Which Gaffs

[Darrin Turnbull]

 

Which gaffs do you all prefer.?

[Mountain man]

Mine appear to be American gaffs, judging by that photo at least.

[tree-fancier123]

is it ever acceptable to spike up a tree to cut bits off if aim is to retain(prune, re pollard etc) I mean are any species going to not be bothered about it too much? Just wondered as with a lime, poplar, chestnut, re-pollard so many wounds anyway, or is it when spikes go into trunk cambium danger of innoculating with nasties or opening main trunk up to air borne insects and fungi/bacteria?

[john p]

is it ever acceptable to spike up a tree to cut bits off if aim is to retain(prune, re pollard etc) I mean are any species going to not be bothered about it too much? Just wondered as with a lime, poplar, chestnut, re-pollard so many wounds anyway, or is it when spikes go into trunk cambium danger of innoculating with nasties or opening main trunk up to air borne insects and fungi/bacteria?

 

 

No one likes seeing big old cat scratches down the trunk where you've gaffed out,

[Perkins]

The spikes come with the short American style gaffs as standard, and I've found they don't protrude as far as my bashlins, which have a spacer welded on the side of the leg-iron. I found the short American gaffs to gaff out a lot, so have recently changed to the long gaffs, not shown here. I used a contract climber years ago who used the euro gaffs but I thought the long ones were better designed to slip further into the timber rather than tear a strip off. The long gaffs are still just short enough to not stab in the ground when walking around.

[tree-fancier123]

No one likes seeing big old cat scratches down the trunk where you've gaffed out,

 

thanks, good point

[Huskyman]

Mine came with the European style spikes. I like them a lot.

[born2trot]

is it ever acceptable to spike up a tree to cut bits off if aim is to retain(prune, re pollard etc) I mean are any species going to not be bothered about it too much? Just wondered as with a lime, poplar, chestnut, re-pollard so many wounds anyway, or is it when spikes go into trunk cambium danger of innoculating with nasties or opening main trunk up to air borne insects and fungi/bacteria?

 

have to admit now big , horrible Lombardy's i ladder up as high as i can then spike the rest . Sorry but its the way it is sometimes ( i try and only put the spikes in enough as to get me up and anchored in )

 

PS . Big money paying private customer then this is a different ball game ..

Edited March 10, 2015 by born2trot

[tree-fancier123]

have to admit now big , horrible Lombardy's i ladder up as high as i can then spike the rest . Sorry but its the way it is sometimes ( i try and only put the spikes in enough as to get me up and anchored in )

 

PS . Big money paying private customer then this is a different ball game ..

 

thanks for info - good to know for the pops, not done one yet, watching one in a customers garden in the wind, didn't like the look of it.

Also appreciate the comment about not if it's somewhere a bit posh