climbers that take small pieces all the time?

Maui Palm & Tree Care

Maui Palm & Tree Care

Location
Pukalani, Hawaii
what do you do with climbers that allways take small chunks and are afraid of letting her rip? i used to be one of those and then my confidence in my notches and cut placements has improved alot. how do you boost a new climbers confidence to take bigger pieces?
maybe something like getting him comfortable with notch placements? not being afriad to call for a pull line? i dunno

kinda stumped
 
Let them go. Confidence comes with experience. Stress that they can experiment with different cutting techniques in non-critical situations. Let them find their own way to larger pieces. You force it and you are in for problems. Remember there is always more than one way to do something, they may have reasonable explanation for small pieces. Maybe you dont see that reason. Good luck
 
We don't expect toddlers to walk stairs two at a time. Learning and confidence take time. Like FS says...choose teachable moments when the 'Ooops Factor' is non existent to build confidence. take production pressure off the climber. The investment in training will always pay off.Sometimes you might need to push them to go a bit bigger.
 
A climber will only take a piece that his ability and experience allows. That is if he is smart and looking out for the safety of his crew and himself. Time and tutelage should help with this judgement skill, knowing WHEN to take bigger pieces without compromising safety.
 
Big pieces don't mean anything. Fast, safe, and efficient. There are times to go big, times to go small. Cuts/notches has little to do with piece size, it's about understanding rigging systems and the forces involved and being comfortable working in those parameters.
 
My new guy I'm always telling to pull back and look at the whole tree and all the possibilities before making decisions.

Newby nerves (or ADD/fatigue in older climbers like me) can make us myopic, and miss out on better redirecting and rigging points.
 
its worse when its not a new climber but someone that has been cutting firewood at 70' for 10+ years...

And then gets nasty when you tell him to cut them bigger... screaming something about safety...

got the impression that maui was asking about bombing chunks, not lowering ....
 
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And then gets nasty when you tell him to cut them bigger... screaming something about safety...

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The hell with safety! Go big or go home - right cowboy? Seriously, What is wrong with you?
 
i know there is a toss up between safety and productivity. the real concern here is a climber that has been doing this for 4 years and in both rigging or chunking situations, allways takes little pieces costing us more time. his excuse is that it "makes the ground crew work faster"("more manageable pieces") but we have to constantly remind him that the ground crew also has the job to cut up anything that wont be able to be moved by hand to the chipper. that being said, daniel is right, hes like a fire wood cutter and with our new sawmill being built at our base yard, 8 feet is the smallest lengths that we can go because of board feet $$$.
 
Acting incompetent may have made him "feel" safer, but there is nothing safer about cutting firewood from 70' when there is a wide open drop zone...

which gets back to learning good cutting technique..

the guy had been climbing for over 10 years and didn't know how to negative block.
 
If a job allows it go up with the climber for a few cuts. You do some and have them do some. Not right next to them or anything but close enough to give good instruction and a thumbs up. It's just a confidence thing. Repetition + time.

I remember the first time I cabled something we went up together and went through all the steps. I had all my questions answered on the spot and was good to go after that. Much easier way to learn than someone yelling from the ground.
 
Maybe with proper training and a proper instructor or foreman he might start to feel more comfortable with taking bigger pieces. Training is a big part where knowledge is power. You can work under some jacka$$ who thinks he knows everything and not learn a thing. So maybe he needs someone who knows and understands rigging forces to show him the way.
 
What part of "training" was misunderstood? Anyone can read a book or watch a youtube video and know what they are talking about. The keys is to work with guys who have been doing it right. Guys who are some of the best at what they do... ie. Kristian Schultz, Norm Hall, Todd Kramer, Gary Brough, Brian Mann, just to name a few. These are guys who have seen things evolve and can adapt. Training is worth it's weight in gold. Watching a youtube video and going oh yeah that's cool I can do that is not trainging. Training is going out and getting hands on experience with knowledgeable guys who analyze what you are doing and teach how to make things more productive or safer that what you are doing.
 
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i know there is a toss up between safety and productivity. the real concern here is a climber that has been doing this for 4 years and in both rigging or chunking situations, allways takes little pieces costing us more time. his excuse is that it "makes the ground crew work faster"("more manageable pieces") but we have to constantly remind him that the ground crew also has the job to cut up anything that wont be able to be moved by hand to the chipper. that being said, daniel is right, hes like a fire wood cutter and with our new sawmill being built at our base yard, 8 feet is the smallest lengths that we can go because of board feet $$$.

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What are you talking about wood or brush? It makes sence to cut the brush into pieces that the ground crew can handle. Why have a guy running around on the ground wearing chaps in case he might have to cut something (its semi dangerous chipping with chaps on anyway) when they guy in the tree can cut it and be done with it. Wood on the other hand if there is a machine on site (or coming), yes bigger is better. But if not what can be picked up by hand is what should fall (bombing). It causes less yard damage in a more concentrated area (if he is any good). If its costing you that much time, send him a bigger saw. Its sounding to me like you are being too critical of his technique ("reminding" him and all) instead of training/teaching him "your" way.

And whats up with not wanting to give out your TCIA book, you want him to change, take a little responsibilty for that change and help the guy out. It really irritates me when someone complains to me about something but isn't willing to do something to remidy the situation.

AMEN MIKE.
 
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