The Official Work Pictures Thread

Some pitch never dries, like even in a hundred years. I guess that would be in knots. I mean it dries sort of, but will come out again in raised temperatures, sometimes even room temperature when wood is resawn.
 
Around here "most" people that burn wood do so for the ambiance, or romance factor, instead of for home heating. Never really burning hot to clean things out. That's one reason here to stay away from pine.
 
Jay, it doesn't matter if there is pitch or not, as long as you let the fire have enough air to do a total combustion.

On a furnace like mine, that is blower fed with air, it doesn't matter what I burn.
The smoke temperature is measured and the air supply adjusted accordingly.

I can stuff everything from wet oak to dry poplar or pitchpine in there and it burns equally well and almost equally clean..
 
Nice pics, McCauley. Have you decided to keep your truck, it was for sale a while back, wasn't it?


Its still up for sale, probably won't sell until the spring but we use it when needed. My dad wants to get a bigger crane, he has been looking at terex 4792's so if it does sell that is probably what we would get to replace it.
 
A 23 ton is a sweet tree machine. You can always go bigger but the 23 goes a long, long way.
 
23 ton is sweet. Just the right size for most tree work. I'd stay away from terex, their boom trucks are shit. Go national or manitex. Manitex makes a sweet 22 and 25 ton rear mount crane, awesome cranes.


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23 tons is plenty of gun. Especially once you find its limits and work accordingly. Many crane ops wont let the crane work to its potential.
 
The vast majority of crane work jobs that I have been a participant in are with a 24 ton. Lots of those running around and it seems a preferred size if you had to pick one. Reach is everything though, without a longish boom and if possible a jib, the weight capacity can become like a fish dead in the water. The best crane ops can make the machine exceed it's potential. It often means disconnecting the
computer. :/:
 
Not uncommonly done with veteran operators, at least over here. These are guys that probably were making picks long before computers were ever involved. I've seen some amazing things. :lol:
Companies have rules about it, but some independents make their own. Bouncing long reach removals to get them close in enough to safely lay down, certain cuts and lifting coordination to ease the weight down onto the boom when the reach/weight capacity is maxed out, the computer would say no, but it can be safely done, based on frequent experience. Probably not taught in crane school. Computers can be a great aid though, I would agree with that. I have also heard a few stories of events happening when a computer was disconnected. :|: Definitely not a practice for everybody.
 
its all good until the operator misjudges at the wrong time. I would never work with an operator that I know was doing that. Especially when my life and my crews life depend on those decisions. To each their own I suppose.
 
The crane operator is a member of the crew, not a separate entity. Going on over ten years, everyone is well versed in what is happening. As discussions go during operations, i don't often hear of the computer not operational when someone is up in a tree, more talking about picks when the cutting is at the stump. As a general rule of thumb, I think the doubters are right on, but you would have to see what is being done to be better fully judgmental about it, i believe. Cranes didn't always have computers. Some of the early dudes I worked with, I wish they had. I'd rather work with an operator that knew how to do it without a computer as well, could judge weights and such, how much lift he was applying as per situation, than one that had to have the readouts and stopping mechanism to feel safe. A computer adds to safety as a reference, certainly.
 
I hear what you're saying Jay. Some people, the right person, with time and experience can develop a feel for a piece of machinery that a computer never will. It's a cumulative effect of a tight crew of capable guys that can routinely and safely pull off what most would consider to be insane.

I'm not advocating people do silly things. But I hear what Jay is saying. And having known him for many years now over the interwebs I highly doubt he's doing any silly things.
 
squisher;628280 It's a cumulative effect of a tight crew of capable guys that can routinely and safely pull off what most would consider to be insane. [/QUOTE said:
Good description of a Special Forces / SEAL /Ranger / SWAT type operation. Highly orchestrated, coordinated and innovative.
 
Appreciate the vote of confidence, Squish.

The aspect of risk makes for an interesting discussion. I was just thinking that tree work is full of calculated risks, perhaps one of the reasons that it is interesting work. Generally not the luxury of a physics equation worked out on a blackboard to get you by. People talk about potential hazards pretty regularly here, like sometimes climbing trees that lack a degree of certainty in their soundness, but you think enough to depend on is there. It's a gamble that you are counting on your experience will win the bet, as Jerry expressed so succinctly in the preface of his text. I'm not sure if any one activity is different from another in that regard, if it meets the criteria for doing the task in your own mind, also with cranes. It is cool to be able to do jobs that other people won't.
 
I totally agree with Jay and Squish. I would call it overriding the puter rather than disconnecting it. And it is only with the rare operator. If a tree guy can't relate to this its probably just because he hasn't personally experienced it before. I had the extreme good fortune of working with a truly amazing operator. He did things, both with picking pieces as well as landing them in "impossible" spots, that were just extraordinary. And he always did it safely, no cowboying it, ever. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. After awhile you came to expect the extraordinary whenever it was needed. He had 30+ years experience but certainly all ops with 30+ years experience are not created equal. To the observer it was like he could will the pieces to do what they needed to do.

One job comes to mind, it wasn't a dangerous pick, just hugely skillful. All the trees to be removed were done. There was one last large limb on the bottom of the canopy of a large oak that was crowding the house. The custy had just added it on. I asked him if he could do it given that the limb was somehow going to have to be snaked out of there and it looked highly improbable. Heck, just getting this limb choked was going to be challenging, given the setting. To do the limb by climbing or with the bucket was going to be an hour, start to finish. He said, "we can get it." I went to work doing all the other stuff needing done and let the climber and him deal with it. !0 or 15 minutes later the limb was sitting on the ground by the chipper, no muss, no fuss. It was an, "are you kidding me????" moment.
 
acton5.jpg Blown out top on one of almost 60 trees we removed from a property, all damaged by an ice storm. -29 with the windchill, coldest day of climbing on my record books! Not big trees at all on this property, just a friggin mess of them! Thank goodness for the mini skid!
 
View attachment 52331 Blown out top on one of almost 60 trees we removed from a property, all damaged by an ice storm. -29 with the windchill, coldest day of climbing on my record books! Not big trees at all on this property, just a friggin mess of them! Thank goodness for the mini skid!
Hats off to you guys in the frozen north, I don't know how you work in those temps.
 
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