The Water Bottle Challenge

[Buddy]

I want to challenge you guys to place a water bottle on something or near something that you don't want to hit when falling or topping a tree. Post up some pictures of the aftermath. You can even set a bottle out where you think a tree is going to top out. I'm not real picky on how you do it, I just thought this would be a fun thread. Good luck tree competitors!!!

Here's mine and I will admit, it was placed on the fence post only because that is where I set it down, but I didn't knock it off. That is what gave me this idea.

I will fix the sideways picture after dinner...

 

[treebilly]

Sorry my water bottle stays on my hip whether climbing, bucket work , or on the ground. Well almost always. I've been searching for it for a week now. I must have set it somewhere.

 

[Raj]

Check the chipper?

 

[treebilly]

Not in the chipper. At least I hope not. Had a new carabiner attached to it!

 

[woodworkingboy]

I hate wasting water.

 

[FireFighterZero]

It does not have to be full you sillies!

 

[ruel]

I like to play the stick version of that game. If you're right you can point and gloat, if not... man that tree blew my stick right out of the ground!

 

[Buddy]

You might not want to use your favorite water bottle and a stick would probably be cheaper.

My picture is going to be sideways for awhile. My computer updated itself and has locked me out. I hope I can figure it out, I have hundreds of pictures saved on it...

 

[Hunnicutt]

Well no water bottle, but it definitely counts as a close call. I was contract climbing in a graveyard and the guy I was working for had underbid the job. I was under pressure to finish quickly to make the job more profitable. I chunked the tree down to around 60 ft and decided that was short enough to risk dropping. I had about a 10 ft window between two graves (100+ years old) so 5 feet off center would ruin me in either direction. I carefully cut my notch and it was bang on perfect. When I made the back cut, I inadvertently left the hinge lopsided and it steered the tree heavy to the right. I about shit a brick as I saw the tree veering towards the older and more valuable of the two graves. Thankfully it fell just short and a few inches away from the grave. Damn, if only I'd set a water bottle on that 135 year old grave

Since then I've decided that dumb luck can only get you so far and I try to finish my jobs more deliberately and with more control. My advice to any contract climbers in a similar situation is don't get pressured into productivity at the expense of safety or your comfort. They wouldn't be calling you if they could do it themselves.

 

[MasterBlaster]

We used our hard hats...

No bottles!

 

[Buddy]

That's taking it to a whole new level Hunnicutt. Glad everything worked out ok.

MB, I've heard of guys using their hard hats. I kinda like mine so I don't think I will be using it...

 

[Limbrat]

Thankfully it fell just short and a few inches away from the grave. View attachment 80416

High stump and all, whew, that was close!

 

[MasterBlaster]

Usually, the tippy top branches won't damage a hardhat.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

But nevertheless, on your head is a better place to use it. Or may have I missed something ?

I loled at " I about shit a brick "
Very close call.

 

[treebilly]

Cones are over lights and the ground mans guess was just a few feet short. Scared his water jug into slightly tipping over. It's blue by the way.

 

[flushcut]

I prefer to call my shots like Babe Ruth.

 

[murphy4trees]

Well no water bottle, but it definitely counts as a close call. I was contract climbing in a graveyard and the guy I was working for had underbid the job. I was under pressure to finish quickly to make the job more profitable. I chunked the tree down to around 60 ft and decided that was short enough to risk dropping. I had about a 10 ft window between two graves (100+ years old) so 5 feet off center would ruin me in either direction. I carefully cut my notch and it was bang on perfect. When I made the back cut, I inadvertently left the hinge lopsided and it steered the tree heavy to the right. I about shit a brick as I saw the tree veering towards the older and more valuable of the two graves. Thankfully it fell just short and a few inches away from the grave. Damn, if only I'd set a water bottle on that 135 year old grave

Since then I've decided that dumb luck can only get you so far and I try to finish my jobs more deliberately and with more control. My advice to any contract climbers in a similar situation is don't get pressured into productivity at the expense of safety or your comfort. They wouldn't be calling you if they could do it themselves.




View attachment 80416

That's why I like to use the gunning lines to gun the backcut as it's near finished. Keeps the hinge straight

Especially on tight drops

I'd like to see a pic of the broken hinge fibers. You can also cut a higher notch and widen it up to near 90 degrees to shorten the fall a couple of feet.

 

[flashover604]

My favorite so far was dropping a small pine into the corner of a fenced yard. I had had the fence within 20' or so on each side but the corner was 36' away. The "stick up to your eye" trick I learned here put the tip of the tree at 40' base to tip, so I cut it 4' off the ground with an open faced notch to hopefully keep it attached as long as possible and parked that darn thing right into the corner of the fence row. Tip was 6" from the corner post.

Lady couldn't believe it. I shrugged my shoulders like I did it everyday. Sometimes it just works out the way you want it to...

 

[MasterBlaster]

SOP