Im probably pretty similar to this guy. Ive invested probably 7k now into tree stuff just for me and my wife. Climb and trim or remove several times a year. Its just spaced out enough that it always seems like im relearning from the start. Redirects are something i haven't done a lot of yet and out rigging is usually sloppy. Subbed
Good video. I love your honesty. Rather than edit out when a limb doesn't go the intended direction, you leave it in. This helps us learn. Things don't always go as planned, so sometimes we just have to deal with the unexpected. Staying calm is key. There's more than one way to skin a cat. Thanks Zach.
This was a good watch for me man. I also am a fairly experienced recreational tree climber, but never did any real arborist work while up in the canopy other than the occasional hand saw. And now I have a need to cut down three 6"-8" live oak branches that have extended far out over the house. I've been searching to find some YT videos that clearly show some of this, and yours is golden. Your video is really helping me visualize and plan my attack.
Thays excellent! I'm glad it was helpful! Good luck with your project, and listen to your gut. If something doesn't seem like it's going to go right, it probably isn't 😅
As a former rock climber, I was surprised at the difference in design between rock climbing ropes and arborist ropes. Rock climbing ropes rarely support the weight of the climber, so their design is exclusively based on safe and comfortable fall protection. Even so I was surprised at how painful a lead climber fall can be. Rock climbing ropes are designed to stretch and save a life, once, following which they should be retired. Arborist ropes don't stretch nearly as much, because it's irritating to climb several feet before the rope stretch can support your weight. So a fall on an arborist rope can hurt, a lot.
Absolutely, I've only dabbled with rock climbing, but I was also suprised at how intensely different the equipment is. It's also all held to very different standards.
It appears there is a lot of planning that goes into trimming trees and that plan changes pretty quick once you're up there. Especially when they over hang a house.
Absolutely, I always try to make a plan before I leave the ground, but I often keep it to myself until I get up in the tree. Otherwise I just confusing everyone by giving them a second strategy after I get up there.😅
Thanks Jason! That rigging rope is 12mm (1/2") All Gear Husky Bull Rope. I believe MBS in in the 10,000lb range. Here is a link to it at my favorite dealer: www.endorstreegear.com/collections/1-2in-rigging-rope/products/12-mm-1-2-all-gear-husky-bull-rope
I found your channel, and I have realized that this job is exactly the kind of job I would love to do! Thank you for making your videos! I like how honest you are about what you do wrong on a particular cut, and when something doesn’t go as planned. Even experts make mistakes, and it’s good for beginners to see those mistakes- and see how the expert recovers from them when they happen.
Impressive. It takes a very long time to be confident and smooth as you are ) or make it look ,cause I know there's times where we could be having a stroke inside but calm cool and collected on the outside so to speak. Lol... Very nice work enjoy checking out your style and plan of attack . Be safe.
Love these types of jobs with lots of thinking and rigging. People that don't climb just don't get how there are so many things to think about up in the tree and you showed quit a few here. Good job. Always think about what your doing. I'm no expert but I did climb for a few years and there is more ways to cut a tree than you could shake a stick at lol.
To reiterate what’s already been said, I like that you didn’t edit out your mistakes. Plus you show all the steps of rigging which is helpful. A lot of videos show the cuts but not how it was rigged. One more thing. What is your climbing rope and saddle setup?
Thanks, man! This weekend's video will be a little more of the same. Not as well explained, but I'm mostly interested in helping people get better at what they do as I learn and grow myself. Sharing my mistakes seems to be about the best method I know. Rope is xstatic, saddle is the treerex by edelrid. I like both very much and don't see myself trying anything different for quite a while.
It's the most dangerous part of what we do for sure. Even hand saws pose a threat. I have a buddy who nearly cut through a critical part of his harness with one once.
Mmmm, I don't know off of the top of my head... I think I keep the top pretty tight and the bottom pretty loose. There is a handy procedure for finding a good setting. I saw it on youtube here somewhere, but basically you want it to not slip when you bounce on it and not have the top and bottom touch when you pull down on the top. There will probably be a few setting combinations that produce that scenario and chosing among those just comes down to preference.
Hi its Ulf from Austria. As I started my own business 3 years ago, I am very interested in your clips.... why? your not hiding mistakes and talk honestly about them, thats whats crucial in every risky business like mountaineering, rigging and so on... keep on going
@ulfremp3034 Thanks, Ulf! I'm mostly interested in helping other learn. The only way I can make my mistakes valuable is to share them so others can know what to avoid.
Totally agree... and as a Military Mountain guide, teaching mountaineering, industrial climbing and so forth for almost two decades, i know exactly the difference between honesty in dealing with safety concerns and the normally seen self advertising instruction show. Honesty and the straight approach is what one can see in your clips
Thanks man! It's not my favorite. It's nice and smoth and easy to use, but it's also easily triggered by things around it. I often find it catch on my leg or my rope tail and llfind it letting some rope through it unexpectedly. I just picked up am ART Positioner 2 and I'm really loving that unit.
@@zaccheus Nice. I totally hear you. I personally love the zillon, but I absolutely have had the links get incidentally triggered and have a mini 6 inch whipper unexpectedly while doing something important in the tree. But for my wrists which have some tendinitis it’s just the smoothest to tend. I also have the ART and enjoy that as well. Along with just a pulley and hitch. Love your channel. Keep up the great work.
