next move?

Spellfeller

Spellfeller

Clueless but careful
Joined
Jul 16, 2015
Messages
637
Location
Arden, NC
Hi, all:

Here's a picture of what I started with this morning. These were the main junctions below the crown.
(TIP is in a larger healthier ash in the background that we are treating, in an attempt to save.)

i-RSWkKkB-X2.jpg


Below is the situation at the end of a few hours of SLOOOW NCR work, before we had to leave for soccer...basically just the leader left.

What I'm wondering about is the next cut. These are options 1-4, counting up from the base.
(But I'm certainly not limited to these options only!)

i-Znx2fsS-X2.jpg


#1 at the first crotch is about 25' up...and seems like a LOT of top to take. Not in love with that option.

i-z9CNbVJ-X2.jpg


I think of #3 and #4 as a pair, but for my inexperienced--and marginally cowardly--self, it seems to get pretty spindly up there.
I understand though, that it could (paradoxically) be safer to climb up to make those cuts.

I guess I'm leaning towards #2 by process of elimination, which hardly seems like a way to run a railroad.

The whole thing is complicated by a lack of negative rigging gear and the desire not to bomb the life out this younger guy at the base...

What say ye, TH Yodas?

i-ChS7S8K-X2.jpg
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3
I think it may, Chris...at least in terms of height and strength.

The issue is that it's not terribly close. I think the zoom foreshortened the depth of field in the first picture. My concern is that any cut piece could take a big swing. I have only one rigging line, but I DO have a retired climb line I could use as a tag...hmm.
 
Can't really tell from the pic but the higher cuts are probably your best bet. At that size what is the risk of damage to just free fall them? Looks like the bigger cuts could get hung up and that's not good for a free fall
 
Rich,

I think if it wasn't for that little conifer at the base he could free fall it in several steps...but he wants to spare the collateral damage to the young'un.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #8
Rich: If I go up to free fall #3 & #4, I MAY be able to clear the conifers. It's the next segments that will be tough...

Sawman: I did get a great TIP today...tomorrow I'm not so sure about!

Peter: To which crotch do you refer?? :/:

Gary: You got it!
 
I thought that, too, Peter, but I know you have to be sure you can dump the piece so the rigging line STAYS in the crotch as it falls. I have had wonderment a few times doing drops thru a natural crotch, wondering if the rope was going to make it or not.

And when it looks like the rope might slide a wrong way the temptation is to reach out and "help" the rope into the right direction...which is a way to screw up some fingers.

Nope, I didn't reach out in reality but it sure went through my mind.

Jeff...if you climb up high enough to make those top cuts, you can take a 10-20 foot piece of rope and tie off a piece that is too big for you to handle (not so big you are worried about shocking the tree drastically). Cut it and let it drop onto the line...then disassemble it into small pieces and hand throw them into a drop zone...will take awhile...but what's time to a hog?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10
pantheraba said:
I thought that, too, Peter, but I know you have to be sure you can dump the piece so the rigging line STAYS in the crotch as it falls. I have had wonderment a few times doing drops thru a natural crotch, wondering if the rope was going to make it or not.
Click to expand...

Aha! So you use each lower crotch as if it were a block in a negative rigging situation. I can see how aim/facecut becomes very important!

pantheraba said:
Jeff...if you climb up high enough to make those top cuts, you can take a 10-20 foot piece of rope and tie off a piece that is too big for you to handle (not so big you are worried about shocking the tree drastically). Cut it and let it drop onto the line...then disassemble it into small pieces and hand throw them into a drop zone...will take awhile...but what's time to a hog?
Click to expand...

Is that what you are describing here, Gary? I don't follow the disassemble instructions...does that happen while it's hanging? :?
 
Yes...secure the piece that is too big for you to one hand. Cut it and let the tree hold it for you. Then cut it into smaller manageable pieces that you can throw. You will have to climb around a bit to access the piece to cut it...but that is what all that fancy gear is for....right?

Just don't get crazy one handing with your chainsaw...if you had 5-8 slings up there with you then you could pretend to be Reg or August...put slings on every damn thing within reach, get all beaver with your saw and when the dust clears put the saw away and sort out the dead and cast them to the land of the damned.

Sorry...got carried away there.:D
 
Spellfeller said:
Aha! So you use each lower crotch as if it were a block in a negative rigging situation. I can see how aim/facecut becomes very important!...
Click to expand...

It need not be guess work or luck to keep the lowering line in the crotch. Drape the lowering line in the crotch, make your face cut in the direction of the fall about a foot out from there. Bring the end of the lowering line from behind the down leg and tie off the limb about a foot beyond the face. Snug everything up and keep the line in the center of the face. When you make the cut there is no question that the rope will be in the crotch.
Be careful! With each limb that is removed, the tree will move more and more. Expect the most movement on the last cut and plan for it.
 
Zip-lining is your friend....I'd zip those small limbs out, then zip short pieces of the main lead. Just caution whomever is holding the line NOT to be over-zealous with the tension. Side-loading during zip-lining can be brutal on something already questionable.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #15
treesmith said:
Side-loading during zip-lining can be brutal on something already questionable.
Click to expand...

I'd love to try that, smith, but the part above scares me...

Biggest trouble is that my "data set" of experience when it comes to wrecking trees by climbing them is at precisely 1.5. You guys are in the hundreds and maybe thousands. I wouldn't know excess side-loading or all cases of what constituted "questionable" if they bit me in the arse, so I have to be SUPER conservative and careful.

I could probably describe my current methods as "timid nibbling" at the tree! :lol:
 
Your helper needs to do what you tell them, when you tell them to do it, not "try to help" by doing what they think they should do. Pulling hard on a leaning top, too early, make it as though the head lean is stronger. I don't imagine you need a pull line, being likely off-vertical.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #17
Just a quick note to let you all know that--thank heaven--the tree is down, and property and people are safe! Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

More details to follow!
 
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