Home made things for tree work

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  • #27
Willie, I splice cable, but the stuff I had to buy for the Tirfor came with a thimble and sleeve attached. In the future I'm going to just try and find that type of wire rope. It has to be a lot cheaper than what they stick you for when getting it through their distributor. Actually, the free end of the cable is sized down to a taper and welded tight somehow so that it pushes easily through the puller. Not sure how they do it but they do a good clean job.of it.
 
The short cable I had made for my tirfor was brazed with a taper, works really well.

Ya, Steve, I let someone else do the welding due to the fumes. Welding fumes may be implicated in Parkinson's Disease, which my Dad had from 43 until 73.

Sorry to hear that Sean. Manganese is related to Parkinsons.

Every time I saw Bob for the last few years they had just cut something else out, all work related and he did a lot of confined space welding.
 
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  • #29
I think I posted this before. With the Pine Borer problem, the municipality pays half the removal fee up to about a grand, so we get a lot of those jobs. The 1 1/2 meter logs and brush have to be neatly stacked on the property with pesticide added and covered with a plastic sheet. I move a lot of logs by hand, and this tool much saves on the back when lifting. Use it in different ways for both raising up wood from the ground and shifting it around, also when carrying it. Keep the tip sharpened and it works real well. Nice for grabbing brush as well, without having to bend over. When using it, i keep it in a tool pouch on my belt. The metal collar keeps the thing from getting all dented up on the edge of a log when striking. I've made a couple. You don't have to sink the tip in very far to get a good purchase on a log for raising up. Someone should be making and selling these, quite helpful really after you get in the habit of using it. Makes a good back scratcher.
 

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Beautiful tool. Excellent handle...like the rope wrap and grip stop as well. I have seen similar on sword handles.
 
Nice pic and idea. I would consider a more ergonomic handle, though I haven't tried yours. Maybe something canted at an angle similar to an ice axe, and yeah maybe an ice axe style sling too.

How is the pick affixed into the handle? I hate pitch forks, for example, which have the tang (right term?) of the tine head press-fitted into the handle, its just a matter of time before the head falls out.
 
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  • #32
Cory, another handle might work better, I don't know. The critical thing is the degree of curve that the pick has, Too much or too little and it tends to not strike the log at a good angle to stick. Good point about the pick loosening up. What I did to prevent that was to epoxy the long end into some wood held within a metal sleeve, not much wood between the pick and the sleeve so there isn't a lot of give, then I sunk and epoxied that into the end of the handle pretty deep, with another sleeve around that as you can see. I may have pined that inner sleeve from the outside, i don't remember. I played around with some different solutions to weakening, and that method seems quite good.
 
hookaroon.png
 
Jay, to weld the end of a wire rope just wrap the end with tie wire back a few inches from the end and using a neutral flame or less heat it till it melts together. Move slow and let gravity help it "drip" off to form the taper then remove the tie wire. Too much oxygen will burn it up so use less. The tie wire will help keep it together till the stressed wire rope melts together.
 
Jay, good info. The point on a pulp hook ( wish i had a picture, hopefully you know what that is) has to be just so to stick, also. The point is very small and is actually square shaped with a indentation on the side to create a barb-like effect to help it stay in the wood. A simple conical point doesn't work well for a pulp hook, ftr.

Yeah, that diy bollard doesn't look half bad!
 
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  • #46
Bob, thanks for the wire tapering tip, very helpful to know. That wheel attached to the tree is inspirational!
 
That looks mighty handy, is there a thread on how to make one?

No, I just really liked the idea Jerry had and modded the reel to accommodate a snap. Then added another snap to hold the bag which you can clip and unclip one handed.
 
Tig welders are very handy..Broke my Pretzel CT after 2 months so decided to make my own fold up retractable saw carrier. Been going strong for 6 mo and it will handle big saws. It retracts with a built in spring loaded catch. Still need to weld a little eye on top for a shoulder sling for bigger saws, TreeMotion kind of sucks for support in that department. Great thread BTW
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Love it!
 
I was having a hard time locating straps to repair my broken CT foot ascenders, so decided to go another route; IMGP0062.jpg IMGP0061.jpg used some stainless steel band/hose clamps, bent them around and spot welded, although you could just as easily rivet them together. It takes a screwdriver or dime.. whatever to put the clamp on but once its on I usually leave it on anyway when I'm climbing. One thing I noticed after using this the last 2 days is how much more comfortable it is than with the straps, gives my ankle way more support. Anyway I'll see how long this holds together, I get about 6 months out of a new CT
 
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