Taupotreeman
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Everything posted by Taupotreeman
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You're right Lorry. Ventricular fibrulation can be caused by a minor shock which means that the heart is caused to have an abnormal heart beat. The person affected can feel fine right up to the point the heart stops. Other signs are pale skin, clammy skin, sweating, general feeling of being unwell, weakness or absolutely no ill feeling at all. Electricity can arc through the air so the tree you are working on definately doesn't need to be touching the conductor in order for you to get a shock. I've had a belt from th static charge around a 500KV line. The static charge alone can be over 40,000 volts. And 240v CAN earth through a tree depending on how much sap is flowing, what type of tree, how dead the tree is etc. Believe me, I speak from experience.
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Oh Man, that's bad. Glad to hear your folks are Ok though.
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Managed to knock off at 3 today and been watching quite a bit since then. Way worse than the september quake. Looks like it's only going to get nastier too. If this was just an after shock there could be a few more in the pipe line. GNS is saying that there's been a couple of 5+ after shocks so far.
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So the poor buggers in Christchurch got dealt a massive blow today when they got hit by another big quake. First reports show major damage to buildings and multiple fatalities are being reported too. Ch'ch looks like it will take a while before it is anything like back to normal and I would imagine that the numbers of dead, injured and trapped will only increase over the next few days. If you peeps out there can just take a moment and spare a thought for those affected as this will be pretty devastating to many.
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You get used to what they can and can't do but generally they have plenty of grunt. Mine will take a 25 foot chunk of Oak six inches through at the butt end no worries and it's 16 years old. When I worked in Oz we'd have competitions to see who could through the longest chunk of wood through but it ended up that you couldn't lift a bit big enough to stall the thing. If you try and put something too wide through it spits it back out at you. There's heaps of V8 drum chippers for sale in the US for next to nothing but most people I know don't like using them because they are percieved as dangerous. Most drum chippers have heaps of torque so will chew up whatever you throw at them. Poplar, Birch and Gum are especially good.
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let me know of your plans. See what we can sort out. I have a guy just moved back to Taupo who might be interested too.
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Hmmm coffee time then.
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Yep, I use an old chuck and duck. 6 Cylinder 4.1 ford petrol engine so just a baby. Will take up to 8 inches if needs be and we can't feed it fast enough. Those guys in the first vid are just playing about with it. You're better off feeding nice long limbs in to give you a chance to get another branch ready. Small stuff is a pain in the backside cos it's gone in a flash. Not sure if that was a shovel they were using; we were always taught to use a wooden tool to shove smaller stuff through rather than leaning into the hopper, for blindingly obvious reasons. The chipper cost me less than a third of the price of a bandit and does the job just fine. Easy to fix too because there's no hydraulics etc. You should see the V8 versions they use in the US.
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Large Ficus in Napier.
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New Zealand working holiday..
Taupotreeman replied to ARB-MAN's topic in International Arborist Forum
Not absolutely neccessary to be here to get the job. I applied while I was in North Wales and the company here offered me the option of help with residency straight away. Stupidly I didn't take it but they helped me out no end with a 3 year work visa and having the security of a job when I arrived was great. If you don't have a job to come to make sure you have plenty of cash because you'll probably end up in a big city looking for work and that can get expensive. Try your luck; I employed a lot of guys at Treescape, unseen and untested and nearly all of them worked out great. The outfits here know that in general, if the guy is coming from the UK and has references he'll probably be OK and worth the risk. Some will even contribute towards accommodation etc but I don't want to get your hopes up too much. -
On Friday 11th February Adrian Varty was killed in a motorcyle accident on his way home from work. I worked with Ady for a short while at Treescape, where I believe he still worked carrying out helicopter work and highly difficult removals. Dedicated to his work, he leaves a wife and child. Suffice to say that my condolences go out to his family and friends.
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What's your favorite tree to work on / look at?
Taupotreeman replied to showoffsummer's topic in General chat
Yew, because it's strong yet supple plus I love the shape, size and colours. Copper or Purple Beech simply for the colour and feel of the bark and the contrast with the foliage. Majestic looking trees. Lancewoods here in NZ. A very simple but graceful tree. -
A 2 day course on its own isn't enough. I recently did a one day course with some guys that wanted to work next to the lines. It scared the daylights out of me having seen the lack of knowledge the other guys had and the power company were thinking of letting them out on the netwrok. Total madness and a fatality waiting to happen. Let me say again; If you don't know what you are doing around live power lines leave well alone. Electricity has no respect what so ever and if you get it wrong you get it wrong big time. It's not a fence that might get smashed it's your life and that of your crew that is at stake.
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Is that for real? If so it's pretty cool.
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Easy; DON'T. Unless it's safe enough to do and there's absolutely no chance of anything going wrong. You might only get the one chance if something does go wrong so just get the fuse pulled if there is even a possibility of a branch, rope etc coming into contact with the conductors. It's difficult to say without actually seeing the site etc but, having seen enough fatalities, serious accidents and near misses, I'd just play safe.
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Did you remember its Valentines day today?
Taupotreeman replied to Pat Ferrett's topic in General chat
My wife's a florist, how could I forget. Have you any idea how much the prices go up for valentines? -
That's the one. Bottled water.
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Me too. Let us know what happens with the skeletons. As for the pump; sounds like you guys will be well hydrated for the rest of summer.
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Haha, you must have seen the same thing. Wonder if that coupon is valid.
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You nee to tell me more about the skeletons up the trees, I'm intrigued. As for the cameras; I keep buying the cheap $100 dollar ones for that very reason. The wife has the nice one so she takes the good shots if we're out on a walk. By the way, did Johno and Zane get their free bottle of pump?
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10m in a crotch? Man that must have been a hell of a tree. Plenty of epiphytes round this way in the forests to the southern side of Ruapehu and heading up into the Kaimanawas. Also heading over the Punga to Taumarunui through the Kahikatea forests there's some good examples.
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Anything covered in Wysteria, supplejack etc. I don't care what the tree is like if I have to fight with this stuff, just get rid of the lot.
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Guestimate would be at least 90 feet I would say but difficult to be really accurate as it was in the middle of the bush. Next time I'm up I'll take a bit more notice. We have some really nice old growth forest around here that somehow managed to not be flattened by various eruptions. I can answer the second question aswell; Central North Island (my photo) is about 4 hours drive south from Auckland (taking in coffee stops etc). Can't remember if Drew's was Tane up in the Waipoua forest ( 2 to 3 hours north of Auckland) or one of the big Kauri out in the Waitakere ranges just out of Auckland but I'm sure he'll confirm.
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Red Beech Drew, it's on the Lake Rotopounamu walk just down the road from Tongariro. When for a walk the other week with a quick dip in the lake. There's some choice trees in there and most of the big ones have got huge epiphyte colonies in them. They always look like something that belongs in an Ent forest out of lord of the rings. Rich; nah mate, quite happy looking at it. Hoping to get round to Titiraupenga (which means naff all to you I know) but there's apparently some monster Totara in the forest there. Most of the Lake Taupo surrounds were covered in massive Totara and Beech but were bulldozed to make way for Pine plantation. Occasionally they dig up a huge trunk but many are too big to get out. Saw a waka they were making at Wairakei which was made out of the top third of a Totara that had been dug up. Shame what we do to our trees sometimes.
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Another of a large Nothofagus. The ecosytems in the tops of these trees is choice.
