spikes kicked out yesterday

[BostonBull]

Murphy...

You may give someone the idea to design a gadget for climbers that is activated like of like an air bag in a car.

When the unit detects too fast of an elevation drop, it opens and air canister and fills a partial Pillsbury doughboy outfit.

At least around the privates

Careful what you wish for. Everyon wants OSHA to govern us. That is great I do in a way also. BUT the line industry has ANSI suggestions that this thing is the wave of the futur for climbers http://www.buckinghammfg.com/linemen/bucksq.html

It squeezes the pole so if you cut-out you hang in that position until you can get your hooks back in or someone can help you.

 

[moss]

Murphy...

You may give someone the idea to design a gadget for climbers that is activated like of like an air bag in a car.

When the unit detects too fast of an elevation drop, it opens and air canister and fills a partial Pillsbury doughboy outfit.

At least around the privates

Haha! Especially if it goes off at the wrong time, tough to explain why your underwear just inflated to 6 times normal size and your pants ripped off while you're standing in line to order coffee. "Ah, just a little gas maam, sorry 'bout that".
-moss

 

[Soul Assassin]

Good info

I like the angle of the Gheckos, and the spur design. I whacked a tree yesterday, left four inch stubs strategically placed for gripping while climbing, safety lanyard, lifeline and for just stepping on to rest from spiking the tree. A stub is also nice when you can just grab it, and wing the piece of wood into tthe truck.

 

[Sunrise Guy]

(snip) BUT the line industry has ANSI suggestions that this thing is the wave of the future for climbers http://www.buckinghammfg.com/linemen/bucksq.html

It squeezes the pole so if you cut-out you hang in that position until you can get your hooks back in (snip):

Man, I like that. Have you tried it or do you know anyone who has tried it on trees?

 

[BostonBull]

Man, I like that. Have you tried it or do you know anyone who has tried it on trees?

I hae never tried it on trees. It is a PITA to learn on. Once you get the hang of it its OK, but unclipping and reclipping around branches is also a PITA.

 

[burlman]

ya you'll always remember your first time, yes sex and your first time as a sliding tree hugger. I'm the ground man and faller, but my climber thought that I should get some in the tree expieriance, I tried it on this small diamater ash tree got the basics down and was working my way up the tree pretty well. except when we gat near the dead top and the bark was loose and I disn't get the spikes deep enough to hit wood. slid down about 10 feet in short sleeves. the spikes left 2 claw marks down the trunk. and the oder in my shorts wafted through the air.I rather remenice about the first sex thank you very much

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Man, I like that. Have you tried it or do you know anyone who has tried it on trees?

I've seen splicer make them with climbing line and rings, loks sorta-like a friction saver.

Best to use with a center D-ring vs a bridge, you can get closer to the tree

 

[coydog]

I had 2 instances when I was a linesman that I burned a pole. The first was BAD!! I burned a pole from about 25' up and bear hugged it the whole way down. I was picking slivers out of my chin and chest for almost 2 years, yes YEARS. Some of the creosote laced ones swelled up and got infected pretty bad.
The second time I cut-out on my way down free climbing like all Linesman do, and dropped ten feet. I pushed off the pole this time, and landed on a CATV power supply box and pt two gaff holes int he top.

I then went to a great co. They had a Boston Edison training group come in and freshen everyone up on their gaff climbing skills. Boston Edison is widely regarded as the best in the business back then for safety training. They would actually sell their videos to other utilities for help in training. I had been "climbing" for two years prior to this course. After this course I came to the conclusion that everything I knew about climbing was completly wrong.

Keep your hooks sharp, your toes pointed up and your knee at a 10-15* to the pole/tree when going up. Also remmeber to keep your knee locked while going up each step of the way. With your knees locked you can bring your hips as close to the pole/tree as youd like without cutting out. When coming down unlock your knee and 'drop' 2-3 feet and let your hooks do the work.

At the end of my Linesman career I was a safety officer for 3500 guys in my union, I ran a climbing "camp" and the CDL training program. Not bad for a young lad!

Stay Safe!!!

Hey Boston, so do they still teach the linesman to free climb in Boston? I know a few tree guys that went on to be linesman and I know that falls like you describe are not uncommon. The funny thing is one guy I know would never dream of free climbing a tree with hooks and he promptly busted some ribs freeclimbing up a pole a couple years into his apprenticeship, my understanding is you'll get hazed pretty bad if you don't freeclimb into position.

