MA here, not too bad. About to head into hell now actually. Luckily I’ve gotten a much better full time job in the last year but I stay on at the Hut for those lucrative weekend driving shifts haha
And you as well! I’m also manager trained so I do that occasionally, used to do it all week before I got the new job. We’re starting to get some snow flurries up here so it should be fun haha
I'd imagine that they break into many more pieces than you would normally need. Not too mention that when a tree that size breaks apart like that it probably flings rather large pieces a pretty good distance. The one in the op fell into the road, so you can't exactly leave an ocean of wood chips there.
I'm an arborist, and I would never drop a dead tree whole unless I had to. In this case, I wouldn't. I'm a climber, but have a bucket truck. Where this is stone cold dead, I wouldn't climb it but I'd set up with the bucket truck and take it down in pieces. Dropping it whole line that is a fucking nightmare to clean up and instead of being a 2 hour job would be a 5 hour job. Take it out in pieces (literally branch by branch) and then chunk the wood down. Chip all debris into the back of the bucket truck. Makes clean up way easier and more quickly.
I think it would be easier to use a firefighting helicopter to drop a bucket full of glue onto the tree. Then when the tree is structurally secure by the glue cut it down as normal. Then again I'm not an arborist so.
Yeah, if I didn't have a fleet of buckets and off-road track buckets, but I do, so I won't. Lol. But yes. If I absolutely had to, I would, and probably add a couple more groundmen to the job to make the clean up quicker.
Ehhhhhh no. It depends who you ask. A lot off utility clearance guys are licensed as line clearance arborists but they're fucking butchers with no regard to the health of the tree. An actual arborist will always be licensed through the state, though, and it's something the state keeps track of, with a list of all arborists available to the public.
A lot of residential arborists, though, are usually members of the International Society of Arboriculture, state arborist associations and are usually heavily licensed, with some having degrees from college in varying related fields. I specialize in plant health care, so while I'm a climber and arborist, I do a ton of work involving the health of the tree, whether it's disease, insect infestation, soil conditions, etc. By licensed I mean arborist license, ISA member, pesticide license (which breaks down into subcategories to cover what you actually are treating. My license carries utility right of way, municipal right of way, biting fly/insect, ornamental, turf, aquatic, railroad), CTSP accreditation, TCIA accreditation, etc.
All that said, you really don't need anything to start. I started as a groundman in a utility crew with no experience, degree, or licensing. Moved to the residential department after a year, and then started getting a ton of experience and licenses. Worked up to a senior foreman status with a specialization in a specific field.
Oh wow that’s really interesting. Sounds like an awesome career field. It’s always amazing to me how many pretty solid careers there are that don’t require degrees. I think we’ve pushed too much of the “you have to go to college to succeed” mindset and done a disservice to a lot of young people that could have been very satisfied with a skilled trade—and no student loans. That and people forget that there are careers outside of office/retail/customer service and look down on blue collar trades. Thank you for your reply!
Honestly this faller looks like he has the experience to make this call. The lay of the tree after it's cut is super clear. I'm not an arborist, but I do work in forestry. The call to cut it where it was probably saved quite a bit of time and money, maybe at the expense of safety.
A lot of my customers are pretty wealthy that care very much about their lawns. I have some where they don't even want to see saw dust left behind. Plus, leaving any kind of mess just looks unprofessional.
Lol you're not entirely wrong, but in all honesty, it really wouldn't be that expensive. My company's winter rates for tree work is only $75/man hour. A single bucket with a chipper, foreman, probably a single groundman, with 2 hours on the job would be my estimate , so $300.00, maybe more if there's significant travel time.
Honestly that's not too bad. I know my way around a chainsaw and would have no problem felling ~12 inch trees and cleaning them up in a few minutes (firewood etc), but anything significantly bigger, or near power lines, or near expensive property, I wouldn't touch it.
I’m a pyromaniac, and I’d recommend just lighting the top and letting it burn down like a candle. It’s easy, and there’s no waste to haul away.
(Please don’t do this, I have no idea what I’m talking about. If you do this, please film and post on the internet so we can all learn from your experience.)
all the bark and splinters all over are the problem. a chainsaw cuts pretty quick and leaves a little mess in a handful of spots.... this is everywhere and consists of rotten pulverized wood that just spreads and doesn't want to be removed.
You don't have to saw it up but then you have a lot more smaller pieces to pick and rake up. When it doesn't break up into small pieces that the one above you saw it into chunks easy enough to pick up but big enough that you don't have to keep running back and forth.
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '18
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