scotspine1

Is the beech your removing stone dead? if so.....has it been dead for a long time? or is there a major structural defect/weakness somewhere? Merip? What are the targets underneath? property? underplantings? Why the need for rigging?

I take it you can't hang the dangerous tree off the skinny beech? would the skinny beech support it?

Is there anyway you can use a highline with this situation? any other tall trees around or just that one your gonna tie into?

Steve, is there a risk of a massive pendulum swing if it all goes wrong? or is the other tree very close?

Re throwline - make a prussik loop using that 3mm yellow Weaver line then prussik or klem it onto your lanyard, test it in the garage first mate..........obviously:thumbup:

If your peddling tree surgery and can't do the work, you should be done under the trade description act. lets start with Mike Hill:biggrin: .

need pics

If a person can't do the work then why are they operating as a professional tree surgeon/tree care company? Gibbon makes a fair point in that you need experience to become very good at climbing, but as soon as you start making the contractor serious amounts of cash on the back of your skills, its then when you have to charge more and it is then when the contractor should pay more, otherwise it cheapens the whole industry.

He would've had he be been paid properly by the employer. When you got bills,food and rent to pay...that comes first, after that there is nothing left to put towards starting a company. People who run tree surgery companies and cannot do the work themselves or have never done the work should give it up and level the playing field for people with real skills. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't take anything on you couldn't handle yourself Mike, if you felt you couldn't do the work then you...being an honest Kiwi would hand the job on to a someone more suited to the job.

tractorboy, I subby climbed for over 8 years prior to starting my own company, I got first hand experience of how employers exploit a good climber's skills and experience, experienced climbers do not get paid enough, now...........explain why that is stupid.

Can't you move the chipper towards the back of the truck instead? Basically your saying Steve B had already ruled that option out, fair enough Rupert, fair enough son...can't blame me for wasting some time on Arbtalk whilst waiting for dinner. Ok, Steve, use a short length of rope for a lanyard, dont have stopper knot in the end so when the tree being removed fails below you just slide the hitch off the end off your lanyard, if the friction hitch grips too tightly, then that idea wont have worked.

And there-in lies the main problem of the UK arb industry, subby climbers doing work for employers who can't do it themselves. Remember these employers are making a name for themselves on the back of your expertise and skills. for employers - If you can't climb trees and do the work yourself then don't take the job on.

Can't you rig off the same tree as your tied into, but put a re-direct block into the tree your removing. that way your decreasing the risk of stem/rootplate failure thereby decreasing the need for a breakway flipline/lanyard? Any pics of the job? We used the same idea for this tree, I was tied into a tree behind the Beech I was removing and so was the main rigging block, when the branches were lowered - the anchor tree took most of the force, the re-direct block in the Beech was only there to guide the branches down over the lawn. Pause the vid at 4.13 to see the climbing TIP and main rigging block - [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCrsRMjRrgM]YouTube - Glasgow Arborist[/ame]

excellent climbing and rigging, cheers for posting

Dominic from Aspect and Paul from the AA, both are very good public speakers, even when being heckled

Thanks for the workshop, enjoyed the presentations given by both speakers in Perth, good delivery of the relevant info.

Recent jobs as examples of crown cleaning terminology - Client calls and asks for crown clean on mature Ash (left) and mature Beech(right). We go to job, remove large hazard deadwood down to 1/2 inch smaller stuff on both trees due to vehicle and pedestrian traffic. During the course of the Beech crown clean, I find a large dead branch with Oudomansiellia mucida (Porcelain fungus) present, its above the air conditioning units, make a decision to remove as it would seriously damage the AC units if it failed (see below). Second example was a Redwood crown clean I was involved with, large hazard deadwood and deadwood down to 1/2 inch diam, broken branches(hangers), badly split branches were all removed. These 3 trees are an example of trees growing in an artificial environment with high value targets beneath, they were managed by professional arborists carrying out crown cleaning operations.

from the ISA's Trees are Good website, explaining pruning to the public - Cleaning is the removal of dead, dying, diseased, crowded, weakly attached, and low-vigor branches from the crown of a tree. Trees Are Good - Tree Care Information -------------------------------- So what exactly is it about this term that is so unacceptable? if there is a need to retain deadwood during a crown clean then add a comment such as, ' retain deadwood in the lower crown over river' Who is now going to let the ISA know that Crown Cleaning is obsolete in the UK? You'll be given short shrift thats for damn sure, and quite rightly so. In the rest of the world the term is widely understood by consultants and arborists alike, it is widely used in the UK arb industry and will continue to be used by anyone with an ounce of common sense regardless of the new BS3998. Who was the individual responsible for the removal of the term anyway? who was it who actually said, 'I think we should remove crown cleaning from the BS3998', more to the point, why didn't someone stand up and say, 'dont be so ridiculous' what the hell went on in these meetings? .

I'm not gonna accept that Tony, your assuming the climbers carrying out the work are stupid. Most intelligent qualified climbers working on a mature Beech will fully understand the consequences of removing established crossing limbs, if not their supervisor or employer should make it clear why the removal of crossing limbs is detrimental to the tree, this in itself is no reason to remove the term crown clean from BS3998. Most intellegent climbers have a very good understanding of the term crown clean and its limitations. I suspect the reason for the removal of the term crown cleaning is because it is not politically correct enough for the arbor ecologists, they are offended by the term in that it implies a sterile environment unsuitable for fungi and bats etc. They're advocating the retention of deadwood, but with the removal of deadwood being the primary goal of a crown clean it does not sit well with their ideology......so they had the term removed.

I do specify all of the above, its called crown cleaning. The last thing the industry needs is the arbor ecologists dictating how we specify our work. The majority of arborists work on trees that are grown in an artificial environment. Explain why crown cleaning is bad for a tree if the tree is grown in an artificial environment ie a town or city? The removal of the term crown cleaning is good for the arbor ecologists with their excessively enthusiastic quest for creating habitat for invertibrates,fungi and bats on every last tree in Britain regardless of the situation or wether the tree grows in a city, town or a rural woodland. The retainment of deadwood where applicable should've been a footnote at best....an add-on to the description of crown cleaning. I suspect most working arborists will feel the removal of the term crown cleaning from BS3998 is a step backwards for the UK arb industry. Why not remove the term, 'crown reduction'? one of the most pointless things that can be done to a tree.

The new BS3998 does not include the term 'Crown Cleaning' Has it been been banned by the over zealous arbor ecology lobby? political correctness gone mad? They dont like the term 'Crown Cleaning' so they've removed it completely, trying to brainwash us all into focussing on deadwood as habitat rather than hazard? Could it be they've removed Crown Cleaning because none of them has ever climbed a tree in their lives and fails to understand the significance of the term for thousands of arborists/climbers in the UK? Can someone please explain why we (the industry) are losing one of the few tree care specifications that actually makes a whole lot of sense? .

If your looking for genuine back support then the Sierra Moreno Ultralight is the way to go. It is very different from the pelvic support harnesses like the Treemotion and Treeflex as it has a built in lumbar support that's designed to help support the lower spine. Its a well built no-nonsense harness. Sierra Moreno Mercantile Company, Inc. Wesspur and Sherril will sell them -

good pics Jamie Remember you'll have to deal with some of the worst and most poorly designed anchor points in the climbing world. Industrial rope access is way too dangerous for me. Your a brave lad.

and a bag of wethers originals

Take pictures and videos of everyone and everything, the old couple looking miserable behind the barrier, the car, the AA, the police and council incident team(especially them sitting in their cab), then send it all to the Daily Mail......they deal with that kind of thing these days, they're all we've got left.