dadio

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ4Zr6WdjMo]tulip tip prune .mov - YouTube[/ame] Here's the latest effort at promoting proper pruning technique... It was originally intended to inform homeowners about good pruning and the harm that improper pruning can do.. A bit repetitive but overall a good low budget effort. I have another one coming, which was shot right after an early snow storm did a lot of damage, as many trees were still in full leaf..

Now there's an intelligent, thought provoking critique which we can all learn something from...

NO .. there was no good way to protect the driveway.. tough to tell from the vid, but the drive was set up on top of a little incline... The top of that curb was close to 3' above grade... Even if it was flat, you'd need a lot of padding to protect a drive from a log that big coming down that fast..

Picked up the check today and the customer reminded me of why he gets so nervous around tree falling.. He tried to do it himself with a big tree near the house years ago, and it started going wrong.. he managed to get it down with some yellow poly line and pulling with a toyota.. or was it a honda? Sounded like a nasty situation that he squeaked out of..

We were supposed to video that, but it never made it to tape.. missed another couple of good drops as well in the next two days, as there was a problem with the tape on one and another not showing up for an unknown reason.. Have yet to take the "monetized" option on youtube.. don't make a dime off it.. Here's a couple vids of me doing some climbing, which is getting rare these days. Some big trees here!. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5bt6NJEVAI]widowmakers 2010.mov - YouTube[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fme7HPNDUQk]Rebel Rd oak removal 2009.mov - YouTube[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isj8N5o6IkU]large silver maple removal.mov - YouTube[/ame]

"all the fuss" was not directed at you jack..

exactly... nothing special about laying a tree where you want.. the question is do you have the confidence to trust your skill when there is risk involved.. That spar had 5-10 degrees of side lean to the house, so there was some adjustment to the gun, BUT the wood was sound and there was a little bit of wiggle room in the LZ... Any good faller should hit that 10 for 10... so why all the fuss!

NO.. you boost your ego by opening your big gob, when you should learn to keep it shut...

Its only sketchy if your skills are lacking, which apparently they are! Why not spend your time and energy improving your skills, rather than judging mine?

You got it benn. I do this kind of work everyday.. sometimes it gets taped.. many times not.. I don't make a big deal about it... YOU DO!

Yes.. as a matter of fact.. this particular customer later said something about how impressed he was with the precision falling.. (this was only 1 of 4 on the job), and said he would tell his friends and family to use me..

Thank you Tom... the other half of this tree was back-leaning by 10-15 degrees.. took that whole too. Got that on video too.. stay tuned...no big deal if you know how to fall trees.. Maybe those that think this was so risky should re-evaluate their falling skills, and get some training...

Tree Falling: a maple spar in a fairly tight drop zone between a house and the neighbor's driveway. This 1 minute video was shot by the customer on his phone.. The background conversation is between the customer and the neighbors. I was originally planning on making the cut from the ground, but didn't like the bend in the spar, which could have caused the tree to bounce and roll after impact. So I decided to make the cut at about 10' height from the bucket. It takes a good deal of confidence to make these types of cuts when there is so much valuable property at risk. If you listen closely at the very end, you can hear the customer say "I need to take my medication".. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKXYtFJxYFo]IMG_0316.MOV - YouTube[/ame]

Your questions got a little lost in the upheaval.. the cut was a narrow humboldt, somewhere around 30-35º, with very little stump shot on the backcut.. Customer wanted to take the tree down because it was lifting the driveway, and made him feel unsafe.. I told him the tree was sound and with some pruning and a cable or two, the tree would stand for many years. I recommended against removal, but he just wanted the tree down.. There was no need to climb and dismantle, I could have rigged out that entire top without leaving the bucket.. The drop was faster, much faster, but there were other reasons as well. It was the first day that a highly experienced arborist was working with the crew.. I wanted to show off a little for him, so he would get a better understranding of the our skill level. And yes things do from time to time go unexpectedly... and I take those times very seriously, even when no harm is done.. I want to know "why?".. Kind of like an accident scene investigation after a plane crash.. I only get peace after I understand exactly what happened. Many years ago, I lost a big oak spar 45º to the intended lay.. By some small miracle, the tree landed in a narrow gap between a 50 year old dogwood and a brand new shed.. No damage. I stopped all the work and would not allow the log to be moved until I went home and returned with a camera.. Topok over 150 photos of the stump..

