I remember all the clients who helped out all day dragging brush without getting in the way, those who volunteered use their equipment and brought meals out of the blue
trust and respect is earned over time, adding someone, no matter how good they may be, to an important part of the system always adds an element of the unknown until you have done enough jobs together to gel as a team, not easy having a new groundie every job, or groundie on the tractor, in this case, its great having someone who will listen and follow things to finest detail, to make it a success. Thanks for the video, and the rawness behind it.
I didn't like to use a tractor or truck on grass or dirt to pull a tree leaning towards something valuable and I never used ropes...For something like that I used 3/8 aircraft cable as high up as needed. My truck would be cabled to a tree in back and I would winch it over easily from the front never worrying about the outcome..What happens many times is the tractor or whatever spins its tires they clog and the whole mess becomes a bigger mess. I just didn't take any chances with someone's property. I'm 66 retired never had an issue...still have the 500 ft of cable in various lengths. Just my opinion.. Great job by the way.
You're right. I want such Trees tied to something secure and use a winch. I would have used some wedges in the backcut also to stabilize the tree. But - It worked exactly the way he wanted it, so he's also right.
I use synthetic winch rope like dyneema, it's strong as steel, lighter to carry and no worry about if it snaps is it gonna take your arm off Add- I use a portable capstan winch too, a pcw-4000 model so you can carry it into the bush with you where you can't get a truck
As a one man band i work with homeowners all the time , they generally make good groundies , you have to be patient and communicate clearly and make sure they know the plan .
What would have scared me about doing that last tree was all that tension and risk is being conveyed to whatever single branch the rope is routed over. Sure there's another branch below it, but by then you loose the tension and loose the tree.
I usually encourage homeowner help, but only up to the limits of which I can trust that their help won't lead to diminished safety for people, and for their property, and for my gear. Noones allowed to get hurt. We can't break any windows. And I can fix the fence, but I'd rather not.
I gotta admit, I was puckering after that big face cut and watching all that lean towards the house. I 100% agree with your ideas about adding/including an extra element to the team. And in this case, adding a tractor with somewhat unknown or at least undemonstrated capacity. You all did a great job. True professionals leveraging their expertise.
Nice shot August! I can tell you had fun with that one from the tone of your voice and the smile on your face 😄 I love how we are just big kids having fun with our job.
Worked out great that you had several tree's to pull over that weren't so critical to get the feel and insight on the home owner before doing the critical one !!! I'm sure that wasn't intentional 😂😂 Another Great video August ❤❤
Hey August, just subscribed after watching a few of your films. I have alot of respect for you, it's not just your incredible tree felling (you'd master anything you put your hands to I'm sure of it) it's just your attitude and heart that is so exemplary. Thank you for sharing this, the world is in great need of men of your character right now...👍🙏
That is "full commitment"..... all or nothing.😳 😎👊 MonkeyBeaver crew making the hardest work look easy. Thanks for sharing and keep yourselves safe! 😃👍❤🌲 Randy
Not too long ago within the last two years I would not second guess myself. After being around people that just can't see what I see. I second guess myself and make more work for myself now all the time. Dude gets weird when I cut a face halfway or even deeper, but I know why you should. Thanks for the falling session folks.
Thank you for the tree dropping on us. I had my helmet on and shield down. Was safe after it dropped. 🙂 What a rush that was. ;-) Take care - God Bless
I've had customers wanting to help, especially if they have a tractor. On one job, I'm helping another tree dude, and there's a large maple at the side of the house. All of the limbs are over the house. Tree leans towards the house. Climbing would take hours. But throw a rope in the top and through one of the crotches over the house and flop it. Snatch block in the woods. We had a mini-skid, which would have been plenty, but customer wanted to use his tractor. Old Ford. And it did weigh more and all that. Make the face cut (I have a habit of a 90° face cut). A little more tension. Start back cut. Get to the hinge; don't want to cut any more. Nothing's happening. Go visit tractor man. Tractor doesn't want to pull any more. There is still decent tension on the rope. Tree guy I'm helping is starting to get jittery, but he does that. I throw another rope in the tree and feed it into a rope come-along. This gives other tree guy something to put his nervous energy into -- pumping that come-along handle). But he doesn't get to work out his issues very much. In fact, we could've probably just pulled the tree over by hand. And it flops over beautifully. Tractor man forgot that he had his parking brake on. If nothing else, that tractor has a certified parking brake. Another day in the redneck tree business.
