Help....

FrontierLogWorks · December 17, 2005, 08:07:56 PM

Does anybody in here know where i can get my hand on a tree monkey better known as a standing tree delimber....Ive done numberous web searches and cant find any thing.....please help....thanks Bob

Frank_Pender · December 17, 2005, 08:20:12 PM

Bob, check with Mike Bonde, the Forestry Extension agent in Washington County, Oregon. I saw one there a couple three years ago on a demo day.

Kevin · December 17, 2005, 08:59:51 PM

QuoteDoes anybody in here know where i can get my hand on a tree monkey

We have one here ...

He's usually sitting but I have seen him standing once or twice. :D

Is this a large harvesting machine you are looking for?

beenthere · December 17, 2005, 09:11:50 PM

Tree Monkey?
I haven't seen one since sometime in the late 60's or early 70's. Don't know if the Swedish (if I remember right) company continued to make them or not. Quite an intriquing and ingenious invention.

Returned after a demonstration of one once, while back at the coffee shop, when the Personell officer asked "What's this tree monkey you guys are talking about?"
Answer "It climbs up a tree and removes the limbs all the way up as it climbs."
2nd question. "How does the monkey saw the limbs off?"
Answer. "With a 16" chainsaw."
3rd question, after a long pause. "How do you get the monkey to climb the tree?"
Answer (a lie). "Put a banana up in the tree." Lots of laughs.
Long pause, and then the last question
"How do you get the banana up in the tree?" Uncontrollable laughter, and then an explanation about the tree monkey.

getoverit · December 17, 2005, 10:10:37 PM

I saw one of these on TV a loooooong time ago. I Haven't ever heard of it again until now..

I cant say that I have any idea on why you would want to delimb the tree first though... southern pines dont grow that big, and cutting them down and then delimbing them is relativly easy.

ok, you get the monkey up there with a banana..... do you have to shoot him to get him down?

etat · December 17, 2005, 10:19:18 PM

Did I ever mention I HATE monkeys..........

One bit me plumb through the finger one time when I was a kid.......... :'(

IT HURTED TOO!!!!!!!!!

Tom · December 17, 2005, 10:24:20 PM

I saw one jump off of Jeff's house last piggy roast. ;D

beenthere · December 17, 2005, 10:47:32 PM

Quote from: getoverit on December 17, 2005, 10:10:37 PM
I saw one of these on TV a loooooong time ago. I Haven't ever heard of it again until now..

I cant say that I have any idea on why you would want to delimb the tree first though... southern pines dont grow that big, and cutting them down and then delimbing them is relativly easy.

ok, you get the monkey up there with a banana..... do you have to shoot him to get him down?

No shoot 'em, just get out another banana........

The reason for de-limbing is to remove the small limbs early in the rotation of the tree (such as a pine plantation or forest) so the resulting growth will heal over the limb stubs and lay down high quality wood for the rest of the rotation (that is one of the theories, anyway). Some managed forests, workers are hired to prune trees up to a certain height. The German forests were pruned for these reasons and now have high quality wood with several years growth.

The 'tree monkey' was a chainsaw mounted in a tubular rack such that it was held close to the trunk of the tree, and the rack included a series of powered wheels (eight I think) mounted at an angle to power the saw around the tree in an upward spiral. A minimum diameter was mechnically set on the tree monkey such that the forward drive was shifted into neutral when that diameter was reached, and the tree monkey spun back down on its own. Worked good except the few times when the tip of the bar just sawed through the underside of a limb, causing it to be pinched and it would get hung up. There was a long pole that could be used to kick it into reverse. I suspect there were many modifications made to the prototype that I watched, and was interested to hear that just a few years ago there was apparently one on the left coast.

OLD_ JD · December 17, 2005, 10:58:12 PM

those Tree Monkey, ure talking is it possible they where "beloit h14" :P

Ianab · December 17, 2005, 11:13:05 PM

You can allways do it the Kiwi way ;).

Tree monkey is actually a good description.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=10874.0

With the amount of pruning thats done in NZ forestry I'd think that one would have been invented here, but manual pruning is still the norm.