 

[BostonBull]

Hazing is part of it, the other part is the pole are smaller, and you have more control/feel.

Yes they do still teach free climbing at all major utilities around here. At the big ones you start off climbing 40' up a pole with just hooks and a fall arrest on, no belt/saddle. You are in groups of 5-8 guys. When one guy comes down he goes to the back of the line, and the next guy goes up. You do this 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, for at least 2 weeks sometimes 4. You can imagine what your legs and feet look like.

 

[adam]

Peeling out and getting scared and even worse taking one of those stubs you strategically left in the nuts just makes you remember to set them good or pull it out and reset it.

Almost 20 years ago my friend got his thigh ripped on a stub, but I still remember it like yesterday. I'm glad Mr. Murphy is ok.

 

[treevet]

Adam, I graduated from highschool in Peterborough and lived on a lake in a little town called Bridgenorth. Ever heard of that?. About 100 mi.s ne of Toronto. What an incredibly beautiful area and people much friendlier than I was used to in States. Walleyes just jump in your boat.

 

[adam]

Adam, I graduated from highschool in Peterborough and lived on a lake in a little town called Bridgenorth. Ever heard of that?. About 100 mi.s ne of Toronto. What an incredibly beautiful area and people much friendlier than I was used to in States. Walleyes just jump in your boat.

Ive never been there... generally further north you go, frendlier people you meet. Here in Toronto people are so nice, that in some areas you get uzi with apartment (ammo not included).

 

[pbtree]

Only happened to me once - and that was enough! Got scraped up a bit. but was able to stop the descent by gabbing a hold of a stub I had left on the way up...

Glad you weren't hurt dude...

 

[arboralliance]

yep...

mountain ash the big ol ones get a real thick bark down low then up high on the tall pole trunk bark gets real thin alomst paper and real hard timber so slipped one day, not yet over a branch at around 160' only 6" but sheesh spent months up there in them big timbers...

 

[treebogan]

Gaff sharpening,why just the outside?

I've been climbing for quite a while and have always sharpened both the inside and outside of my gaffs.Put the shank in a Vice and give each face of the gaff an even number of strokes,finnish buy filing the angle under the gaff a few times to keep its original angle.
I usually climb on 4" "Fir Spures" attached to Titainium shanks with loverly velcro pads,ooh how I love those pads!

 

[ddhlakebound]

Here's my understanding of why you only sharpen the convex underside of the gaff.

It is the curved/convex under surface which actually holds you in the tree. A sharp point is necessary to penetrate to the xylem, but once the gaff is in the wood, its the convex bottom which does the work.

When you sharpen the sides, you get a sharper, finer point on the gaff, but you are slowly reducing the surface area which is keeping your gaff from peeling out of the tree sending you for a slide. As this surface area is slowly filed away your climbers become less and less safe, because there is less and less surface area to keep your gaff planted.

After repeated sharpenings of all three faces, what holds well in one species of tree may peel right out of another.

 

[BostonBull]

http://www.bashlin.com/lineman/inspection.htm

 

[treebogan]

what about this

surely if you always sharpen the underside only,then because the gaff is thicker toward the shank the area that has to penetrate the bark is greater resulting in a shallower puncture and a less firm hold.Sharpening both sides as the gaff becomes shorter would mean consistent penetration when the same force is applied?I'm not trying to be a smart ar$e,the guys in the link kindly provided were linesmen and thus climbing telephone poles and the like which lack bark.

 

[jomoco]

surely if you always sharpen the underside only,then because the gaff is thicker toward the shank the area that has to penetrate the bark is greater resulting in a shallower puncture and a less firm hold.Sharpening both sides as the gaff becomes shorter would mean consistent penetration when the same force is applied?I'm not trying to be a smart ar$e,the guys in the link kindly provided were linesmen and thus climbing telephone poles and the like which lack bark.

That's when you knock out the shortened dangerous old gaffs and replace them with long fresh new ones. This is the logic behind wearing climbers with replaceable gaffs. It's a safety thing.

Work Safe

jomoco

 

[BostonBull]

I WAS a Linesman,and am now an Arborist. I have always been told by EVERYONE to only sharpen the bottom.