One of the reasons I watch this channel is the precision of your work. I used to do machinist work years ago and when machining parts you need the tolerance the thickness of a strand of hair (which is .001, one thousandth of a inch) Your work mimics that of a really, really good machinist. Heck, I've watched you drop a 60-70 foot tree say'n "it's going right here" with a scuff in the dirt. Well, you could have pulled out the ole Stanley and were right there. Keep up the great work
The homeowner read the hand signals perfectly little bit little bit little bit a good choice if you had to have such an assist. No doubt he was delighted with the outcome as well. I like your use of the Humboldt cut and the use of it into a slight birds mouth ... and then the full DEEP face cut. Great show. Am so glad I never became a logger or tree trimmer ... in earnest. You would have shuddered at my large tree drop. I had a lot of angelic assistance ... no joke. One big tree with 3 other big ones within 10 feet. Primary tree was around 5-6 feet diameter with a HEAVY lean towards old and expensive gravestones. One huge branch 2' dia hung right over the graves. I wound up solidly binding the tree in its position at the top via the adjacent trees ... [throw lines]. Then ... with an axe [did not have a chain saw] ... proceeded to cut and when it did not begin to lean ...wound up doing a complete BEAVER cut till only a pencil was left in the center of the stick. It remained standing. SLOWLY I released some of the tension until it began to fall ... then I locked it down again ... tied a large rope to the bottom end of the stick and pulled it horizontally off the stump ... released tension ... repeated the pull ... finally allowing it to gently fall in place. Some of it lay among the gravestones, but no crashing destruction. Pulling my ropes off I was exhausted but really happy. Gravestones were to the East. Parish office [house] and Garage were NNE,, 2nd house was WNW. My pulling was via a small Toyota pickup to the SW. It was only small pickup so if things had gone wrong it could easily have been jerked skyward. This tree was the one and only large tree I ever attempted. Later on the BSA leadership training gave me chainsaw introduction training ... but never a need afterwards. [Besides, the $$ in equipment and safety gear was not in my budget]
Wow, heavy lean+offset crown+ house in the way=big pucker factor. Kudos to you for great "people skills" trusting your gut that the homeowner could do the job, he did great.
Was on a farm taking out trees they were wise enough to know they should let someone else do. One huge old Beech with 300 year old with Daldinia Concentrica, so who knows how rotted it was, within reach UKs M1 motorway, so felling towards the power lines to his Farm House he was happy on the Tirfor winch and grew up around tractors. The hardest was a crazy bent 50Ft Douglas Fir that was right over a single floor kitchen, the top was pointed at the ground, right next to the est of the house and surrounded by fences. He had two 100MP tractors, one we locked to stop it hitting the house drive by his 16 year old son one to pull it over. All went well. You need to be able to judge who you are working with and their pucker factor. both long term like your 'gang' and folks that dip in for 20 minutes. Looks like a great spot they have there. Thanks for reminding me of past jobs
I've had customers wanting to help, especially if they have a tractor. Usually tell them to stay out of the way. On one job, I'm helping another tree dude, and there's a large maple at the side of the house. All of the limbs are over the house. Tree leans towards the house. Climbing would take hours. But throw a rope in the top and through one of the crotches over the house and flop it. Snatch block in the woods. We had a mini-skid, which would have been plenty, but the customer wanted to use his tractor. Old Ford. And it did weigh more and all that. Make the face cut (I have a habit of a 90° face cut). A little more tension. Start back cut. Get to the hinge; don't want to cut any more. Nothing's happening. Go visit tractor man. Tractor doesn't want to pull any more. There is still decent tension on the rope. Tree guy I'm helping is starting to get jittery, but he does that. I throw another rope in the tree and feed it into a rope come-along. This gives other tree guy something to put his nervous energy into by pumping the come-along handle. But he doesn't get to work out his issues very much. In fact, we could've probably just pulled the tree over by hand. And it flops over beautifully. Tractor man had left the parking brake on. If nothing else, that tractor has a certified parking brake. Just another day in the redneck tree bidness.
Awesome job August and Damien. I’ve found myself in this situation many times as I don’t have a crew. Learning to explain exactly how it needs to be done is great for communication skills!
This makes a great video, with all the drama, but I don't think I'd have had the courage. You guys make climbing a tree and bringing it down in parts look so easy, and less risky. In the mountaineering days we separated objective hazards from avoidable risks. There were so many unknowns, like avalanche risk, that it was safer to do more technical climbing to avoid unknowns.
Ya, there are some risks I won’t take but I’ll do things frowned on by less experienced people if my logic demands it’s doable. I always appreciate your input btw. On this leaner, both my gut and my logic were convincing me, Damien’s gut said no, but he couldn’t disagree with my logic.
Hey August, sometimes I feel like the little kid on the tricycle in The Incredibles movie when watching your videos- "What are you waiting for?" "Something amazing I guess" and then the dialed shots of this sequence and I'm like... "THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!!" 😅 stellar job sir!
