Tauntline Hitch Appreciation Thread

[treehugger01]

what wrong with that method.?
Do you suggest having one safety and limb as you go up?
I limb as I go. Unless there is overhang or limbs to be cut in half to be gone out on, I rarely tie in at all to be quiet honest.But I love it when I do.I feel much safer tied in twice thou most jobs dont call for. If you suggest i safety in at every limb I come to to get to the top to tie in thats about 20-30 clippings alot can go wrong there.
Cheers

 

[Ax-man]

Another excellent post Rocky,, you have made a number of them lately ,, I'm starting to lose count

 

[MasterBlaster]

20 years ago none of the climbers around used lanyards. We thought they were for sissies. We didn't even use 'em in a bucket. All we climbed with were our ropes. That shows how good the training was back then.

 

[treehugger01]

What does the ANSI say about removing dead pines?
Maybe this should go under another thread.I remeber a multi-million dollar powerline contracting company employee had a few days off and worked with us. He says sure I'm a great climber. I been trained by (*&*&& company. Kool the boss says go hang a rope in that thar pine and come on down.
I hang a couple ropes and wonder where he's at.
I see he is up in the first tree. Dude I say you aiight.
All of a sudden *thaaackkk* he hits the ground about 3 feet from me.
Dude you aiight i say?
"Sure i guess."
All that training paid off i see your ???? fast buddy. heh
He fell about 25 feet lucily he landed on his feet.
Power companies tree crew are the worse trained bunch of hack Ive ever met.
Where on the net is there fatality rates.
Where on the net is their injuirey list annually>?
Where on the net is their standard training program guides for training?
More folks get hurt within the line clearance communities than our I'm sure of it.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Dude called the other night, lives 5 doors down, has small bucket service, wanting to know if he could borrow/buy a lanyard (i've made him several); it is all his climber needs.

The next day an old familiar face shows up, to pick up the lanyard. A fella that had worked part time some time ago with us. He's convinced this guy he can climb (pretty healthy, some sense); and wants me to give him a 2 minute lesson in tying the climbing hitch so he could make the big bux!

i told him anyone i ever walked thru that made it 50x on the ground and still it looked different at 50' when you realize you're gonna sit on it etc. He kinda left like i was holding him back, maybe try to control the amount of available climbers in the area or something. He left me wondering about the worst of 2 evils, promising he'd figure one out etc. i remember my buddy Stretch telling me about showing a guy how to tie in and the guy went out and got hurt right away........ that was 10 year ago or so. so we always said that wasn't the way.

But then i got to thinking, he coulda grabbed a Sherrill catalog, looked on the net, tied it once for practice and been full fledged ready for battle.

So, anyone comes around asking, ya slap it on 'em? give'em a catalog and light a candle?

 

[Lumberjack]

Originally posted by TheTreeSpyder
So, anyone comes around asking, ya slap it on 'em? give'em a catalog and light a candle?

I bet giving him the catalog would release you from liability, while keeping a friend. By showing him the catalog with the knot, you showed him the correct way to tie the knot. So it is up to him to tie it, just like many climbers every day.


2 candles, one for him, and the other for the knot.

Carl

 

[topnotchtree]

Hey treehugger, saying line clearance guys are poorly trained is wrong. There is a 30 month program to get a journeymans card around here through the IBEW. I will admit there are some guys I have worked with that don't deserve groundmans pay, let alone a journeymans pay, But most journeyman on the utility property that I work on are very capable of doing treework, and are ????ed good at it.

 

[treehugger01]

No Doubt brother!
I have more respect for tree men around lines than any other trade. Theres is a different game alltogether. Being that close to "immenent" death was just too nerve racking for me. To do it for months years at a time for me is unconcievable.

Power line tree workers should be the highest paid in the industry
"For me to say these guys are poorly trained is wrong."
It is what I've seen down south. I am refering to the big companies such as Asplundh and Davey policies. Especially when they lay on the ground with 1 years experience lucky to have landed on their feet.

