Grais

A slack tending pulley is not a luxury, its a neccesity. Theres no point learmning the old hard way, if hes never going to actually climb the old hard way, being as he is into rec climbign, I doubt he be learning the old way. Rec climbing and work climbing are two very different things, but I would say the average rec climber now has a better gasp of basic rope techniques than a lot of 'work' climbers. Id find one of these kind lads who live near bye and can help you determine the system you will learn to climb on, and maybe it will be the 'old hard way', but it doesnt have too, there are many ways to skin the tree climbing cat. Good luck,.

I think its all in how you use it, as shown, I dont think Mike is backed up, but for work climbing anyone with half a brain would be backed up by a prussic, a'la footlocking, no ? It is damn fast no denying that, I think theres something there actually, for them super long ascents into the canopy I never get too do...lol.

Lol.....ya think... I honestly think a big plastic, make that hollow plastic box on the side of my harness would last a day or two in the tree, forget the truck. How many times is the sidewinder going too take my 200 pounds slamming up against it ? I use things that I think are BOMBER, if it does not say bomber to me, it dont go up tree, period. To some the Sidewinder may be plenty bomber, we have differnt opinions, that is OK I hope. Maybe if they made it out of steel??? Truth is I have never really seen a need for a way to quickly stow my lanyard, save for a ditty bag to stuff it, and thats more for on the ground. Up in a tree, to flick 15 ft of lanyard out of my way take me 3-5 seconds ? I guess it just does not fit my climbing style, I use my lanyards, well the one is used like a short climbing line, throw line in one, the other usually a steel core. I will throw the lanyard/line up the tree to advance my TIP, using the rope clip on the end as the throw weight, in a good tree I can advance it ten feet no prob, having to constantly pay out slack to make the toss would be a lot slower and more tedious. I am glad people find the sidwinder useful, Im guessing thats why P.C. has started selling them, but its just not for me I guess.

I would not be surprised if in a short bit the tree gets pollarded, if it was me and I was paying said landscaper to do the job, Id be pissed when I got home and the tree was still standing there in the drive ? Wouldnt you ? The right thing to do for the tree was actually pollarding IMO, its a piece of crap, pollard it down, and at least its a smaller piece of crap. I have no problem with the thinning, the work you did was fine work, just the attitude of I know better then the customer what they want. Thats a poor attitiude and one I see shared by a boat load of climbers, or arborists(sorry). There are cases of the customer wanting the wrong thing, it happens, but this was not one of them.

ummmmm, I dont get what yer saying. If you consider removals brainless work, maybe your in the wrong industry. As is, soon youll be injured with an attitude like that. The customer wanted the tree pollarded like it was the last time. You thought you had a better idea, and you wasteed a bunch of time trying to get a sickly tree to look like a sickly tree, perhaps next time youll have learned from this and possibly give the customer what they asked for, a pollarded tree. Think before you pull the trigger.

If you want to try a poormans version, a stowable lanyard I guess you would call it... a large ditty sak(I like the Buckingham one with elastic top) will take 15 feet of whatever lanyard you like. Not as convenient as the Sidewinder but a whole lot tougher, and faster than a DC. I like the idea of the SW, but for myself I know it would get broken. Not by climbing mind you, space is always at a premium on the trucks and that means climbing gear frequently gets crushed, that would be my prime concern. Kids have no respect for other peoples stuff...lol. My own truck where the saddle always hung in a safe place no problem, Im sold.

I work utility in Canada, you must be secured with two tie in pointss, unless you are secured with single wire core lanyard ? I would guess that is why a lot of guys use one here. I use a WC and a regular prussic set up on a 15 ft piece off XTC as a secondary. As far as non conductive lanyards go, if the tree is close enough to me that I can contact it with my lanyard, generally, it is going to be cold. To worry about non conductive lanyards is counter intuitive when limits of approach must be maintained. Years ago, before someone actually thought it through, they tried the non conductive lines and lanyards thing, but someone realised the dangerous cycle they were setting into motion sending climbers into trees thinking they were essentially insulated from harm, so know we treat everything as if it is conductive whether it is or not. We dont climb hot trees. Period. Its too easy to get the powere switched off for an hour or two while the tree is dealt with. Used to be you could trim a hot tree out of the bucket, even that is a nono now

Take a 10 OZ throwpod(or whatever the freaking thing weighs I no recall) and a ten oz bag, shoot them with the same power, the bag isnt going to fly as high, its a soft object, the solid object would, or should outfly it. Take two solid objects, one being the throwpod, and another a square weighing the same and shoot them straight up with a Bigshot, do that twenty or thirty times, that is one way to tell which flies higher, everything else is just theorizing. In that test IMHO think the difference would be negligible, but only one way to be really sure, and that is do it. Generally a solid object will outly a soft one, there is another sales point for your Throwpod Marcus, no charge for that one, its a freebie. Whats not theorizing is the price,80.00, IMO, is ridonculous and I would not pay half that for it, you can crunch the numbers how ever you like, justify it however you like, for a ten cent piece of plastic a bit of rubbery stuff and an eye hook its overpriced. I think throwbags are overpriced, youll never convince me the throwpod isnt, so stop trying, if you need more convincing yourself by all means go ahead. Id would sooner make four or five of my own than pay that, ohh wait I already did that. Grace. PS: you guys, I laugh hard, is that the best you can do ? If so, dats pretty soft....lol.