Thnx for all your insight on treework 🙏 I’m just started my treework career in my 40s (it helped me take this path) and I love it Groeten uit Holland 🇳🇱
August, that was awesome. I don't think we have heard that much giddy excitement from you in a while. August doing August things never gets old! #TreeLife
There's a lot of faith required for everyone. You both gotta trust the equipment and ability of the other guy. Always a good idea to watch someone maneuver equipment, especially stuff with attachments, before doing dangerous things. Some guys working for me were taking down a 80ish year old oak right next to the house when the new guy dropped their brand new saw which was immediately followed and smashed by a big round. I offered to lend them mine since it was the same model but the boss declined, he returned alone.
Great shooting August. Strangely enough I have been in the same situation as a homeowner. After a severe north-easterly storm brought down 4 of 6 120 year old pines on the neighbouring property a couple of years ago. Leaving one leaning towards my house (as it always was) but now very exposed to the next (and frequent) westerly storm. So after making safe the 4 fallen/hung pines and the damage they had done to surrounding oaks (which were hanging over the public road), he agreed the remaining back-leaning pine had to be felled, with my help using my capstan winch, and a 100m static rope to take the tension. He wasn't too sure about this as he was unfamilar with capstan winches, but I told him I followed BBR & AH videos and we didn't really have a choice, as the next big west wind would bring the tree down on my house anyway. So after climbing the tree to rope it he fired up his big husky and I held the tension with the winch, with his groundie kinda in between, relaying. Again we had to pull it off-angle to get it where it had to go, and it went perfectly, thank feck, as there were about 25 people watching, no doubt some hoping for some entertainment.
What model of capstan winch do you use? I have a portable winch co pcw-4000 model and I like it, I've even set up a 5:1 pulley on a huge 36" 100' back-leaning Oak and pulled it right way
@@JoshNoss the PCW 3000Li. I mainly use mine for pulling big logs and trees out of the river at the back of my garden (free firewood). Yes, with a 5 to 1 they can pull just about anything.
@@lapoguslapogus7161 oh wow, how long does the battery last for? (I never even really looked at the electric ones) I can see the prices have gone up a good bit.. mine was $1350 last winter now they want $1750. And I don't think there's progress capture on the electric models or is that an option?
Nerve-wracking is the word when you have an unknown part in the team the serves a significant role. It's not uncommon for a home owner to underestimate his gear and/or himself, simply because they're not familiar with the forces going on in a job like this. I also think that without the pre-tension the face cut would have sent the tree into the house. Great job, this went beyond my expectations :)
On critical cuts like that I usually run a second over-sized Hail Mary line that can catch any failure in the working rigging. Never had a situation where the Hail Mary line was actually needed, but having it sure slows down the aging process! I have heard of tree services getting a hand-delivered insurance cancellation notice the day after a major claim.
Good idea. Broke a small pull line once, talk about excitement!!! It was a back leaning Cottonwood. Thankfully the hinge held!! Boredom is much better😁😁
I think the word (at the start would be) *UNKNOWN* ! This was *ANOTHER* example of what makes YOU the very best! I've seen you do this a bunch of years ago. I think I'll watch some of those old videos again. God guides what you do & know! THANKS!
Good Job! I have mentioned it before, but it took me a LONG time to trust my rigging ropes over cable, and of course in the long run what a blessing, because with the dynamic character of the ropes it causes them to do some of the work on their own, and you get to leave all that wire rope at the shop! But.....one thing I haven't yet to give over to my trust is depending on one limb to pull on, as you have done here tying the pull line off on the stump. I see you use it quite often and I know it saves a lot of work and time....., but, it's hard to teach old dogs new tricks :{)
Ok..that was CLASSIC AUGUST. This tree afforded us the pleasure of watching August do exactly what August was made to do...my fav moment was his reaction at the end! It's been a bit since a situation got that type of reaction out of August. It was never relief nothing bad happened .... it was exciting becuz August knew where & how that tree would be felled. As he has done many many times...he straight called & delivered EXACTLY ON POINT!
"Introducing a random element" may be the term you're looking for. You can always says "It's an insurance thing." I'm glad this was a good experience! Every time I watch I think about geometry, calculus, physics--watching your videos should be mandatory for every college course. Reverse engineering what you do would be so fun (and make the classes worth taking--I remember nothing).
12:22 Wow, SO many things MUST go right! Kudos to everyone involved. You're a surgeon with that saw. But nevertheless, Thank the Lord for keeping you all safe out there. R.I.P. Jed, God comfort your family & friends.
When falling a tree with high risk we always used two pulling vehicles, with two completely separate cables and attachment... where either one by its self would be enough. We used 1/2 inch steel wrecker cable. Redundancy! Things happen... operator error, mechanical break downs, loss of traction etc. Redundancy! Better safe than sorry. Never count on luck!
