cradle rigged rope (A) takes the initial impact (or shock load as the timber hits the rigging) then if you leave some slack in rope B so that it takes over when A is nearing max elongation - the velocity subtracted from the falling timber by A may be just enough for rope B to stop the timber Maybe a like for like setup but there would be difficulties with the 2 systems interfering with each other at the branch union....... In general though, when you look at this pic, the forces, angles and the massive amount of friction being created at all sorts of points and distances leaves you with only one conclusion, you need a stronger rope.

nice vid, good job, great trees to climb those cedars, cheers for posting just a suggestion, you could've rigged the branch down from the adjacent stem to the right so the timber had a more controlled descent down through the crown (avoid damage to lower branches/bark etc). Is this what you meant by making the video appear? [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPB8BAnbdQE]Cedrus Atlantica - rigging - YouTube[/ame]

Excellent trailers, had mine for nearly 10 years, loaded and full most days with chips and logs, these are old pics (quick homemade chip box) but it's till going strong. have needed to replace an axle once and that's it. Can look out some newer pics if you want to see how they age re suspension - yes independant rubber suspension

Really? I was only joking about the arbolic pressure thing but.............this is 100% true....................................... I was once carrying out formative pruning on young Hornbeams near the Potomac River (tidal) south west of Washington DC, silky and felcos type stuff. I was working with an El Salvadorean called Carlos Rodriguez. I said, 'Carlos, look at the amount of sap weeping from these pruning cuts' Carlos, 'yes, that happens cause the tide is in' Me, 'how do you know that?' Carlos, 'it's in our folklore, it's in the stories that've been handed down to us for centuries, everything in the world is connected' He was kind of implying the tide is connected to the water table, the tide comes in - the water table rises and pushes the sap out of the pruning cuts. In a funny way, there's a logic to his theory, One thing he said is true though, everything is connected, just not in a Hama 'inclusionality' way:biggrin:

when you prune trees and they weep heavily ie Birch, did you know that they weep more when the tides in, it's caused by arbolic pressure in the atmosphere

codz, joe, just out of interest, how is the shackle attached to the timber? can't quite make it out from the vid? Also if you look beneath the side stub on the left, what's happening here? cheers

Joe, I was using 3 strand at the start of my career and still use 3 strand to this day (along with more modern rigging gear), dont have an issue with 3 strand, but I did doubt your judgement with the way you used the rope and rigged the timber. When I saw the shackle and how you'd cradle rigged it, in effect with the shackle acting as a massive subtractor of rope strength as the force is dissipating into the system. The more force was put on the shackle the worst the outcome was going to be because you only had a single length of rope through the shackle (albeit forming 2 legs of a cradle rig). Doubling the rope at this point with a cradle rig like you did and adding an extra shackle to decrease the bend ratio would help a great deal. Just an idea, good luck next time, be sure and post the vid.

how dare you doubt my credentials Mr Cody, I've done some of the biggest and most awkward Euc removals in Scotland. I was guided through this particular giant by the world renowned North American tree removal expert Mistahbenn

what if you doubled the rope throughout the whole system including the cradled rig, so there would be 2 sides of the rope going through the shackle side by side instead of the one you have, this would = 100tons of breaking strength @ the cradled rig. Essentially it would be same setup as you have but the whole rigging system is a doubled rope from the rigged timber at the top through the shackle, down onto the half hitch round the side limb and the wraps round the base of the trees. the cradled rig would have 100tons of breaking strength, the rest of the system would have 50tons but remember it's the cradled rig at 100tons that's taking the bit hit. Also what about 2 shackles doubled up side by side to decrease the bend ratio? .

With regards to your comments above, if someone has developed the ability to think critically they're free to express their opinions, regardless of their relative experience in treework. Put it this way Cody, Stevie Wonder could've seen that rope was gonna snap. I'm not a desktop arborist, and neither is anyone who has posted critical comments in this thread (apart from Stevie Blair but he's a very wealthy man and can afford to be one, kidding Stevie ) Australians/Kiwis and Australian/Kiwi based climbers, you dont have a monopoly on big tree work. This is a Redwood we worked on recently about 30 mins drive from Glasgow. A lot of people on this forum dont post pics and vids of their work because they've nothing to prove, especially not to thin skinned Aussies/Aussie based climbers who can't take a few words of criticism.

Cheers Adam, glad you enjoyed it. great saw, it's one of their pro-range (difficult to get hold of in the UK) at the time I bought it I was gonna buy a 372xp but saw the JRed and bought it instead as it's essentially the same saw. Had it for years now, never lets me down. I used it recently with 30" bar on a decent sized redwood removal, it ploughed through the wood no bother, was nice to have a lighter saw up in the tree as well.