I knew Don Blair personally. He was a great arborist. I attended 3 of his rigging classes in the late 80's and early 90's. One of which was held at the Baltimore Zoo in Maryland. At the time I worked for the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. I worked there for 26 years, and was the driving force behind the College going from contracting Companies like Guardian Tree Service and Berlet Tree to forming it's own tree crew. I remained close to Don for many years after I retired from the climbing world. Glad to see his name is still in the mix today.
I started my own company this year and have a solo operation. I know how satisfying it is showing up in my truck with my "kill kit" (complete with mb speedline kit) and leaving at the end of the day with a tree dismantled. I love the feeling of having a rough idea of how it'll get done and knowing I have the skills to make it happen once I'm up there with whatever I run into. I'm unfortunately usually cleaning up by myself, less fun but satisfying all the same. 😂 I wouldn't trade this life for anything!
I have been doing that for the last two years trying to correct thirty years of neglect and encroachment of volunteer ash and cedar around the home and opening up the mosquito factory that surrounds us. Burning the scraggle is more work than cutting the useable wood! But the safety and being able to have pride ( and thousands of dollars in the bank, giving me an excuse to buy second hand saws) really has been worth the effort. She called in a ex school “expert “ who taught forestry and he gave a thousand dollar estimate for one tree. I told her “hold my coffee “ and grabbed the saw. Challenging but stirs the creativity!
Man seriously I’ve been watching all your videos for a while getting my first gigs as a tree worker/arborist and I have no words to thank you for your inspiration work ethic and faithful good will! It’s what are giving me the biggest joy to work and financial freedom to me wife and baby! Just waiting for another extra $ to get my 2.0! Aloha from Hawaii bro! Climb safe and blessings to family
Thank you for that video August. That's pretty cool I do a lot of solo work myself. I appreciate all the videos great motivation. God bless you and your family stay safe climb on brother💪🙏👍
I commented here before about emergency calls being my favorite. There was recently a small tornado with minimal damage. I was able to help multiple people remove trees off cars and houses. 21 years of serving people in need is the main reason I continue climbing.
Enjoyed the video. My kind of job. Excellent filming. Nice solo rigging and limbing. I do a lot of solo rigging....even when I have my faithful ground man along. Love the omni-blocks. I just got a new Husky 540i....like it alot. I now switch back and forth between my Echo DCS2500T and the Husky. The Echo is lighter and better balanced...great limber. The Husky has more pulling power and handles the bigger wood. Both make my life in trees a lot easier. Same for my Monkey-Beaver Harness. (Video review coming).
When you said…it would be nice to drive around and do this kind of job…”kill kit”…light, maybe quiet (as in Husky)..self rig…I smiled….because this is where I have arrived…sold all my Vermeer equipment…kept my truck of course and a smart dump trailer (as in small but for heavy loads)…what an amazing relief…in fact I still do big jobs but …no more road closing, no more deafening sound, no more huge monthly financial liabilities… just my skill. Money is indeed rewarding as well. Most rewarding is the customers reaction…because I pass the savings on…what I loved about this video…you pure…haha..and I do love the rest of the crew! Vision…!
There are a lot of those sweet gums and black gums on our property. The sweet gums leave a mess with the gumballs. The birds leave a mess after eating the black gum berries. Nice one man show.
So much good stuff here. Good one liners - good edit, and I learned stuff about liquid amber. They're beautiful trees, but it's definitely a beauty that takes work!
I like this kind of tree job/video because it's like my first tree climbing experience. By myself, next to and over my house and pump house, using branches and nubs for friction etc. Except a big pecan tree for me. I started using a Petzl Spin L1D which I like. Great fun to just figure things out as I go.
Lol …the classic hit man strikes again .. I love those kinda jobs as well it’s cool when you can work alone an knock out trees. That’s kinda why I do contract climbing. If you got one good ground man you can really do just about anything. It when you gotta pick the mess up is when the team coming together shines . It gets can get to alot when you gotta do the clean up as well
Another awesome episode - well said about solving problems you are always very good at putting feelings and ideas into meaningful words of wisdom. I certainly appreciate you August
Great videos man! You are an inspiration to me. I've been felling trees for over a decade now. I've learned so so many things from watching your videos. You show respect to your crew and family and they in return pay you make with respect. You genuinely care about the people you interact with. Keep up the great videos
Very well done, sir! NOT used to seeing you *ALONE* up, up in a tree! Good thing you had the *ORGANIC* new toy to help you out. I knew it was YOUR video as everything you cut and dropped landed FLAT - *AUGUST is in the house* ! Thanks as you just pleased 150K plus those who have NOT SUBSCRIBED yet! Hey *IT'S FREE* !
