all you need is a tautline

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No sweat. ;)

Welcome to the site, by the way.

If it's a long enough descent to concern myself with burning the rope/hitch, I'll just stuff an 8 on. Comes in handy for belaying rigged pieces when the ground help is short, too- like when he's already handling a tagline.
 
there all the same,three climbers on my crew three diffrent hitches.vt is good if youve got a bad back thou.
 
If a guy has 3 vehicles, a station wagon, a pick-up, and a dump truck, all in good working condition, insured and dependable, and he needs to deliver 5 cords of firewood to a client. If he chooses the car, I have to wonder about this guy. How many other stupid things does he do during the day?
If you see a guy delivering firewood in a station wagon, what genralizations do you make about him? I'd think he probably isn't a pro.
But... we shouldn't make genralizations. He may be the top firewood producer in the nation, I doubt it though.
Similarally, when I see a guy climbing on a tautline hitch, I think he's old school. He's not up on better and easier ways to climb, and it's a good bet that he's also not up on better ways to do other things. He most likely guts, lions tails, and tops. He doesn't know much about tree biology, insect or disease problems either. He doesn't belong to the ISA, or attend trade conferences. He spends very little time, if any, outside regular working hours, trying improve his craft.
It's also a safe bet that he doesn't concern himself too much with safety or safety gear. He's a hazard to himself and others around him.
In spite of this, he's been around doing this for years, and has convinced himself that this fact alone makes his workmanship good. In fact, he thinks he is one of the best climbers in his area, pehaps even the world. And why wouldn't he? He's the only one he's seen climb.
A climbing hitch is a key tool for a climbing arborist, like a dump truck to a firewood delivery man, it is the most often used tool he has.
What if you were considering hiring a logger and his first statement at the interview was that he has a really long extension cord for his saw. Like you, I'd wonder if he knew anything about logging. Does that one statement alone definately mean he's not a good logger? I guess not...
 
He doesn't know much about tree biology, insect or disease problems either. He doesn'

Lets see, I got a B.S. in Forestry, B.A. in Chemistry, ISA certified arborist, blah, blah, etc.Granted I only do trees on the weekends when I'm not at my other job or chasing my dogs around. I like the tautline hitch so does that make me an ignorant mo fo delivering wood with the sation wagon?:confused:
 
Go get 'em MM and very funny treeco....
And NE... IMJ you're mad about something and are throwing out sideways attacks rather than just speaking your truth... I AM here... call or email me...
And yes, being a recent convert to the new school revolution puts me in a unique position to reach back and invite others to step through the door.
 
Mad? Heck no!

I just call things the way I see them- saying what others won't (even though they're thinking it).
 
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Originally posted by netree
I just call things the way I see them- saying what others won't (even though they're thinking it).
Does anyone here remember nixon's vp spiro agnew, who claimed to speak for a "silent majority"? It was a figment of his own alleged mind.

As someone struggling to leap away from the tlh (but still uses it), realizing its shortcomings, and out of a sense of fairness, here's a response to mm's firewood-delivery analogy:

It makes sense to me, tho it's overgeneralized. I'm with fm, having less green degrees but more experience- and book-based knowledge. To my clients, my knot choice may not reflect on my professionalism. To other arborists, it may, but they don't pay me.

When jps and other climbers subbed ice work from me they scorned my tlh and arborplex rope (even as a handline!) and polesaw--until they saw that I could do as much or more quality pruning as they. We each have our strengths and weaknesses, but knots mean little to the tree.

O and as far as responding with smilies and one-liners, mm has a point. They don't show the testicular fortitude that some like to boast of. If you don't offer content, are you saying anything at all?
 
I just realized MM sounds alot like the squirrel used to. No disrespect intended but could they be Brothers?
 
Originally posted by Mike Maas
That's true, defending yourself would actually mean contributing an original thought, it's easier to throw out insults and smiley faces.:rolleyes:

What is it with you and RJS freaking out over just posting a smiley as a response??? Is verbosity necessary in every post? Do you just like to read lines and lines of words? I don't.

Insults? Saying your post should be in the joke thread is an insult? It must be that, because I don't insult anyone at AS. I truly didn't mean to offend your delicate nature, I wasn't aware you were so sensitive. I mean, you did start that fight thread, eh? Buck up, Bucko!
 
Originally posted by MasterBlaster
Insults? Saying your post should be in the joke thread is an insult? It must be that, because I don't insult anyone at AS. I truly didn't mean to offend your delicate nature, I wasn't aware you were so sensitive.

I agree with you on that Butch. It's quite funny to hear MM complaining about insults! I mean, that's like Ken Lay and Bernie Ebbers complaing about corporate fraud.

Content comin' right up:

:)
:D
:laugh:
 
Old-school versus new-school; which is better? I say it depends on the task at hand. I'm not breaking out the prussic cord, micropulley and pantin to climb 30' and take one limb. Conversely, I ain't footlocking 85' Ddrt to do a complete pruning on a Blake's.

Is a climber doing less of a job is he's still using a Fanno 1311 instead of a Zubat?

I've seen real crappy climbers using all of the new-school do-dads; I've also seen really good climbers using ancient techniques.

Who's better?
 
Re: He doesn't know much about tree biology, insect or disease problems either. He doesn'

Originally posted by fmueller
Lets see, I got a B.S. in Forestry, B.A. in Chemistry, ISA certified arborist, blah, blah, etc.Granted I only do trees on the weekends when I'm not at my other job or chasing my dogs around. I like the tautline hitch so does that make me an ignorant mo fo delivering wood with the sation wagon?:confused:

You are a weekend warrior at best, not really a climbing arborist. And no that doesn't make you any of the things you said, I didn't say that it would either.
If you climbed full time, for a living, and never heard of, or heard of but didn't try a Blakes, VT or other better hitch, then I would wonder about you, as I explained. That's my opinion and you can disagree with me.
Don't expect to get any love from me when you come here and tell me my opinion is laughable, and then refuse to respond with an intelligent rebutal.
Speaking of Rocky, he may wear his mind on his sleave, but he will almost alway back up his opinion with thoughtful content. I don't once recall seeing a stupid smiley post from Rocky, or an insult without an explaination. He also doesn't post the same stupid non-topic realated pictures over and over.

I have worked with and seen working many tree climber over the years. One observation I've made is Tautline hitch means old school hack, modern hitch means progressive non-hack. Are there exceptions? Sure. Of the couple hundred climbers I've known, there hasn't been an exception yet, other than the few here who claim otherwise.

So FMuelller, why is it that you feel the TH is the best hitch?
 
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