I seriously dont see the confusion, are you guys working with peoiple who are fully brain dead or what. Why does it have to change from what it is now, are people dying or so confused they are frozen in fear and unable to work ? No they are not. It really seems some people just like to discuss meaningless ****, like they are a mover and a shaker in the tree climbing world....lol, so they make threads like this to discuss minutia and beat it into the ground until it is seriously dead. It has been going on for months, longer, years, theres threads at every arbo forum , probably all started by the same guy but your still at the ummmmm what should we call it stage....what should we call SRT....... well how about SRT, I mean it makes sense no, Single Rope Technique. These abbreviations matter to so very few, they will not all of the sudden enlighten all through a new and better abbreviation so why bother, it is what it is and it works just fine. Talk about trying to confuse an issue.

nice one.

Spikes are spikes. So long as the pad provides enough support and is comfy to you. Most modern climbing spurs will fulfilll your needs. Ive personaly used Buckingham(several varieties), Kliens(same), and alloy Bashlins. The Distels look great if a little pricey to source over here ? Best I found for reasonable affordability is Buckinghams with the steel wrap 4" velcro, angled shank. Downside of the velcro pads is they will eventualy lose their 'stiffness, and ater couple years of solid use they just dont hold like they do when they are new. If your not a full time production climber, just using them for occasional take downs you can get away with non replaceable buckinghams. Unless your walking over a whole lot of rocky terrain you will never need to replace the actual gaffs. If you treat the spike well, use covers when and if walking in them, they will last a really, realy long time. Ive never known anyone to replace a set, Im sure theere are plentty of guys who need too, but not us... I have a spare set of klein tree gaffs and old logger gave me a couple years ago, happened to be running Kleins at the time, we were climbing trees in the ROW behind his house, as I was walking out he came out for a chat, and handed me a set of klein long spikes, asked if I could use em, damndest thing lol. But so far the spike just doesnt need to be replaced. I carry my spurs to the base of most trees, can ony walk in them if it is safe, that usually means terrain that is easy ib the spurs id I leave them on getting to the next tree, very common on a ROW. Im not one to file my spurs every couple of trees, see above...as long as the edge is still there, and I dont have to pound the spike in, I'm good. Treated well that edge will last a good while, file slow and steady, trying to keep the steel as cool as possible,a cold filed edge lasts longer ! Good luck with your new spurs, Im sure the Distel will be da bomb.

AS much as Im sure Teufleburger would like us all to follow your shining example, I just do not see it. You can split C hairs, and then you can 'split C hairs'. Ill leave you to it. Its not like they are talking about replacing the bridge with some worn out piece of rope they found in the ditch. Do our manufacturer strength ratings mean that little ? As for the beer and pot,....just simply... no !

You using a hitch cord that is very close in size to the climbing line, that and the fact they are both brand new, that adds up to slippery hitches. As far as the eye to eye....I forgot it was Tuttle, he is still a member at TreeBuzz, and the Treehouse, he can be contacted there if you like I am sure he will answer any questions you have. Splices that are 'rated' havent been individually tested, they have been spliced by a splicer who has had splices tested previously no ? And is therefore a rated splicer ? So if he happens to have had a bad day when he spliced your E2E, even though it is 'rated' you might still be SOL. Just saying. Basically if you are going to climb on splices, you need to learn how to tell a good splice from a bad splice. Id advise you buy a rated spliced E2E just so you can compare the two chords that will give you a starting point at least. Good luck bud, and have fun.

Unless of course you sweat so hard that your glasses are constantly soaked and running wet sweat into your eyeys. Sweat mixed with dishsoap, washed inbto the eyes, no thanks Ill pass. Im serious when I wear shades and run saw, its like the shades have a self cleaning system installed I do use the soap and water to wash em up though, helps get that sticky pine and gooey shtuff of em. PS: as for washing the coffee cups, with soap ????? That is a cardinal sin using soap to wash coffee cups. nothing I hate more, having to rinse the soapy taste out of my coffee mug. Me and the missus sorted this out a while ago....lol. Now she just leaves my coffee cups alone and I deal with them myself...lol. At least I dont have to deal with that soapy taste, that drives me batty. Its the little things sometimes that send us over the edge.

So you buy them off Ebay and use them but then some anonomous poster says they are shite and your like oh noes ? Use you heads FFS. If they are Central Services, judging from the work I have seen done by him, and the work he sells on Ebay I would climb on his splices. They look professionally done from what I can tell. I would obvivously conduct a first hand inspection, but If I had to order an Eye to Eye I would try one of those based simply on their appearance, and seeing his/her/their work here on AB before. If you are worried about it ccontact the seller, ask for references to satisfied customers, experience level spliceing etc etc... if you get answers that make you feel good, then go with it, if not, go with an eye to eye from one of the reputable dealers. But me Ive checked out the central-services-user_id, they look good to me,I would trust them.