@@judsonkimble I think it's a really good device and there are things about it that I like more than the poisitioner. I might end up using it again 🤷♂️ Thanks!
Hey bin watching your videos ever sience you gave me your channel name beginning of the summber for the pond project you excavated for me and just wanted to say GREAT WORK!
I'm also a homeowner in MN, and would like to learn more about climbing and rigging. I took down a 60' elm behind my garage basically by myself, used a fall harness and some basic gear but instead of spikes I climbed the tree with portable tree stand ladder sections you'd use for hunting. It worked but man, was it tedious to set up. I'd love to learn more about the proper gear for climbing on spikes and also SRT which I think would be much more useful for the kinds of trees I have on my property. Have more limbs to take down this summer. I'm also 6'2” and pushing 300lbs, so finding a proper climbing harness at an economical price has been difficult.
Wow, man, that must have been quite the experience! It is tough to find affordable equipment because most people are out making money with their stuff and therefore willing to spend a lot on it. Whe I was uo there, my client took me to Minneapolis Saw Co. 831 40th Ave NE, Columbia Heights, MN 55421 That place had a decent selection of stuff and you could maybe even try some of it on before purchase. I wpuld a avoid used gear because it's impossible to know what's happened to textiles and whether or not they've been overloaded and damaged in a way that you can't see. Spikes are the only thing I'd buy used. SRT is all the rage these days and it is the fastest way to do a lot of things, but if you're looking to keep the price down. Climbing DRT with a Blake's hitch is as cheap as it gets. Whatever you do I would advise getting a rated tree climbing harness with independent legs and a rope bridge. That will make your experience a whole lot better.
@@zaccheus thanks for the input! Yes it was quite an interesting experience, and while I wouldn't want to do it for a living, I can see why you guys enjoy it so much! It was pretty exhilarating and I actually enjoyed it. Yes, I'm definitely staying away from used gear for the same reason, no idea how old it is or if it's been abused by the previous owner. I'll look into the DRT technique a little more!
That's never a dumb question. I took a more foolish route and self taught my way into tree work. If I could do it over again, I would aim to find a company who was willing to invest in mentoring me rather than just throwing me in a tree and hoping for the best. With that, I would surely aim to make their time and energy worth it by sticking around for as long as I could afford. Way too many people in our industry are under educated and most of the time it's to the fault of their employer. Good employers are hard to find in tree work, but I'd take a quality boss over the higher paycheck any day.
Yep, pretty much all srt mechanical devices flatten the rope. The key for me has been finding a rooe that resist flattening as much as possible. I've found xstatic to be pretty good, blue moon flattens pretty bad. The xstatic still flattens out some, but not nearly as bad the blue moon. I personally hate drenaline for srt. I didn't even climb on it long enough to remember how bad it flattens, but I'll never buy another hank of that again 😅
@@zaccheus yea I first noticed it with my Blue moon rope too but it was a pretty old rope so I chalked it up to that and honestly stopped SRT because my hitch cord wouldn't even bite anymore. Then a friend gave me his drenaline rope and the same thing! I used what I think was Silver Ivy the other day and I forget to watch it but I didn't notice any real flattening so I'm going to try it again. It's reassuring to hear it's a common thing, although I'm not sure how easy I can overlook it lol. Thanks for the input
Curious what kind of rope do you use for rigging? Double braid? Stable braid? Teufelberger Sirius, Ect, ect? Also, what size do you generally use for most jobs? I'm looking at getting my first bull rope, but there are so many options, it's hard to figure out. Thanks 😊
I use double braid for all of my rigging. Almost all high rated rigging ropes are double braid of some kind. I use 1/2 for 90% of what I do and only break out the 5/8 for really big trees or negative rigging down some heavy wood. Aside from double braid, the next most common is 12 strand. You can natural crotch rig with 12 strand but not with double braid.
@@alotl1kevegas860 I'm sure that'll serve you well! 200ft is super nice for span rigging and such where a little more rope is required. Best of luck, stay safe up there!
Great job buddy as always nice work I didn't know this neither until about a month ago on the 201 if you put it on choke when you fire it up and you let it run for about 30 seconds to a minute it something with the air because of the m tronic it makes it run better and I have tried it and it does work God bless
@@zaccheus no when you first fired up in the morning keep it on choke with the brake on let it run for like 30 seconds to a minute and then you're ready to rock and roll buddy
Thanks for your concern! Oak Wilt is serious stuff and it's definitely worth scheduling oak pruning and removals for the appropriate season. I did this work mid to late October last year. Since we were in Minnesota, it was an appropriate time of the year. It was actually 20° on the morning of my first day there 🤙
@@zaccheus much appreciated brother! Been fun watching you learn and grow. Doing it right along with you over in west Michigan. Wilt has ravaged our woods. Keep up the good work and be safe! ✌️
Thanks man, took me an unfortunate amount of time to figure out how much it's worth taking the time to set things up to make better rope angles and rig swings and everything.
I have a friend who has one with a narrow kerf kit on it. That little thing rips! I've been tempted to buy one many times, but I've been getting along woth the 201 and big silky saw just fine and so I've avoided spending the money.