Great video I've been spuring trees since 98 and many times no ground man I pulled out my bag of tricks but ain't it every time you put on the climbing gear you're going to show people some tricks. Thanks for sharing from Michigan
nice to see you take down this tree. Back here in Holland by this tees all the time is braking out the top by hard wind. Nice to see the your back is dowing better.👌
As much as I want to be project oriented, family needs have forced me to be time oriented. So I'll set a timer alarm where if I'm working on something and the alarm goes off, I stop at the first possible stopping point.
You are so graceful in every move you make. I bulldogged so much for so long I’m paying for it now. It’s a art form not easily learned but watching you really is something I wish I could explain to the young guys. It never gets old watching you. I hope to visit that part of the country soon. This Florida grind leaves me wondering what it would be like where you’re at. To cool, best videos ever. I can’t bring myself to consume you and 3 others. I’m to inpatient to sit through nonsense doesn’t matter in real life what everyone else seems to think is how it really works on site
I’m just a solo weekend warrior so I always have to improvise to find solutions. Definitely enjoy figuring out the puzzles. Every once in a while I need help from the homeowner. My day job I’m extremely clock oriented. Put my 40 in and no more, I’m outta there. Working my own gig I’ll work myself to death.🤔
I’ve came down out of a lift and bucket before to unhook my lowering rope(rigging line) but never done that climbing but I barely ever climb. I have also used nubs to wrap the rope for extra friction, glad to finally see someone else do the last part
August, have you seen the solo rigging technique where you use slings to retrieve your lowering rope after each lower. It’s slick. Allows you to rig branches as long as you have enough slings for each branch
I'm a hobbiest not a professional, I was recently removing a 70 ft maple over the house Solo. Tried to manhandle a small log on a spar caught the back of the bar kicked it out of my hand into my roof. Should have tried harder to find someone to untie rigging. Seems I lack patience and experience, really should have known better. Anyway I learned a lot from this video, thanks.
Definitely project oriented. Dream about 8:00-4:00. 😂 seat of the pants… planning? We always find a way to get it done. As you know, Ten people will do a tree 10 different ways. I do a lot of things that I never see anyone else do. May share some someday. Maybe not… Stay safe working alone. Sometimes I do it. A local guy went out alone a while back. They found him deceased. Pinned in a tree the next morning. Work safe! 👋
Love the vacation planning. I am exactly that way. I don't like planning, because things never go according to plan anyway. Then people get disappointed when it doesn't go a certain way. I like problem solving on the fly, in the moment.
That is some heavy wood Great video August I cut a lot of those that fall after a wind storm but I want to start climbing I'm going to get a monkey beaver harness VERY soon
In Australia, we have a veteran journalist called Sally Sara (she'd probably hate that I called her that! 🙏), who reckoned that you only needed 2 things to travel anywhere - a passport, and a credit card. In her case, preferably a company credit card with a monster credit limit...😂
Hey August, got a question my friend, I'm in N.Zealand, how can I get my hands on the monkey beaver saddle? I haven't seen it in any store over here, thanks n stay safe bud
i could not get any company's to come out. Either to many trees or too dangerous over my house . So i bought the rope s flip lines spurs battery saw and did exactly what you did here, tied off the limbs. no damage and saved $1000s.
Thank you for the wonderful content as always! I don't remember you using a rope wrench and prussik before, what inspired you? I Really enjoy watching your creative and fun solutions as always!!!!
I’m sure this has been addressed previously and I could probably just look it up but I was wondering that as he(August) is removing limbs/branches off the main stem do you get the sense of feeling more at ease or stable up there because you know that you are removing weight (branches/limbs) as you go up? The thought being that I’m up here with the main stem currently supporting my weight plus the top of the tree that you are removing as you work your way up? Thanks in advance for this brain buster to be answered!
@@warped2875 but does it feel more stable when you have removed most of the tree canopy and what’s left is the climber hanging on the main stem without the tension of all the branches hanging on the main stem. It makes sense that the main stem is less likely to snap without all the limbs attached right because it doesn’t have all the extra branches but it also kind of makes sense that the stem would maybe feel more secure with the canopy still in place and as you start removing branches from main stem could you also be leaving more weight on the side you haven’t cut on yet?
I knew Don Blair personally. He was a great arborist. I attended 3 of his rigging classes in the late 80's and early 90's. One of which was held at the Baltimore Zoo in Maryland. At the time I worked for the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. I worked there for 26 years, and was the driving force behind the College going from contracting Companies like Guardian Tree Service and Berlet Tree to forming it's own tree crew. I remained close to Don for many years after I retired from the climbing world. Glad to see his name is still in the mix today.