I'm just a simpleton and an amateur - most of the time I just climb for friends for free to save them a few grand. Whoever is getting free tree work has to do ground guy stuff. I bought an extra comms headset. A Kask helmet with 3m ear muffs and a Sena comms set. Then I let the "borrowed help" use it so we can seamlessly communicate. I started doing that after I smooshed a old unused dog fence because I could tell my borrowed ground guy to stop pulling with his tractor when my saw died in the cut. Anyway, you've probably already thought of this and have good reasons for doing what you're doing, but a spare comms headset has saved me a lot of hassle. Cheers! Awesome videos - keep up the good work.
Nice shot:) there a few variables that could make or break the success of that job, especially with that last back-leaner. The biggest positive variable being that you and Damian are such a rock solid team. I have only had a homeowner help one time, just to move brush and firewood though. I would have had to have a lot of confidence in that guy…but he totally pulled it off…get it.. pulled it off😁
Good job Damien & August. Good job homeowner. Goes to show that non tree subscribers can learn from you August. Kind of an impossible thing y’all just pulled off flawlessly, with an unpredictable element, if you ask me.
Enjoyed the video. That was an amazing cut/pull and drop on that HEAVY leaner. I'm sure you experienced a high level of anticipation followed by an exhilarating high upon the fall. Really a masterful job....and accompanying explanation. The excellent camera work made it all that much better. A1
One time I chopped up a 40" tree and pushed it down a hill with my Plow truck to finish the job, lol. Rare situation, but sometimes everything goes sideways, you gotta adapt, especially if you work in difficult terrain.
Yes I always get that feeling in the pit of my stomach when a homeowner asks to help. Most of the time I say no unless it’s a very very small task they won’t injure themselves, me or my team, or their property.
I always try keep a wedge or two on me while pulling trees to set in while i do my back cut, just incase something where to happen, at least tree would not wanna come back on you fast if lets say rope breaks. wicked job done.
From adding another element to the equation we should expect a reaction. We need to know it will be an acceptable response. That being said, thanks for keeping the wood one sixty fourth’s of an inch from us YuTubers August😊
That was crazy thinking cutting into that leaner without pretension and allowing the homeowner to pull but I must say you are a top notch tree man and I thought it would barberchair
Says right on the screen they pretensioned a Lot before doing the face cut, he also said if they didn't it would have fallen on the house just from the face cut 😊
Hey August, I been watching you off and on for years love the content! Not that you need my advise clearly you know what you are doing but a tip you might not have thought of whenever we have a real bad back leaner we needed to pull its a good idea to put your back cut a bit lower that your top cut to give you a little ledge and prevent pulling the butt of the tree off the stump in the event the holding wood was to break (i dont know if i explained that very well 🤷) Ive seen some bad ones where guys actually pulled too hard and pulled the tree off the stump 👀 Anyway I dont know if you will read this or not its my first time ever commenting 😂 FYI I grew up in the pnw cuttin timber so im not just another youtube "expert" ive pulled hundreds of trees along power lines or highways over the years. Keep up the good work! That homeowner actually did a good job and pulled nice and smooth! 👌
I remember all the clients who helped out all day dragging brush without getting in the way, those who volunteered use their equipment and brought meals out of the blue
That's a lot of faith in that rope and driver
Ya
Holy moly Batman.
Felt every second of this segment. Everyone was on one team that day.
Super cool
Good morning August. I am glad that the tree did not go over your shoulder and huck the tractor over the house like a tree-buchet'
Man that takes some BIG BALLS!! I would have been Worried about the Rope!
trust and respect is earned over time, adding someone, no matter how good they may be, to an important part of the system always adds an element of the unknown until you have done enough jobs together to gel as a team, not easy having a new groundie every job, or groundie on the tractor, in this case, its great having someone who will listen and follow things to finest detail, to make it a success. Thanks for the video, and the rawness behind it.
I didn't like to use a tractor or truck on grass or dirt to pull a tree leaning towards something valuable and I never used ropes...For something like that I used 3/8 aircraft cable as high up as needed. My truck would be cabled to a tree in back and I would winch it over easily from the front never worrying about the outcome..What happens many times is the tractor or whatever spins its tires they clog and the whole mess becomes a bigger mess. I just didn't take any chances with someone's property. I'm 66 retired never had an issue...still have the 500 ft of cable in various lengths. Just my opinion.. Great job by the way.
You're right. I want such Trees tied to something secure and use a winch. I would have used some wedges in the backcut also to stabilize the tree.
But - It worked exactly the way he wanted it, so he's also right.
I use synthetic winch rope like dyneema, it's strong as steel, lighter to carry and no worry about if it snaps is it gonna take your arm off
Add- I use a portable capstan winch too, a pcw-4000 model so you can carry it into the bush with you where you can't get a truck
Best Friday night ever.....two new A.H. videos plus a Schroeder video. Have a great weekend.