Hi man love your videos, I am a relatively new climber and your videos are great. I recently cut myself with a chainsaw not bad but definitely shook me up a bit do you have any advice on how to get back into it?
I had a very bad accident last year. I was tied into a spar that failed, ripped me out of the tree and my tie in point was on the ground with the leader that failed. Only thing that saved me from a severe accident was my saddle lanyard ran all 18 ft. through my friction hitch but kept me tied into the tree. I was literally suspended mid air. However, unknown to me the person running rope (who had tons of experience) wrongly wrapped the rope around his hand and as a consequence got pulled into the ground area where the huge leader fell and busted him up really bad. He survive although had multiple injuries that needed surgery. He is doing well now but has two huge bolts permanently in his pelvis and is sore after doing activities. It is a truly awful feeling knowing your hand was involved in someone else getting hurt. I could not climb for about a month. I kept replaying the accident in my mind. There was no way I could get back into it emotionally twisted and not able to focus. But. I wanted to keep pursuing this line of work so I had to convince myself to accept it happened because of a mistake I made, understand the mistake, forgive myself for that mistake, vow I would never forget about it so as to do all I can to never let it happen again. A good way to overcome the fear after an accident is give yourself enough time to make sure you are in the right state of mind to fully concentrate. You'll know. Days, weeks, months don't matter. My first time back in the tree was scary, didn't know if I could do it. But I trusted myself and FOCUSED ON THE TASK AT HAND. Don't allow your mind to wander with thoughts that take you out of the moment. Zach made two mistakes in this vid. Happens all the time to everyone, including the very best.
@@zaccheus I openly share what happened. I want to turn it into something others can appreciate enough to avoid happening to him or herself and hopefully not just a story people judge me by. I believe it is very important in a high danger profession like this to openly admit mistakes and swallow your ego.
Yeah, its pretty normal for us to use a regular rope for a lanyard here. I started out with a steel core and I would recommend that anyone start out using one. Do you use a cam device or a prusik on yours?
@christ2381 Very interesting! Here we aren't allowed to use steel core with certain companies (like power line clearance companies) and though we are allowed, some guys avoid the cam style grab because it has to be unweighted to be released in a rescue scenario.
@@MassiveRam Absolutely! I changed a lot about my climbing since I started watching myself. The biggest thing was probably my one handed saw habits. I started seeing how close my left hand really came to that chain all the time. Scared me into changing my ways 😅
@@MassiveRam It's easy to get into the habit. Seems like most climbers have hit their left hand or arm at one time or another. I hit my knee early on before I did tree work professionally and I learned that I don't wanna go through that again 😅
I know you told me once but I can only find arbpro gamma climbing pants .and some other arb brand that are like kahki.s ...I have cloggers and others but need something light and cool.all the ones I've seen are super skinny and don't make cleae the sizing clear the sizing...as short old man.its hard find good pants..wear Xtra small in cloggers .have torn knee so have to wear a brace under them a x slip on kind ...I guess going to have take chance .can't stand ordering and reordering sending stuff back.tryed the new tree motion pro and hated it the elastic straps push it you know where.....sent it back ..thinking about getting tree Rex and or sequoia for Sumner. My current saddles are way to hot..it's 86 again Herr so sick of heat.
I struggle with guessing the size on saw pants too. I try to go to shows or store around me if I can. Arborwear has a store about an hour and a half from me. I'm hoping to try their dog wood pants. I have had success with pfanner gladiator vents. I just want to see if I can find something a little different. I've had good success with my treeTex. It does hand adjustable elastic straps that go between the leg support and back supports. It's definitely light weight and well ventilated. It also offers a number of gifferent options for bridge configuration. My least favorite thing about it is that the upper D rings can be tricky to get a lanyard hooked into sometimes.
@@zaccheus I have 2 pair of solidur.. climb pants there grey with green and blue closest match to clogger I've found.but are still little warm buy you would like them .being little taller..you should check them out .of course there rated fir protection. Hard find light ones .those are best I've found .but there so great looking it's kinda Shame to get oil on them...we have one or 2 dealerships but they are over priced on gear and clothing. They only order from one place...was also looking into the SIP pants as well
@@zaccheus my monkey beaver original with leg pads is most comfortable thing ever worn but gets hot summer.i bought some monkey beaver suspenders installed on my old tree motion S light . Realy like that it's just the leg pads don't have buckles but other wise great saddle .there on sale at bartlett arborist supply for 380.00 that's a steal
@@zaccheus Ah ok. Well I am new to the climbing world. If you ever come up this way and need a good groundie I'd love help and maybe learn a thing or two.
@@zaccheus Near Alexandria MN. Its pretty much right in the middle. Even if it was a couple hour drive to come help I'd still be willing to do that. Really want to learn as much about climbing as I can.
