Need to cut off a dead limb about 30' above ground

[beppington]

OK , this competion is so educational and fun i can't just yet declare a winner...as of now it seems too close to call

Gonna have to see photos of Bep's final solution with him in action, hopefully video, of course, there could be a new arrival to the competion. And of late we have gotten lessons in how folks aspiring to high places while avowing conservative positions often have meteroic rise and falls....so while it seems that innovative rigging is florida centric, this is America and we gotta have time for others to file their competive photos:thumbsup:


Entries must be fron people personally willing to climb the ladder to achieve success which is verifible...no self proclaimed "mission accomplished" statements allowed!

Are you suggesting a new thread be started, something like: "The Dumbest Thing You've Tried ... & It Worked (Pics req'd)"....?

(Of course that might encourage folks to do dumb stuff. It appears Damifino & me don't need any encouragement, but I'd be worried about some of you others!)

 

[beppington]

I've hired 3 tree trimmers. The first cut down the wrong tree. The second came while I was at work and dropped the tree on the house, sheared the gas meter right off the building. Whole fire dept was out there evacuating the neighbors and waiting for the gas company to shut things off. The third one was supposed to leave the wood for my fireplace, he left a few pieces and took the rest. Hiring a "pro" is not without some risk.

Well that just helps me confirm to do it myself. I'm as total a DIY-er as they come, anyway - It even kinda rubs me the wrong way to be renting the lift this Sat! :laughing:

 

[Short Game]

My problem is, I trend to do the really stupid stuff high up there when there is nobody around to pick up my body or run a camera.

 

[Coyote machine]

All Florida dumb*s* joke aside, speaking as a retired tree climber, the way to do what you are obviously going to do despite the fair number of responses suggesting the inherent risks to life and or limb, yours not the tree's, is to use a rope to tie off sections of the limb from the tip toward the crotch of the branch as you work toward the trunk of the oak. If you rig it properly, you will be able to control the sections of the branch, say 3' sections at a time, and possibly smaller ones as you approach the trunk, since they will be larger in diameter, hence heavier. Ideally, you would work with a second person on the ground, who would be wearing a tree helmet to protect their head. AND tehy would need to stand where they could see exactly what you are doing and not anywhere where thy could have anything fall on or near them. Use common sense- not a trait that's real abundant in Florida, evidently!
The ground person would have a hold of your lowering line and would lower the branch sections to the ground on your command. They would need a long enough rope to reach from the ground to the branch and ideally to a branch ABOVE the one you want to cut so it could be the branch that the lowering line uses to keep from binding or being in the way on the branch you are cutting. Sorry, NO wives or girlfriends allowed. Preferably some beer guzzling guy who is nearsighted and moves very slowly, and can't bend his neck to look up. JUST kidding!
Seriously, throw the line over the next higher branch to the one to be cut. Tie it securely to the first section to be cut. UNDERcut the section to be dropped first, and tehn cut it from the top, SLOWLY until it lets go and teh ground man has control of it and can lower it AFTER it stops swinging. Then repeat until close enough to the trunk to leave about 2-3" OF BRANCH EXTENDING OUT FROM THE TREE TRUNK FOR IT TO ALLOW HEALING OVER THE CUT. Do not FLUSH CUT IT TO THE TRUNK- THIS PROMOTES DISEASE AND CAN DAMAGE THE TREE....sorry for caps=- lost track of what I was writing.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

