gaffing, or 'hooking' question.....

[cableguy256]

Hi all... I have a question for the pro's here.... I have been helping my neighbor clear a lot of his land lately (98 acre wooded farm)... we have gotten to an area that is right on the road that has multiple wild cherry tree's and a few ash that are all approx. 80' and higher... now, my neighbor previously owned his own tree removal company back in the 70's and 80's... now on to my question.... i am a line-man for the local cable company and spend my day's and nights gaffing telephone poles and have a lot of experience on that end... my question is this... my neighbor wants to tie off to the tree's around 30' up and pull with his tractor while falling them to be sure they do not fall into the road.... are any of you familiar with the hooks used by us lineman and if they are safe to use for climbing tree's? any 'special' precautions I should take aside from typical ppe such as hard-hat w/chin strap, body/safety belt and 10" gauntlet gloves?

 

[clearance]

If the trees are thin skinned, maybe so.
Be carefull when falling them, have him just pull enough so your saw doesn't pinch, then cut, leave holding wood and get out. If he is impatient and really yards on it while you are cutting the tree may chair, not good.

 

[yooper]

ya they will work alright without problems.....learn a rappelling knot though so you dont have to climb down every tree after setting a rope...Also when yer up in the tree look around to where you can toss another rope in a tree so you dont have to climb that one too.!!

 

[cableguy256]

Thanks for the response guy's... it's appreciated. there is actually going to be three of us falling the tree's... one on the tractor, me climbing/tying off and my nieghbor doing the actual cutting since he is the most experienced with it... the rappelling idea is awesome... save half the wear and tear on my legs lol.... also, is it considered safe practice to climb 'free-hand' when hooking tree's? I always climb this way on poles, but then again our telephone poles don't have bark on them... lol

 

[yooper]

Bring 2 lanyards with you always keep one around the tree.....trees are different than poles! alot different! be safe dude its always fun to be able to breath...hell its one of my favorite past times☺

 

[yooper]

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ and always vote

 

[Mikecutstrees]

A throw ball works well too and could save alot of climbing. Be safe.... Mike

 

[cableguy256]

Bring 2 lanyards with you always keep one around the tree.....trees are different than poles! alot different! be safe dude its always fun to be able to breath...hell its one of my favorite past times☺

LOL... good point. I actually realized that I do have an 'old' (new condition) safety belt with a buck-stop on it that I'll probably end up using when climbing the tree's.. at least till I get a good feel for it. Ironically, I'm on the safety committee at work and take part in the training/certification of fng's when it comes to all heights working whether from ladder, bucket truck or gaffing. ....

and p.s. going to vote now

 

[yooper]

and p.s. going to vote now

thanks ...you are the man!!!

 

[cableguy256]

thanks ...you are the man!!!

no problem... done and done

 

[Nemus Talea]

I've used pole gaffs in both species, cherry is no problem but ash can cut-out bad if the short points aren't set at a hard angle. Keep an eye for the gaffs loading up bark, especially in the ash, those short gaffs will be all the shorter with wood and bark jammed in them.

As was suggested by Yooper take a climb line up with ya. A blakes hitch is easy to learn if you haven't already.

 

[cableguy256]

I've used pole gaffs in both species, cherry is no problem but ash can cut-out bad if the short points aren't set at a hard angle. Keep an eye for the gaffs loading up bark, especially in the ash, those short gaffs will be all the shorter with wood and bark jammed in them.

As was suggested by Yooper take a climb line up with ya. A blakes hitch is easy to learn if you haven't already.

Nice to hear someone else has used these types of gaff's on tree's before. Plus thank you for the pointer on watching for the bark build-up! I normally don't even look at my hooks anymore when climbing... little signs like that that I'm getting too comfortable with it and that's when accidents happen.

 

[Tree Pig]

You can get a line in the tree from the ground just fine and safer. Find an arbor supply company and buy some throw line and bags. Toss the throw line up in a tree run your pull line up and use a running bowline to secure it. For good strong pulling you should get it in the top 1/3 of the tree.

 

[cableguy256]

You can get a line in the tree from the ground just fine and safer. Find an arbor supply company and buy some throw line and bags. Toss the throw line up in a tree run your pull line up and use a running bowline to secure it. For good strong pulling you should get it in the top 1/3 of the tree.

Well, we did do it this way for a good portion of the trees but the ones that are left basically have no limbs until you get up about 50ft due to how packed this area was with trees, they only grew up, not out.

 

[ozzy42]

thanks ...you are the man!!!

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[Tree Pig]

Well, we did do it this way for a good portion of the trees but the ones that are left basically have no limbs until you get up about 50ft due to how packed this area was with trees, they only grew up, not out.

you can reach that without a problem with a throw line. But it is fun to just climb them and you have the experience. Get yourself a figure 8 and rappel down to save the climb down at least you can get some extra fun out of it.

 

[cableguy256]

you can reach that without a problem with a throw line. But it is fun to just climb them and you have the experience. Get yourself a figure 8 and rappel down to save the climb down at least you can get some extra fun out of it.

Yeah, definately going with the rappell line this time around lol.

 

[cableguy256]

I'll be going out tomorrow morning to start gaffin tree's to fall.... thanks for all the tips and advice and I'll let ya'll know how it turns out! lol wish me luck! :chainsawguy:

 

[cableguy256]

well, I'm still alive and came out with no broken bones or cuts so that's a plus! lol managed to climb 18 trees today.. only found one that I couldn't climb cause the bark was too thick..... just left that one standing for now but I found a buddy of mine that has an old pair of kline tree gaffs which I'm going to get off him sometime this week.

 

[Tree Pig]

nice work... watch out trees can become addicting.