@@Gregory-xv3kf I gotcha. I was working in St Paul that time around. CZcams is a good source for many things, but finding a mentor is definitely the way to go. Good ones are just hard to find
@climbhightreeservice2153 if I'm just using a foot ascender to move up a little, yes, but if I have a long ascent, I use an elastic neck tether. Controversial, but I'm comfortable with it. Here is a video on it: czcams.com/video/jCnEqYLKdVk/video.html
Fair observation. I don't really make many pruning videos and when I do it's normally when we are removing a larger portion of the tree. For those projects I don't see a problem with aiding production by wearing spikes and spiking only the part of the tree we are removing. When I'm just deadwooding and oak or something, I don't wear spikes. I also don't film, because who wants to see that? 😅
@@zaccheus you should try 11 .7 focus from yale at wesspur I just got my 200ft it's bluemoon family .beautiful rope came with best tight eye splice ever seen . 15 percent off ... be safe
I’d have used a ring-n-ring rigging point and then it could be retrieved from the ground when I was done. I try to stay under 200# when rigging with a ring-n-ring, but have rigged a few that were in the 500# range. Save a lot of time.
@small-town-southern-man3573 Yeah, this might have been a good application for one of those! They don't work out great if you have and redirects, and I think I did use one in this video. But it was a long time ago, and I'm not really sure.
You should have said that you were heading out this way,I have a series of ash trees that would benefit from a climber taking them down, and would be great video material!
Aw man, that would have been great! To be honest, I was gone long enough and I don't think I would have been super excited about doing more whil I was out there. Having a wife a home makes me wanna go home 😅
You're too tough on yourself but I'm the same way so I get it. You're an outstanding climber and you represent the industry well. Where did you learn and did you take climbing classes? You talk with vocabulary that is synonymous with formal training. Have you ever switched over to Ddrt with a cambium saver instead of redirecting SRT once up in the canopy? Oh hey, loop runners around limbs make great places to put your foot to avoid spiking or if your not wearing spikes for ascending/work positioning.
Ah, I typically don't take my mistakes personally. I mostly include them, recognize them and try to talk about how to avoid them in an effort help other people learn. I only get disappointed if the mistakes was something I shouod have foreseen 😅 I'm 100% self taught. Especially in the last year I've put a good bit of effort into learning safer work practices and better tree care practices. I've also got a few friend in the industry that I regularly exchange information with. I started out double rope long ago, but I haven't done much recently. I did just recently pick up some more drt friendly stuff and I hope to use it more for removals and such. I have heard of using loop runner for that, I just always forget about it 😅
Absolutely, thats my favorite method. It does get a little unreliable when there isn't much rope weight hanging below the saw though. When I don't have much tail on the ground, I'll often ask for a knot.
Haha there might be in the back of some training books. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. It might help anyone else reading the comments aswell. I often forget what language is specific to the industry 😅
Im probably pretty similar to this guy. Ive invested probably 7k now into tree stuff just for me and my wife. Climb and trim or remove several times a year. Its just spaced out enough that it always seems like im relearning from the start. Redirects are something i haven't done a lot of yet and out rigging is usually sloppy. Subbed
Good video. I love your honesty. Rather than edit out when a limb doesn't go the intended direction, you leave it in. This helps us learn. Things don't always go as planned, so sometimes we just have to deal with the unexpected. Staying calm is key. There's more than one way to skin a cat. Thanks Zach.
Haha thanks Bill! I do my best to keep it real amd real certainly isn't perfect
You can always tell when it's pro's doing the job - they make it look so easy. Nicely done thanks for sharing. All the best and God Bless. 🙏❤🇺🇸
Haha, you're too kind. Thanks for watching!
This was a good watch for me man. I also am a fairly experienced recreational tree climber, but never did any real arborist work while up in the canopy other than the occasional hand saw. And now I have a need to cut down three 6"-8" live oak branches that have extended far out over the house. I've been searching to find some YT videos that clearly show some of this, and yours is golden. Your video is really helping me visualize and plan my attack.
Thays excellent! I'm glad it was helpful! Good luck with your project, and listen to your gut. If something doesn't seem like it's going to go right, it probably isn't 😅
As a former rock climber, I was surprised at the difference in design between rock climbing ropes and arborist ropes. Rock climbing ropes rarely support the weight of the climber, so their design is exclusively based on safe and comfortable fall protection. Even so I was surprised at how painful a lead climber fall can be. Rock climbing ropes are designed to stretch and save a life, once, following which they should be retired. Arborist ropes don't stretch nearly as much, because it's irritating to climb several feet before the rope stretch can support your weight. So a fall on an arborist rope can hurt, a lot.
Absolutely, I've only dabbled with rock climbing, but I was also suprised at how intensely different the equipment is. It's also all held to very different standards.
That's true. Therefore the main rope has to be taut all the time. It's very dangerous to fall into an arborist rope.
One of you best vids. Thanks
Thank man!
I like how you finish the last cms of the cuts you do with the chainsaw with you handsaw. The zaccheus signature touch
It appears there is a lot of planning that goes into trimming trees and that plan changes pretty quick once you're up there. Especially when they over hang a house.
Absolutely, I always try to make a plan before I leave the ground, but I often keep it to myself until I get up in the tree. Otherwise I just confusing everyone by giving them a second strategy after I get up there.😅
I've had new groundmen confuse "let it run," with " drop it in my lap and knock me off the tree". You handled that unexpected rerouting very well.
Oooo, that's no fun at all. Thanks!
Great video as always. Definitely appreciate all your work! Quick question, what rope and size are you using as your rigging line? Thanks
Thanks Jason!
