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millbilly....right there with ya on the ISA. I have no use for them. I joined at one point and it was utterly useless to me. What I noticed is that with the rise of the ISA....our prices for everything (equipment-wise) increased dramatically and the regulations for what we do were tightened. Some of the new rules were probably ok and for the better but a lot of new ideas were just BS to make us buy over-priced gear and make us feel like we have to take over-priced courses and continuing education credits just to prove what we already knew. The ISA will say "Well...if you educate your customers they will see the value in your membership". What that means is....if you spread their propaganda-for-profit you can discredit the competition enough to get work. I don't need to do that. All they wanted to do was establish themselves as the "authority" so they can make money off of us. It might not have started that way but that's how a lot of us see it now.
 
Did everyone that was a climber back in the day just free climb up the tree with no lanyard? I know my uncle and all of his buddies never used anything other than a climbing line once they got all the way to the top. He calls me all kinds of names cause I feel safer having myself tied to the tree on the way up.
 
Did everyone that was a climber back in the day just free climb up the tree with no lanyard? I know my uncle and all of his buddies never used anything other than a climbing line once they got all the way to the top. He calls me all kinds of names cause I feel safer having myself tied to the tree on the way up.

Well....we might have been known to free climb some of the lower stuff (or more) but we had common sense. We knew when we needed to tie-in. I'm older now and I'm actually much safer. I've realized that my years ahead of me are less than my years behind me and I don't want to get hurt. I have nothing to prove for my own ego. My goal is to just be safe and not get hurt. I get paid by the hour.
 
How about those old chain saws. They didn't use plastic back then they were boat anchors. You had to be strong to use a sthil 064 up in the tree. That hanging from your saddle, a one in. bull line, a pulley ,and some cables to use to fix the pulleys to the tree. Never seen a carabiner. We used steel. None of that double safety lock stuff. Chain brakes, hell no. we learn how to keep that chain a Way from our body parts. We use to switch sides by passing the saw behind our back while gaffed in the tree without missing a beat. Be it a 038 or 064. I hated chain brakes when they first came out. Use to disconnect them. We called our climbing line,"the monkey line" and the hitch ,"a monkey fist"
Saws were loud,and would start the saw dust and bark on fire. They didn't have a lot of safety equipment. You just had to learn to be safe.
 
Sometime it was safer (for what was under you)to free climb and take out a top, branches and all, or set a tipping line and pull the whole tree over. I remember being taught how to grab a big branch with one arm, disconnect my big 1in three strand safety line with the other, and toss it over the branch. Then reconnect, being above that branch..that was on spikes. That was how they wanted you to do it. No second tie in or nothing.
 
The first saw I owned was a Poulan. The old kind with no break. I'm pretty sure it was a replica of a Russian tank with a bar and chain on it. I remember that I traded some side work trimming for it after work one day. I was so happy to actually own my first saw because back then I really didn't have the money to buy my own gear. I worked for someone else so being able to own a saw for the first time was kind of a big deal to me. It actually ran for a long time. It was a good saw with maybe a 20 or 24 inch bar.
 
How many climbers today know how to whip up a tree. If your spiking up a 65 in pondarosa using a 21 ft lanyard you had to whip that rope so the momentom would carrie it around the tree moving it up and around. It help to able to switch arms. Now I just use the big shot and srt up.
 
Those poulens were great saws. Some may not beleave it but those big mac colleths were great saws. You had to manully push a lever to oil the chain.
 
I have an Echo (I can't think of the model off of the top of my head) with a manual oiler. It has a 24 in. bar or so and it's actually a pretty decent saw. I mean...it obviously oils itself but the button is still there.
 
Yup had an old Mac for my first big saw that owned damn heavy awkward thing. Free climb till the lanyard would fit around the tree or to the tip. I remember when I first started the boss brought in some contract climbers to teach me the ropes. One went up this 120' oak free climbing the whole way. I yelled " shouldn't you use your lanyard, you're awfully high". To which he replied " not as high as I'll be once I get tied in". Those weren't marlboro's he was smoking
 
I.S.A certification is B.S. just a way for the government to regulate and charge for it. It makes no sense in a removal, you wouldn't ask a funeral home to see their medical license, removalist isn't there for the tree's well being.
 
