Spikes/gaffs

[TREETX]

Sorry, I though savanah meant Georgia. That makes me a real smart ass. Kinda like you pop quizzing me on Maples.

I have been eat up with the smart ass lately. Apologies, I really don't want to start an online spat that kills a thread.

I mean really spreading, no definite stem or "stick". Yet still tall.

I use spurs to disassemble sticks but that is about it.

I think that I am thinking "trees in central TX" and you are thinking "trees in Brooklyn."

I spiked the shiznit out of a lot of trees in Germany and Austria. But there the trees are predominantly excurrent (up and down with a true stick). Those trees had these wierd things called branch collars too - not much of that here, not with definition.

There were also pines, fir, and spruce which we don't have in Austin.

 

[kf_tree]

treetx,
i do live in savannah, ga but i do not work here. i recently moved here from ny. so far i made 2 road trips back to work. i could make in new york in a week what would take me a month to make in ga. i have an offer to get flown up every other week or so in the spring. plus get a car when i'm in town. not too shabby eh.

with all the live oaks i savannh i'm glad i don't work here. the dam tree's are twice as wide as they are tall.

 

[TREETX]

Originally posted by kf_tree
treetx,
with all the live oaks i savannh i'm glad i don't work here. the dam tree's are twice as wide as they are tall.

Welcome to my daily headache

Not shabby at all. Hired guns are usually used for big removals, I am ASSuming that you are no exception - explains a lot about spikes, etc. (not sure about the etc)

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

how would you chunk down a stick?

I can stand in crotches better without them, so the spar is all i will use them for. I can climb the tree better then you can since you have lived in gaffs, so it may ballance out.

With pullies and a friction break I can get big limbs down fast, and the entire crew does ont ahve to work hard. It is easy to pull the load away from the tree when not in a natural crotch.

 

[kf_tree]

is this changing to a dam pulley thread now? i didn't say any thing about pruning. i just wanted to know why people choose not to use them on removals? why pull your self through a tree when its so easy to just spike your way around. one day this spring i'm going to have to find a climber to watch. even down in savannah the 2 tree svc i saw working were spiking on prunings.
the spikes are also a tool to gauge the punkyness of the wood your one. a few weeks ago i was in a nasty willow where my 3 in spikes were just sinking all the way in and ripping out. needless to say i had to change my game plan. if i was pulling my way up i would not have known that. you should have saw that wood shatter when it hit the ground. i understand and applaud you guys that don't spike prunings. but why nock them for removals?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Because it is what I know, I say that I can work better w/o them.

Get to the spar, I get the spikes or my buddy takes over to share the work load, or we just pull it over.

In pullies I mean for rigging the loads down.

Tree climbing is like aid climbing for me, I can manage the forces on my bodey much better and use much less effort.

sorta like the differance between climbing an ice face with just cleats and axe or doing it with rope aides. it's a loose anology, but I can move around the canopy much eaiser onrope.

 

[kf_tree]

the thing is its odd that i get to drop a stick. i usually end up chunking them down. also i'll be dammed if i'm gonna let some one finish a tree i started. is it that your not comfortable in spikes? it's ok to admit it...
i find it odd when you say "but I can move around the canopy much eaiser onrope." i still tie in as high as i can but instead of looking for crotchs to put my feet in i sink a spike where ever i'm comfortable. on a removal i just see it as more efficent. sorry but i won't believe other wise until i see it.



ps....just poking fun at ya about the not being comfortable in spikes comment.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Actualy I've admited it on a number of occations. I much rather prefer not havin them on, I use them so seldom.

I can block a big stick down, though I'm happy to let someone who does it more often take care of it. I think this "My Tree" stuff is a load of whooie, a team effort is what it is all about. I can rig/crash a top out rather fast, I just see it as pruning on a larger scale. I'm blocking a spar a few times a month so the skill sets are not that polished.

 

[Ryan Willock]

i removed a nasty 18'' elm today and use my gaffs to go up the 15' to the first limb but from there after i tied in i took them off and lowered them to the ground. in some trees its just easier to climb without them. i would have gaffed myself at least twice moving around in the elm going from branch to branch if i'd had them on throught the climb

 

[kf_tree]

for the most part when i work i'm the only climber. the guy that i learned from would not come out of the tree untill he was done. if it took 5or 6 hours then he stayed up for 5 or 6 hours. so i kind of adapted the same ethic. just tie on some water and smokes when ya gas my saw up.

 

[kf_tree]

ryan, all that says is your new at it. how are you going to get used to them if you don't wear them? after a while you won't even think about it, you'll just use them.

 

[TREETX]

I think we have species differences, but I can remove a tree f'n fast without em. Just NEED them to piece a spar with is rare. Austin is very urban but not that Euro or NY,NY kina urban where there is no room to fell a spar. Most of the time there is enough room to fell a spar here in Austin.

Gaffs stick in people. Kinda like chainsaws. If there are not necessary, why use em.

In the Sherrill catalog, it even mentions that gaffs should not be used in lieu of proper climbing techiniques.
(not that a catalog is an authoriti)

you can tie on a saw, and water, but how do you tie on a cigarrette?

 

[kf_tree]

with the old three strands just open the rope a little and slip it in. with a climbing line just tie any old knot and gently slip it in. it works.

 

[Stumper]

kf, I have been climbing for decades but just started using gaffs this year (removals only). Frankly, I am not a very good climber. I've done it for a long time but I don't scamper around the big trees. The spikes are nice on a lot of removals. I regret the many spars I chunked down without gaffs.(Yes there are ways but gaffs are better for that situation.) However a lot of my climbing career has been spent in trees that I could simply walk around in. In trees like those, gaffs would simply be in the way. We all tend to adapt what we learn to the conditions we routinely encounter. Sometimes it is hard to get things in perspective when common conditions are different from what we have grown accustomed to. Gaff climbing was that way for me. I suspect you find gaffless climbing equally foreign but don't dismiss the unfamiliar things too quickly.

 

[Ryan Willock]

kf, i'm very familar with them. i can climb pretty quick with them too, now i know that most of you can probably out climb me in any style but as long as i get the job done SAFELY thats all i care about!!! this elm wasn' t but about 40' tall any way and it had a TON of limbs, so after i'm in the canopy why use them in a tree like that??? didn't even need them to block it down.

 

[kf_tree]

ryan,
please don't start this tit for tat thing. wasn't it just a few weeks or months ago that you were asking about tips for climbing with spikes? i'll leave it at that.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Ken, just ignore it if you see it. the best way from stopping it from going on.

Mr. Moderator

 

[Jock]

I used climbing spikes for the first time a couple of weeks ago to take down 2 Noble Firs about 80-90' ....didnt like them, either did my ankles!! ended up taking them off half way up and free climbing, I thought was less painfull and much easier, although probably on a larch or a pine i'd probably persevere......Jock

 

[Ryan Willock]

true, I haven't been climbing on gaffs for very long but i'm not stupid either. i can tell you whats easier for me, now things are probably differant than what you like.:angel:

 

[Jock]

when did you last see a monkey climb with a rope and harness....and if it wasnt ... was it wearing gaffs?