Inoculator Dynamic Tree/Pole Gaffs

[skyhuck]

I really like the look of these, I had mistakenly thought they were sprung to absurd shock.

 

So do the they extend when weight bearing? While I like the idea, does the needle retracting as you shift weight not leave them less securely into the wood?

[jomoco]

Yes Sky, each step extends the inner needle up to half an inch, depending on whether or not you put your full weight into the step.

 

I find myself tiptoeing about with a very light step.

 

Remember I'm a 160 lb munchkin that only weighs in at about 200 lbs with all my gear on including my trimsaw.

 

You big boys may require a 7/16ths inner needle in a 3/4 needle housing cone!

[jomoco]

So I've gone from a needle sharpening jig requiring disassembly of the gaffs, vises and cordless drills, to an extremely simple manual carbide bit sharpener, that allows you to sharpen up your points with no disassembly at all. Just extend the needle, slide the sharpener onto it, give it a few twists, and presto, razor sharp gaff points.

 

With an inch of wear adjustability these gaffs should be considerably easier to keep razor sharp in the field, and last far longer between gaff/needle replacement.

 

Pole gaffs in the inch and three quarters range are just fine n dandy for sure footedness on barkless poles. But many tree species have bark thicknesses right in that range, particularly at the low and midrange mainstem trunk.

 

One of the reasons I believe a set of pole gaffs in the two inch plus range of penetration will kick out less than standard pole gaffs, particularly once a little acummullated bark builds up between the upper gaff attachment to the main body shank.

 

Gonna go all titanium on everything except the needles n springs, despite the added costs.

Somehow I think there'll be less corrosive forces at work between a steel needle encased in titanium, than steel encased in steel.

[jomoco]

So both sets of my titanium bucks are in the machine shop gettin modified.

 

Leaving me a bit anxious that the bat phone'll ring, and I'll have to footlock my next removal. Then I remembered sacrificing my oldest set of steel buck pole gaffs a few years ago on this round gaff project, getting the gaff angle too steep, pretty much ruining them, hanging them in the garage rafters as an expensive failure.

 

These old steel bucks with the hammer n pin replaceable gaffs are older than my tooltruck, 32 years, and were modified to take lower strap pressure off my left foot tendons going to my toes, following a horrendous motorcycle crash that severed those tendons.

 

A few years later after healing up, I cut the lower strap modification off the left gaff, pounded in some long tree gaffs, bought a new set steel buck pole gaffs, pretty much retiring the old set for use on thick barked conifers up in the mountains.

 

Having a set of the old hammer in pole gaffs gathering dust, I decided to attempt resurrecting my old 32 plus year old friends from their mutilated sleep in the rafters.

 

After considerable cutting, grinding and filing, I've managed to get them back to their original stock condition, at least pretty close anyway.

 

Many climbers like to razz me because I wear my lower gaff straps backwards, with the buckle end around my Achilles' tendon, rather than the top of my foot. I do so because that buckle puts pressure on the exact part of my left foot where all those severed tendons were sewn back together with permanent nylon sutures.

 

At any rate, should my bat phone ring in the next few days, my old friends and I are sharp n ready to rock.

[jomoco]

The crash!

[Gray git]

Lucky to walk away from that crash (no pun intended)

How long were you out for afterwards?

[jomoco]

I was out of the trees about 4 months, off my feet about 2 months.

 

The driver of the Cougar XR7 was a young 16 year old chick, freshly licensed, a six pack of Coors beside her, stopped in the oncoming lane, no turn signal, looking for the address of the party she was going to.

 

From my point of view coming at her from the opposing lane, I'm thinking what the heck's that car doing just sitting there so long? Kinda creeping me out, so I gassed my KZ900 to hurry past her, at the exact moment she saw the address she wanted and turned left in front of me. I don't remember the impact, just a feeling of weightlessness and the sound of air rushing by outside my full face Bell helmet. Just as I realized I was airborn I hit the pavement helmet first and slid along on my back for the longest time, coming to rest in a perfectly straight line from my bike embedded in her front grill some 125 feet behind me.

 

Cops said I musta hit her in excess of 50 mph. One police photo shows a single can of unopened beer on her dash from the force of impact. Luckily she had her seatbelt on and suffered little little more than a fat lip and bout of cryin hysteria from thinking she'd killed me.

 

My legs hitting and folding up my handle bars broke them both, but my feet hitting the sharp edge of the full fairing mounts is what tore and severed the vital tendons in both legs as well.

 

Funny thing is not suffering any real pain until they scraped me off the pavement with one of those fancy stretchers that slide underneath you from both sides and lock together, like a fancy pooper scooper. But once inside the ambulance, it didn't take long for me to convince the paramedic that I was not allergic to morphine, and to make with it post haste.

 

A very pivotal and fateful moment in my life that crash.

[jomoco]

I'm very pleased with my new titanium needle housings. The pole set's got a 3/4" OD and a 1/4" needle ID, while the tree set's a one inch OD and a 3/8ths needle ID.

 

Titanium's funky stuff from both a machinist and welder's perspective, requiring all kinds of rigid handling protocols being observed. A bit like magnesium in that it contains it's own oxygen supply, and will burn underwater.

 

Ever get bark build up between your gaff n shank limiting penetration depths until cleared?

 

By joining the needle housings to the shanks with titanium pieces milled like a splitting wedge with the blade edge pointing down, I hope to limit, perhaps even eliminate such bark build up from occurring entirely. So instead of a blunt half inch wide tight V between gaff body n shank for bark to build up at, it'll be a blade point edge pointing downward, with a wide blunt 3/4 inch mating point on the top.

 

I fully realize I've gone a bit overboard with this set of gaffs, but it's too late to stop now.

[silky fox]

They are beautifully designed Jo! Great machine work.

[jomoco]

Thanks Silky.

 

Having second thoughts bout just how sharp the edge of that splitting wedge like mating piece should be though?

 

Sharp enough to cleave bark, but dull enough not to cut expensive climbing lines!

 

Cuz you know Murphy's law'll get yu sooner or later.

 

Jomoco