Taylor L. Hamel

Hi Ian, The stone walls were a bit fragile and the asphalt drive is fairly new, so I didn't want to risk spearing anything in. Also a water valve and sprinkler system in the landscaping. Cheers

Thanks. The canopy branches showed what I believe is white rot. Not sure about the stem and I don't know which fungi. Would be interesting to know!

Here's a short one from last year. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6mciUH96KU]Large oak no-rig - YouTube[/ame] Tree died from oak wilt. I just needed to minimize damage to small, understory trees. First big limb was waaaaaaay out there so I needed to kneel down. On the right side of the tree, you can see I'm using the "Add In Prusik" method to create two attachment points at the locations where I'm positioned. A quick and simple way to give yourself extra protection from a giant pendulum smash into the trunk! Anyway, would have been nice to get the whole tree, but someone repositioned the camera and also the battery died about an hour into it. Took about two hours to get the tree on the ground. Thanks for watching!

Dismantling a dead Red oak on White Bear Lake, MN. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5-7GveA2fo]Red Oak Dismantle, Minnesota - YouTube[/ame] My friend Tyler's first time on the GRCS. He did well, I reckon. A low limb was lifted with the GRCS, but I forgot to film it. Pretty straight forward dismantle; the tree had an excurrent growth form, so not much climbing on my part... and plenty of room to drop the stem. Thanks for watching!

Nice work! Looked a mighty fun climb.

Nice one, Adam! Caught a few one-handers in there! Looked quite rotten. How was the base?

I use the 1.25m on a daily basis, pruning and dismantling. The 4m is really nice for large stem work and I also use it quite often in the equalizing mode. More often than I ever thought I would! It's really great to have that option at your disposal. If I were only ever dismantling, I would go with 2.5m. This will handle most stem work and it's not so unmanageable while pruning. However, if you're mixing in pruning, cabling, and dismantles, etc. on a daily basis... my first choice is the 1.25m.

Congrats to Jon and Josephine!

Excellent work, Josh!

Hey Craig, I have some wear on the side of the sheave on a couple Hitch Climbers and one PINTO Rig. With the tight tolerances, a little rubbing may occur on the sideplates. Especially if there is a small imperfection or metal debris. I would try washing the PINTO with warm soapy water and use a soft brush to clean between the sheave and sideplate. Then lube with SAE 30 mineral oil and slide a paper towel between sheave and sideplate while rotating the sheave. Compressed air works well, too. The wear on my above-mentioned pulleys is only cosmetic and has not continued beyond the slight initial wear. After washing, if the rubbing is constant and you're getting metal shavings and such... then certainly send back to the retailer. In the end, do what you're most comfortable with. If the pulley is freaking you out, stop using it for sure.

Excellent, quality products!

Yeah, Drew's got it right! Thanks again for the comments, everyone!

It's a Port-a-Wrap III (I think). I always prefer to use the GRCS, but this crew doesn't have experience with it. As a contract climber, I often have to tailor the rigging for the particular ground crew. Thanks!

Thanks for the comments, everyone! Always a challenge to walk the line between safety and stupidity on those types of trees! Cheers, Taylor

We dismantle a long-dead red oak in Crystal, MN. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfIZCqcuWvc]Dreadful, dead, red oak.[/ame] It was windy. It was raining. I was cold. The tree was deader than a fart. I hated it. To start the morning right, I made sure to step in two piles of dog crap before getting my spikes on. Followed by a face plant into the spar as I gaffed out on the sloughing bark. Conservative rigging due to the state of the tree. Also was quite close to the neighboring tree crowns. The fenced-in area near the garage contained a few smaller trees to avoid. Following a conversation with Reg, I should clarify that the butt/control line seen at 5:45 and 6:25 is primarily being used to distribute the weight of the pieces. It has some function in controlling the butt of the piece. However, as you can see at 6:25, I expected the butt to move and I was well behind the spar to keep clear. If minimal movement is required, a control line through a block or pulley very near the final cut is best. Thanks for watching!

Thanks for the comments! Very much appreciated. A DMM Rigging Hubs vid is in the works and will feature a few more Impact Block configs as well.

The Jelte prusik can be used in lieu of the spacer. Treetools blog 8mm cordage works fine in the small PINTO.

Nice one! Pick at 4:18 is super smooth.

We've all seen the strength and durability of the DMM Impact Blocks... [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGX2O64Xc4I]DMM Impact Block Testing[/ame] Now, here are just a few of the many configurations in which to use these versatile blocks.. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDIQ0pcD3OY]DMM Impact Block Configurations[/ame] Thanks for watching!

Very well done!

Yeah, I had a little fun with that one! Cheers!