That rigging rope is 12mm (1/2") All Gear Husky Bull Rope. I believe MBS in in the 10,000lb range. Here is a link to it at my favorite dealer: www.endorstreegear.com/collections/1-2in-rigging-rope/products/12-mm-1-2-all-gear-husky-bull-rope
@@zaccheus Thats great thank you! I will definitely check it out.
I found your channel, and I have realized that this job is exactly the kind of job I would love to do! Thank you for making your videos!
I like how honest you are about what you do wrong on a particular cut, and when something doesn’t go as planned. Even experts make mistakes, and it’s good for beginners to see those mistakes- and see how the expert recovers from them when they happen.
Thanks man! I just try to shoot it straight. Nobody is perfect and to pretend otherwise doesn't benefit anyone.
Impressive. It takes a very long time to be confident and smooth as you are ) or make it look ,cause I know there's times where we could be having a stroke inside but calm cool and collected on the outside so to speak. Lol... Very nice work enjoy checking out your style and plan of attack . Be safe.
You're explanation as You work are better than most of famous CZcams arborists 👍🌟
Haha thanks Steven!
Love these types of jobs with lots of thinking and rigging.
People that don't climb just don't get how there are so many things to think about up in the tree and you showed quit a few here.
Good job. Always think about what your doing. I'm no expert but I did climb for a few years and there is more ways to cut a tree than you could shake a stick at lol.
Haha you're not wrong and thats the beauty of it!
To reiterate what’s already been said, I like that you didn’t edit out your mistakes. Plus you show all the steps of rigging which is helpful. A lot of videos show the cuts but not how it was rigged.
One more thing. What is your climbing rope and saddle setup?
Thanks, man! This weekend's video will be a little more of the same. Not as well explained, but I'm mostly interested in helping people get better at what they do as I learn and grow myself. Sharing my mistakes seems to be about the best method I know.
Rope is xstatic, saddle is the treerex by edelrid. I like both very much and don't see myself trying anything different for quite a while.
"Sharp objects around textiles supporting your life"....
I think about that every time I watch you and Jacob in a tree.
It's the most dangerous part of what we do for sure. Even hand saws pose a threat. I have a buddy who nearly cut through a critical part of his harness with one once.
What do you have your Akimbo settings at. Bought one awhile back but just started playing with it. I need to get it dialed in.
Mmmm, I don't know off of the top of my head... I think I keep the top pretty tight and the bottom pretty loose. There is a handy procedure for finding a good setting. I saw it on youtube here somewhere, but basically you want it to not slip when you bounce on it and not have the top and bottom touch when you pull down on the top. There will probably be a few setting combinations that produce that scenario and chosing among those just comes down to preference.
Hi its Ulf from Austria. As I started my own business 3 years ago, I am very interested in your clips.... why? your not hiding mistakes and talk honestly about them, thats whats crucial in every risky business like mountaineering, rigging and so on... keep on going
@ulfremp3034 Thanks, Ulf! I'm mostly interested in helping other learn. The only way I can make my mistakes valuable is to share them so others can know what to avoid.
Totally agree... and as a Military Mountain guide, teaching mountaineering, industrial climbing and so forth for almost two decades, i know exactly the difference between honesty in dealing with safety concerns and the normally seen self advertising instruction show. Honesty and the straight approach is what one can see in your clips
@ulfremp3034 Thanks Ulf!
Awesome video! Thanks!
Is the Zillon your favorite lanyard adjuster?
Thanks man! It's not my favorite. It's nice and smoth and easy to use, but it's also easily triggered by things around it. I often find it catch on my leg or my rope tail and llfind it letting some rope through it unexpectedly. I just picked up am ART Positioner 2 and I'm really loving that unit.
@@zaccheus Nice. I totally hear you. I personally love the zillon, but I absolutely have had the links get incidentally triggered and have a mini 6 inch whipper unexpectedly while doing something important in the tree. But for my wrists which have some tendinitis it’s just the smoothest to tend. I also have the ART and enjoy that as well. Along with just a pulley and hitch. Love your channel. Keep up the great work.
@@judsonkimble I think it's a really good device and there are things about it that I like more than the poisitioner. I might end up using it again 🤷♂️ Thanks!
Hey bin watching your videos ever sience you gave me your channel name beginning of the summber for the pond project you excavated for me and just wanted to say GREAT WORK!
Hey! Thanks for watching! It was a real pleasure to work for you guys!
I'm also a homeowner in MN, and would like to learn more about climbing and rigging. I took down a 60' elm behind my garage basically by myself, used a fall harness and some basic gear but instead of spikes I climbed the tree with portable tree stand ladder sections you'd use for hunting. It worked but man, was it tedious to set up. I'd love to learn more about the proper gear for climbing on spikes and also SRT which I think would be much more useful for the kinds of trees I have on my property. Have more limbs to take down this summer. I'm also 6'2” and pushing 300lbs, so finding a proper climbing harness at an economical price has been difficult.
