Cutting tall trees with huge crane

[sprucebunny]

I've had my eye on these 5 trees for months. Asplundh has been cutting electric ROW around this area and seems to have saved the tallest trees for this big crane.









The trees were on the outside of all the lines. They had 4 done by 1:30. Wish I'd got more pics 

[Tom]

Wished you'd have gotten the trees.  Did you get the trees?  Huh?   

[sprucebunny]

Not yet, Tom ;D I've been working on it.

[pigman]

Wow, that tree did not fall down when it was cut. It did not even fall up, but it did go up. ???
Bob

[Phorester]

This is literally how some small woodlot owners I've talked with visualize the logger will cut their trees.  They come from a city environment and "that's the way cut trees there".    :  They own a 5 - 10 houselot, want to make thousands of dollars thinning out a few trees.  They expect the trees that need to be cut to miraculously disappear into the air with no mess, no stump left behind.

Hard to convince them that a logging operation is not a landscaping operation.

[Rob]

Now I can understand that Phorester , same way here .. :D

[treecyclers]

Them city folk are the ones that I make a huge point of getting a VERY SPECIFIC contract with before I even think about putting the key in the mill to fire it up.
That way, everyone knows whos responsible for what, and there are no miscommunications, misunderstandings, and everything goes smoothly.
I even specify that the balance due is payable upon completion, before we depart the premises.
Sprucebunny- I am somewhat envious of your opportunity on those logs too...
I'll have to post photos of the WHACK O' LOGS I got my paws on today!
Have a great day!
SD

[ohsoloco]

I've always wondered how Asplundh was to deal with as far as getting logs from them.  Sprucebunny, are you trying to talk with the company, or simply dealing with the crew that's removing those trees  ???

[Furby]

I'd be dealing with the property owner. ;)

[sprucebunny]

I've talked to the crew a couple times but haven't gotten anything yet. They only unload logs twice a day and I've had better things to do than wait around at the dump for an uncertain quality of log. I got a really big pine log from a property owner and posted about it.

The property owner of these trees was not cooperative.

Asplundh/PSNH plans on bringing a tub grinder or big chipper or something when they are thru cutting. I imagine they will be using the chips at one of PSNH wood-fired generating plants.


Edit: Here's the link to the topic about the log I got from just down the road.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=18425.0

[Woodhog]

neat way to "fall" those trees...

I see the "faller " justs stands there on the butt log when the cable takes the weight, I wonder how he knows it wont swing a bit  when the cable comes tight and knock him in the head??

I wouldnt do that job like that.. Seems it should be almost completely cut off, the cutter then gets off and out from under the lift, then the crane breaks the small hinge wood off and lifts it out of there??????

[MemphisLogger]

I've seen your worst fears happen in real life, Woodhog.

We were waiting on the tree crew to get a 50" red oak on the ground so we could quarter and mill it for the home owners' use.

It had 2 good 12' logs in it and we were marveling at how the climber was cutting all the way through to release the top log while the 20 ton crane lifted on it to keep his bar from pinching when it finally came loose the crane started to swing it out away from the climber.

It had just cleared the trunk when the cable broke   

That 6000lbs+ log fell a good 15 feet and made the loudest ground shaking thud I've ever heard. It kinda teetered for a second and then laid over making the second loudest thud I've ever heard.

We had a bear of a time getting the log to roll out of the ditch it made in the lawn when it fell over.

