Tree with a view

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  • #26
Very few big pines out this way. They just never got planted I suppose
 
Loblolly pine, looks to me like. But I'm no expert, and it's been a long time since I wandered the southern forests :).

That's a rather large DF, Reg. Do it, just...:D
 
Ah - I knew I had a dbl top somewhere!
 

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Lobolly, thats what I was thinking too.

In Maine, we too called a huge old pine a Bull Pine
 
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  • #34
5' DBH that thing looks YUGE!?

Id say you're about right, 5ft dbh. Pretty basic rigging to get the limbs off, but a depressing amout of big wood to bring down thereafter. I had priced it for 3 of us for the Day, but now Aaron is unavailable for the next few weeks. Its a lot for just me and one other. Mainly because the logs have to be moved each time to make room for the next one. From 90ft all the way down is some big heavy shit for just one guy on the ground to manage and keep up.

How old would that pine be Butch ?
 
Id say you're about right, 5ft dbh. Pretty basic rigging to get the limbs off, but a depressing amout of big wood to bring down thereafter. I had priced it for 3 of us for the Day, but now Aaron is unavailable for the next few weeks. Its a lot for just me and one other. Mainly because the logs have to be moved each time to make room for the next one. From 90ft all the way down is some big heavy shit for just one guy on the ground to manage and keep up.

Could you set up an 'elevator' with a log of your weight as counterweight? After dropping the big piece, the groundie would be able to roll a chunk of wood over, clove hitch it or whatever, midline on the tail/ standing end, and you would be able to drop down on your climbing rope, clipped onto the typical working side of the rigging rope. When you descend, the rope would pull up the counterweight. When you land, anchor the rigging line to the LD, and detach from the climbing system. When you go up, its reversed. The log will come down and you will go up.
-I'm guessing it might have two guys to untie some of the rigging, so that's why I suggest the counterweight on the other end of the rope.


Bob/ Bstewart and I set up a 2-person 'elevator' at Zipfest on Sunday. A bunch of different people went up and down. Had to compensate for significant weight differences between two riders. I outweigh Bob significantly enough that I put a hitch-cord on rope as a brake. Not an issue with a log that can be trimmed down.

Wraptors are great, but who knows how long they will be available. I might buy a back-up. I really need other things first. Frank (monkeylove?) on TB may be selling his.
 
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  • #37
Youve completely lost me there Sean. Youd need to sketch the technique and purpose. I hope to bring the bigger logs down V.S.L. Conventional/negative rigging would be too slow. But the stem does have an unfavorable side lean for VSL. Ill wont know for sure until I get up there. Each log might weigh 500lb or more. They need to be moved right out of the way, like several meters away. Some will have to go 7 or 8 meters away otherwise we will soon run out of room altogether. The wood is staying on site you see, bucked, but its a relatively small area. So we need to start the wood pile at the furthest distance away. A VSL is a relatively quick turn around for a climber....but the advantage will be lost if Dave cant move the wood in good time. In our favor, the gound is sloping, so Dave might get an easier roll on them. There is also the winch option....so long ad it doesn't rip up the ground too much. It still has to be bucked to firewood lengths too. We'll see. The job was priced very tight. So there is no margin for time lost. With 2 strong guys on the ground, I wouldnt be concerned, but Im a man down. Itll get done, no matter.
 
Reg how about a not so vertical speed line with more of a acute angle, like a speed line but much steeper to land the logs farther away and work your way in to the trunk as room runs out.
 
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  • #41
Reg how about a not so vertical speed line with more of a acute angle, like a speed line but much steeper to land the logs farther away and work your way in to the trunk as room runs out.

The yard is only about 35 ft to the road. There isnt the room nor means to place an anchor anywhere other than in the one spot, where the VSL will already dump the wood. Unfortunately a concrete path cuts diagnol right across the yard eliminating any other option. I will already have to dump a load of wood chip in that spot so the falling logs dont obliterate the roots from the adjacent tree, and to dampen the deflection.
 
I forgot, you have the portable winch.

If descend on my climbing line and ride back up on the rigging line, pulled by the winch, while advancing my climbing system.
 
The yard is only about 35 ft to the road. There isnt the room nor means to place an anchor anywhere other than in the one spot, where the VSL will already dump the wood. Unfortunately a concrete path cuts diagnol right across the yard eliminating any other option. I will already have to dump a load of wood chip in that spot so the falling logs dont obliterate the roots from the adjacent tree, and to dampen the deflection.

Any possibility of using a floating block?
If so maybe using the VSL as a highline and have the chunk on a lowering line to control the descent speed.
Just a thought but then again you have seen the job in person and I am sure this is not your first rodeo.
 
I love the ideas offered. No one has seen this but you and you know best, but tossing ideas around is a great thing. I find ( and this is no way referring to Reg) that many times we grow accustomed to working a certain way and forget how many ways there are to skin a cat. Did this tonight when asked my opinion from pictures of a bid. I saw a way to go from a tiny drop zone to a big one using a different method than what the estimator is used to. Kinda screwed myself out of an easy crane job (needed 100 ton plus for the radius) but also puts the one day job less than a crane removal in close to the same time frame and beats out the competition by over a day. Anyhow, I love how ideas are shared here
 
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  • #48
Any possibility of using a floating block?
If so maybe using the VSL as a highline and have the chunk on a lowering line to control the descent speed.
Just a thought but then again you have seen the job in person and I am sure this is not your first rodeo.

That sounds like conventional style negative rigging, while incorporating a zip line to guide the logs to a designated spot ? If so, same as I said earlier, the set up and contiued sequence within the timeframe is not going to work out. Ive rigged thousands of logs that way, but I know with a tree of this height and volume, its not going to work.

Rich, I agree its always good to hear ideas. There are indeed several ways to skin a cat. But you have to factor in the extra logistics and dynamics of putting big wood down from trees that are 3ft across at 100ft. As opposed to dropping and comtroling a similar sized section of wood from 50 ft. The dynamics and impact can be considerably more severe. Factor that into a very small dropzone and those several ways to skin the cat are often reduced to 1 or 2, realistically and practically. My jobs are not priced hourly, or daily....rather, there is no scope to explore one technique, then to decide its not realky working and try something else instead. But, as a starting point in this region at least...with extra height comes volume and impact. What Mick said is right on the money, machine power. But its not in the budget.
 
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  • #50
Thanks. I wouldn't bid a job without figuring it out first....but being a man down (the right man) has thrown a spanner in the works. The problem is not getting the tree down, its bringing it down in a way that Dave can mange on the ground. I dont want Dave feeling overwhelmed down there with huge logs that he cant move....but we're working against the clock too. Daves a strong guy and has done many big trees with me just him and I....but Aaron (whos away) was a faller on the queen Charlotte islands for years, running up and down hills over huge spruce logs carrying pulling steel chokers. Guy never gets defeated. I didn't mean for the conversation to get this far in truth. The situation is nothing put into context, but relative here I suppose in how being a man down calls for a different strategy.
 
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