to steel core or not to steel core

[treesap]

ok ok, this makes much more sense, I can admit, I can be annoying, and have my opinions, but I do know one thing, and that is, NOTHING

... about buying a good harness, being that I dont have experience with anything other than a rock harness, id love to try a few good ones out to see what I like, but I doubt anyone will let my try their harness lol

 

[Thumper88]

its not that I dont wanna listen to you, im not trusting my life to some cheap chinese harness, and infact, the treemotion and monkeybeaver will NOT be the first ones I get, I was looking at some of the weaver saddles (particularly the weaver cougar). you dont gotta treat me like a piece of crap just because my opinion isnt the same as yours

Lots of climbing gear made in China now days. The guy is trying to show you options in your budget that will fit your needs right now. I will say I find it ironic that you won’t trust a harness recommended by a pro that does this everyday, but you trust a rock climbing harness of unknown origin. Considering you had your gaffs strapped on backwards in the picture a few pages, and that you have mentioned working for people in what I assume is tree work twice in this thread, some guys here are trying to save you from yourself. Slow down, back up and breath. I learned in a 4-D harness and still use a Buckingham 4-D. There are much better options out there, but it works well for what I do, which is mainly removals on spikes, and I am comfortable with it. If I had someone like the people on this forum 20 years ago when I was your age to teach me about SRT and the quality of gear for the prices now I would probably have a whole different climbing style. The other thing is, it’s a major liability for anyone to hire you for any tree work if your not carrying insurance and your underage. If you drop a limb through a skylight it’ll cost way more than a monkey beaver saddle. If you fall out of a tree working on somebody’s property your parents are gonna get some large medical bills and the person you were working for is gonna have some major guilt over getting a kid hurt at the very least. Slow down and walk before you run. Save some money from mowing grass or whatever you can do safely, and buy gear as your able.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

You’re getting great advice from people you should consider aunts, uncles and mentors. You’d be well served listening.

what’s the rush to get a saddle? There was a time when they could be bought at a low price. Now...even the least expensive one worth buying has attention getting price tags. Find a local tree company and ask if you could come by after work hours to chat up climbers. Listen to them. I bet you’ll find some friends there.

there is a family aspect to Arborculture. Lots of connections. Be careful to nurture them not burn them

 

[SomethingWitty]

Tom is right.
I've put quite a few people in their first tree and showed several others a lot of the options that exist. Hell, I've had a couple of teenagers off the ground on a job site after we pruned their family's trees.
I climb for fun. My trainee always wants to climb after work.

 

[treesap]

1: I had NEVER worn a pair of gaffs before, and was putting them on in a hurry so my mom could get a picture, 2: im NOT looking for work while im 14, this gear is just for me to get used to, and practice climbing so I can do it for work in 5-10 years, and yes, I know im the youngest person here (Or atleast darn close), and im gonna get picked on, and thats ok, id rather yall be a friendly pain in the ass and helpfull than be friendly and not helpfull lmao, thanks for the help, now to go get a pic of the spikes on correctly ngl, yall seem just about like my friends/parents, and thats good

 

[Jehinten]

Find a local tree company and ask if you could come by after work hours to chat up climbers. Listen to them. I bet you’ll find some friends there.

This is good advice. Not exactly a jobsite but I was very surprised at how many competitors at Jambo who would stop what they were doing in between rounds and answer questions and explain techniques. Almost everyone enjoys explaining and teaching what they do.


I've had 6-7 members of a utility clearance crew asking questions on SRT after they cleared line for us, so I walked them over to another tree (away from the drop zone that they were at) and showed them my setup on a separate tree.

