all you need is a tautline

[murphy4trees]

I did a failrly big pruning job today, which was a little out of my terrritory so I asked another local tree contractor to stop by and help with some chipping and he ended up climbing a couple of trees...
And it all came back to me.... there is really no need for advanced climbing gear, if all you do is throw a line up in the center of a tree and cut whatever you can reach on the way down with a climbing saw... The tree ends up looking gutted (and of course he took out all the interior suckers until I asked him not to) and on the half of the ash that he did, it almost looked lion's tailed...
I was pretty taken back, but then I remembered... that's just the way I did it for all those years 'till I learned better right here..


Maybe another way to look at it is if you are using a tautline, you have to prune trees like that cause you can't easily do it any other way....

I still don't walk all the tips like Big Jon, but I AM far from the style I saw in action today.... The good news is, this guy might be coming around after 35 years of old school... He's 52 and just came over a couple weeks ago to see what kind of saddle he should get and was very into learning the french prussic and geting some biners etc... He ended up getting the Butterfly 2 from Fresco... So maybe he can change after all...

 

[MasterBlaster]

What in the world does your use of whatever friction hitch have to do with your pruning skills?

Along your line of thinking, bad pruning skills could be improved if you just used a 'modern' hitch, EH?

And it you can't get to the tip of a limb, you need to work on yur climbing skills.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Forgot this...

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

How about refusing to look to better in one region would naturally lend to a pre-disposition to not looking for advancements in another region?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Not necessarily.

 

[Newfie]

"Along your line of thinking, bad pruning skills could be improved if you just used a 'modern' hitch, EH?"


Or the most expensive handsaw.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I dunno, Mike. My Silky is the best handsaw I've ever used. I just try to ignore the price.

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Butch is right--about the knot-- but so is Ken, about the mind. I got to the tips just fine with a tautline (some at ISA Pittsburgh saw in my ppt the image of oldschool tipworking), so murph you're basically wrong. It's just as easy to raise and gut with a VT, zingline, whatever. But I can move around out there a little bit easier with a VT, so I'm glad to have heard about it.

Ken is right that the main thing is to have an open mind is key, and listen to the tree say what it wants.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

i think if a sharper handsaw makes cleaner cuts; it is a poor example of the counter arguement that Newfie pro-poses; it would not be a toy or new not issue; but hard line health, and working efficiency issue.

i mean if ol'MB even got one.......

 

[MasterBlaster]

Originally posted by TheTreeSpyder
i mean if ol'MB even got one.......

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Gosh Dan, why dontcha say what you think??

It's a friendly act to say the blunt truth as you see it, so I hope your post is taken the right way.

 

[underwor]

I have to agree with MB on this. I use the same hitch he pictured when I am working because I know what it will do under any situation and I trust it completely after 37 years. It will let me go to the end of any branch and works pretty slick when used with a knot tending pulley. I show my students all the other friction hitches and most end up using one of the newer ones in their work. (MT, swabish and distel are probably most commonly used) I use them recreationally myself and trust most of them or I would not show them to the students. Some students buy all the latest gadgets, some get a rope and use the double bowline on a bight, depending on the budget. As long as they do a good job of pruning in a safe manner, it does not matter to me. Those that use the rope saddle learn much quicker to treat the rope as a positioning device and not a full time seat and fall arrest system.

Good pruning is more attitude than equipment. New techniques and equipment have improved some parts of the work, such as getting into the tree (I use SRT occasionally now as it is less tiring on a long ascent, I just got a Pantin and tried it out a couple weeks ago, think I will keep it also, I use a gri-gri and pulley system to improve mechanical advantage for the people who have the desire, but not the strength, it is slower, but safe and allows them to share the experience).

The main thing to remember is to keep an open mind to all options and don't discard it just because it is old. One of my instructors with Davey was 76, I am planning to climb at least another 19 years based on that. I am not as fast in the tree, but I like to think I am a little more efficient than I was in 1967.

Would the statue of David been any better if Michelangelo had owned a jack hammer?

Bob Underwood

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Would Mt Rushmore be done without a jack hammer, bush bits and dynamite?.....

It is not the Knot; but the comparative openness of mind to alternate solutions.

The Tautline is a proven standard on it's own; a Round Turn over a Round Turn in a clove/non-reversing assembly. A Prusik reversing one Round Turn, also well porven.

But, i don't think the undisturbed , continuous 2 Round Turns that constitute the newer friction hitches can be said to be unproven, or less so; for that base configuration carries through many more usable permutations of workable mechanics to purpose; so has been tested in more forms.

i also think charachteristically more than one bottom coil is harder to advance towards TIP. i think the Anchor like positive stop of Blake's on free tail, essentially makes a Double Round Turn with 2 bottom coils disturbable to slide; i think MB should be able to make that configuration 1 handed loose, and set.

 

[arboromega]

dont forget your roots murph. the improvementof your pruning skills had nothing to do with your hitch. im sure if you tied a tautline tomarrow your pruning results would be the same as if you used whatever hitch you used yesterday.

 

[NeTree]

It's just interesting to hear from someone who admits they were doing it "wrong" for most of their career, found the "right" way to do it a few years ago, and now thinks they're qualified to lecture and write to others on the "new revolution" in arboriculture; many of whom have been doing it right all along.

JMHO.

 

[rahtreelimbs]

The only difference between a tautline and whatever advanced hitch that is the flavor of the day is that I will have to work harder to get to that position that I need to be in.


I started on a blake hitch and have no intentions of ever trying a tautline!

 

[luke montelius]

taugh line

I was fortunate enugh to be a spectator at the portland OR regonal cilming competion. there they had a ITCC style work climb set up. most guys not finishing it in less than 8 to 10 minuts. then this sruly looking fela blows the doors off the rest of them moving fast and smooth even on the limb walk and hiting the poorly placed landing spot . straight buring! one of best times close to 5min. he was late thirty's flashing a mulet and biker style mustach
CLIMBING ON THREE STRAND w/ TRADITONAL TIE IN
point is he new how to judge distaceand inertia I was ipressed and went home and did a few pruns old school and ya, it's harder.

 

[luke montelius]

blake or taugh line is a good way to save those expecive little prusik loops on a long decent

 

[NeTree]

A figure-8 is even better.

 

[TreeMonkey]

Figure eights are the way to go. A simple knot but the best when used in synthetic rope. Actually, bowline type knots are not recommended for synthetic rope. Fire service technical rescue teams exclusively use figure eights for rescue on kernmantle rope.