As a one man band i work with homeowners all the time , they generally make good groundies , you have to be patient and communicate clearly and make sure they know the plan .
What would have scared me about doing that last tree was all that tension and risk is being conveyed to whatever single branch the rope is routed over. Sure there's another branch below it, but by then you loose the tension and loose the tree.
I usually encourage homeowner help, but only up to the limits of which I can trust that their help won't lead to diminished safety for people, and for their property, and for my gear.
Noones allowed to get hurt.
We can't break any windows.
And I can fix the fence, but I'd rather not.
I gotta admit, I was puckering after that big face cut and watching all that lean towards the house.
I 100% agree with your ideas about adding/including an extra element to the team. And in this case, adding a tractor with somewhat unknown or at least undemonstrated capacity.
You all did a great job. True professionals leveraging their expertise.
Awesome job, August. 👍
Nice shot August! I can tell you had fun with that one from the tone of your voice and the smile on your face 😄 I love how we are just big kids having fun with our job.
Worked out great that you had several tree's to pull over that weren't so critical to get the feel and insight on the home owner before doing the critical one !!! I'm sure that wasn't intentional 😂😂 Another Great video August ❤❤
Hey August, just subscribed after watching a few of your films. I have alot of respect for you, it's not just your incredible tree felling (you'd master anything you put your hands to I'm sure of it) it's just your attitude and heart that is so exemplary. Thank you for sharing this, the world is in great need of men of your character right now...👍🙏
That is "full commitment"..... all or nothing.😳 😎👊
MonkeyBeaver crew making the hardest work look easy.
Thanks for sharing and keep yourselves safe! 😃👍❤🌲
Randy
Not too long ago within the last two years I would not second guess myself. After being around people that just can't see what I see. I second guess myself and make more work for myself now all the time. Dude gets weird when I cut a face halfway or even deeper, but I know why you should. Thanks for the falling session folks.
Thank you for the tree dropping on us. I had my helmet on and shield down. Was safe after it dropped. 🙂 What a rush that was. ;-) Take care - God Bless
I've had customers wanting to help, especially if they have a tractor. On one job, I'm helping another tree dude, and there's a large maple at the side of the house. All of the limbs are over the house. Tree leans towards the house. Climbing would take hours. But throw a rope in the top and through one of the crotches over the house and flop it. Snatch block in the woods. We had a mini-skid, which would have been plenty, but customer wanted to use his tractor. Old Ford. And it did weigh more and all that. Make the face cut (I have a habit of a 90° face cut). A little more tension. Start back cut. Get to the hinge; don't want to cut any more. Nothing's happening. Go visit tractor man. Tractor doesn't want to pull any more. There is still decent tension on the rope. Tree guy I'm helping is starting to get jittery, but he does that. I throw another rope in the tree and feed it into a rope come-along. This gives other tree guy something to put his nervous energy into -- pumping that come-along handle). But he doesn't get to work out his issues very much. In fact, we could've probably just pulled the tree over by hand. And it flops over beautifully.
Tractor man forgot that he had his parking brake on. If nothing else, that tractor has a certified parking brake.
Another day in the redneck tree business.
One of the reasons I watch this channel is the precision of your work. I used to do machinist work years ago and when machining parts you need the tolerance the thickness of a strand of hair (which is .001, one thousandth of a inch) Your work mimics that of a really, really good machinist. Heck, I've watched you drop a 60-70 foot tree say'n "it's going right here" with a scuff in the dirt. Well, you could have pulled out the ole Stanley and were right there. Keep up the great work
I was raised that it always cost more if the homeowner or customer wants to help!
that's trust . i don't think i would have just cause the potential for it going wrong was massive , well done to all
The G.O.A.T!!! Great job.
7:25 did anyone else’s heart skip a beat!?
Your faith in your equipment, skills and technique is beyond my comfort level.
That feeling of winning the lottery the second a heavy back leaner becomes a dead vertical and starts to fall exactly where you want!
The homeowner read the hand signals perfectly little bit little bit little bit a good choice if you had to have such an assist. No doubt he was delighted with the outcome as well. I like your use of the Humboldt cut and the use of it into a slight birds mouth ... and then the full DEEP face cut. Great show. Am so glad I never became a logger or tree trimmer ... in earnest.