Wow, man, that must have been quite the experience! It is tough to find affordable equipment because most people are out making money with their stuff and therefore willing to spend a lot on it. Whe I was uo there, my client took me to Minneapolis Saw Co. 831 40th Ave NE, Columbia Heights, MN 55421
That place had a decent selection of stuff and you could maybe even try some of it on before purchase. I wpuld a avoid used gear because it's impossible to know what's happened to textiles and whether or not they've been overloaded and damaged in a way that you can't see. Spikes are the only thing I'd buy used. SRT is all the rage these days and it is the fastest way to do a lot of things, but if you're looking to keep the price down. Climbing DRT with a Blake's hitch is as cheap as it gets. Whatever you do I would advise getting a rated tree climbing harness with independent legs and a rope bridge. That will make your experience a whole lot better.
@@zaccheus thanks for the input! Yes it was quite an interesting experience, and while I wouldn't want to do it for a living, I can see why you guys enjoy it so much! It was pretty exhilarating and I actually enjoyed it. Yes, I'm definitely staying away from used gear for the same reason, no idea how old it is or if it's been abused by the previous owner. I'll look into the DRT technique a little more!
@feelthepayne88 Best of luck to you with your endeavors!
Great channel man
Thanks!
Might be an over asked or dumb question but what is the best way to get started on this career path?
That's never a dumb question. I took a more foolish route and self taught my way into tree work. If I could do it over again, I would aim to find a company who was willing to invest in mentoring me rather than just throwing me in a tree and hoping for the best. With that, I would surely aim to make their time and energy worth it by sticking around for as long as I could afford. Way too many people in our industry are under educated and most of the time it's to the fault of their employer. Good employers are hard to find in tree work, but I'd take a quality boss over the higher paycheck any day.
Start as a ground guy
Does your rope flatten out when climbing SRT? I run drenaline with the rope wrench and when I'm SRT it flattens out and really messes with my trust.
Yep, pretty much all srt mechanical devices flatten the rope. The key for me has been finding a rooe that resist flattening as much as possible. I've found xstatic to be pretty good, blue moon flattens pretty bad. The xstatic still flattens out some, but not nearly as bad the blue moon. I personally hate drenaline for srt. I didn't even climb on it long enough to remember how bad it flattens, but I'll never buy another hank of that again 😅
@@zaccheus yea I first noticed it with my Blue moon rope too but it was a pretty old rope so I chalked it up to that and honestly stopped SRT because my hitch cord wouldn't even bite anymore. Then a friend gave me his drenaline rope and the same thing! I used what I think was Silver Ivy the other day and I forget to watch it but I didn't notice any real flattening so I'm going to try it again. It's reassuring to hear it's a common thing, although I'm not sure how easy I can overlook it lol. Thanks for the input
Curious what kind of rope do you use for rigging? Double braid? Stable braid? Teufelberger Sirius, Ect, ect? Also, what size do you generally use for most jobs? I'm looking at getting my first bull rope, but there are so many options, it's hard to figure out. Thanks 😊
I use double braid for all of my rigging. Almost all high rated rigging ropes are double braid of some kind. I use 1/2 for 90% of what I do and only break out the 5/8 for really big trees or negative rigging down some heavy wood. Aside from double braid, the next most common is 12 strand. You can natural crotch rig with 12 strand but not with double braid.
@@zaccheus Thanks man, I really appreciate the insight.
@@alotl1kevegas860 No problem! Whatever you do, pay attention to that SWL 😅
@@zaccheus Thanks for the advice man. I just bought a 1/2" Samson Stable Braid 200ft rope 😊
@@alotl1kevegas860 I'm sure that'll serve you well! 200ft is super nice for span rigging and such where a little more rope is required. Best of luck, stay safe up there!
Great job buddy as always nice work I didn't know this neither until about a month ago on the 201 if you put it on choke when you fire it up and you let it run for about 30 seconds to a minute it something with the air because of the m tronic it makes it run better and I have tried it and it does work God bless
Oh very interesting. Is that something you gotta do for every cut or just at the beginning of the day?
@@zaccheus no when you first fired up in the morning keep it on choke with the brake on let it run for like 30 seconds to a minute and then you're ready to rock and roll buddy
@@br-dj2ti ill be sure to give that a try, thanks!
@@zaccheus yeah no problem buddy definitely I had no idea about that neither some guy told me I started doing it and it seems to work great
I would really like to know what kind rope grab device you're using on your lanyard
@@bencomeau6718 Petzl zillon
a slash cut works amazingly!
Correct me if I’m wrong.
Looks like an oak wilt season prune to me. Which is ill advised. Areas are different and all so I could be way off base.
Thanks for your concern! Oak Wilt is serious stuff and it's definitely worth scheduling oak pruning and removals for the appropriate season. I did this work mid to late October last year. Since we were in Minnesota, it was an appropriate time of the year. It was actually 20° on the morning of my first day there 🤙
@@zaccheus much appreciated brother! Been fun watching you learn and grow. Doing it right along with you over in west Michigan. Wilt has ravaged our woods.
Keep up the good work and be safe! ✌️
Nice to show someone that wants to know.
Stay safe
Glad to hear it, thanks!
Rope angles and work positioning are major elements of tree work. Good information here.
Thanks man, took me an unfortunate amount of time to figure out how much it's worth taking the time to set things up to make better rope angles and rig swings and everything.
@@zaccheus Same here, I'm still not great at it, but getting there! Looks like you're doing a fine job too.
