gibbon

An hour and a half ago you really, really didn't want an arguement.

I'm not into arguing either. I set the spec. It's 25pc leaf area, which is backed up with what the reduction eqauls in dimensions. If you have a 5m branch with 90pc of.the buds on the last 1.5m, then a.small reduction removes lots of foliage. It's easier to demonstrate what's come off when you see the brash on the floor. I often stack it all out on the lawn and show the client before we chip. If there's 3 x as much up in the tree than behind the chipper its clear to everyone what's come off. The tree has a tpo and the reason was to reduce the chance of more failures. By seeing what came off I'm happy that we achieved what I set out too.

Yeah. I'm going to try to use it exclusively for a month to give it a propper go. It's also a pain to get on as the spliced eye in my new England rope will not fit through. I need the pin. I think the bigger the tree the better it will be, but I still managed to tip prune that little tree ok

Last job of the year and my 1st climb with a rope wrench. 25% reduction (leaf area) 1.5m off the top and a bit less off the sides. About a 5th of the crown failed onto the bungalow roof in the late summer which is why its a bit thinner on that side. Merry xmas tree geeks.

We didn't win the war if you believe this guy. YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Shame he died shortly after this

Mines in the post. Can't wait to give it a try.

If you go for a super winch try to find a bumper where you can replace the solonoids without having to completely remove the winch each time.

Beard? You'll need a pair of socks under your sandals too then. 100k for me.would mean clearing a chunk of my mortgage.so I could take April may and June.off.each year. Id then take my kids and our camper and embark on the slowest round the world tour ever. travel 3 months, park the van up somewhere secure then come.home.to.work for.a.bit

Tony your right in your interpretation of whats going on. Also I am aware that both you and fungus have a much deaper understanding of and ability to describe the actions of decay fungus than I do. I have however worked on, felled and inspected quite a few Monterey Pines as whopping great mature ones are 2 a penny round here. My experience of this tree leads me to think that long before decay become a structural problem in these trees (unless it is present in the region where stems bifuricate) crown condition will already be well into decline. These trees grow quickly and have big vessles in the wide sap wood rings. I believe that soon after infection with phaeolus, the vessels become partly dysfunctional. As the tree becomes stressed at this early stage some times red band needle blight begins to thin the foliage and the crown starts to become very sparse. Other times large limbs begin to fail. We all know these are fast growing trees that end up with very heavy, end weighted limbs. I think when the trees become stressed they are unable to lay down reaction wood fast enough and big chunks drop off. Either way the size, weight and sail area of the crown is reduced so that gfailure becomes less likely. In the case of this tree, if the crown condition is still relaitively good, some thinning and reduction of the large heavy branches would be advised to reduce the likely hood of branch failure. I dont know what the staining is on the bark, I've never seen it to that extent. I could send you copies of a couple of inspections from this year if you like. Both trees were knackered, one of which was surounding by huge phaelolus fb's but it was still the failure of one of the stems, rather than the whole tree which I was concerned about. After felling some of these pines, I have always been supprised by the relatively small amount of fully decayed wood you see at ground level. I am pretty convinced that the crown will disappear long before the stem collapses in the vast majority of Monterey Pines infected by this fungus, due to the shear mass of their stems.

Not really talking about that tree tony, its hard to make a call on a few photos. I just want to know if anyone knows of a mature, singled stemmed one failing? I've seen Scots pines and multi stemmed Monterey collapse but not in a single stemmed tree. They always seem to have bold stem taper and a mass of large surface roots. The truly knackered ones usually have either a very sparse crown or have shed large pieces from the upper crown, leaving them rather bottom heavy and unlikely to topple

Have any of you guys seen a Monterey pine fail? There's lots of big ones around here and I've never seen a single stemmed tree fall. It's the collapse of major parts of the crown or whole stems normally.

That's a good idea

I don't mind waiting a month or so for payment. I always have to so I just see it as I'm constantly owed 10 to 15k, so when works.quiet you still have money coming in.

I bet that drives all lop sided. I normally have way more chip than logs.

Not h&s cool in the UK but I think most people do it. I don't when snatching as the crab could still smash against the trunk. I think snatching is best done with the rigging line tied on with a simple knot. The less components there are in the system the smaller the chance is of something breaking.

Mate that would be cool. Got a week swinging around in trees in Africa in Feb. I'll see if I can sort the go pro before then.

Smooth work Ian. I'm switching to a go pro next year, fancy doing some editing for me I really like the style of your vids

Depends how good you are. Can't expect to earn top money if your so new to it that you are still working out what to charge.

I wrote that before I read your reply tom. How the lump.fall off the stump depends on the climbers cut ( have you learnt nothing from radios videos). Regardless of your cut a good groundy can limit the crash against the stem by controlling the speed it falls. Well mine can.

I can't see how pre tensioning the line would have made any difference there. The lump should have been gently galling away, it doesn't look like they were trying to lift it back towards the pulley

If it was slung differently or they guy filming was on a tag line it could have been avoided, but the groundsman was ultimatley to blame. As soon as that piece started swinging he should have dropped it a few feet, but he didn't. Responding to things like that's the sort of thing that makes a good groundy If it had run out a bit it would have lost some momentum and might not have gone so far. Sounds like the groundsman was running the show too. Hope they learnt something.

Working on an idea I have had for a while. Hopefully this trip will turn it from a concept to a project. Driving around Africa is a real adventure. I drove from Gambia across the cassamance region of Senegal and onto guinea Bissau, all in search of waves and a spot for this project. Circumsising festivals, constant military cheque points when your driving a car with no brakes and crashing the car into the statue in the middle of the biggest town in the rebel home lands at 10pm on a Saturday night. Good times.

Sounds good but I've too many commitments and Im off to west Africa in February 2012 to do some work. Good luck with your trip though. If you need a tip mine would be take an extra rope and harness if you have room. It can draw lots of interest when people watch you climb and everyone might want a go.

Yep cool vid. Looks a dream to be able to rig branches straight down into that big chipper. Chris will never want to see a timberwolf again after using that beast.

Good stuff, ue's worked on a lot of big takedowns so he can handle a rigging rope. He's not bad up a tree either.