In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

Tree climbing for work or play

Discussion in 'Hobbies and Interests' started by J. Dirt, Nov 25, 2017.

  1. blacksmith

    blacksmith

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    A job that me and Scotty Overkill did last week. All pin oaks. Took down 3 and trimmed 5.

    Me trimming one. We got in the tree with a ladder and set a rope and repelled down as it was trimmed. No spikes here.
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    This was one that I climbed and rigged at the crotch. We took it down whole because the top was way to dead to climb and piece out.

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    Here's Scotty Overkill in action.

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    Scotty at work again. "Edit" oops that was from another job. A maple we did before Thanksgiving.
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    Here's the other one from last week.

    Screenshot_20181217-091110_Video Player.jpg
     
  2. Breechlock1

    Breechlock1

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    just climbing for Firewood
     

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  3. p61 western

    p61 western

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    Been awhile anything exciting going on?
     
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  4. J. Dirt

    J. Dirt

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    Took a little 45’ pine down a few weeks ago. That’s about it..... to busy with the house and the “official” job:picard:
    22EBE629-74D4-4503-9B86-3C2FC278CD69.jpeg 6EABDA32-E49F-41CB-9B49-4BFA15E5B485.jpeg
     
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  5. p61 western

    p61 western

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    Are you using the hitch climber and vt? I'm going to pull the trigger on the hitch climber and a new rope soon.
     
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  6. Barcroftb

    Barcroftb

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    Pine I don't see no stinking pine. Just busting your balls a little Joe.
     
  7. J. Dirt

    J. Dirt

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    Still stuck on the old Blake’s hitch.... for as much as I’m doing lately it’s just fine. Of course I run it with a split tail so moving the rope around stuff and resetting are much faster and easier.
     
  8. J. Dirt

    J. Dirt

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    Haha I’m not real up on what’s what when it comes to the needley varieties. If they have pokers instead of leaves it goes in the pine category and looks good in a heap on the ground! :tree::saw:

    By the way what is it a fir?
     
  9. Scotty Overkill

    Scotty Overkill Administrator

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    We've been busy as all heck....

    Last week I did 30 trees......in the evenings and on the weekend. Now, mind you, not all of them were huge, most were dead ash.
     
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  10. p61 western

    p61 western

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    Wow busy is a understatement lol. Are you still using the vt? I haven't been doing much climbing, but have been happy with the vt. It will probably be better with a hitch climber lol.
     
  11. Barcroftb

    Barcroftb

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    No worries bud. Like I said just busting ya balls a bit. I'm far less of an evergreen "expert" as well. Fir is a gooder guess with the short fir needles vs. long needles of a pine, but that looks to be a Norway Spruce (Picea abies). Fir usually has a more dense branch structure.
     
  12. jtstromsburg

    jtstromsburg

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    Didn’t read this whole thread yet, but I’ve been considering learning climb. I’ve always been scared of heights, but also had no problem working at 100’+ as long as I’m working and can focus on the job at hand. Around here, 80’ is about as high as our trees go and I don’t see a need to climb that high even.
    I’ve done a little reading on here and other avenues, and checked out a couple sites that sell the gear. What’s the best place for a guy to get started? Looks like Itl take $1K + to get started so I’m slow to make the jump.
    Got a tree I’m removing Thursday and it’s safe to drop while but the owner/customer insists I drop two large limbs first. Landing zone is all sand on an empty river bank next to a road. It looks like it wants to go that way already. Gonna rent a lift but I’d feel safer cutting the limbs while on the main trunk. Basically, I’m wondering where to start and what’s my investment gonna be? I’d hate to drop too much $$ and find I hate it, but no way to know till I try either.


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  13. blacksmith

    blacksmith

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    I got my saddle from tree stuff.com. I think the name of another place is called GAP (it's located in PA around Philadelphia) ? They have very good prices. If you're just doing basic climbing with a lanyard and spike you can probably get the stuff that you need for around $700. That's spikes belt, right and left hand acender and some ropes. That's how me and Scott climb everything, although he's bought a lot of stuff to do rope climbing and that can get very expensive!
     
  14. J. Dirt

    J. Dirt

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    Look for used stuff or just start asking around, you’ll be surprised by what pops up! I’d get a good 16 strand 1/2” 120’ rope to climb on, couple locking carabiners, you can get saddles from treestuff or eBay pretty cheap, a wire core flipline(10-12’). Always good to have a backup flipline or rope lanyard too. The spurs are where it gets pricey! Unless you can come across a really nice used pair your probably looking to spend $250-450!
     
  15. J. Dirt

    J. Dirt

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    Oh yeah safety safety safety! Things are much different in the tree than on the ground.
     
  16. AJtree88

    AJtree88

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    Try the lift out first and see how you feel in it. If you’re comfortable with that, then you might be ready to try some climbing.
     
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  17. AJtree88

    AJtree88

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    Kind of a cool pic a client snapped of me. 4DCD7908-947D-4938-B759-5745760DD7F3.jpeg
     
  18. jtstromsburg

    jtstromsburg

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    I’ve never had an issue in lifts. Been up 100+ in lifts plenty of times. Will see how this one tree job goes today and what the final $$ is. It’s close and will give me about a cord of good ash farwood and potentially lead to more. Thanks everyone.


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  19. jtstromsburg

    jtstromsburg

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    Not tree climbing, but I spent some quality time in a man lift today and took down a 60 foot dead ash. The height didn’t bother me too much, but I should have brought my ms180 along. I tried out a 193t and hated it, plus the chain was dull as crap. It’s from the rental place I got the lift and they are the local stihl dealer...
    I used my 362cm for most of it and that’s a bit much up in the air. But all is well and tree is on the ground.
    before
    [​IMG]

    After
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    In the air
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    [​IMG]

    And not my best knotch cut, but it went exactly where it needed to go, so there’s that. Issue was I hit something metal in my bottom knotch cut and it started cutting like crap. Had to leave it for three minutes while I ran the two in one file over it to finish the cut.
    [​IMG][​IMG]


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  20. blacksmith

    blacksmith

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    Nice job Jul! Lools like it went off without a hitch and safety too, except for hitting metal and ruining a chain! And you did make out with some nice firewood.