The crane operater was noticeably shaken but the Mexican who was climbing seemed to take it in stride.  :D 

[DanG]

Woodhog, I was thinking the same thing.  That guy left himself in a very vulnerable spot.   I've watched my buddy, Chad take trees down like this, but he uses his bucket truck.  When the crane is attached to the tree, he goes up and makes a cut halfway through, then drops down a few inches and makes another cut halfway through on the opposite side.  Then he backs away and the crane operator just wiggles the tree a little and it breaks off as pretty as you please.  I've watched him do the same thing with just his bucket on smaller trees by making those cuts then moving his bucket to the top and attaching the winch to it.  I watched him do this with a pine log that was about 8 inches by 8 feet.  I'm pretty sure he was overloading his boom, but he got away with it....that time. :

[SwampDonkey]

I don't think I'de want to be under that fresh cut log swinging by a cable over my head either.  :

[rebocardo]

I paid a tree service, owned by a father and his sons, to lift a big locust tree a 100 feet into the air and over houses into their waiting full sized dump truck shredder.  Naturally, they took it a few feet at a time and the climber, the father, takes his life into the crane operator's hands. That is for sure.

I figured the tree would take me a month of Sundays to do and I would risk dropping a 1,000 pound branch through a roof and kill someone or something since the tree covered three houses (two of them three story).

It cost $750 and they were come and gone in an hour and all that was left was a 36" stump.  8)
Best and fastest $750 I ever spent on my house.

> but the Mexican who was climbing seemed to take it in stride.

He was probably thinking "I hope these fools don't kill themselves before they pay me"  ;)

[Gary_C]

I have seen dozer operators working on extremely steep side slopes, excavators working and even tetering back and forth on the edge of deep holes, and even I have cut trees with my harvester on a slope over a 150 foot drop off.  But I will bet if you said to all those operators that they were in a very dangerous place, they would say "what are you takling about? I do that every day. That was not dangerous."  ;D

I have never been one to ignore safety, but there are many construction workers that work under overhead lifting cranes every day. They probably are at greater risk driving to work every day than at work.   :

[DanG]

All that's very true, Gary, but I've been in enough tight spots to know that you ain't gotta be doing something dangerous to get yerself hurt or killed.  I try not to put my life in anybody else's hands, and I don't want anybody else's in my hands.  We all do both on a daily basis, though, but why do it when it ain't necessary?  The climber had a bucket truck sitting right there, but he made a testosterone decision.  What's the first thing to escape from a cracked skull?  Testosterone!

[Gary_C]

I would agree there are entirely too many cases of testosterone posioning and adrenalin junkies risking all for fun in this world today. However, in this case, that climber does not appear to have a bucket truck available and perhaps the tree was too tall for a bucket truck anyway. That is a truck mounted crane in the picture, it appears that he has started from the top and cut lengths that are within the safe lift capacity of the crane, and is cutting the last length to be lifted from that tree. All in a normal days work to him.

My point is simply this. Many workers in the construction and logging business have to take risks every day. What appears dangerous to every one else, is to them, a normal calculated risk. We all take similar gambles every day and put our lives at risk on the highways. Those loggers would much prefer to place their lives in the hands of their fellow workers than in the hands of some other motorist on the highway.

So would I.   8)

[WH_Conley]

I have worked steel many time with an operator that I trusted, a bad one can kill ya.

It's safer than driving to the job. ;D

[UNCLEBUCK]

It's too bad sprucebunny isnt getting the logs . We got to get her some logs .  If we each bring just one 9 foot log to the pig roast she could go home with about 200 logs  ;D  Got good tires sprucebunny?   8)

[sprucebunny]

Thanks for the thought, UncleBuck ;D 

I'm having a hard time coming up with ANY vehicle to drive to the Pig Roast : But I know my dunp truck would make it ;D  ....I just didn't feel like springing for the fuel for it.... 

I went and checked thier log pile...it's pretty big and mostly W. pine but the trees in the pictures above are definately the best quality. I need a "stealth loader/truck " ;D

[UNCLEBUCK]

Take the greyhound to the mackinaw bridge and you can ride with me and when my truck quits we can ride with corley and then if his truck quits we will end up at some crazy tractor auction  :D

[Furby]

Actually, the bus is a pretty cheap way to go.
Usually cheaper then driving and ya don't get the wear and tear on your vehicle.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Them Buses have some good sized storage areas, TOO.  :D :D :D