@@sizemoretreeworks Thanks man, it's just time and perseverance
Check out the climbing arborist controlled speed line you'll love it
I'll have to take a look. I love a good controlled speedline.
you never try a 2511? that is all i climb with especially for pruning
I have a friend who has one with a narrow kerf kit on it. That little thing rips! I've been tempted to buy one many times, but I've been getting along woth the 201 and big silky saw just fine and so I've avoided spending the money.
Hi man love your videos, I am a relatively new climber and your videos are great. I recently cut myself with a chainsaw not bad but definitely shook me up a bit do you have any advice on how to get back into it?
Ah man, sorry to hear that. Where did you get cut?
I had a very bad accident last year. I was tied into a spar that failed, ripped me out of the tree and my tie in point was on the ground with the leader that failed. Only thing that saved me from a severe accident was my saddle lanyard ran all 18 ft. through my friction hitch but kept me tied into the tree. I was literally suspended mid air. However, unknown to me the person running rope (who had tons of experience) wrongly wrapped the rope around his hand and as a consequence got pulled into the ground area where the huge leader fell and busted him up really bad. He survive although had multiple injuries that needed surgery. He is doing well now but has two huge bolts permanently in his pelvis and is sore after doing activities. It is a truly awful feeling knowing your hand was involved in someone else getting hurt. I could not climb for about a month. I kept replaying the accident in my mind. There was no way I could get back into it emotionally twisted and not able to focus. But. I wanted to keep pursuing this line of work so I had to convince myself to accept it happened because of a mistake I made, understand the mistake, forgive myself for that mistake, vow I would never forget about it so as to do all I can to never let it happen again. A good way to overcome the fear after an accident is give yourself enough time to make sure you are in the right state of mind to fully concentrate. You'll know. Days, weeks, months don't matter. My first time back in the tree was scary, didn't know if I could do it. But I trusted myself and FOCUSED ON THE TASK AT HAND. Don't allow your mind to wander with thoughts that take you out of the moment. Zach made two mistakes in this vid. Happens all the time to everyone, including the very best.
@@geekay4703 Wow man, you said that so much better than I ever could have. Thanks for sharing.
@@zaccheus I openly share what happened. I want to turn it into something others can appreciate enough to avoid happening to him or herself and hopefully not just a story people judge me by. I believe it is very important in a high danger profession like this to openly admit mistakes and swallow your ego.
@@geekay4703 Absolutely. I've never seen an ego be of benefit to anyone
Is this a normal lanyard? In Germany we have to use steel lanyards when we use the chainsaw.
Yeah, its pretty normal for us to use a regular rope for a lanyard here. I started out with a steel core and I would recommend that anyone start out using one. Do you use a cam device or a prusik on yours?
Thanks for the answer. I use a cam device on my steel core and a prusik on the regular lanyard. @@zaccheus
@christ2381 Very interesting! Here we aren't allowed to use steel core with certain companies (like power line clearance companies) and though we are allowed, some guys avoid the cam style grab because it has to be unweighted to be released in a rescue scenario.
On that one cut that the rope come back on you. I generally try and use a peel cut which will give will give it a chance to shift the Load
Mm, that's an interesting thought. I think it might have also helped if it would have pointed the hinge away from myself a little more.
@@zaccheus that's that 20 20 hindsight. I recently got a GoPro and have been watching myself climb it's such a useful tool to improve yourself.
@@MassiveRam Absolutely! I changed a lot about my climbing since I started watching myself. The biggest thing was probably my one handed saw habits. I started seeing how close my left hand really came to that chain all the time. Scared me into changing my ways 😅
@@zaccheus yeah! man im pretty bad with the one handing myself
@@MassiveRam It's easy to get into the habit. Seems like most climbers have hit their left hand or arm at one time or another. I hit my knee early on before I did tree work professionally and I learned that I don't wanna go through that again 😅
I've got weeks of tree work at home...coming to NH?? Lol I'm insured and there'd be good video content
Heyy, send me an email at zaccheus.climber@gmail.com and let's talk about it!
I know you told me once but I can only find arbpro gamma climbing pants .and some other arb brand that are like kahki.s ...I have cloggers and others but need something light and cool.all the ones I've seen are super skinny and don't make cleae the sizing clear the sizing...as short old man.its hard find good pants..wear Xtra small in cloggers .have torn knee so have to wear a brace under them a x slip on kind ...I guess going to have take chance .can't stand ordering and reordering sending stuff back.tryed the new tree motion pro and hated it the elastic straps push it you know where.....sent it back ..thinking about getting tree Rex and or sequoia for Sumner. My current saddles are way to hot..it's 86 again Herr so sick of heat.
I struggle with guessing the size on saw pants too. I try to go to shows or store around me if I can. Arborwear has a store about an hour and a half from me. I'm hoping to try their dog wood pants. I have had success with pfanner gladiator vents. I just want to see if I can find something a little different.
I've had good success with my treeTex. It does hand adjustable elastic straps that go between the leg support and back supports. It's definitely light weight and well ventilated. It also offers a number of gifferent options for bridge configuration. My least favorite thing about it is that the upper D rings can be tricky to get a lanyard hooked into sometimes.
