Mani

yes your right, they're so hard to do. you dont need a massive gob thats gonna destroy roofs like a wrecking ball. just enough to seize control of the timber with a good hinge. I use step cuts as well, just not when i'm rigging out big pieces of timber like in gunter's video. I'm aware that you can push off smaller /mid sized pieces accuratley like that guy reg said above but to make a deep step cut like gunter did was cr*p and it the way it veered to the right despite the tagline highlighted the importance of directional notches in rigging operations.

That rusty transit post was in response to this post made by that rupe guy - He was taking the p*ss big style, I thought if I said what i did about the rusty transit I could get some more intelligent words from the man, thats all, whats wrong with that? Anyway his avatar pic is annoying.

that was the point of the showing the video....the tagline did not help with the control of the direction - look at it again. Many people seem to think its the rope that controls the direction when its actually the notch and thickness of the hinge, they pulled that piece of timber off and the two sides of the step met and it swivelled along the curve and ripped to the right by some distance...ah whatever, if you cant comprehend that then forget it. Thanks to the people who understood.

very good post. As for this- 4. No attacks, insults, or flames** - be it on someone's person, religious beliefs, race, national background, sexual orientation, or whatever. This is VERY important. If you have a problem with somebody, do not flame them on our website I didn't 'flame' anyone, that guy Ed and Pete and others were treating my post like it was a joke. Their flippant attitude towards a genuine concern was at best - boring, and I dont like having to converse with boring people. So I stood up for my side of the argument, whats wrong with that? lots of rhetoric in this thread here about how some of the members here are so experienced in tree surgery they could show me a thing or two, well from what I've seen here I doubt it. trying to tell me that a deep step cut is preferable to a directional notch is not filling me with anticipation of the learning that these people can teach me. anyone seen treebuzz, its very good and the people there seem well interested in discussing tree surgery. I hope that the video has helped some people to realise the impotance of a directional notch in that part of a rigging operation.

Seems you guys are all very chummy, too chummy by half for any sort of constructive and lively criticism. Lots of ego massaging goes on here. A lot of you obviously know each other personally and its clouding your ability to make genuinly individual comments.

If your as vacant as you sound, thats disappointing, cause in your avatar pic you look like quite a thoughtful person. Look guys, No Notch = No Direction should be the motto of all professional tree surgeons, cause if your not doing notches then you are aimless as a tree surgeon. You have no aim in your professional life, all you want to do is take the easiest and laziest route. I've said all I have to say on this issue. What about these other tree surgery forums then?

No why? I have a 4x4 Mazda pick up with 12 foot tipping ifor trailer and tracked Jensen

Like where?

I'll give you a tagline - Mr Ed's Cretinous Cutters

The notch is fundamental to what we do, it's what we're all about, if you dont respect and value the notch then your no better than the moronic cretin with a rusty transit panel van, wobbly ladders and his cherished 5 mm polyprop blue rope from the bargain bin at B&Q. Are you the same as him? cause that what it looks like from here.

1922 posts has reduced you to smileys

oh, I get it. I see whats going on here, you guys have all seen and done it all before, no need to discuss tree surgery techniques anymore. Not sure if this website is for me, are there any other more serious tree surgery forums on the web?

Yep. Piece falls off the back and rope runs between climber and stem - rope tears skin off arms, Gunter ends up balling like a baby for his mummy.

I know A half baked amateur by the sounds of it. Sounds to me like you obviously dont do a lot of large removals near expensive houses where directional notches are critical in the rigging process. I dont have a problem with using step-cuts for blocking down into a landing zone where there are no valuable structures, but using a step cut in the scenario in the video is sh*te. That guy has all the gear of a professional, pfanners, new age harness, all the ppe you could ever want space goggles etc, even has a second tie in point from the other tree but yet he cant perform a simple notch cut instead he chooses a buggered up step cut.

sarcastic yes, very good, but did you know that many accidents in treework are caused by small details, thats what separates the professionals from the amateurs. In that situation even in a woodland a professional stands apart from an amateur by making a notch instead of a buggered up step cut. That guy buggered up that piece of work, when it would have a taken an extra 10 seconds to make an accurate notch which would have allowed for better control of the falling timber. he buggered it up.

Laziness, thats the problem, these idiots think that because they have a rope they can control the direction, but any halfwit knows that its the hinge that controls the direction of fall, not the rope. His step cut was rubbish as well. All that rigging and he does a cr*p step cut. Amateurs.

Is anyone getting this to work? Its saying video no longer available for me. How about this? Here it is -

if there'd been a house to the right of the tree, the roof would've been wrecked. [ame=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-R9jMkOw_oQ]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-R9jMkOw_oQ[/ame]

monkey'd? is this you experimenting with coronet fractures? that second one is perfect. [ame=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BfJlkmb9ljo&feature=related]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BfJlkmb9ljo&feature=related[/ame]

Have you been to Rio? Got any pics of the birds at the carnival?

Yes, why not? It would've been an excellent opportunity to replace it with that other fossil tree - The Dawn Redwood. Seriously though, that statement sends out the wrong message, i like trees, which is why I cant allow them to exist in a butchered state.

alliterative? well if you want, its an oldie but a goodie: 'Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers' dont know how its relevant to the discussion though. did you mean alternative by any chance? I already posted it to the BSI in the comment section. 'No tree that falls within the boundaries of the United kingdom shall be topped aka 'severely crown reduced'. If you are considering topping or severe crown reduction - Remove tree and replant.

'Severe crown reduction, which at its most extreme equates to topping, may be considered if it is the last resort for retaining a valuable tree which would otherwise pose an unacceptable risk to people or property.' well......there's the green light to butcher thousands of trees and use the standards as a back up, surely a valuable tree would become worthless if it was severely topped? The above quote needs removed as it sends out the wrong message to tree officers, contractors and tree surveyors.

from the standards draft - 'Annex N (informative) Organizations from whom additional advice can be obtained' “Annex F (normative) Crown management by cutting – specialized practices” Organisations and Specialised are both spelled with a 's' not the Americanised 'z'. Who the hell did the proof reading? How could they let that slip through? Who are these people that are making it up anyway!? Why not just changed the name to 'American Standards Institute' and be done with it!

havent you heard of the old cross legged manouver? I was taught it by some linesmen, comes in handy now and then. cool trick.