Climbers, saw lanyards or no?

[BigUglySquirrel]

BTW, found 2 squirrels tuesday in a removal. They were pretty big, eyes still closed. Seems a little early for that around these parts, but what with the crazy weather we've been having. Made me wonder about the ones you were raising.
-Ralph

Crazy weather in these parts? Never. Sap is a runnin' already friend. Bradford Pear we did late in the evening today was well budded.....early spring. Except in Ohio....60 today...-30 tomorrow. Tuesday we'll have a high of 76 w/snow showers in the afternoon. Overnight low around 105. Only in the land of the Buckeyes...

 

[begleytree]

Crazy weather in these parts? Never. Sap is a runnin' already friend. Bradford Pear we did late in the evening today was well budded.....early spring. Except in Ohio....60 today...-30 tomorrow. Tuesday we'll have a high of 76 w/snow showers in the afternoon. Overnight low around 105. Only in the land of the Buckeyes...

excellent post! and so true...
-ralph

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

It was 40 and snowing today here. I was wrecking a maple and it was pouting sap down my neck in revenge.

 

[Sirpouralot]

If you do a by-pass cut on horizontal cut, sometimes called a "snap cut" or "pop cut", the limb can snatch your saw away. The trick is to make your second cut closer to the tree, so when the limb breaks away, the saw sticks to the tree instead of the falling limb.
Same with a notch on a horizontal limb, make the back cut closer to you, the saw will "hook" on the tree side of the cut.

Personally, I use a saw lanyard because I climb around for the next cut, while my ground men clean up the last. If I don't have a lanyard, and my 14 pound saw falls 90 feet onto a groundman, I'd have nobody to blame but myself.

Exactly
Once you learn that, you don't need to worry about losing another saw.

I always use a lanyard that is just long enough so that it doesn't restrict my reach. Any longer than that and it dangles to much and restricts your climb.

I have worked with many who just clip and un clip after each cut, and not only does it slow you down, I have watched them drop a saw now and again.

I know that the recommened Arborist practice is not to have the saw on a lanyard connected to yourself, but rather put it on a seperate line. But I have also noticed that almost always when I see a picture of the under and over method for removing limbs, they show the top cut being made up and over the bottom cut which can result in the saw being pulled away, as you have already stated. No wonder this is a problem in the industry, as they keep showing people the wrong way to make that top cut.

 

[Koa Man]

Exactly

I have worked with many who just clip and un clip after each cut, and not only does it slow you down, I have watched them drop a saw now and again.

I have found using a lanyard is way slower. To have a laynard long enough not to restrict your reach, it would need to be at least 40 inches long. I'm sure you are not just dropping your saw every time you need to have both hands free, so you are letting it down slowly to the end of the lanyard and pulling it back up, or clipping and unclipping it to your saddle anyway? And certainly climbing around with a saw dangling at the end of a lanyard is bound to hang up all the time and beat the h*ll out of the saw. I started out climbing over 20 years ago with a lanyard and dumped it a couple of years later.

It is extremely rare that I drop a saw, not more than 5 times in the past 10 years and can't even remember when I last did so. I also do not allow my groundmen to be under the tree when I am cutting. They use a 10 ft. pole with a hook to pull the brush away. If the branches are too big for that, I stop, give the all clear sign, and then they go pull the branches out. When they hear the saw start up again, they know they have 5 seconds to get out of the way before I start cutting again.

 

[Sirpouralot]

I have found using a lanyard is way slower. To have a laynard long enough not to restrict your reach, it would need to be at least 40 inches long. I'm sure you are not just dropping your saw every time you need to have both hands free, so you are letting it down slowly to the end of the lanyard and pulling it back up, or clipping and unclipping it to your saddle anyway? And certainly climbing around with a saw dangling at the end of a lanyard is bound to hang up all the time and beat the h*ll out of the saw. I started out climbing over 20 years ago with a lanyard and dumped it a couple of years later.

At 40 inches it hangs just below your feet. You don't have to have the saw dangling there when you scale the tree, you just clip it to your side. The purpose of the lanyard is that you don't have to unclip and reclip after every use of the saw, and limits the risk of losing your saw should you need both hands free such as during a slip.

If you were using the lanyard in the way you described, then no wonder you gave up on it.

By the way almost 30 years climbing, and only lost one saw. It was a Stihl 020T with that skinny little medal ring at the back of the saw. I had clipped into with my snap ring, and it slipped through the clasp. I was 90feet up in the top of a giant oak over a two story house, and it skipped off the roof and hit a giant boulder on the ground. It looked like a bunch of used pinball machine parts.
P.S. I threw a couple of saws out of tree before, but that don't count.

 

[JODY MESSICK]

I would rather not have one .I would just feel uncomforatble with it danglin below me. I think it would take the same amount of time to lower and pull up as it would to clip and unclip.