Are you refering to this answer? : "As with most aspects of falling and rigging, it is accomplished more by feel than calculation.. That "feel" is best achieved with a full understanding of the physics and ALL the factors involved.. which include, the weight of the piece, the lean of the piece, the amount of pull (force, momentum, and acceleration), the placement of of the pull line in the tree, the direction and angle of the pull, the dynamic properties of the line, the amount of line in the system, the unlimited different options in cutting a notch and backcut (and most importantly the depth and width of the notch), the height of clearance . All of these things must be considered.. There are just too many factors to develop into some kind of practical calculation.. However, its not that hard to develop a feel for all the above with a little practice and experimentation. I have also found the use of slow motion video helpful in understanding how a piece moves off the cut.. In this case, I wanted to take more of the top, so that the one lower back-leaning lead came out with the top.... BUT I JUST KNEW, that if I cut that top that low, it would not leave enough height to provide the clearance needed. In the end one of the major factors is left to the driver/vehicle, so you need to be able to trust him..We did not pre-tension the pull line.. there was a little slack left in, with approx 150' of dynamic 1/2" true blue. The top was fairly well balanced with a slight side lean away from me.. I cut the backcut until the kerf started to ever so slightly open, then called for the pull...By the time the truck took the slack and the stretch out of the line, there was enough momentum to get the piece to move just enough faster than it would have naturally, to clear the maple and the shrub. I only wish I had a dyno to show that with enough stretch in the line and enough line in the system, there is very little shock loading, and therefore a remarkably small amount of force on the line, which I would estimate to be less than 20% tensile strength. What makes this sort of thing fun for me, is to see if it will work as planned. However there are just too many factors to be absolutely certain. I would rarely take that kind of chance with valuable objects at risk. In this case I was certain that there the Jap maple would be cleared, but the shrub was 50-50.. I would not even have done that if I didn't have those padding logs set up. They were at least going to protect the base of the srub from total destruction.. If the top sustained damage, it could be pruned and the shrub would certainly recover completely in time. That was a tolerable risk.. It worked.. made a good video, and was fun... NO big deal!" If so, I think you have misinterpreted... That is quite a full and complete explanation of all the factors involved and my thtought process about the job, which took some time to write out.. I thought you asked the question in good faith, and I did my best to provide a complete and unambiguous answer. WHy would you consider that rude and patronizing?

I have commented on other threads.. just not often.. and yes skyhuck, I plead to the narcissism

I've looked over many of the videos posted here, and even commented on a few , BUT I do not share your tastes, as I find most of them unattractive.

Wrong again. the time needed to set that rigging up was a fraction of the time it would have taken to piece that top out.. and most of the time spent did not detract from the other work going on at the time.. I'd tell you about it, but you'd never believe tree work could be that easy..

Not true, I miss a lot of great shots because I AM more focused on getting the job done than making a video.. And the techniques and skill I use, make a huge difference in productivity and profit.. In the case of this video, almost all of the rope and pulley set up was done by others while I was working in the bucket..

"Daniel. IMO a lot of the flak you receive is not down to the vids but the way in which you present them and talk about them afterwards." No doubt, I get defensive too... and often come off as rude and condescending.. And perhaps even enjoy the banter cause its better than getting bored.. I first started making videos, because I found ALL the "man cuts branch, branch falls to ground" videos entirely boring. And the many lame examples of poor rigging were painful to watch.. The first few good crane and rigging vids were pretty cool, but they too have become same old... same old... I want to see something new, something exciting, something out of the box. So I make them myself... How's that for attitude??