I don't most things in this vein make business more difficult and expensive not a fan of the E.P.A. or the D.O.T. either, if they really want to do some good start regulating how many people live here. We wouldn't be concerned w/a carbon footprint if we had 3 billion as in 1960 instead of 8 billion by 2020 in a scant 60 years what does the future hold 16 billion by 2080? We more than doubled in 60 years right now.
 
The thread about the disk chipper vs. a drum chipper got me thinking earlier.....I remember when we didn't have a choice. The disk style didn't exist (as far as I know) and the Asplundh LR1 boom was very common. That was way before Altec got their hands on the patent.
 
If anyone is interested in a little boom history....this may interest you. Please correct me if I'm wrong about the finer details as I'm going from memory here. Kind of more for the younger guys because most of the older guys probably remember this.

In the 1980's and into the early 90's, Asplundh manufactured it's own equipment. They had regular auto dealerships in Pennsylvania where they sold cars and trucks but that also allowed them wholesale buying power for commercial truck chassis. They designed a boom that was simple and highly functional for line clearance. They also designed the Whisper Chipper (which is a misnomer because it was probably the loudest chipper ever invented) and had manufacturing facilities to pump out the simplest, most productive equipment (for their interests) at the cheapest wholesale cost. Keep in mind, they needed so much equipment that even a 10% savings was very substantial. They invented the LR series boom...eventually to be followed by the LR2, LR3, etc.

At the same time, they also had three re-manufacturing facilities that took in old units and refurbished them. Back then, if you didn't have an LR, you were probably flying a Hi-ranger or Aerial Lift. Those Hi-rangers were the ones with the pulley at the knuckle. Some guys might have been using other brands but those were the ones I saw the most. The advantage of the LR was the over-center upper boom. Plus, those trucks all came with Wisconsin (now Kubota) auxiliary engines. The reason for this was originally because Pennsylvania state law does not allow aerial units to be run from PTO's alone. They wanted less polluting methods of operation. The advantage to the auxiliary engine was that it was/is more fuel efficient and it's nice to have an alternate source to run your hydraulics in the event of a break-down.

This is where my memory may get a little hazy. At some point, a deal was struck between Asplundh and Altec for the rights to the LR line. Altec was to get the LR. Everything was ok until Altec learned that Asplundh was still remanufacturing LRs in those 3 plants and then selling them to the same market Altec expected to target with their new patent. In response, Altec filed a lawsuit which I believe was settled. In the settlement, Asplundh agreed to either close the plants or just use them "in house" but also agreed to give up the Whisper Chipper.

So today, there is an Altec line that be traced all the way back to the original Asplundh LR and there is such a thing as the Altec Whisper Chipper.

No idea why I just typed all of that out but it might be interesting to some guys. If I'm mistaken about any of the details, please feel free to correct the facts. That is my best recollection of how all of that happened.
 
The thread about the disk chipper vs. a drum chipper got me thinking earlier.....I remember when we didn't have a choice. The disk style didn't exist (as far as I know) and the Asplundh LR1 boom was very common. That was way before Altec got their hands on the patent.
I don't remember LR1, but the first aerial I ever used only had a 270* rotation. That was achieved by a 2 way, hydraulic piston, that laid horizontal. On each end of the piston a 5/8" cable was attached. The cable then wrapped around the base of the boom, kind of like primitive fire starting, with a bow a string and a piece of wood.

Now that I think about it, a 120' climbing line you could do 85% of tree without an extension. Now day 150' only does half of them. Trees have gotten so much bigger in my 45 years.
 
This isn't my gig(union carpenter) but heard plenty of stories from my retired uncle. Had the driver pull the bucket over in town so he could run in and have a shot or two of liquid courage for breakfast at a open at 7local bar. Or a crew of guys killing a case of beer on the way to the parking lot . said the lot was 7 or 8 miles away. Not a drop left when they got there. I couldn't hang with that crew.

Me either. Dehydration is a serious condition.
 
Man I bet those old lifts and climbing techniques were fun. The bad thing is those trucks and ways of climbing are probably actually the majority of the tree care industry. ..
 
I found these pictures on the TCIA website under historic photos. I'm not sure of the dates, but they were in the 1938-1949 section. The chipper was post war as the truck was purchased from War Surplus

daveycrewhistoric.jpg


AsplundhChipperCompany.jpg


buttsmover19472.jpg
 

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