kram

Difficult from a few photos but I'd be interested to know what others would quote. This is for a friend and wont be charged for it, other than to get my mate down to chip and tip. How? Doesnt seem too difficult the main risk below is a lot of potted plants, which could be moved, a nice Acer. Set high anchor and rig for the tops. Once the rope angle gets a bit better I'd be happy piecing it down in small lumps. Small garden but good enough drop zone in the middle and neighbouring garden. I believe Im the only person to have climbed it atleast in recent history. Theres some low wounds that had been done by ladder or silky pole, the rest appears to be from self pruning.

From that angle the lower branches hide the rear stem..? Heres some other pics of it. The rigged video was the right stem above where the green rope anchors.

The relatively large lime that I started dismantling a week ago, "small job" for a friend. I've been doing it it half day at a time as I havent felt like doing early starts recently! I was intending to fell the stem, which was too wide for my bar. Due to the rubbish and poor escape route I opted to cut the sides narrower so It could be done from one side. I then discovered it were hollow and I wouldnt get a proper hinge in the direction of lean. Its a heavy lump, so that only left chogging it down in small peices using spikes and a ladder. Currently looks like this, with the stump to come down as low as possible and all the logs cut smaller for firewood, except the two large arch sections that they want as garden furniture. Going back after lunch and should finish it today.

Thanks very helpful replies. Its a beautiful tree and amazing to watch in the wind. Yes birch do seem to have poor barriers to decay. There is another very old wound further down that goes in quite a way filled with frass/ soil although doesnt seem to have soft rot in the surrounding wood. I imagine I know the answer, but is there any chemical or other treatment to make conditions unfavourable for the soft rot fungus, without also killing the tree?

This tree is in a relatively small garden and grows over the two neighbouring gardens. At a few meters up it splits into 5 or more stems, I assume it may have been topped when it was young. Its a nice tree but in the wrong place. I recently suggested to the owner that it is reduced quite hard, 30-50% off the upper canopy but to leave the lower as is. Before stepping up into the union I noticed some bare cambium and reaction wood growth? Theres been strong winds recently. In Nov 23' I removed quite a large low branch that was going across to the neighbours. He was aware that large cuts on birch are not ideal. We noticed it did not seem to be callousing and had a brown weep, so I went up to inspect it. My original cut was not quite to the branch collar but it has been callousing all around hidden under the bark, it was a steeper angle so I trimmed the stub back. I got a face full of wet vomit-like soft rotting wood chips. If the soft rot progresses I think it will not take long to compromise the 5 way union which is not far above. I am unsure to suggest complete removal and to replant something else. If it became unsafe to climb, a mewp would not be able to get anywhere close and would need to be a large skylift type that can span 4 gardens from the road, if it could even fit down the road, at greatly increased expense. Should it be removed or reduced and how much?

What you've done is air layering, a common method to make a new independant from a branch of an established tree. It tells me your graft may not have taken. If nutrients are not getting down to the roots it will encourage root growth at the end of the cambium where its been ringed. If the graft was successful, the roots may be a secondary result of it being covered. I'd suggest carefully snip off the new root growth and check the graft and leave it uncovered.

I'm not planning to splice them for rigging, if that was your meaning. Working by myself is not the plan but learning is always good. I can see a lot of advantage to having the friction in the tree, it will reduce the 2:1 advantage that would otherwise double the force on the anchor. 3 strand is not listed in many arb shops, I can only see it here. What do you use? Marlow 3 Strand Lowering Rope 16mm - Radmore & Tucker WWW.RADMORETUCKER.CO.UK Lightweight, cost effective 3 strand lowering lines manufactured from staple spun polypropylene. The hairy feel of the rope improves grip and abrasion...

They dont seem very common over here. I've never seen one, but a few arboretums list them so might be worth a visit. Theres a few uk nuserys with them listed if you wanted to buy saplings.

So back onto the subject, which rope should I buy? I am thinking a 16mm 50m. I got one of the arb surplus rope end bags, it has a good sample of 5m rigging ropes. English braids 14, 16 and 20mm, look decent. Stein Omega 12, seems ok but only 12mm Stein Omega 16 and 20mm. Very soft cover, nice on the hands as a pull rope but cant see it being very abrasion resistant.

Ah, I did start replying but it got lost when I replied to someone else.. I even illistrated a crude picture! In the tree I estimated each small section and added up the weights. Afterwards on the ground I half arsed attempted to lift it by hand, heavier than expected by couldnt say with any accuracy whilst theres logs on it. Blue are slings, yellow steel biners, red the lowering rope, and purple is the unintended path that the rope fell, reducing the swing I had intended to give it, adding a lot of friction.

Its nice to be able to clip two carabiners on a ring if your working with two ropes, allows swapping between bridges easier and no real disadvantage that I've found.