It's good to be able to analyze the problem and proceed logically , not letting it get bigger than it is. Well played August.
I started my own company this year and have a solo operation. I know how satisfying it is showing up in my truck with my "kill kit" (complete with mb speedline kit) and leaving at the end of the day with a tree dismantled. I love the feeling of having a rough idea of how it'll get done and knowing I have the skills to make it happen once I'm up there with whatever I run into.
I'm unfortunately usually cleaning up by myself, less fun but satisfying all the same. 😂 I wouldn't trade this life for anything!
I have been doing that for the last two years trying to correct thirty years of neglect and encroachment of volunteer ash and cedar around the home and opening up the mosquito factory that surrounds us. Burning the scraggle is more work than cutting the useable wood! But the safety and being able to have pride ( and thousands of dollars in the bank, giving me an excuse to buy second hand saws) really has been worth the effort. She called in a ex school “expert “ who taught forestry and he gave a thousand dollar estimate for one tree. I told her “hold my coffee “ and grabbed the saw. Challenging but stirs the creativity!
August, your videos and all the opening monologs are just fantastic!!
I'm a "little old lady" who thoroughly enjoys your channel. Stay safe!
Except that I'm not little I'm an old lady who enjoys these active videos.
Man seriously I’ve been watching all your videos for a while getting my first gigs as a tree worker/arborist and I have no words to thank you for your inspiration work ethic and faithful good will! It’s what are giving me the biggest joy to work and financial freedom to me wife and baby!
Just waiting for another extra $ to get my 2.0!
Aloha from Hawaii bro! Climb safe and blessings to family
That tree looked almost like a trebuchet.
It appears solo gigs require more "monkey" than group projects.
Competence is a joy to watch. It encourages setting the bar higher in your own life.
It's fortunate that you like being in trees. That's where you often find yourself.
I heard that August is so tough he's got a brown bear rug in his bedroom. The bear is still alive.
That was a pleasure to watch. You are very good!! Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for that video August. That's pretty cool I do a lot of solo work myself. I appreciate all the videos great motivation. God bless you and your family stay safe climb on brother💪🙏👍
I agree, make a mess, collect, on to the next. Good job
That's the first sweet gum tree I've ever seen in the PNW.
I commented here before about emergency calls being my favorite. There was recently a small tornado with minimal damage. I was able to help multiple people remove trees off cars and houses. 21 years of serving people in need is the main reason I continue climbing.
Man, you just wanted to see if you still got it? Man, you do and never lost it. One man band
👍 Always enjoy your
perspective.
Special Ops August and
his MonkeyBeaver “kill-kit”
😎❤️🌲 great video
A pleasure to watch you work….thanks for sharing.👍👍
Thumbs UP to Don Blair and his Father the real UKE MEN! Don if you see this I am alive and well in Raleigh County, WV. God's Speed Sir.
Crushed it. So much skill. Thanks August!
Your tree mission ... should you choose to accept it ...
Enjoyed the video. My kind of job. Excellent filming. Nice solo rigging and limbing. I do a lot of solo rigging....even when I have my faithful ground man along. Love the omni-blocks. I just got a new Husky 540i....like it alot. I now switch back and forth between my Echo DCS2500T and the Husky. The Echo is lighter and better balanced...great limber. The Husky has more pulling power and handles the bigger wood. Both make my life in trees a lot easier. Same for my Monkey-Beaver Harness. (Video review coming).
Hey August, great work! Love the solo video! And appreciate the extra it takes to do the video yourself as well as the tree work.
When you said…it would be nice to drive around and do this kind of job…”kill kit”…light, maybe quiet (as in Husky)..self rig…I smiled….because this is where I have arrived…sold all my Vermeer equipment…kept my truck of course and a smart dump trailer (as in small but for heavy loads)…what an amazing relief…in fact I still do big jobs but …no more road closing, no more deafening sound, no more huge monthly financial liabilities… just my skill. Money is indeed rewarding as well. Most rewarding is the customers reaction…because I pass the savings on…what I loved about this video…you pure…haha..and I do love the rest of the crew! Vision…!
There are a lot of those sweet gums and black gums on our property. The sweet gums leave a mess with the gumballs. The birds leave a mess after eating the black gum berries. Nice one man show.
Watching those limbs snap like that just make my back hurt. My the tree gods watch over you and yours.
So much good stuff here. Good one liners - good edit, and I learned stuff about liquid amber. They're beautiful trees, but it's definitely a beauty that takes work!
