Nasty spruce

I've got a couple concerns with the GOL spring pole methodology.

The vertical / horizontal lines then splitting the right angle will not always provide "max. point of tension".

You can still have a serious spring pole without a U-shape. I would suggest you verify that max. point of tension with where the greatest curve is.
{Granted, sometimes this isn't obvious or at a defined spot. It can be a long symmetrical arc.
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Cutting from below, (compression wood), on these high tension goodies is a great way to get your bar and especially chain hung up.
This requires a bit of skill and caution to the learning sawyer on this technique. Picture yourself with a pinched bar and going for help.
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I'd also suggest a 90 degree from the spring poles direction of release. Place yourself as far as possible from danger.

The more conventional cutting method is to make several small brisk cuts on the tension side. This is also problematic as the learning sawyer can be surprised by the amount of pressure/power. Have the tendency to go in far less than you think with the bar moving back toward you. Cut an inch or 1/2 inch to the side as you continue to gradually release the pressure.

So......

Of course consider releasing the spring pole from afar. If the tree that is causing the tension can be removed from above the pole with the sawyer well off to the side. Loggers often regard spring poles as one of the more serious risks they face and if available will utilize equipment to yard the tree off the spring pole.
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All very good points.

I will usually eyeball where the max. tension point is on the odd shaped springpoles. I don't try to get it exact.

One of the most important things to do to avoid pinching the bar is to make sure that you run your saw at full rpm's and just lightly shave underneath. I haven't had any problems yet, but like Kevin and I said, I think it can be hard on the bar and chain.

You're right about loggers considering springpoles as one of the more serious risks. They can be deadly and when I got certified, we focused heavily on working with springpoles safely. On really large ones it makes all the sense in the world to use the skidder and yard the tree off if it is safer.
 
why is it that all the big egos on the buzz seem to stay away from the utility section? is it because they know that they dont know nearly enough? reading these posts is far more enlightening than just about the whole rest of the buzz
...but thats just my opinion
 
Dylan, you're right, there is an awful lot of info that us buzz regulars can learn from the utility section (though I don't consider myself to have a big ego).

I do mean to check in more regularly. Even if you don't happen to be a QLCA you can still learn from others who work regularly around utilities.
 
Great thread folks! Glad to see some good useful insights in this Section for a change. We Utility guys are usualy painted with a very ugly brush in buzzy land. We are the Rodney Dangerfields of Arboriculture. All of the skills and passion and none of the respect. Great work on that tree bro.
 
18 years of line clearance and right of way clearing here. And unfortunately it is a thankless job and considered unskilled grunt-work by so many. I believe the reason why, from my experience anyway, is the high turnover rate in utility work. The only expertise really is in the few people that stick with it. Many crews are led by foremen of less than 8 years experience, and they are pushed by the companies for production, not quality of work. Most of the craft are young kids out of high school looking for a job. They stick with it for two or three years, sometimes more, and then move on. Often times starting their own tree business based on the skills they learned in the utility work. As a consequence they are called hacks and are bad mouthed by the more educated arborist. It's a real dilemma because so much of the workforce starts out in line clearance work.

I quit the business because of differences with the regional manager in my area. Which stemmed from me knowing better how to properly manage a right of way though understanding how trees grow, rather than the companies idea of time and perceived units of production. They were, and still are bucking nature and not working with it.
 
Hey Jer, I know that you have a ton of experience in line clearance tree work and I'm sure that you've been able to draw on that experience (both good and bad) for both your arboriculture and logging jobs.

For those of you who want to read more about the daily struggles that the utility tree worker goes through, you have to read Gerry B's LINE CLEARANCE TRIMMER and THE RIGHT OF WAYS in his A Tree Story CD Rom.

Besides the great stories, there is some incredible pictures that show the workers climbing and rigging in the trees over the hot lines. Makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up just thinking about what it must have been like working that stuff hot!
 
I am a residential tree worker. I worked line clearance with Asplundh for six months and regretably quit. However at the time, I quit for a number of reasons. The pay wasn't very good, my foreman was a racist prick and the opportunity for overtime was nonexistent.

I have been working with a residential outfit ever since, but I truly believe that my calling is utility. I respect anyone and everyone that can make a career as a utility line clearer.

I would absolutely love to get back into it, but living in Wisconsin, the only opportunities are Asplundh and Wright. I burned both of those bridges by quiting(well a mutual quit-let go sort of thing) Asplundh on a sour note and turning down a job offer from Wright when I just about told them I'd take it because my current employer offered me a decent raise to stick around.

Oh how I would love to move a little further north into Canada and take a job as an apprentice line clearer. I can just tell how you Canadians take absolute pride in doing what you do and you wouldn't trade it in for anything.

Anyway, keep the good utility threads and pictures coming so I can live vicariously through them while daydreaming as I'm "shaping an ornamental crab" or some boring thing like that.
 
Sounds like you found your calling, icepick. If line clearance is it. Though I think you should go private tree and fulfill your dream.

Thanks again, Chris. You must have memorized every sentence in that Tree Story CD.

I don't regret the time I spent in line clearance work. It was a great stepping stone into all the other aspects of tree work I chose to follow.

The mindset of the companies running the line clearing business is the only grieves I've had.
 
yo big guy. stay the hell away from the line clearance gig.
ive been doing it for 12 yrs. actually im in canada now. its a great spot to learn removals, saw skill, tlike that but the real art is in the residential end. learn to prune properly without gafs..learn about tree basics.. not just how to get rid of them. im 33 and damn this buisness is rough on the body. hopefully i can change my course into the finer points of tree care that way i have a spot in the industry in my older more tender years.lol.
im not saying dont do it. its been some of the best times of my life working with different crews all the time...but dont settle in for the long haul. In that buisness all you will ever be to your employer(the vast majority of them) is another number.
 
Rough on the body at 33? Man, those are your prime years. You shouldn't be feeling any pain at that age. Maybe a little around 45-50. At 60 it's not the pain for me, but my wind. I tire very easily now because I have only half my breath. Asthma from breathing too much redwood bark dust. If it's not one thing it's a another I guess.
 
Uhhh, maybe I came off a little amateur or you didn't understand my post. I am a top climber with a residential outfit currently. I do not need to hone my skills on the "finer art" of residential tree work. I've been working with trees for fourteen years and I have come to realize that residential work can be quite boring.

You don't need to lecture me on how to prune properly without gaffs! Christ when I was with Asplundh I wouldn't use spikes until I was blocking down on a removal.

I'm merely stating that after a decade and a half of residential work, shaping and clipping and nipping on ornamental trees has become quite nauseating, and the nine months or so I spent as a climber in line clearance was much more challenging, satisfying and a hell of a better rush. It's just too bad that line clearers (around here anyway) max out at about twenty an hour. They should be paid much more for what they do, especially the dedicated ones who have put in their time and made a career out of it.
 
Sounds like your on the wrong resi crews! I do both and find LC to be more of an alert rush where as resi/commercial work is more of an adrenaline style rush. Both are good highs, but i prefer the high pace of resi work better. LC is tedious work, espedcially whent he last crew cleared much less than was required!

Ice

Do you have any certs or licenses?
 
my bad bro. i ment no harm. i had no idea of your extensive indulgance in the buisness.

and i didnt say i was feeling pain yet...i just said it was rough on the body and hell yeah...theses ARE the best years i'll have in the physical end of the trade.
lol:-)
 
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