You would have shuddered at my large tree drop. I had a lot of angelic assistance ... no joke. One big tree with 3 other big ones within 10 feet. Primary tree was around 5-6 feet diameter with a HEAVY lean towards old and expensive gravestones. One huge branch 2' dia hung right over the graves. I wound up solidly binding the tree in its position at the top via the adjacent trees ... [throw lines]. Then ... with an axe [did not have a chain saw] ... proceeded to cut and when it did not begin to lean ...wound up doing a complete BEAVER cut till only a pencil was left in the center of the stick. It remained standing. SLOWLY I released some of the tension until it began to fall ... then I locked it down again ... tied a large rope to the bottom end of the stick and pulled it horizontally off the stump ... released tension ... repeated the pull ... finally allowing it to gently fall in place. Some of it lay among the gravestones, but no crashing destruction. Pulling my ropes off I was exhausted but really happy. Gravestones were to the East. Parish office [house] and Garage were NNE,, 2nd house was WNW. My pulling was via a small Toyota pickup to the SW. It was only small pickup so if things had gone wrong it could easily have been jerked skyward. This tree was the one and only large tree I ever attempted. Later on the BSA leadership training gave me chainsaw introduction training ... but never a need afterwards. [Besides, the $$ in equipment and safety gear was not in my budget]
Wow, heavy lean+offset crown+ house in the way=big pucker factor. Kudos to you for great "people skills" trusting your gut that the homeowner could do the job, he did great.
Was on a farm taking out trees they were wise enough to know they should let someone else do.
One huge old Beech with 300 year old with Daldinia Concentrica, so who knows how rotted it was, within reach UKs M1 motorway, so felling towards the power lines to his Farm House he was happy on the Tirfor winch and grew up around tractors.
The hardest was a crazy bent 50Ft Douglas Fir that was right over a single floor kitchen, the top was pointed at the ground, right next to the est of the house and surrounded by fences.
He had two 100MP tractors, one we locked to stop it hitting the house drive by his 16 year old son one to pull it over. All went well.
You need to be able to judge who you are working with and their pucker factor. both long term like your 'gang' and folks that dip in for 20 minutes. Looks like a great spot they have there. Thanks for reminding me of past jobs
I've had customers wanting to help, especially if they have a tractor. Usually tell them to stay out of the way. On one job, I'm helping another tree dude, and there's a large maple at the side of the house. All of the limbs are over the house. Tree leans towards the house. Climbing would take hours. But throw a rope in the top and through one of the crotches over the house and flop it. Snatch block in the woods. We had a mini-skid, which would have been plenty, but the customer wanted to use his tractor. Old Ford. And it did weigh more and all that. Make the face cut (I have a habit of a 90° face cut). A little more tension. Start back cut. Get to the hinge; don't want to cut any more. Nothing's happening. Go visit tractor man. Tractor doesn't want to pull any more. There is still decent tension on the rope. Tree guy I'm helping is starting to get jittery, but he does that. I throw another rope in the tree and feed it into a rope come-along. This gives other tree guy something to put his nervous energy into by pumping the come-along handle. But he doesn't get to work out his issues very much. In fact, we could've probably just pulled the tree over by hand. And it flops over beautifully.
Tractor man had left the parking brake on. If nothing else, that tractor has a certified parking brake.
Just another day in the redneck tree bidness.
Awesome job August and Damien. I’ve found myself in this situation many times as I don’t have a crew. Learning to explain exactly how it needs to be done is great for communication skills!
This makes a great video, with all the drama, but I don't think I'd have had the courage. You guys make climbing a tree and bringing it down in parts look so easy, and less risky. In the mountaineering days we separated objective hazards from avoidable risks. There were so many unknowns, like avalanche risk, that it was safer to do more technical climbing to avoid unknowns.
Ya, there are some risks I won’t take but I’ll do things frowned on by less experienced people if my logic demands it’s doable. I always appreciate your input btw. On this leaner, both my gut and my logic were convincing me, Damien’s gut said no, but he couldn’t disagree with my logic.
Hey August, sometimes I feel like the little kid on the tricycle in The Incredibles movie when watching your videos- "What are you waiting for?" "Something amazing I guess" and then the dialed shots of this sequence and I'm like... "THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!!" 😅 stellar job sir!
Beautiful job on that leaner guys!👍👍
You gotta love that high and elation after pulling off a tricky cut! I can say "DIALED!"
Thnx for all your insight on treework 🙏 I’m just started my treework career in my 40s (it helped me take this path) and I love it
Groeten uit Holland 🇳🇱
August, that was awesome. I don't think we have heard that much giddy excitement from you in a while. August doing August things never gets old! #TreeLife
There's a lot of faith required for everyone. You both gotta trust the equipment and ability of the other guy. Always a good idea to watch someone maneuver equipment, especially stuff with attachments, before doing dangerous things.
Some guys working for me were taking down a 80ish year old oak right next to the house when the new guy dropped their brand new saw which was immediately followed and smashed by a big round. I offered to lend them mine since it was the same model but the boss declined, he returned alone.
the depth of that notch had me holding my breath while watching you guys, and to drip it as exact as you did... perfection right there!
Now that’s art, knowledge and experience right there.
Precision felling buddy.👌
That was nerve wracking.......Stellar job brother!!