I like this kind of tree job/video because it's like my first tree climbing experience. By myself, next to and over my house and pump house, using branches and nubs for friction etc. Except a big pecan tree for me. I started using a Petzl Spin L1D which I like. Great fun to just figure things out as I go.
Lol …the classic hit man strikes again ..
I love those kinda jobs as well it’s cool when you can work alone an knock out trees. That’s kinda why I do contract climbing. If you got one good ground man you can really do just about anything. It when you gotta pick the mess up is when the team coming together shines . It gets can get to alot when you gotta do the clean up as well
On to 150k subscribers soon August. Congrats!!
"improvised organic lowering device" 😁👍
Another awesome episode - well said about solving problems you are always very good at putting feelings and ideas into meaningful words of wisdom. I certainly appreciate you August
I like those jobs. It never is what you think beforehand. Great job. Stay safe
Great videos man! You are an inspiration to me. I've been felling trees for over a decade now. I've learned so so many things from watching your videos. You show respect to your crew and family and they in return pay you make with respect. You genuinely care about the people you interact with. Keep up the great videos
Fun for you, AND fun to watch 👍👍. Here and now problem solving with the tools at hand. Love it!
She stood back a lot as you cut. I like my solo work too!
Kiwi, down under. Love your videos. Thank you 😊
Very well done, sir! NOT used to seeing you *ALONE* up, up in a tree! Good thing you had the *ORGANIC* new toy to help you out. I knew it was YOUR video as everything you cut and dropped landed FLAT - *AUGUST is in the house* ! Thanks as you just pleased 150K plus those who have NOT SUBSCRIBED yet! Hey *IT'S FREE* !
Great video and commentary as usual. Thanks for the inspiration.
Great video I've been spuring trees since 98 and many times no ground man I pulled out my bag of tricks but ain't it every time you put on the climbing gear you're going to show people some tricks. Thanks for sharing from Michigan
great segment sir. you always amaze me. i get nervous just watching you wobble around in the tops.....lol. thanks for sharing.
Thats awesome! You werent kidding in the least saying that gum tree is brittle, crazy brittle holy cow. Looked like a lot of fun!!!!! Kick ass!!!!
Keep it up August! Thank you for the encouraging content!
nice to see you take down this tree.
Back here in Holland by this tees all the time is braking out the top by hard wind.
Nice to see the your back is dowing better.👌
@9:28 - As they say at the Pendleton RoundUp, "Let 'Er Buck!!!"
Note to self: Sweet Gum trees don't hinge for beans!
As much as I want to be project oriented, family needs have forced me to be time oriented. So I'll set a timer alarm where if I'm working on something and the alarm goes off, I stop at the first possible stopping point.
Great to see the “old school” come out to get the job done. Great job. Have a blessed day.
You are so graceful in every move you make. I bulldogged so much for so long I’m paying for it now. It’s a art form not easily learned but watching you really is something I wish I could explain to the young guys. It never gets old watching you. I hope to visit that part of the country soon. This Florida grind leaves me wondering what it would be like where you’re at. To cool, best videos ever. I can’t bring myself to consume you and 3 others. I’m to inpatient to sit through nonsense doesn’t matter in real life what everyone else seems to think is how it really works on site
Great skills on display by a master.
As akways wishing you go home safe and sound after these jobs.
Never thought to setup a little fork for friction. Nice rigging 👍
I’m just a solo weekend warrior so I always have to improvise to find solutions. Definitely enjoy figuring out the puzzles. Every once in a while I need help from the homeowner. My day job I’m extremely clock oriented. Put my 40 in and no more, I’m outta there. Working my own gig I’ll work myself to death.🤔
cannot stand a sugar gum spikey ball tree! All of them need to be pulled as they begin. Nice work!
Love my monkey Beaver saddle 1.0. Game Changer on my back
Not only is my guy a tree sniper but you also did a really great job on the edit mr hunicke. Good stuffs
Awesome job, I used to go by myself all the time in my bucket truck and a couple of times climbing. Great content and stay safe my friend.
mentioned everybody but truck drivers
I really enjoy watching your videos. I have been learning a lot from them. I am a wild land fire fighter for my day job but I climb on the side.
Man that Gum just SNAPS, crazy to see
I’ve came down out of a lift and bucket before to unhook my lowering rope(rigging line) but never done that climbing but I barely ever climb. I have also used nubs to wrap the rope for extra friction, glad to finally see someone else do the last part
Fantastic show of knowledge. Amazing that saw did so much work with only one battery.
That was fun to watch, see your rigging.
whenever I saw alone, I prefer to be by myself
lol
Seems like he could not have done this job quite the same way without help, so not exactly alone
Nice one phil. Long way down untie branches
I work in north Florida, I get to cut these amber tree's alot they call them sweet gum tree's here they are super heavy
With any luck there will be a nice BBQed rat on the table when you get home. Thanks for the video...
