Gentle persuasion over time

[JR.]

I understand the relief when the last one is down.
I lived this at a place of mine and the place of a son.
One uses to keep the most difficult tree, last.
As you had, nobody hurt ( and a chain saw blade bent ).

Yesterday when it started to rain (got 1/2") I drove over to my small motor whisperer to put a sharp edge on both my chainsaw blades and look at the bent bar. He put it in his vise and got it pretty straight. Charged me $10 which is typical $5 ea to sharpen the saw blades. My blades weren't dull but now they are really sharp. I'll check out the straightened(?) bar later.

The tree trunk is now safely on the ground but still another day's worth of work cutting it up, rain put out my fire. The green heavy wood will be difficult to get going again.

JR

[JR.]

I'm glad you're OK JR.

I had a large arm on an Oak in my backyard drop this weekend during one of our many rainstorms.

lots of dropped limbs this year. They are predicting heavy hurricane season this year, we've been lucky last few years with storms veering north into the Atlantic (must be global warming).

My big problem is trying to figure out what to do with all the brush since I can't set it out curbside for collection until June without the risk of getting cited.

I am constantly burning limbs from my only one acre.

Dallas has a work-around for storm-related debris set out for collection early: You put it out then report your own code violation.
An inspector comes out and then decides whether or not its legitimate.
If they figure you're on the up and up they report that they didn't find any evidence of a violation and close the ticket.
The ticket-gaming system worked pretty well until I got a dumb-ass inspector who was unaware of the "policy."
Dallas is a remedial jobs program incorporated as a city.
His big mental barrier was "Why would you turn yourself in?"

That is a fair question. Here in small town MS most people just pile up the fallen wood on the side of the road, and the town comes around with backhoe and truck, to cart it off. My one neighbor has a pile of tree branches sitting for almost two weeks. In a small town these piles of wood are pretty obvious, and people living outside the city limits generally just pile it up somewhere. I personally practice self help.

I've always sent pics of the downed material and evidence of a break.
They like to see a log with a jagged, broken end as well.

I'm keeping the firewood.

If you have a log splitter I have some great firewood for you. I haven't had a fire in my fireplace this century.

===

This should almost be in the entropy thread... I tried to repair the come along yesterday by rethreading in the strap under the center post. The strap was too thick to do that, so I took it apart in case the center post was removable (it wasn't). Perhaps the strap was thinner when new or come along was designed for a thinner strap. I needed to glue/secure the strap to the spindle... once a second turn tightened around it it would hold.

This is cliche, but I fixed it with a piece of gaffer tape. I folded a short piece to make a DIY double sticky tape, then stuck it to come along spindle. It held like and champ and the come along is back in service. I may look for a replacement strap, but not now.

JR

[mediatechnology]

It is a fair question and one I answered as I explained - in advance - their ticket-gaming procedure.
He still didn't understand it after going through it 2-3 times so I asked him to have his supervisor explain it.
It was pretty obvious I didn't self-report because I wanted a visit from him.

I finally diverted his attention from my brush pile to all the obvious code violations that had been reported by neighbors where Code Enforcement didn't do anything.
I went through the entire list.
By the time I was done he couldn't wait to leave and I never heard anything from him again.

They cycle through employees like water so I'm pretty sure I'll get another newbie this time hence my apprehension.

[JR.]

I just connected a couple widely spaced dots...

Dot #1 I had difficultly rethreading the 1" wide nylon strap back into the come along, as if it was too thick for the design.

Dot #2 occurred a few years ago when the come along was new... The thickness of the 1" wide strap built up to the point where it wedged against the steel guard.

In hindsight replacing standard 1/16th" thick nylon strap, with 3/32" thick nylon strap will roll up 50% thicker. The 3/32" is rated for significantly heavier pulls. 1/16th" is more consistent with the come along 1 ton rating.

I just tried to measure strap thickness and it isn't easy, but folding multiple layers together I can safely estimate that it is not 1/16" and is more like 3/32" thick.

I wrote a nice note on the original manufacturer's contact form... I do not expect much but it made me feel better.

Come along is now working so no hurry.

I did find a cheap ratchet strap using the 1/16" 1"x25' strap for around $25, so I could buy that and just throw away the ratchet but that seems wrong.

Another observation is that 25' is kind of long for the application,

JR

[update] I just found a 30 yard length of 1" x 1/16th polypropylene rated for something like 900#, for only $9. that'll work. [/update]

[JR.]

No good deed goes unpunished...

7:30AM my neighbor that I pulled out of his rain ditch a few weeks ago with my come along, called me to help him winch his mower up onto his trailer. Which means I had to winch it up and on.

I got to test my new replacement strap and it worked as planned. I have been trying to keep him from from becoming dependent on me... I used to do things for his parents, now RIP, but he is a grown ass man...

JR