Not possible for most people to build by themsleves, unless most people you know can weld, of which most people I know cannot. Not too mention the bloody thing is unwieldy looking. And kinda dangerous to boot, I would always be worrying about it developing 'leaks'. For simplicity, Ill take the .22 blank gun thanks, weighs nothing, takes nothing to fire, no compressor etc... a single .22 blank gets you appx. 150'. Jim Goodal is a joke though, 700.00$ American, I just started to laugh when I saw that price. Ive seen those same kits advertised as dog trainers for 100-200$. Goodal is rebranding it and adding on 500$ almost. He knows how many arbos are suckers for shiny ****, whether they need it or not.

Saddles are pretty personal, you really should try to try on(?) the saddle, and hang your weight on it, see how it fits etc etc... That said I love my Seqouia, even if it isnt rated for 22kn...lol. Ive had two Petzl saddles and loved them both. Never run the Komet sorry.

I think the mere fact that the majority of the people giving you advice on why you shouldnt do what your doing, have neglected to even ask or wonder why your doing this when you have a perfectly reasonable reason for this ? You solved your problem on your own, that speaks volumes. You do not need this forum. Just go your own way, be safe, learn from others, but never put more faith in some anonomous poster on the internet. Its far too easy to be a self appointed expert, in this thread alone you have people who I would venture have never climbed a tree before, or have climbed so few as too never be able to give advice regarding climbing, but they are advising you why your setup sucks.....lol. When your post starts out 'I know Im just a beginner, BUT...', stop. Just stop.

Why are you guys trying to concince Steve he need to set up as a 'working climber' when so clearly hes not. Ive never seen such a effort to convince someone they were wrong when they were not. More than half the people on this site are full of hot air Steve, take that into account, if by the sixth page into the thread they still havent figured out that your not a 'working climber' then is their 'advice' really to be taken into account, they cant even read and comprehend simple english. They just want to stuff their opinion down your throat so they can prove themselves as still being in the right, and can go on firm in the belief they have righted the wrongs in the climbing world....once again. What so many of them fail to recognise is the basic tenet that what is 'good' for me, might not be the same 'good' for you. Thats the beauty of tree climbing, theres many GOOD ways to do ONE thing. Theres many ways to climb one tree, there more than one way to rig it as well, so just because someone has done it a certain way for twenty years doesnt make it the 'right way', it simply makes it the way they do it. That all. I see you have a thick skin and seem to be taking it all in stride, thats good, keep the thick skin you'll need it if you want to hoe you own row. Have fun up there big guy.

Fiddle blocks, as youve surmised, are used to lift, we dont normally do a lot of lifting, we mainly drop, so they dont see much use arboring. Not too mention they are fiddly to use...lol. Why do you need to lift a branch up once youve cut it, generally you rarely, rarely need to do this, once in a great while, so if you see yourself doiing this all the time, perhaps you need to rethink your plan of attack. Tree work is most efficient when you are using gravity to your advantage, dont fight it, go with it. If you have a job where you need to lift a lot of the wood, sometimes we do get jobs that require this, as rare as it is, a GRCS would be the better investment by mile and a half.

In the trees I wear Bugz exclusively. I have tried every type and style of saftey glasses, they all suck when I start to sweat. The Bug Eyes are the only glasses I have ever worn that keep sawdust out of the eyes and NEVER FOG UP. As far as the screen goes I got the course version(Treestuff only offers the course version Wespur has both last time I checked) and after ten seconds I forget I have them on. These things seriously rock.... Tree Stuff - Bugz Steel Mesh Goggles. For ground work I buy cheapo sunglasses from the local gas station or saw shop whatever. I use the combo of the shades and a screen.

Lol, hey at least your honest. There is a lot to be said for that. Keep em creamy.

Ill second that, thats a hella big crotch your passing bye Bo. Very nice pics.

Your actually increasing the strength of the Sequioa. Did one other poster even notice this, All you Sequioa veterans dont even know the weakness of the harness. Did you know the Sequoia is not rated for 22kn. The gold rings are only rated to 15kn. Screw the naysayers, they think they are always right, irregardless. The only thing is to watch IMO, would be the wear, it should be no problem at all, but your attaching a steel pear link to aluminum rig plate. Just be aware the pear will wear out the plate. Just keep a careful eye on the rig plate to make sure it is wearing safely. I really cannot see a problem ? People use rigging plates and steel carabiners every day. People who will tell you are crazy and your messing with the integrity of the saddle and bla bla bla bla bla... People used to make their own saddles, they still do. It is not against the law to climb a tree with whatever the freak you want is it ? Have fun DrSteeve. And Stay safe up there.

Apologies for spelling lads. My PC's 'Spellcheck' got turned off somehow and I cannot figure how to turn it back on. Usually takes me more than ten minutes to find all my spelling mistakes. Im not actually trying to sound like a raving moron.