Hope the team are all well Sir
Interesting thoughts on the wallet and vacation. Imagine a vacation where you never use your wallet except for gas and potentially food at most.
Nice work!
cue the music, insert the like a boss glasses over August
August, have you seen the solo rigging technique where you use slings to retrieve your lowering rope after each lower. It’s slick. Allows you to rig branches as long as you have enough slings for each branch
Where can I see this in action?
Great video. You rock!💪
Magician!
I'm a hobbiest not a professional, I was recently removing a 70 ft maple over the house Solo. Tried to manhandle a small log on a spar caught the back of the bar kicked it out of my hand into my roof. Should have tried harder to find someone to untie rigging. Seems I lack patience and experience, really should have known better. Anyway I learned a lot from this video, thanks.
I'm not a troll.
I repeat, I'm nOT a troll.
Ok.
Definitely project oriented. Dream about 8:00-4:00. 😂 seat of the pants… planning? We always find a way to get it done. As you know, Ten people will do a tree 10 different ways. I do a lot of things that I never see anyone else do. May share some someday. Maybe not… Stay safe working alone. Sometimes I do it. A local guy went out alone a while back. They found him deceased. Pinned in a tree the next morning. Work safe! 👋
"Special ops....." with the Kill Kit. Love it! 😎👊
I can very much relate to that August.
Keep yourself safe! 😃👍❤🏍
Randy
working up high, alone... gotta know precisely what your doing, and do it with safe deliberation. Nice 👍
So good at your job
Good job August 👏 👍
Love the vacation planning. I am exactly that way. I don't like planning, because things never go according to plan anyway. Then people get disappointed when it doesn't go a certain way. I like problem solving on the fly, in the moment.
Just riveting on multiple levels. Who said learning's not fun? Whether you get to use it or not.
August ur a beast in the tree,I do the same stuff sometimes, especially when the ground guys move 2 slow or are busy you know
That is some heavy wood Great video August I cut a lot of those that fall after a wind storm but I want to start climbing I'm going to get a monkey beaver harness VERY soon
Sounds great!
In Australia, we have a veteran journalist called Sally Sara (she'd probably hate that I called her that! 🙏), who reckoned that you only needed 2 things to travel anywhere - a passport, and a credit card. In her case, preferably a company credit card with a monster credit limit...😂
Damn August, you act like you've done this before. Seemed like a lot of tree for 1 man. Great job though.
The 540ixp has been nothing but impressive to me. Curious about the 300 series batteries though.
Is that a sweet gum tree?
Hey August, got a question my friend, I'm in N.Zealand, how can I get my hands on the monkey beaver saddle? I haven't seen it in any store over here, thanks n stay safe bud
We sell online.
i could not get any company's to come out. Either to many trees or too dangerous over my house . So i bought the rope s flip lines spurs battery saw and did exactly what you did here, tied off the limbs. no damage and saved $1000s.
Neat vid, August…..using the tree as one of your tools. 👍
What rope did you use for rigging that one? Looked really flexible. Great job as always!
Scandere
Thank you for the wonderful content as always! I don't remember you using a rope wrench and prussik before, what inspired you? I Really enjoy watching your creative and fun solutions as always!!!!
I use whatever is laying around 🤷🏼♂️😁
that was one cool video , showing how to do it , stay safe
How are you releasing the rope from the branch once it reaches the ground?
first video im seeing you use this top saw. its a husky? how do you like it , reccomended?
It's good
August to the rescue and he saves the day!
I’m sure this has been addressed previously and I could probably just look it up but I was wondering that as he(August) is removing limbs/branches off the main stem do you get the sense of feeling more at ease or stable up there because you know that you are removing weight (branches/limbs) as you go up? The thought being that I’m up here with the main stem currently supporting my weight plus the top of the tree that you are removing as you work your way up? Thanks in advance for this brain buster to be answered!
His life line is tied in to the big redwood tree right behind the tree he is working on.
@@warped2875 but does it feel more stable when you have removed most of the tree canopy and what’s left is the climber hanging on the main stem without the tension of all the branches hanging on the main stem. It makes sense that the main stem is less likely to snap without all the limbs attached right because it doesn’t have all the extra branches but it also kind of makes sense that the stem would maybe feel more secure with the canopy still in place and as you start removing branches from main stem could you also be leaving more weight on the side you haven’t cut on yet?
Good job! Sill don't like battery powered chains🤔
great vidéos do not have to get chipper noise included,!