All Florida dumb*s* joke aside, speaking as a retired tree climber, the way to do what you are obviously going to do despite the fair number of responses suggesting the inherent risks to life and or limb, yours not the tree's, is to use a rope to tie off sections of the limb from the tip toward the crotch of the branch as you work toward the trunk of the oak. If you rig it properly, you will be able to control the sections of the branch, say 3' sections at a time, and possibly smaller ones as you approach the trunk, since they will be larger in diameter, hence heavier. Ideally, you would work with a second person on the ground, who would be wearing a tree helmet to protect their head. AND tehy would need to stand where they could see exactly what you are doing and not anywhere where thy could have anything fall on or near them. Use common sense- not a trait that's real abundant in Florida, evidently!
The ground person would have a hold of your lowering line and would lower the branch sections to the ground on your command. They would need a long enough rope to reach from the ground to the branch and ideally to a branch ABOVE the one you want to cut so it could be the branch that the lowering line uses to keep from binding or being in the way on the branch you are cutting. Sorry, NO wives or girlfriends allowed. Preferably some beer guzzling guy who is nearsighted and moves very slowly, and can't bend his neck to look up. JUST kidding!
Seriously, throw the line over the next higher branch to the one to be cut. Tie it securely to the first section to be cut. UNDERcut the section to be dropped first, and tehn cut it from the top, SLOWLY until it lets go and teh ground man has control of it and can lower it AFTER it stops swinging. Then repeat until close enough to the trunk to leave about 2-3" OF BRANCH EXTENDING OUT FROM THE TREE TRUNK FOR IT TO ALLOW HEALING OVER THE CUT. Do not FLUSH CUT IT TO THE TRUNK- THIS PROMOTES DISEASE AND CAN DAMAGE THE TREE....sorry for caps=- lost track of what I was writing.

 

[MF RED in MT]

I think I saw duct tape in one of those pictures, :shocked:. Red Green would be proud if it was duct tape, :laughing:. KC

 

[Damifino]

Well that just helps me confirm to do it myself. I'm as total a DIY-er as they come, anyway - It even kinda rubs me the wrong way to be renting the lift this Sat! :laughing:

Hey Bep, if I wasn't working this weekend, I would be happy to trailer the rig over to your place and let you have the honors.

I think I saw somewhere in the rules of competition that was forbidden for contestants to help one another, but it sure would be cool to have my wife and girlfriend there, (they work well together) to video the event.

I could see you now, on the ground handing me your Stihl saw as you approach the base of the ladder saying, "Hey Dami hold my beer and ya'll watch this):laughing:

I would even bring Bubba, he lives a stone's throw away, the other evening he was watching tv, after spending a hour and a half watching 60 minutes, a auto insurance commercial came on stating that most accidents happened within 25 miles of home, so he's moving this weekend.

 

[JamesHW]

When renovating my Mom's brick house the peak of the barge board needed to be stripped and painted and was three stories off the ground, about 5 feet higher than our extension ladder would reach, so we built a platform out of old plywood and 2x4's and secured the ladder on top and also secured it at the attic window. I'm not great with heights, but felt it was secure enough for me to do the work (in retrospect a safety harness wouldn't have been a bad idea). But once in place, nothing would move which is not the case for cutting high branches.

Trees can be so unpredictable when cut. A friend was helping me out to cut off a dead branch of a big old maple just 11 feet off the ground beside our farm house and insisted on cutting almost the entire branch (I wanted to use the "girly" method and cut a few feet at a time). **** thing rolled and brushed him on the ladder and wracked his knee something good. He's a tough guy and just walked it off, but it scared the bejeesus out of me.

I had the maple and a second one next to it (probably planted when the 1840's house was built) taken down a few years ago to protect the house and paid a substantial amount to a pro outfit to do it. Broke my heart because I loved those trees and hated spending the money.

 

[texasjohn]

Dami/Bep, in the interest of friendly competion while reaching conservative heights, i'll allow collaberation IF wife and girlfriend are both there to offer advice and verbal commentary during the operation....my i can hear them now as you each tag team up and down the riggings executing Coyote's sectional and practical approach. What could go wrong?..

Bep/Dami...all, I am only advocating getting real jobs done by repurposing tools and ladders with help of our faithful tractors while carefully planning and preparing for foreseeable eventualities and using methods which present risks acceptable to a practiced DIY'er. IMHO you both exemplify the "prepare before you act" attitude i support.

 

[beppington]

Hey Bep, if I wasn't working this weekend, I would be happy to trailer the rig over to your place and let you have the honors.

I think I saw somewhere in the rules of competition that was forbidden for contestants to help one another, but it sure would be cool to have my wife and girlfriend there, (they work well together) to video the event.

Oh lordy! :laughing:

I could see you now, on the ground handing me your Stihl saw as you approach the base of the ladder saying, "Hey Dami hold my beer and ya'll watch this):laughing:

I would even bring Bubba, he lives a stone's throw away, the other evening he was watching tv, after spending a hour and a half watching 60 minutes, a auto insurance commercial came on stating that most accidents happened within 25 miles of home, so he's moving this weekend.

HAHAHAHA! :laughing: :thumbsup: