Spurs...when?

[mig]

Hi

My question is when using the spurs? Only in removal trees or in any kind of pruning work?

Thanks

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Some trim work, where it is a whole section removal, and you spike only that which you are removing.

 

[masterarbor]

removals only is the standard application. in another post i mentioned an example of an exception IMO. for example: a customer rejects your recommendation for the dead head, punky silver maple to come down and asks you to deadwood it for now, but there's no bucket access and no reasonable tie in. and you know that the tree is going to be dead in 3 years anyway. my attitude is i KNOW this tree is going to die and i have a better chance of living, so why put my life at risk in that situation? but there is no excuse for spiking a healthy oak or a beech. i don't really subscribe to that "it's ok to spike thick barked trees" thing, but some guys do. honestly, i prefer to climb w/o them. occasionally there is a situation when trimming when i might think, "i wish i had a pair of gaffs on right now". but it's never so tempting that i would compromise my ethics.
be safe, kevin
:rockn:

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

i don't really subscribe to that "it's ok to spike thick barked trees" thing, but some guys do.

For years I looked for a reason for it. I even got in trouble on the ISA site 9-10 years ago playing Devils Advocate looking for someone to take the right side of the debate and explain it.

I knew there was a reason it was still bad, but had to look for it. Phellogen, or cork cambium, extends pretty far into the bark flakes. Since this is a live tissue, cankers can get into this tissue and infect the tree.

 

[newb]

I'm with Masterarbor on this one. I had my TIP break on me from a Silver Maple that I tried to tell the customer was dead. After I fell 40 feet, he had me come back the next year to take it out. There are some trees that I won't hesitate to spike. Pete