Big dead pine has to go

[Bermy]

Well I did some work for a friend yesterday...three blackwoods and a casuarina that had to have the canopies cut out and then felled the sticks...
Oh dear, you could tell I haven't done any felling for a while...although I blame the one on unfamiliarity with a new species to me...Blackwood (Acacia melanoxyllon) the fibres of the blackwood held and held and held, I had the face in, bored from both sides (short bar) and a release, it had some head lean and side lean... I had left a tuft of canopy on the top (about 30') and a 1" hinge held that sucker leaning over like nothing I've seen before, I mean it just sat there! Walloped it over with wedges. At least when it went it went in the right place
He practically has a private arboretum, so these trees were coming out in between beautiful specimens that couldn't have any damage done to them.

The big pine will be a while, I need some practice, better go have a cup of coffee and toast or something...wouldn't want you to get hungry while you wait

 

[SouthSoundTree]

P.S., you might want to shave the bark off the hinge area. It will make it easier to see everything, and your bar length will not be wasted on bark. A dust mask or at least a bandana is a good idea for shaving bark.

 

[gf beranek]

that black acacia has some tough wood fibers man that will come to bite you if you don't cut it up fine enough. I've seen it pull tops and chunks around like you had them butt tied.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I've had my share of Black Acacia dealings both in the shop and in the field, it seems to follow me around, even over here. The bendability can go both ways, very positive for woodwork. The guy that first suggested it to me as a useful wood, likes it for the ribs in the beautiful boats that he designs and builds. For such a tough wood it splits too easily. It must be lacking in that substance between the cells that provides adhesion. It often seems pretty short of moisture even when green. Sometimes dries straight and sometimes warps to hell. As you say, Jerry, not a good wood for the faint of heart.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Surely it is on the ground by now...

 

[Bermy]

Nope...

On the black wood, when I was up top piecing it out the sapwood really hangs on, you have to cut the sides or like Gerry said the pirces can go all skee-wiff!
Another dead blackwood is down, two bits of the trunk went to the mill the landowners own, the rest is in our firewood pile, an ash died, to save a lovely magnolia under it....(peek, pine is still there...)

 

[gf beranek]

Carry on

 

[Jed]

.... and the big dead pine?.... ?

 

[Bermy]

Still standing...
Same property...
Big broken branch in another pine, got removed, now what's left of the limb is ABOVE the most recent tear out and an old tear out that are within 2' of each other on a bend in the limb with a pressure ridge on the back... and the remainder is heavily weighted almost horizontal then with probably 20' of 16-18' diameter wood curving up above it, branches, tons of cones...lots of weight...tomorrow's job. Luckily there is another higher branch to tie in above it, but it'll take me a while to get up and tied in happily, I'm not the fastest monkey in de tree! We got a throwline in yesterday, hubby got a great shot with the bow and arrow up about 50', good starting point!

PS...how significant is fibre buckling (horizontal ripples) in the compression side of a bend of a big radiata pine limb? I'm used to it not meaning too much in the absence of other symptoms on some of the tropical trees I'm more familiar with...

 

[Jed]

Wow.

Best of luck tomorrow. I think that (What Would Jerry Do? ) the fiber-buckling thing is no big deal, provided that your husband's Tie-In-Point gets you out far enough to be able to make the cut out PAST it.

But even if not: don't sweat it.

You've got that pig.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I treat large limbs that sweep up as if they were a separate tree in a manner of speaking. Make sure you have no tangles up higher and fell it out. Even attach a pull line to fell it out. Fell the vertical out and then start dropping the horizontal in manageable chunks just as you would a horizontal limb. Limbs that sweep up like that will have some funky fiber in them. Best to get rid of the pressure from the vertical portion to deal with the horizontal. Our Grey Pines grow a lot like that.

 

[Burnham]

That's good advice.

 

[gf beranek]

indeed

 

[Bermy]

Job done...
had to climb another 20' higher than the shot we got from the ground to get a good TIP high over the doomed branch, then I saw the backside of THAT limb, another tearout!
Anyway, I got out on the one that had to go, then up into its canopy and just pieced it out bit by bit, and yes, had to make sure nothing was tangled from the other branches...then the wind came up...bloody hell! I came close to bottling it, but pushed through, held on for the gusts, said lots of prayers, sang some stupid songs...
It was a testing day, a new expansion of the comfort zone, but in the end it all went well, and we're home safe and sound...and I am happy that huge limb is gone from over their driveway.

Looked at the big dead pine...

 

[MasterBlaster]

That's a start!

 

[Burnham]

Kicking azz and taking names...that's our Fiona.

I perceive goalie mentality in the lady..."come on at me sucka, you got nothin'".

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Happy you got that done safely Fiona

 

[flushcut]

Okay and now for the follow up on the "big dead pine" ????

 

[Jed]

I'm always the same way before a big tree: all nervous an butterflyish, trying to muster as much bravado and panache as I can so that the boys won't know how big of a ninny I really am; and then, before I know it, it's done, and I think, "Man that was nothing." "And FUN!"

Well done Fiona.

 

[Bermy]

I think what kept me up there was the thought of having to come back to it another time... it was a long footlock up, then the scramble to the TIP...sh!@I was already up there, just get it done...no rigging, no targets below, just chop it and drop it.
In the back of my mind were the thoughts of the defects in the branches, and as bits came off how the wind was going to affect the newly exposed areas. Certainly as I cut bits off the one I was on I could feel the dynamics change as the wind gusted through...scary! Big trees high up are a bit different than my mid-atlantic tiddlers...new layers were added to my experience yesterday for sure, at least my hair is already silver!

(PS...Fi is the short version...)

 

[MasterBlaster]

just get it done

And there you go!

 

[Jed]

Thanks Fi: Yeah, my imagination plays tons of tricks on me also. I can remember certain times, when I was about to pop-off some huge branch, thinking, "but what will that 'eccentric-loading' do to the rest of the tree." But it never does anything. Unless, of course, one was in some horrible root-rot, situation, when one shldn't even be up there anyway!

BTW: Long footlock? Are you more comfortable that way, than on spurs and flipline? For me, the latter method is less labor-intensive.

 

[gf beranek]

Each one is a learning experience. Some more so than others. And size isn't always the defining point of either.

Always great to hear a good report, Fi! I admire you.

 

[Bermy]

Thanks Gerry!
You all would laugh at my sometimes 'creep climb' style though...if I'm not particularly comfortable then the back of my trousers get scuffed from where I sit down and shuffle.
Jed, my flipline wasn't long enough to go around this pine, and its all branchy and knobby...and the first tie in left me suspended about 6' out from the trunk.

 

[Burnham]

No way would spur climbing have been my first choice on that bugger.