Not quite, I have been shown and supervised this level of rigging by several expereinced arbs. A leafy bendy top of 50kg rather than a solid log, swinging into tension rather than a straight drop negative, a max of 3kn is my estimate. Every peice in the system is rated over 20kn with some redundancy, I had no concern on the gear. It is bigger stuff, that I would be unsure of and wont be attempting anything bigger without doing the course and gaining experience, with better gear. Hence the reason I posted this thread. Theres been plenty of good information by the other posters in this thread, plenty for me to read through. Thanks.

I discarded the snapped cord so cant measure it, anyone know what size I need? I am guessing it is 4.5mm or 5mm. Normal shops only list the part number but I'll be buying a roll of it.

I will admit its more that I do not want to employ anyone, I dont have the experience to become an arb business yet. I will do small jobs that are mostly within my abilities, mostly hedge trimming and small tree pruning. If it turns out to be beyond my ability I will get an experienced arb friend down, which as it turns out, I am doing today. Its about 60" where I wanted to do the felling cut of the pole and having a 28" bar, thought I'd trim the side a little as theres bad access that side, garage and rubbish. Found it to be hollow where I wanted my hinge to be. New plan is to chog it down from rope/ladder/spikes.

Why do you say that? I am listening. I've asked a local arb about mentoring when they get something suitable. I'm looking at ropes and will get one. Thank you for the books I shall have a look. They were previously recommended to me. However at no time of the day did either phone get answered and email got no reply, when I tried before. I assumed they were away, closed down or so busy that they didn't want any more. I shall try again, thanks.

Thanks, I did get it wrong as the attachment end of rope fell the wrong side of the stub but it was away from other gear, no damage but I'd planned it to swing to the left and let it run away from the garage. The extra friction of it being the wrong side, stopped it running. I am somewhat unsure how much weight you can drop on a normal rope or gear before it needs to be better gear. I was estimating that top in the video to be around 30-40kg. Tried to lift it today, and its atleast double. I should probably have lowered it in two peices or climbed higher to cut and chuck. Very true, but it was a customer video and I was working alone. I would have liked help with this job but she was not going to pay the extra and I wanted to do it anyway. Ofcourse that requires extra care, takes longer and ideally more experience. OTOH I have all the time with no one waiting for me. I cant disagree with that however the local Kingswood and Plumpton do not appear to want my money unless I find the three other students for the course and wait a year for an instructor to become available. If its box ticking only, I shall attempt to find somone experienced to mentor me, which I prefer anyway. "Those that can, do. Those that cant, teach" as the saying goes... I do wonder if the arb collages are just like barber shop money laundering fronts... Anyway for cs31 and 38/39 I was already climbing and there was not much learned from the course. I agree and plan to get a proper rigging rope before I do any more. The rope I used was not a retired one, good condition but it was slightly older, 10mm rock climbing rope. I'd still happily jump off some rock attached to it. Thanks

A nice bag of ArbSurplus rope ends, most appear to be around 5m. Pair of saw lanyards, decent quality, made in UK.

Currently I'm only lowering smaller peices, I'd estimate upto 40kg. Todays example using a couple wraps to lower it from in the tree. Two wraps was too much, I was hoping it would run smoother. Ofcourse with a groundie you wouldnt wrap for this size, I should also get proper rigging gear rather than old climbing rope. I do have a steel carabiners though. VID-20251001-WA0019.mp4

I have done a small amount while working with experienced arbs and would like to learn it properly, so will look at getting a cs41 course booked. I'd like to have a good knowledge and some practise before doing the course, and its not likely to be soon. How good is the course, does it cover just the absoute basics, box ticking for employers? Any good online resources or videos?

A French delicacy next to snails, slugs, frogs and the Andouillette..

All this talk of bumper crops, well my cherry was shite this year. I think it had 5 or so small ones. Loads of acorns everywhere, but hardly seen any squirrels. Has the heat killed them off?

Added the pdf below but the basic specs are here I dont like removing lanyards from my climbing saws as I have them girth hitched. While I could use a ground saw, I dont generally bring them just for light snedding. I bought a pair of these, appear to be made in UK and look good. 2 x Chain Saw Bungee Strops Loop Ends And Ring - Label with SWL and ID number | eBay UK WWW.EBAY.CO.UK The webbing is rated at 500kgs and is box stitched unlike many cheaper versions which are "Z" stitched. The small loop is app 2" and the larger loop is... UC030G-PS.pdf

Nope it runs well enough on the 2.5Ah tho I've not taken the 2.5 up a tree or flattened it on the saw, it performs near enough the same with either. My 002 was giving some problems today, repeatedly stalling out on a 10" stem of lime, chain might meed a sharpen or, thinking about it, bits of tool lanyard wrapped around the sprocket 🫣 Usually I clip and tie the lanyard for snedding on the ground, but I didnt tie it the day before, quite irritated about that.

That is interesting! The UC002 is a bit big for light pruning work and that looks more like a 2511 sized. Hopefully they kept all the power and just repackaged it.