Отличная работа!
Заказал у вас лямки на плечи
Great shooting August. Strangely enough I have been in the same situation as a homeowner. After a severe north-easterly storm brought down 4 of 6 120 year old pines on the neighbouring property a couple of years ago. Leaving one leaning towards my house (as it always was) but now very exposed to the next (and frequent) westerly storm. So after making safe the 4 fallen/hung pines and the damage they had done to surrounding oaks (which were hanging over the public road), he agreed the remaining back-leaning pine had to be felled, with my help using my capstan winch, and a 100m static rope to take the tension. He wasn't too sure about this as he was unfamilar with capstan winches, but I told him I followed BBR & AH videos and we didn't really have a choice, as the next big west wind would bring the tree down on my house anyway. So after climbing the tree to rope it he fired up his big husky and I held the tension with the winch, with his groundie kinda in between, relaying. Again we had to pull it off-angle to get it where it had to go, and it went perfectly, thank feck, as there were about 25 people watching, no doubt some hoping for some entertainment.
What model of capstan winch do you use? I have a portable winch co pcw-4000 model and I like it, I've even set up a 5:1 pulley on a huge 36" 100' back-leaning Oak and pulled it right way
@@JoshNoss the PCW 3000Li. I mainly use mine for pulling big logs and trees out of the river at the back of my garden (free firewood). Yes, with a 5 to 1 they can pull just about anything.
@@lapoguslapogus7161 oh wow, how long does the battery last for? (I never even really looked at the electric ones) I can see the prices have gone up a good bit.. mine was $1350 last winter now they want $1750. And I don't think there's progress capture on the electric models or is that an option?
Love that you left that white Chevy there 🤙🏻👌🏻 no worries laying them right on the money
Nerve-wracking is the word when you have an unknown part in the team the serves a significant role. It's not uncommon for a home owner to underestimate his gear and/or himself, simply because they're not familiar with the forces going on in a job like this. I also think that without the pre-tension the face cut would have sent the tree into the house. Great job, this went beyond my expectations :)
Amazing. Mad skills. Nicely done! Dave
On critical cuts like that I usually run a second over-sized Hail Mary line that can catch any failure in the working rigging. Never had a situation where the Hail Mary line was actually needed, but having it sure slows down the aging process! I have heard of tree services getting a hand-delivered insurance cancellation notice the day after a major claim.
Good idea. Broke a small pull line once, talk about excitement!!! It was a back leaning Cottonwood. Thankfully the hinge held!! Boredom is much better😁😁
Gotta say I was holding my breath. Great job. We are ok because of your skill. Thanks.
That’s some badass saw work and rigging skills sir. Great job
That work was a thing of beauty to watch. Like a conductor directing an orchestra. 👍👍
Only us, will truly feel this. It’s awesome what we all do.
Magician Working! Nice done
Another great job 👍🏻
What a phenomenal job of defying gravity! 😳
I will forever call August ....THE TREE WISPERER! ❤🐒🦫
The best tree guy on UA-cam 😮
I think the word (at the start would be) *UNKNOWN* ! This was *ANOTHER* example of what makes YOU the very best! I've seen you do this a bunch of years ago. I think I'll watch some of those old videos again. God guides what you do & know! THANKS!
Good Job! I have mentioned it before, but it took me a LONG time to trust my rigging ropes over cable, and of course in the long run what a blessing, because with the dynamic character of the ropes it causes them to do some of the work on their own, and you get to leave all that wire rope at the shop! But.....one thing I haven't yet to give over to my trust is depending on one limb to pull on, as you have done here tying the pull line off on the stump. I see you use it quite often and I know it saves a lot of work and time....., but, it's hard to teach old dogs new tricks :{)
Dialed indeed. Strong work!
Bless August, by far your BEST video ever. Thanks 🙏
Nice job fellas. Super well done.
Ok..that was CLASSIC AUGUST. This tree afforded us the pleasure of watching August do exactly what August was made to do...my fav moment was his reaction at the end! It's been a bit since a situation got that type of reaction out of August. It was never relief nothing bad happened .... it was exciting becuz August knew where & how that tree would be felled. As he has done many many times...he straight called & delivered EXACTLY ON POINT!
"Introducing a random element" may be the term you're looking for. You can always says "It's an insurance thing." I'm glad this was a good experience! Every time I watch I think about geometry, calculus, physics--watching your videos should be mandatory for every college course. Reverse engineering what you do would be so fun (and make the classes worth taking--I remember nothing).
12:22 Wow, SO many things MUST go right! Kudos to everyone involved.
You're a surgeon with that saw. But nevertheless, Thank the Lord for keeping you all safe out there.
R.I.P. Jed, God comfort your family & friends.
Been a while since I've come to your channel, good quality work as always August.
