Cranes make the tree work go ’round.

More and more of our crews are boosting into the ridiculousness of crane work! This month, from our Sacramento tree service division, HugoMatt, and Kevin (who is being trained up by Devin) had some major takedowns with cranes.

Sure, we have our superstar crane riggers like RobDanny, and Chad. Who we throw at the most technical and hazardous jobs, but more of our crews, in more of our areas, are getting craned up and gaining valuable experience in the art of crane removals.

From a climber’s point of view, there are 3 things that are critical to flawless execution:

  • The ability to judge the weight distribution of the wood to balance tie-in points.
  • Knowing the strength of the wood at the tie-in points.
  • Knowing the crane’s weight capacity and limitations.

If these things are miscalculated, what could be at risk? All kinds of terrible things. This is tree work. And you don’t want your legacy to be the guy, or gal, who tipped the crane.Rob recalled from his earlier days, “I’ve had picks fail twice that almost killed me. The first one, I took an unnecessary risk. The second one, the limb at a tie-in point snapped, the cut flopped and couldn’t hold it.”

We asked Danny what close calls he’s had, expecting a crazy story, and he responded, “Nothing too wild, just maxed out the crane a bunch of times and rethinking if I should have cut a few less inches off the wood”. Not bad for a guy who rigs 8,000 lb chunks.

For our up-and-coming superstars (which are too many to name!!), challenge yourself, but don’t push the limits. Start small and play it safe. Learn your weights and capacity until you build confidence to rig bigger.

Then keep going, find someone else to teach, and continue to inspire the love of rigging success.