 

[topnotchtree]

The line clearance contractors do not condone the use of modern equipment because they do not want to pay for the proper training to teach the employees how to use it. We have had 2 guys fall this year because they were using newer techniques they were not properly trained in. I was introduced to the blakes hitch a few years ago and now that is about all I use for climbing. I am not supposed to use anything but the TL hitch but I still do. We are getting better lifts to make our jobs easier though. 2 yrs ago we got a 70 foot high ranger with the scissor lift. That is a sweet truck! This last spring we got a new back yard lift. It is trailered to jobsite. It has 4 hydraulically driven wheels and is about 5 feet wide and reaches almost 40 feet.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Since Mike corrected his post, maybe someone could post the Blakes and Sui-slide next to each other for better refferance.

 

[geofore]

where?

Where on the net is there fatality rates? Don't know but this is well worth a read and it's long. www.cdc.gov/niosh/injury/traumalgface.html
I sometimes disagree with their analsis of what went wrong and what to do to correct it, they are better than most at it.

 

[Joe]

Originally posted by John Paul Sanborn
Since Mike corrected his post, maybe someone could post the Blake's and Sui-slide next to each other for better reference.

Nick showed the difference between the 2. It looks like Nick's post is corrected as well.

 

[NickfromWI]

Originally posted by John Paul Sanborn
Since Mike corrected his post, maybe someone could post the Blakes and Sui-slide next to each other for better refferance.

Originally posted by NickfromWI
...and you'll never want to tie the Tautline again!

Looks like the picture Mike showed was indeed wrong. He showed what many refer to as the sui-slide

This one is correct...

love
nick

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Splain to me the differance 'tween those two knots?

The both trap the bridge and working line.

 

[NickfromWI]

You know, the more I look at it, it sure seems like both knots are identical.

I think Mike threw us off because his picture shows the last going over the bridge, behind the climbing line, then when it goes under the two coils, it is in front of the climbing line, instead of behind it as it should be.

I tied the knot loosely the way Mike shows, then when you tighten it down, it looks just like the one below it.

However, there seems to be some funny-business going on here.

If you go back and look closely at the pics Mike supposedly posted it seems like there was some photoshopping going on.

See the link below if you don't believe me, or go back and look at Mike's pics.

So, what's going on!?

love
nick

 

[Ax-man]

Mike's picture is wrong, the tail should be behind the standing part of the line. Even though Mike's picture is wrong I still don't see how it could fail if properly set and tensioned on the host line. I'm sure if you were to "jam the tail " and set the brake it would hold you in place and prevent a fall.

I think where all this sui-slide talk is coming from is some one has just wrapped the coils and tucked the the tail up into the bottom two coils with out forming the bridge. Wheather the tail is in front or behind the standing part of the line is a minor detail in the knot's performance.

 

[NickfromWI]

Ax-man, grab a piece of line and tie it as mike has shown in that pic. When you snug it up, the final tuck seats itself where it should be. It does not stay on top like I earlier assumed it would.

love
nick

 

[NeTree]

Nick-

Mike's ORIGINAL picture was incorrect, and yes... it was photoshopped. I believe he mentioned he had done so in the interest of not creating any further confusion for those not as familiar with this hitch as some of us.

The picture you viewed above the B&W pic as incorrect- isn't. The hitch is simply loose and hasn't been set and dressed yet. Once you pull on the tail the line comes 'round the back.


Ax-

The tail belongs behind the standing part. Tie it both ways and test weight to it- you'll see a difference. And a Blake's is tied only one correct way, by definition. Anything else is a variation.

 

[Ax-man]

Your right Nick, that bend where it enters the two bottom wraps forces the tail behind the standing part every time. I even loosened all the wraps and put the tail on the far left of the standing , results are the same when the knot is tensioned.

 

[NickfromWI]

Ok, mystery solved.

Now I can go to sleep.

love
nick