blacksmith and I removed a hairy red maple widomaker today to end 2016. It was a good tree to do, had a level of technicality to it, and took some ingenuity to get down safely..... The tree was around 60-65', tangled up in tops and leaning afoul towards the neighbors pool. We made a splint out of a 5x5 piece of red maple, here we have the bottom affixed.... Close-up of the fracture, around 1/2-2/3 the diameter of the trunk. The back strap was still solid and connected.... After getting our bull rope caught up, we had to go up and rig it manually. We set another big ratchet strap on top of the fracture to secure the splint temporarily, and blacksmith got his first try up a widomaker. He did good! Here he is, setting the bull rope The tree after some tension with the truck, blacksmith tightened up the top ratchet strap on the splint to stabilize the tree. A look at the closed fracture... A clear shot of the tree, now free of the lean and the tops it was tangled in. From here, we simply topped it off and then removed the trunk. Job went pretty smooth and the tree was safely removed. Not a bad end to 2016......here's to a safe, busy and firewood-filled 2017! Happy New Year to my brothers and sisters of the FHC!!
Wow... that was a interesting one.. glad to see you did it with out incident or damage to you all. Happy New Year to you to Scotty Overkill & blacksmith ....
Believe it or not, it remained pretty stable after the splint was installed. Up to a certain height, then it started to get a little hairy so we rigged it where he was and it worked out perfectly. It was a good tree to do for practice.......
Dang!!! You certainly earned that one All of us are so glad everything turned out OK,could been a real nasty sitch right quick... I'm having (at least ) an extra Jack & Coke or two tonight in your honor my friend Have a Happy (and safe) New Year's Eve everyone!!!
Thanks guys, blacksmith and I will send some pics of the New Years Eve bash from the sawmill later. Wait til you see the bonfire!!! We'll be raisin' a glass or two in all of you guys' honor as well! But if yer going out, don't overdo it. Get a designated driver if you're drinkin'!! Here's the firepit, ready to go with some slabwood!! Blacksmith standing beside it for comparison!
Scotty, they'll see that fire from the space station tonight, probably call in an active volcano sighting or something.....
Looking good and the bonfire looks like fun, I will just get sheet face at home, no driving involved.
Well necessity is the mother of invention. I would say you guys became very inventive on this one. I guess all that experience has paid off.
Nice riggin' guys! Have a happy new year and put that one in the "Do you remember the time when we..." bank
Pretty slick! You guys are a couple honorary yankees with that sorta ingenuity! Agreed with the post that says this looks like one to tell stories about. Seriously solid work!
