Re: ratcheting bollard has sharp edge, causes prob
y'know, Riggs' response, at first, caught me off guard. I felt like it was some sort of attack on me. I don't know why I take things that way.
Anyway, I have done some trees and worn a saddle before, but I never worked for a company where we had one of those devices. I guess they were pretty new and seemed pretty exotic back then, or maybe I just never worked anywhere progressive or flush enough to have one.
Anyhow, when I got this job, I was glad to see the bollard. It was sitting there in a corner of a tool supply room, all dusty, with it's phallic silver handle sticking straight up at attention. I thought to myself "Hey, a ratcheting bollard, cool." Those were my actual thoughts, that is to say, a record of my internal dialogue.
What I am getting at is, although I was familiar with the concept, and the use of the tool, I had never done any research. I hadn't gone shopping. I hadn't deliberated the pro's and con's as I pushed my Arborwear hat back from my sweaty brow and and debated the relative merits of a GRCS with it's interchangeable rope brake and winch, vs the groovy classic styling of the Hobbs device with it's John Deere paint scheme and brushed aluminum spool... I was an uninformed consumer. My bollard was niether a Hobbs nor a GRCS. Little did I know it was a no-name purchased on a GSA contract through a generic forestry supplier.
So I got some dudes trained to where they could handle some tasks and found an ambitious project, a discouragingly fat Sitka Spruce with thick, long limbs, tavern-bragging rights height, and thick, fat trunk. Away we went... only to find, the bollard sucked. I mean, it sucked to the max. It would take wraps over itself when lowering and raising limbs. (Now mind you, I have been a tree-trimmer since 1992, and sailor since 1993. I have used a fair share of winches on boats from 12' to 65', including some offshore races, class-boat competition, and cruising sails around the PNW and California. I was pretty sure I knew how to use a winch..) The abundant braking and tie-off pegs were almost unworkable, causing fouled lines and getting in the way of everything. It was not expedient, I didn't like it, and I didn't feel vry much like the removal wizard with the magic tool I had thought I would feel like.
Some time passed, and we gave it a go, and I found with practice that I could get the thing to work. You remember your old '56 GMC with the foot-pedal starter and big straight-6, and how if you drove the thing all the time you could come to know, predict, and appreciate it's eccentricities? That's my relationship to the big, red, cheap-[bad word] bollard. I got to where I knew exactly how to baby-sit that thing, and even got to where I could instruct people who were new to tree work how to get it to operate properly in all modes, while I was way up in the tree and they were on the ground...
This is where Riggs post comes in. Like any abusive relationship, this one (me and my crappy bollard) developed over time. I was so used to it, I didn't know any different. Until now. the light has been turned, I stand blinking, bathed in the warm glow of knowledge, unsure in my new surroundings... the reality has been written plainly: That bollard is a piece of garbage.
That's it. It's so succinct, really. It should have been so obvious from the start, the thing sucks. It's junk. I should have known better, I should have asked.
Anyway, I want to apologize for being so touchy. BrendanV's suggestion was good, and I thought of that myself. But Riggs' really awoke me to the reality, and for that, I am appreciative.
To those who have e-mailed me or are reading and debating buying a knock-off or el-cheapo brand of raising/lowering device, beware. These crummy tools are sometimes better than no tool at all... but barely.