Ian

Coon · December 17, 2005, 11:24:01 PM

Have you checked the many lawn and garden companies out there as well as the chainsaw manufacturers?? There is also the pole saw that you may be interested in and I knows there's companies that make them to date. If I can remember right doesn't Husky make em? :D

woodbowl · December 17, 2005, 11:34:04 PM

Several years ago, I saw an article of a big hydraulic inch worm with a grapple on the front and one on the back. It was remote control, and could shimmy up a tree and cut limbs along the way. Has anyone else seen this?

jerry-m · December 18, 2005, 12:12:35 AM

I have heard of the tree monkey but never saw one working... When I was in FFA Class We took a large hoe handle like goes in an eye hoe and would go through the pine trees and knock off the smaller dead limbs... I use a poulan pole saw that allows me to limb my trees about 12 feet up... The saw works very good but is quite heavy for this old man... Our Church Disaster saw crew has an Sthil pole saw that is telescopic to maybe 14 or so feet, maybe more...

Jerry

Onthesauk · December 18, 2005, 11:31:18 AM

The outfit in souther Oregon that builds the ATV logging arches, can't remember their name, come on guys, help me out here, make a lightweight ladder that attaches to a tree for limbing. I saw a demo at a DNR show 5 or 6 years ago. The recomendation at that time was to limb fir and hemlock up 16 feet at the 12 to 15 year range to insure knot free lumber at the 30 to 40 year age. Wasn't worth it for the big operators but maybe made sense for family forestors.

FrontierLogWorks · December 18, 2005, 11:34:33 AM

The thought prosess behind wanting one of these is I have 20 acres of fir forest land planted in 89 or so most of the tree are 8-10" at the stump and very strait some are up to 40" in hiegth, there planted every 10 feet so to say the least theres a bunch of trees so to physicaly climb the tree with a ladder or rope up them would take a looong time. And a chainsaw on a pole not much better or enough heigth. My thought that by clear the limbs to 1/2 the heigth would bring light in to the understory, the limbs on the ground would offer up some nurishment as they decompose. The wild seedling would grow better, the wood would have less large knots, and perhaps the tree would grow faster and better. Plus lots of home owners have trees worthy of pruning. So a tree monkey would be a great thing to have, a money maker and time saver. The one im thinking about you carry in on a back pack, it has three wheels and a chainsaw motor and the bar has beem replaced with a fluted end mill, the spin rate is fast. I head it was radio remot controlled. A friend saw one at a logging show confrence in Oregon 2 years ago. But he lost the info.... I guess my search continues...Bob

Ron Scott · December 18, 2005, 06:28:07 PM

I recall some prototypes used by the US Forest Service some years back, but don't know of any available at present.

Mechanical "tree monkeys" were supposedly cabable of climbing 35 -40 feet, but all have been reported to have significant operational problems. Irregularities in trees such as sucker branches. forks. or large branch collars give tree monkeys problems. They just weren't economical for continued use. Hand pruning was more productive at the time.

SwampDonkey · December 18, 2005, 06:47:02 PM

I don't know if it was a 'tree monkey' I'm thinking off. But back in the eighties I saw some delimbers that had sheers on the bottom. The delimber would go up the tree on a type of track and take the limbs off, then the sheers snipped the tree off. I think they abandoned them and went with a stroke delimber, which is horizontal. I saw those former types being used to expand areas of the city of Fredericton and the entrance to Kings Landing. Used to walk in hemlock and spruce forest up there by the malls, car dealerships and new RCMP barricks. I think alot of it was owned by the University. The green printed stuff talks. ;)

leweee · December 18, 2005, 08:48:33 PM

Tree monkeys....thats what us loggers call Arborists.....either way mechinical or manual it's going to cost $$$ :

:P

solodan · December 18, 2005, 10:36:57 PM

http://futureforestry.com/forestry/products/ascender/ascender.html

This is the one Onthesauk was thinking of.

Onthesauk · December 18, 2005, 11:12:18 PM

Yep, that's the one.

Ironwood · December 19, 2005, 12:51:31 AM

I spoke to the fella from Future forestry out in Ohio at the Niles event. Great guy. I believe he said he was no longer producing them as there was not enough demand. I thought they were great as are all his products. Give him a call perhaps something has changed. Reid

SwampDonkey · December 19, 2005, 06:05:08 AM

They would be fine for pruning pine and hemlock, but it's not recommended to prune spruce and fir because they would be susceptible to butt and stem rot. Father butt pruned some spruce 30 years ago and turned them into junk, all rotten inside and the carpenter ants are having a great time.