Even though I'm an admitted old school minimalist, anyone thinking I don't incorporate any of the newer techniques and equipment would be mistaken.
I love the little purple pulley slack tenders, I have leather cambium savers on every one of my Samson true blue climbing lines, and though I'm a technical removal specialist, I use them religiously to protect my expensive ropes from wear and tear, sap etc. I also love speed lines for those pesky limbs over targets as well as the more advanced haul back lines on them for situations where the whole dang tree is way out over a house or building, and total control of the rate of descent is an absolute must.
But here in So Cal in the dog eat dog world of commercial tree service competition, seeing Palmer, Thompkins, Phillips etc at the tree seminars loaded down with their saddles sagging with all those fancy doodads and gadgets is somewhat of a joke for those of us that have to compete and produce or else. Try hauling all that crap up a 160 foot euc on a class 1 prune and you'll see what I mean. An old school guy like me will set his line and foot lock up with nothing but his razor sharp handsaw in a boot scabbard, prune away in a very methodic manner, and if theres any big crossovers or big limbs too big for a handsaw, I'll already have my 200T tied to the end of my climbing line and ready to go without crying out for a groundman to set it up for me. It's called high quality production tree service, and a minimum amount of gear with a maximum amount of pruning ability and knowledge is required to do it competitively.
I bought one of those sliding dee ring saddles along time ago, used it a couple times, and hated it because I couldn't triangulate with it in a stable manner, this meant that whether I was cutting with a handsaw or chainsaw I couldn't push or pull with it without flopping about sliding back and forth on my lower saddle, it drove me crazy, when I'm cutting I want to be secure enough to be able to push or pull with my cutting tool without any unnecessary movement in my saddle period. It also creaped me out only having one dee ring attachment point on my saddle, if for any reason that bridge were to fail, it's game over and you're screwed. Atleast with my old school saddle I can lose one dee ring or its attachment webbing without taking an express ride to the ground so very far below me.
I know many of you think I'm a cantankerous old school jerk, and in many respects I am, I hate dang near everything about these newfangled climbing saddles out now, there itty bitty dee rings, there single point attachment for a bodyline, all those unnecessary loops going around them to get hung up on something at the worse possible time. Give me a clip and a ring on each side that is secure and doesn't move around at all, that's all I need in terms of tool attachment points. I tried out a friends new Sherril saddle with 4 dee rings, and even though it was very comfortable, I hated it for its tiny dee rings, its lower strap buckles location being too high, and particularly its tool clips being an absolute pain in the butt to disconnect a tool from, whoever designed those clips was an idiot. I would never recommend that saddle to anyone that climbs for a living.
I love my old Sierra Moreno eucman 4 dee ring (large dee ring) saddle, once I riveted the tool clips and rings into place, it's become one of my most trusted best friends. When the leather lower attachment straps and buckles wore out, I just took it to my leatherman and he replaced them with heavier saddle leather that's still going strong to this day. Hats off to Don Blair for selling real old school working saddles that last and perform for decades of hard use.
I encourage all newbies to atleast check out the tried and true old school equipment and methods, then carefully select from the newer high tech stuff that makes this dangerous profession a bit easier and safer. It's great to have a wide variety of tools and equipment to choose from for each job you do, but be picky about the amount the you actually take up the tree with you, in my long career my tool truck has been packed full of all kinds of saws and equipment, but when I go up each tree I take the bare minimum necessary to get the tree done safely and right every time.
Work safe guys
jomoco
I allready addmitted smoking pot- so what? I suppose thats supposed to make me a bad treeguy ? I'll take my 17 years climbing exp. over your 4 lonely years jingle jangl'in about anyday.[/UNQUOTE]