I think this is a great post.. thank you for pointing that out. It gives a lot of good perspective.. Reminds me of the video where I used pulleys and a truck to lift a big locust off a house, and someone asked, "why didn't you just use a crane"? No good reason, other than the $1200/day cost for the crane, the tight drive, and the need to either make blind pics over the house, or mat a bridge around the house..

Good question.. I have asked myself many times.. Here's the best I can come up with.... I have posted many videos demonstrating skill and knowledge level far beyond theirs, and even beyond their level of understanding what is possible.. That makes some people very uncomfortable, because it contradicts the story they tell themselves about how great they are.. Rather than humbling themselves, letting go of their stories, and trying to learn something by asking.. "how did you do that"?, their egos get very defensive and attack, at first by calling the work "lucky or reckless". When video after video keeps showing what is possible, it becomes clear that calling it lucky won't work any more, they have nothing left to do but take personal shots at me, and make snide comments about the work.

As with most aspects of falling and rigging, it is accomplished more by feel than calculation.. That "feel" is best achieved with a full understanding of the physics and ALL the factors involved.. which include, the weight of the piece, the lean of the piece, the amount of pull (force, momentum, and acceleration), the placement of of the pull line in the tree, the direction and angle of the pull, the dynamic properties of the line, the amount of line in the system, the unlimited different options in cutting a notch and backcut (and most importantly the depth and width of the notch), the height of clearance . All of these things must be considered.. There are just too many factors to develop into some kind of practical calculation.. However, its not that hard to develop a feel for all the above with a little practice and experimentation. I have also found the use of slow motion video helpful in understanding how a piece moves off the cut.. In this case, I wanted to take more of the top, so that the one lower back-leaning lead came out with the top.... BUT I JUST KNEW, that if I cut that top that low, it would not leave enough height to provide the clearance needed. In the end one of the major factors is left to the driver/vehicle, so you need to be able to trust him..We did not pre-tension the pull line.. there was a little slack left in, with approx 150' of dynamic 1/2" true blue. The top was fairly well balanced with a slight side lean away from me.. I cut the backcut until the kerf started to ever so slightly open, then called for the pull...By the time the truck took the slack and the stretch out of the line, there was enough momentum to get the piece to move just enough faster than it would have naturally, to clear the maple and the shrub. I only wish I had a dyno to show that with enough stretch in the line and enough line in the system, there is very little shock loading, and therefore a remarkably small amount of force on the line, which I would estimate to be less than 20% tensile strength. What makes this sort of thing fun for me, is to see if it will work as planned. However there are just too many factors to be absolutely certain. I would rarely take that kind of chance with valuable objects at risk. In this case I was certain that there the Jap maple would be cleared, but the shrub was 50-50.. I would not even have done that if I didn't have those padding logs set up. They were at least going to protect the base of the srub from total destruction.. If the top sustained damage, it could be pruned and the shrub would certainly recover completely in time. That was a tolerable risk.. It worked.. made a good video, and was fun... NO big deal!

Now there is an intelligent comment!!, which seem to be all too rare in response to my videos.. Yes that is great technique, taught to me by my climbing mentor, John Grier... I have not used it much, but saw him use it many times.. The bigger a piece is, the more force is needed to get it into motion. So anything big is going need more pull than you can get by hand. I have thought about using this technique... shall we call it a "side swing throw" by loading up a dynamic pull line, as you describe, but have yet to find the need.. Probably better to give it a try when NOT NEEDED, just to see how much force gets what kind of reaction.. I'll try to get it on tape..

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plEfr6XGZd4]Big oak throw.mov - YouTube[/ame] I could have pieced this 35'oak top out from the bucket, but I wanted to see if it could be thrown out to the street and I was showing off a little, for a fellow arborist that I know from online and respect a lot, as it was his first day.