Since last Friday we worked 10 trees. Five removals, five prunes. remove two large blue spruces and save the trunks for carving, got some pumpkins to carve and gonna give a stab at carving some 4' tall snowmen. Stay tuned for that. then we did a job for a guy who had 5 sugar maples that needed pruned badly, ended up one needed completely removed as it was split and hollow almost clear to the ground and it was fouling his house. That was a fun job, I enjoyed climbing with the ropes. While out at that job, his neighbor (who is a younger pastor) was watching us and was so impressed with us that he asked us to do a prune on his sugar maple (a 60' mature tree) as well as remove a triple trunk cherry tree and a 60' ash. Didn't get many pics as it was pretty dark on all three jobs by the time I was out of the tree, but took SOME pics as proof....didn't want Papadave gettin' fired up at me....lol.. sugars we pruned at the one job Big sugar we pruned for the pastor Snow on top of the mountain when I dumped the one load of branches A new pile in my staging area....minus the pine trunks I saved.
Sounds like a lot of fun! I had forgotten how sore some fun can make a person, as I haven't cut in 4-5 months. I suppose with your job you never have much of a layoff between tree jobs.
Nice pics. That pile for syrup in the spring, lots of small limbs. I see that white stuff. Keep it there ! LOL
I don't usually get sore from it anymore unless you count the tendinitis I've had in my right forearm for the past year and a half....I hardly notice it anymore it's a constant ache..... We have a DOOZIE of a red oak to drop tomorrow.....I'll make sure I get some pics. We have several jobs on slate right now, supposed to look at another big job tomorrow afternoon also, something like 8-10 big trees and he wants it all outta there, I honestly have no idea where I'm gonna put all this wood!! Wish some of you guys lived a little closer I'd have you all stocked up!!
Make sure you do it right....learn the proper techniques, use the proper ropes/ascenders/descenders/caribiners and store them properly and inspect them often. Learn the arborist knots and practice them. Get a good saddle too. The right gear and the right techniques from the get go make it a fun thing to learn. I'm almost 42, been climbing for years and I still love doing it.....
For sure. I got a little taste pruning an oak tree earlier this year. It seems complicated when you watch someone do it, but once I was up there and understood how I was hooked in, I was very comfortable with my gear
Got a guy who wants most of this pile Dave....there is a heap of ash that's not in that picture, here is a pic of it in the truck. .. I'll be taking a big trailer load to him up the mountain this week some afternoon in trade for some more antiques (he's letting me pick the barn in trade for some firewood).
The biggest thing is not to be fearless, but you want to use that fear to sharpen your senses. Always ALWAYS check and recheck your tie-ins, your knots, always be aware where your lanyard is when you have the saw running, etc.... Don't forget to tie a knot in the ends of your rigging ropes so they don't slip out of your primary knots too......that's a BIG deal.......you don't ever want to be care - free in the tree. Expect the unexpected and prepare as best you can to deal with it.
Another bunch of work on the books brother. Get after it while you can, hope we get a heck of a bunch of snow this winter.
That's just great advice in general. Respect what you're doing and the danger of it but don't be crippled by it either.
Having someone come over tomorrow morning to give me an estimate to take down a humongous red oak and a blue spruce. Both are near the street and hanging over or too close to electric lines for me to attempt. Needs a bucket truck or climber. Really don't want to lose either. The oak is great shade but it has just developed two vertical cracks at the base which I'm fairly certain means is hollow and twisting in the wind. Will land on the house if it comes down in that direction. The spruce lost 10 feet of its top and has lost the bottom 8 feet of branches. It's not a pretty ornamental tree any more.
bill you are doing the right thing.....power lines can be MEGA dangerous. I take those jobs very seriously, generally staying away from jobs that put me too close to three phase high tension wires. Those lines are UNINSULATED, some instances carrying tens of thousands of volts......even getting within a foot or so of them can kill you.
