Clean up techniques

[brendonv]

So, ive been thinking, and observing this for a while.

Say a two man crew, bucket or climbing, chipper and chip truck.

Some crews ive worked with, will go up, drop a huge mess, as much as the space can handle. Actually most i climb for or run the bucket for will do this. This allows the air man to come down and help cut or chip. More on hand and the mess will disappear fast.

Im used to cleaning up as you go, but the guy who works for me now has one speed, which is slower than i would be. This is me in tree, him on the ground. Not the best with the saw, but shows up and can rope pretty well. Cant run the mini, as there would be no grass left at the end of the day.

What do you guys do most of? Clean as you go, drop a mess and clean and help?

 

[atw]

I have a small crew and prefer to clean as we go

 

[lumberjack]

We usually cleanup as we go. Except on large floppers I can pretty well keep up with Scott and Ben.


On some jobs where the ex is loading, I'll let the mess grow a while since it can shuffle the brush so quickly as well as sort the logs out.

 

[FJR]

Cleanup as we go. There are certain exceptions where we will put everything on the ground at once, but they are few.

 

[cory]

Depends on the tree. Another plus to dropping alot and cleaning up after is that its safer, no danger of somebody getting hit by something aerial. A drawback is if there is nothing else to do in the meantime, the ground guy is chilling so time is wasting.

 

[bonner1040]

When we are a 2 man crew and do large climbing prunes we will both climb and then both cleanup. Sometimes one person will do either side of the tree, in which case we both get down at the same time. On a pin oak (which we do a lot of) one guy does the top while the other does the bottom, the lower guy will clear all the crap and pull as much brush down from the top guy and then go down to chip, leaving the upper climber to finish the middle and grab hangers.

On removals we will almost always clear the work area as we go. Not always chipping it but staging in the drive/front yard whatever. On our 2 man crew we rarely chip removals as we go, unless its a simple drop and drag kind of thing. We prefer to limit the noise and distraction while we are rigging.

 

[brendonv]

Id guess that guys with forestry body setups will stage everything. Wow what a pile that must be sometimes!

Ive done more clean as you go but get aggravated hanging there and watching.

The times ive had him leave the mess then i come down and run the mini shit disappears quick. Esp with the new chipper. Goodbye wood!

 

[bonner1040]

Having the mini and BMG would make a difference for my strategy!.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I wouldn't want a climber over my head. Two climbers in a tree = one on one side, the other on the other side. I love that on a trim!

Just like cooking in a kitchen, clean as you go.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Clean up as we go. If I see my crew getting too buried, I will either take a break and eat or come down for a clean up assist/break. Wraptor helps with the latter scenario. Pines have been more like that. Come down and help with the brush, go back up the spar and start chunking or rigging it down. I hate working in a mess. I consider that more of a danger than falling debris at times.

 

[cory]

Nick, having a climber work over another climber's head, even indirectly over, sounds wacky/dangerous. I must be missing something in what you are describing. We always have one climber per side of tree, when we team prune.

Id guess that guys with forestry body setups will stage everything. Wow what a pile that must be sometimes!

I had a forestry body. If the removal was sizable we would disconnect the chipper and back it in with the pickup to a good feeding angle, twist the chute and then chip as you go.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I self lower when we do that... Just get the chipper close, lower. Rob keeps an eye out for the piece and drags it out after untying. I keep an eye on Rob before I cut. Rev the saw a couple times to make him aware I am ready to cut. He is a hustler though. That man moves brush I would not even think of dragging in one piece. I try and cut for his abilities, and also for Katy's. I don't mind cutting a tad smaller for a groundie. Just makes the job go smoother in the long run.

 

[bonner1040]

In my experience, in a pin oak, nothing goes down It all just gets caught. We arent talking about cutting man killing wood above eachothers heads, with some planning and communication you arent really over and under eachother. But at the same time you can get there to pull the crap down. It works for us.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I trim as I ascend to make a hole for the above stuff.

 

[bonner1040]

In a tree like this, 2 climbers can operate at different heights safely.

 

[cory]

I don't doubt you at all. For me though, one guy in one stem, the other in the other.

 

[MasterBlaster]

No one over my head, ever - no matter what type of tree it is. I'm surprised your company allows that.

 

[ClimbMIT]

In my experience, in a pin oak, nothing goes down It all just gets caught. We arent talking about cutting man killing wood above eachothers heads, with some planning and communication you arent really over and under eachother. But at the same time you can get there to pull the crap down. It works for us.

I can see how this would work well. I am the only climber I would love if there was another working for me. I try to do what Butch does by making a hole. Sometimes I will use the power pruner to raise the canopy and make room for crown cleaning. I will help clean up before I go up so my groundie isn't frustrated. When it's real hot I have my guy stack it neatly until I am down. This is time wasted but next year Cooling vest will change that! I have no chipper but if I did I wouldn't run it during rigging operations either.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I'm still wearing my cool vest - it's like air conditioning!

 

[blue]

I prefer to have rubbish cleaned as it comes down unless I can put a lot down all facing the same way.
As for having another climber below me no way. Pruned a large Sycamore a few years ago and had another climber in the tree with me, the plan was I do 1 side he the other. I called for a saw and pulled it up. Dave in his wisdom had changed the plan (mainly because he thought my side was easier).
Anyway as I clipped the saw on my harness I missed the loop and didn't check, my fault I know. Made a cut, ditched the saw and went to grab the tool line, oh bolox it's gone. Missed Dave's head by about 6 inches!!
Never have anyone below you, never know what gonna happen.

 

[HolmenTree]

I clean up one tree at a time which makes life a lot easier for myself and my best employee ever.........just call him Max.
Found this cool site where someone was thinking and made my machine a very versatile tree work cleaner upper. Check out the large stump fork lift attachment.
www.microarbtruck.co.uk

 

[SimplyArbor]

I've been hit in the head by a 200t, pruning with another climber. Finishing up the tree, I went down to clear hangers, he swung back to his TIP and saw unclipped on a little limb. Hit me from about 25' up. Ruined my kask helmet, almost passed out in the tree, but kept my wits and bailed. Ended up with a concussion and some bruising/scratches on my shoulder.

 

[rskybiz]

Clean as we go also. I hate watching ground folks work in a mess. Seems like a accident waiting to happen. And I don't wish to afford injury to anyone. With the skid steer and dump trailer I found that changed some of how much mess is acceptable but not much.

 

[Tucker943]

In my experience, in a pin oak, nothing goes down It all just gets caught. We arent talking about cutting man killing wood above eachothers heads, with some planning and communication you arent really over and under eachother. But at the same time you can get there to pull the crap down. It works for us.

Don't get caught in the habit of thinking that everything you do at Big Green is correct. It will close your mind to better thinking. It is great company with a good track record. But there's wisdom to be had from every direction.

 

[cory]

Yes, I would agree accidental dropping of tools is every bit as likely and dangerous as falling tree parts.

The longer I'm in this business the more wary I am of any and all possible problems. It is one of the things about the internet that is most valuable to me, learning of the mishaps that occur on a nationwide and worldwide basis and so realizing all the bad shit that can and will happen if you aren't careful, that I otherwise would not be aware of.