When falling a tree with high risk we always used two pulling vehicles, with two completely separate cables and attachment... where either one by its self would be enough. We used 1/2 inch steel wrecker cable. Redundancy! Things happen... operator error, mechanical break downs, loss of traction etc. Redundancy! Better safe than sorry. Never count on luck!
Incredible work. I like to see things go as planned.
Absolutely amazing !!
That deep notch was too thought provoking for me but that’s because I’m not August Hunicke
That tree near the brown car port thing is super cool
Wow, the view from the stump was intimidating for sure. Well executed plan, with the added variable of the homeowner. Well done sir.
Took lots of nerve, and significant skill sets. Nicely done by all hands. Stand by to splice some mainbraces, once saws go cold-iron.
True pro. Respect brother.
I'm just a simpleton and an amateur - most of the time I just climb for friends for free to save them a few grand. Whoever is getting free tree work has to do ground guy stuff. I bought an extra comms headset. A Kask helmet with 3m ear muffs and a Sena comms set. Then I let the "borrowed help" use it so we can seamlessly communicate. I started doing that after I smooshed a old unused dog fence because I could tell my borrowed ground guy to stop pulling with his tractor when my saw died in the cut.
Anyway, you've probably already thought of this and have good reasons for doing what you're doing, but a spare comms headset has saved me a lot of hassle.
Cheers! Awesome videos - keep up the good work.
The owner had a very vested interest in following your directions to the tee and I'm certain that helped a lot😋
Ya
Nice shot:) there a few variables that could make or break the success of that job, especially with that last back-leaner. The biggest positive variable being that you and Damian are such a rock solid team. I have only had a homeowner help one time, just to move brush and firewood though. I would have had to have a lot of confidence in that guy…but he totally pulled it off…get it.. pulled it off😁
Dude, that was tense! Pucker factor all the way over here. Wow!
This one had my palms sweating
Good job Damien & August. Good job homeowner. Goes to show that non tree subscribers can learn from you August. Kind of an impossible thing y’all just pulled off flawlessly, with an unpredictable element, if you ask me.
That was Kool 👏
Enjoyed the video. That was an amazing cut/pull and drop on that HEAVY leaner. I'm sure you experienced a high level of anticipation followed by an exhilarating high upon the fall. Really a masterful job....and accompanying explanation. The excellent camera work made it all that much better. A1
It was really risky - great job ;D
Hell of great cut
One time I chopped up a 40" tree and pushed it down a hill with my Plow truck to finish the job, lol. Rare situation, but sometimes everything goes sideways, you gotta adapt, especially if you work in difficult terrain.
August you’re such a Pro. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Damien’s laugh is the best 😂🤣
Nice cause for celebration!
Yes I always get that feeling in the pit of my stomach when a homeowner asks to help. Most of the time I say no unless it’s a very very small task they won’t injure themselves, me or my team, or their property.
Amazing skill and experience.
Well done august, you have balls of stell lol. i was sweating watching you coming through on the back cut juss staring at that crazy lean. awesome job
I always try keep a wedge or two on me while pulling trees to set in while i do my back cut, just incase something where to happen, at least tree would not wanna come back on you fast if lets say rope breaks. wicked job done.
You have some magical tree verbiage sir. Love the videos as always . Happy holidays to you the crew and your families brother .
Pin point accuracy.
Freakin' nailbiter! You're the man
So badass!
What’s up August 🤩🤠🤙🤙 merry Christmas mate!!! And team 🥳🥳💯🤙🤙💪🤠👍
Excellent vid. Huge🥜
Awesome video!
Beautiful job sr
From adding another element to the equation we should expect a reaction. We need to know it will be an acceptable response. That being said, thanks for keeping the wood one sixty fourth’s of an inch from us YuTubers August😊
That was crazy thinking cutting into that leaner without pretension and allowing the homeowner to pull but I must say you are a top notch tree man and I thought it would barberchair
Says right on the screen they pretensioned a Lot before doing the face cut, he also said if they didn't it would have fallen on the house just from the face cut 😊
Hey August, I been watching you off and on for years love the content! Not that you need my advise clearly you know what you are doing but a tip you might not have thought of whenever we have a real bad back leaner we needed to pull its a good idea to put your back cut a bit lower that your top cut to give you a little ledge and prevent pulling the butt of the tree off the stump in the event the holding wood was to break (i dont know if i explained that very well 🤷) Ive seen some bad ones where guys actually pulled too hard and pulled the tree off the stump 👀 Anyway I dont know if you will read this or not its my first time ever commenting 😂 FYI I grew up in the pnw cuttin timber so im not just another youtube "expert" ive pulled hundreds of trees along power lines or highways over the years. Keep up the good work! That homeowner actually did a good job and pulled nice and smooth! 👌