@@zaccheus I have 2 pair of solidur.. climb pants there grey with green and blue closest match to clogger I've found.but are still little warm buy you would like them .being little taller..you should check them out .of course there rated fir protection. Hard find light ones .those are best I've found .but there so great looking it's kinda Shame to get oil on them...we have one or 2 dealerships but they are over priced on gear and clothing. They only order from one place...was also looking into the SIP pants as well
@@zaccheus my monkey beaver original with leg pads is most comfortable thing ever worn but gets hot summer.i bought some monkey beaver suspenders installed on my old tree motion S light . Realy like that it's just the leg pads don't have buckles but other wise great saddle .there on sale at bartlett arborist supply for 380.00 that's a steal
Do you do much work in Minnesota?
Not regularly, but I made a trip up for a subscriber who had some work for me.
@@zaccheus Ah ok. Well I am new to the climbing world. If you ever come up this way and need a good groundie I'd love help and maybe learn a thing or two.
@@Gregory-xv3kf Sure thing, what part of the state are you in?
@@zaccheus Near Alexandria MN. Its pretty much right in the middle. Even if it was a couple hour drive to come help I'd still be willing to do that. Really want to learn as much about climbing as I can.
@@Gregory-xv3kf I gotcha. I was working in St Paul that time around. CZcams is a good source for many things, but finding a mentor is definitely the way to go. Good ones are just hard to find
you have fancy stuff, but no chest tether?
Lol, thanks. Nah, I've never needed one so I've never et bought one.
awe, so advancing the device by hand is the way to go!
@climbhightreeservice2153 if I'm just using a foot ascender to move up a little, yes, but if I have a long ascent, I use an elastic neck tether. Controversial, but I'm comfortable with it. Here is a video on it: czcams.com/video/jCnEqYLKdVk/video.html
Gotta say man you seem to wear spikes a lot when youre pruning
Fair observation. I don't really make many pruning videos and when I do it's normally when we are removing a larger portion of the tree. For those projects I don't see a problem with aiding production by wearing spikes and spiking only the part of the tree we are removing. When I'm just deadwooding and oak or something, I don't wear spikes. I also don't film, because who wants to see that? 😅
Did you say his name is yale???😂. Cool
Yep, that's his name. I think he told me that he contacted Yale cordage to see if he could buy a shirt from them and they just sent him one for free 😂
@@zaccheus you should try 11 .7 focus from yale at wesspur I just got my 200ft it's bluemoon family .beautiful rope came with best tight eye splice ever seen . 15 percent off ... be safe
I’d have used a ring-n-ring rigging point and then it could be retrieved from the ground when I was done. I try to stay under 200# when rigging with a ring-n-ring, but have rigged a few that were in the 500# range. Save a lot of time.
@small-town-southern-man3573 Yeah, this might have been a good application for one of those! They don't work out great if you have and redirects, and I think I did use one in this video. But it was a long time ago, and I'm not really sure.
4:50 get rid of that carabiner stay safe out there brother
Wait, what's wrong with the carabiner? 😬
It wouldnt pass the gear test in a comp for example the gate didnt close all the way by itslef
@Suave Oh my, thank you for noticing and mentioning that. I know exactly which one that is and I'll be sure to give it a good inspection
You should have said that you were heading out this way,I have a series of ash trees that would benefit from a climber taking them down, and would be great video material!
Aw man, that would have been great! To be honest, I was gone long enough and I don't think I would have been super excited about doing more whil I was out there. Having a wife a home makes me wanna go home 😅
@@zaccheus Well if you're ever out this way again...
@@lastplacetrophy3821 lol, you got it!
You're too tough on yourself but I'm the same way so I get it. You're an outstanding climber and you represent the industry well. Where did you learn and did you take climbing classes? You talk with vocabulary that is synonymous with formal training. Have you ever switched over to Ddrt with a cambium saver instead of redirecting SRT once up in the canopy? Oh hey, loop runners around limbs make great places to put your foot to avoid spiking or if your not wearing spikes for ascending/work positioning.
Ah, I typically don't take my mistakes personally. I mostly include them, recognize them and try to talk about how to avoid them in an effort help other people learn. I only get disappointed if the mistakes was something I shouod have foreseen 😅
I'm 100% self taught. Especially in the last year I've put a good bit of effort into learning safer work practices and better tree care practices. I've also got a few friend in the industry that I regularly exchange information with.
I started out double rope long ago, but I haven't done much recently. I did just recently pick up some more drt friendly stuff and I hope to use it more for removals and such.
I have heard of using loop runner for that, I just always forget about it 😅
No need to tie knots for pulling up a chainsaw. Loop the rope through the handle and around the chain brake.
Absolutely, thats my favorite method. It does get a little unreliable when there isn't much rope weight hanging below the saw though. When I don't have much tail on the ground, I'll often ask for a knot.
@@zaccheus choke it with an extra loop around the brake or wrap the handle twice.
@@idea999 I could see that working well.
Is there a tree climbing vocab video for dummies? A list somewhere for dumb maple farmers? Ha! I'm picking it up slowly.
Haha there might be in the back of some training books. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. It might help anyone else reading the comments aswell. I often forget what language is specific to the industry 😅
Mate!!!!😲🪓🌲🪵!!!!bloody Nice 😊 👌👌👌🪓🌲🪵🤙🤙👍
Hahah, thanks Lenoard!
@@zaccheus 🤙🤙👌👍👍😊