Wolfy dead fir zip line and crane

rbtree

rbtree

Climbing Up
Joined
Jun 22, 2005
Messages
1,924
Just got home from craning a 155 foot tall Douglas-fir over a house from 50 feet away. The last crane pick of the butt log weighed 8100 lb, exceeding the 38 ton crane's load chart at that radius. But he got it--up and over the roof. It just nudged the gutter on the way up. I knew it would be heavy and had told the operator that if it was too heavy, I could cut a few feet off the bottom to lighten it. But he got it. The load, appx 2600 board feet, filled the log truck, who had to come back to another site to pick up a large cedar which we had craned out 10 days ago. That tree, was 50 inches at the last cut, which was made 3 feet above the deck that it was growing out of....with two sections of a roof, with that flimsy plastic material on it. So, we had to crane branches as well, and start from the top working our way down. Took forever, and it was raining that day. I underbid that job, as the extra crane fees ate into my portion of the quote. I hope the very knotty and low grade logs bring me $200-300 over what the self loading log trucker charged me..which was $250....I said that was OK when he asked me....but coupled with the $350 for the other load, he made good $ today..as the mill was close by the 2nd job. Of course, diesel at $4.20 gal does eat into his bottom line.

With the fir, we set up a zip line and sent all the branches and top flying over the roof. For that, we use our spectra which is 24,000 tensile strength at 1/2", with near zero stretch at break. It's largely replaced steel for pulling applications like towing barges....it floats and if it breaks it just drops. Steel, on the other hand, stretches first, and has been known to go through the wheelhouse and kill the tug pilot. Plasma line, is one step above spectra, and is rated at 1.5 million lb tensile in its largest 2.5" diameter. Prolly costs $100 a foot? As 0.5" plasma retails at 3.50 a foot!

We got some great images and videos today, as the weather was perfect..getting rare here in the Pacific North "Wet"!!!! Will take me a while to edit everything.....what with close to 200 images and videos.

And I have to put together three bids for clients.
 
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  • #4
From Thursday, when Cowboy Dave bailed at 110 feet, as the wind had picked up.

Zipping over da house.

6304211467_eee953191e_o.jpg


6304218155_b4dc4aea2a_o.jpg

@115 feet or so:
6304144333_c886c6805b_o.jpg

the 8100 lb butt log. 19 feet long and about 900 board feet
6304195729_cb609db211_o.jpg
 
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  • #6
On day one, I shot a line to 85 feet or so, Wraptor'd up, then ascended to 110 feet, where I set the spectra speed line. We needed no control line to zip over the house, as the first limbs were about 40 feet up. On my way down, I preslung a few limbs, so as to keep the speed line reachable. However, as I got near the lowest limbs, I left a fair bit of line free, so the bight in the line would allow us to lift the bottom limbs with the 3-1 z-rig, as Dave cut them, so they would clear the roof.

I set the Wraptor line for Dave. As he hasn't worked for us in over a year, this was his first ride. He was a tad apprehensive at first..but, clearly, it's a Caddy ride compared to fliplining up a wolfy 4 foot butted monsta.

Then, today, as I'd left a line set at 110 feet, he was gung ho to ride back up to go back to work!! Trouble is, it wasn't a cool video, as he stopped several times on the way up to pre-measure some long lengths.

It should be clear that there was no drop zone, for anything but some small limbs.

Here he is starting up this morning. Better video action to come, if I ever get to it...

6305035786_05573f8c1e_o.jpg


I lucked out on this slow shutter speed pan/blur and stopped the action of the limbs pretty well.

6305165572_95dd02b87d_o.jpg
 
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  • #12
Ummmm, Ed, the tree was 155 feet tall. The crane has a tip height of about 135 feet, and about 115 or so at that radius. Plus, it was easy to zipline those limbs.
 
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  • #14
Yes, he was near the top at ~120 feet after zipping the top and lowering two log sections. Dave choked it off at about 110 feet, if that. Lost some reach with the long choker, which Dave could have wrapped a time or two extra. Didn't need to, as he had plenty of butt weight in that first 31 foot, 3500 lb pick. Also, with a fir tree on either side of the crane, there was no way to crane the tree with limbs attached. AS it was, Dale had to swing the boom nearly 270 degrees to reach the LZ.

Further, craning limbs eats into your bottom line. The pick has to be suspended while it is limbed and chipped...and makes a big mess...twigs and whatnot right where the logs have to be set down.

The western red cedar that I recently had to crane out, branches included, was a nightmare. Took forever, and was very challenging maneuvering around and slinging individual downsloping limbs, with nothing to tie into, except the load line a few feet above. There was no room to lift sections with the limbs attached, nor could the 23 tonner come close to handling the weight.
 
It all depends on the jobs. On multiple pine TD's, stripping them out first will save on the crane bill.

To say "never ever" just tells me you're not using every tool in the box.
 
On the multiple pine takedowns I've done with crane, it takes no longer to dismantle the trees with brush on, than off, but brushing them out first would add significantly more man hours to the job.

A lot of the times we used a crane, it was to save all the brush dragging involved in taking down trees in very confined spaces.
 
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  • #20
Thor's Hammer said:
Never ever for me. I'm paying for a crane to make my life easy.
Click to expand...

You'da been payin for a 90 ton crane to get enough reach..or at least a 60 ton. Either would have broken the driveway, not just put a small crack in as the 38 ton did....and added at least 600$ to the crane bill. Plus, as I said, it was impossible to crane with limbs intact on the this job.
 
Rog, I'm not questioning the logic of your reply, you were there and made the call.
We all have different way's of approaching these jobs. I would have more than likely topped it off on a sling to where the boom could reach, lifted the top out, then lifted all the sections out. I'm not saying your way was wrong or worse, just how I've always done it.
 
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  • #22
Perhaps you missed my point. There was no room to crane limbs attached to the logs. And no way would we have wanted to catch a 35 foot dead top, and stop it. Plus doing something like that would have meant a number of branch pieces falling when the top was caught, and laid into that canopy. No drop zone would have meant a good chance for plant damage. Unacceptable.

Around these parts, there is far more stem craning than with limbs attached. There's rarely room...and the trees are too tall.
 
The only time we brush out a tree with crane jobs is when the weight is a problem or the landing zone is too confined. About half/half is the more common. Referring to the mini thread, it is great for clearing out limbs before the next pick comes down, or buck up after limb removal and clear everything out together. It often makes for having to work fast. Working fast is cool. Cleared out or not, the next pick is coming down.
 
rbtree said:
Perhaps you missed my point. There was no room to crane limbs attached to the logs. And no way would we have wanted to catch a 35 foot dead top, and stop it. Plus doing something like that would have meant a number of branch pieces falling when the top was caught, and laid into that canopy. No drop zone would have meant a good chance for plant damage. Unacceptable.

Around these parts, there is far more stem craning than with limbs attached. There's rarely room...and the trees are too tall.
Click to expand...

Thats what I meant by my perspective being off. I can only see a few pics, whereas you made the call on site being able to see the whole job. Being that I've never bothered to strip a tree before craning, it seemed odd.
 
It really has it's place, especially on multiple TD's. It helps to get the crane in and out, in a timely manner.
 
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