One word of caution though is to use good judgment on who you go to for advice. Just because someone can climb up a tree doesn't mean their the one for advice. Case in point, I have worked as a subcontractor with a guy who climbed with a linemans's belt and spurs. No top rope and his rigging rope wasn't long enough for the height he was working. His lanyard also was not long enough for the diameter of the trunk at the base of the tree. He climbed up a ladder then lanyard in and free dropped everything (nothing wrong with free dropping) but was in a pickle with the limbs over the house. His name was James. Don't ask for advice from James

 

[Thumper88]

1: I had NEVER worn a pair of gaffs before, and was putting them on in a hurry so my mom could get a picture, 2: im NOT looking for work while im 14, this gear is just for me to get used to, and practice climbing so I can do it for work in 5-10 years, and yes, I know im the youngest person here (Or atleast darn close), and im gonna get picked on, and thats ok, id rather yall be a friendly pain in the ass and helpfull than be friendly and not helpfull lmao, thanks for the help, now to go get a pic of the spikes on correctly ngl, yall seem just about like my friends/parents, and thats good

You’re not looking for work? Because these are direct quotes from you posted in this thread.




“thanks dude, im always looking for work from friends, most people think "Oh, hes a kid, he doesnt know what he is doing", but, (im not trying to make myself sound like a pro) I am not stupid, double tie in if there is a chance your lifeline can get cut, no flush cuts, dont climb on branch stubs, most importantly, use that grey matter between your ears, nothing will do a job better than your brain, if you cant do it in your head, this aint the job for you!

And this one

I know my setup is NOT the best, tbh I am a level below a rookie, im a 14yo without a job, so everything im doing is makeshift stuff to make money with (I live in east tn, lots of work for me here) I dont like spiking keeper trees, but I do what I gotta do, and allot of my trees have way more damage than spikes will ever do and they are just fine not hating on anyone trying to help me (Thats what this thread is for), its kind-of hard to explain why certain stuff isnt a concern, I might make a video of my setup, and issues for yall (Like a little background of myself)

I am a self admitted asshole/hardass. I have high expectations and low tolerance for bullshit from the people that work for me and with me, just like I expect the people I work for to have towards me. One reason your getting a hard time is you say your looking for advice, then ignore most of the advice. And I know some of that is from being 14 and having the attention span of a gold fish. I remember being 14, and being around the men my dad worked with who ran heavy equipment and some of them did tree work, some were lineman. All of them were real men and I wanted to fit in real bad. So I talked a lot more than I listened. So here’s my advice. Before you post something, type it all out. Then go outside, or go get a snack, or do some homework or whatever. Give it 30 minutes and come back and read the post and see if you want to change it or even still post it. That’ll help with a lot of the mixed signals you are giving and help us help you make a better climber.

 

[AdkEric]

Less talk. more listening....

@treesap Read this quote, then read it again. Then read it again.

When I was in my early twenties I got hired to cut timber for an old time logger. One of the last in my area that still hand falls. On day one he told me, "I've been doing this longer than you've been alive. Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open and you might learn something."

People here are trying to help you. Don't argue, don't be stubborn, don't be "set in your ways" as you say. If it weren't for folks like these, willing to share experiences, on a forum like this, you'd be getting no advice.

 

[treesap]

You’re not looking for work? Because these are direct quotes from you posted in this thread.




“thanks dude, im always looking for work from friends, most people think "Oh, hes a kid, he doesnt know what he is doing", but, (im not trying to make myself sound like a pro) I am not stupid, double tie in if there is a chance your lifeline can get cut, no flush cuts, dont climb on branch stubs, most importantly, use that grey matter between your ears, nothing will do a job better than your brain, if you cant do it in your head, this aint the job for you!

And this one



I am a self admitted asshole/hardass. I have high expectations and low tolerance for bullshit from the people that work for me and with me, just like I expect the people I work for to have towards me. One reason your getting a hard time is you say your looking for advice, then ignore most of the advice. And I know some of that is from being 14 and having the attention span of a gold fish. I remember being 14, and being around the men my dad worked with who ran heavy equipment and some of them did tree work, some were lineman. All of them were real men and I wanted to fit in real bad. So I talked a lot more than I listened. So here’s my advice. Before you post something, type it all out. Then go outside, or go get a snack, or do some homework or whatever. Give it 30 minutes and come back and read the post and see if you want to change it or even still post it. That’ll help with a lot of the mixed signals you are giving and help us help you make a better climber.

I did forget about that one time mentioning me looking for work... I didnt really think about that lol sorry