 

[Koa Man]

You don't have to have the saw dangling there when you scale the tree, you just clip it to your side. The purpose of the lanyard is that you don't have to unclip and reclip after every use of the saw, and limits the risk of losing your saw should you need both hands free such as during a slip.

That is just my point. If you are not clipping the saw to your saddle, you lowering it down and pulling it back the length of the lanyard. Don't tell me there aren't many times when you have to pull out the saw to go the opposite way around a branch because the lanyard is too short or will be in the way. I realize that it is safer for the guys underneath, but I explained that part of my operation already. There is no way having a lanyard attached to a saw is faster than having the saw free. Almost all the climbers I know don't use lanyards. I am not here to argue the point of whether or not one should or should not use a lanyard. My arguement is that using a lanyard is NOT faster as you stated. I use a captive eye non locking carabiner to attach my saw to the saddle....very fast. Even faster is some of the guys who use a big hook, no clipping needed....super fast, but I don't trust it.

 

[clearance]

I have always climbed with a lanyard, I got an idea on this site that I just put into use. I put a hook on the side of my saddle, now my saw just sits at my hip, easy to grab, if it falls it is held from the snap in the center back of my saddle. Cats meow.

 

[begleytree]

I have always climbed with a lanyard, I got an idea on this site that I just put into use. I put a hook on the side of my saddle, now my saw just sits at my hip, easy to grab, if it falls it is held from the snap in the center back of my saddle. Cats meow.

uh oh, you're picking up habits from us clearance! careful!!
-Ralph

 

[xtremetrees]

You should always have a saw strap I believe. I dont wanna drop a saw on a head from 90 feet up. Two attachment points on the lanyard And breakaway at say 200lbs. I have bent bars to a letter "L" after being pulled down 40 feet my keychain carabiner should prevent that.

 

[jmack]

I use the multi saw lanyard from Fresco.

It has quick disconnects so you can clip it to any saw, that you have the male adapter on. Its nice cuz when you use it on the ground it comes off easily and you dont need to worry about the lanyard hanging about.

It also will break away if you get your saw stuck in the kerf, but I just set up my cuts so that dont happen.

got one with the two connectors liking it thanks for bringing da good stuff

 

[jmack]

I would rather not have one .I would just feel uncomforatble with it danglin below me. I think it would take the same amount of time to lower and pull up as it would to clip and unclip.

the lanyard has a ring to clip to your saddle

 

[Grizzly]

my operation

I use a 6" lanyard for when I'm climbing. But when I need to cut a branch, I'll unclip it, fire it up and do my job. It can be a hassle to get it off when you have gloves on. It's how I operate and I feel that it is safe enough to do that for the jobs that I usually do. I will typically take the MS19T up for pruning and use the MS250 on the ground for clean up. They are both excellent saws to use for any type of tree trimming.

 

[Grizzly]

the lanyard has a ring to clip to your saddle

The ring is for the saw and you use the clip on your saddle to remove it. Yet I put a carabineer on the loop end so it was easier to connect and disconnect from the ring on the saddle.

 

[Koa Man]

You should always have a saw strap I believe. I dont wanna drop a saw on a head from 90 feet up.

If you are up that high, no one should be under the tree unless you give the all clear sign. If some idiot doesn't listen and something falls on his head and kills him, look on the bright side. You just improved the world's gene pool.

the lanyard has a ring to clip to your saddle

Yes, and both methods (lanyard or none) are almost equally fast with a slight edge to no lanyard

 

[Grizzly]

I have found using a lanyard is way slower. To have a laynard long enough not to restrict your reach, it would need to be at least 40 inches long. I'm sure you are not just dropping your saw every time you need to have both hands free, so you are letting it down slowly to the end of the lanyard and pulling it back up, or clipping and unclipping it to your saddle anyway? And certainly climbing around with a saw dangling at the end of a lanyard is bound to hang up all the time and beat the h*ll out of the saw. I started out climbing over 20 years ago with a lanyard and dumped it a couple of years later.

It is extremely rare that I drop a saw, not more than 5 times in the past 10 years and can't even remember when I last did so. I also do not allow my groundmen to be under the tree when I am cutting. They use a 10 ft. pole with a hook to pull the brush away. If the branches are too big for that, I stop, give the all clear sign, and then they go pull the branches out. When they hear the saw start up again, they know they have 5 seconds to get out of the way before I start cutting again.

What have you had the most luck with while climbing and cutting?
Do they make a lanyard that long or is it best to just use a strain of rope?

 

[tophopper]

Yes, and both methods (lanyard or none) are almost equally fast with a slight edge to no lanyard

Im not buying it....

how does a not using a saw lanyuard equate to being faster than using one?

 

[tophopper]

I use a 6" lanyard for when I'm climbing. But when I need to cut a branch, I'll unclip it, fire it up and do my job.

What you are using is not a true lanyard, but moreso a strap to hang the saw from.

 

[Koa Man]

Im not buying it....

how does a not using a saw lanyuard equate to being faster than using one?

I already answered that question earlier in this thread.