What did it for you?

Treetopflyer said:
How do you gauge the fun level John. Some people like it rough. He could be having just as much as you . Bumping and resetting his knot . Maybe the thrill of the tuantline gets him going.
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I guarantee it is the lack of simplicity of the components of the slack tending system with the hitch climber etc.that keeps him on a taughtline. I would venture to bet if you put him in a tree with a zigzag and just a small tree and said just move around ascending and descending and limb walking...he'd be hooked and you'd have to tear the device from his hands. Slack tending is a monumental transition.
 
treevet said:
Slack tending is a monumental transition.
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I know that's what I felt when I made that transition . I'm still digging deep to figure out what really really did it for me . Again great thread ,I'm feeling like something out of everyone else's answer could be part of mine .
 
I'm used to seeing taughtline, as something that's teached. And tauntline, as something scorned. But tuantline is a new way of spelling tautline! Perhaps next will be twatline but let's keep it PG rated yall.

Maybe he curses it because he tied a tightline hitch. ;) No thrill in the knot, no matter taut or tight; 'rollout' is a myth ime.

Yeah the physical/mental aspect is a winner; at its best treework is a combination, daylong integration of the two; yoga.

Until it's not!
 
guymayor said:
I'm used to seeing taughtline, as something that's teached. And tauntline, as something scorned. But tuantline is a new way of spelling tautline! Perhaps next will be twatline but let's keep it PG rated yall.

Maybe he curses it because he tied a tightline hitch. ;) No thrill in the knot, no matter taut or tight; 'rollout' is a myth ime.

Yeah the physical/mental aspect is a winner; at its best treework is a combination, daylong integration of the two; yoga.

Until it's not!
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Probably the thrill of the climb no matter the knot maybe not. I would still be thrilled climb on a twatline , tautline, taughtline , tauntline ,anything to move through a canopy I'm in a blissful place.
 
treevet said:
I guarantee it is the lack of simplicity of the components of the slack tending system with the hitch climber etc.that keeps him on a taughtline. I would venture to bet if you put him in a tree with a zigzag and just a small tree and said just move around ascending and descending and limb walking...he'd be hooked and you'd have to tear the device from his hands. Slack tending is a monumental transition.
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Side note: I just want to say, he does make the tautline hitch look good! The way he climbs and works that knot, second nature! Why would he want to mess up what he's got going! But I do think he would enjoy the world of slack tending... if only he knew first hand. I even tried pushing a simple micro pulley to 'try' to help tend the slack on the taut, but he wouldn't have it. Treevet, I am sure you are right. He definitely likes it 'simple'. One rope tied to a snap with a tail for the hitch. In some ways I miss the simplicity. But I couldn't go back. We discovered the blakes together, he stayed with the taut. I moved to a hitch climber, he stayed with the taut, I moved to a Rope Wrench, he stayed with the taut. I found Treebuzz, he stayed with the taut...
 
Being a gear junkie from birth led me to skiing, mountain biking, and rock climbing. Being outdoors and climbing trees as a kid are some of my most wonderful memories. These interests led me to college where I studied environmental sciences including forestry and botany. The school I went to was the liberal arts mecca, so I took outdoor leadership courses (wilderness first aid and high angle rescue were highlights) and every student worked on campus for a mandatory 15 hours per week. I joined the tree crew and learned the basics but that's not when it took hold. Later in life after working in construction (following my Dad's and Granddad's footsteps) for 15+ years to raise a family I realized I hadn't been getting enough of a rock climbing fix. That's when I found that arboriculture was my calling! Climbing and touching trees has been a refreshing new career for me for the past 8 years. I think one of the most rewarding things for me has been teaching my oldest son everything I know about trees, tree care, and all the gear. He's hooked too!
 
I spent my time. up till i was almost 21, wasting my years with very dirty lifestyle, never taking advantage of opportunities or learning anything. i started landscaping and found something i was good at and enjoyed, pruning ornamental trees and shrubs. I took my SATs 3 years removed from high school, sent in my scores to the Stockbridge School without looking my scores, and got accepted. i went to school in an effort do something positive with myself for once, and try to succeed in and complete something.

I have found a career that i love, i feel i am good at, and has me always wanting to learn more and more. i loved pruning ornamental trees, and once i saw someone climbing a shade tree with a line and saddle, i knew THAT was what i needed to be doing, not landscaping (no disrespect to that industry). my love / interest / passion for this industry has helped lead me in a completely different direction in life, helping me learn a lot about myself.

really enjoying reading this thread.
 
My Grandfather owned 900 acres of old lowcountry plantation land on the Ashley River which is about 2 miles downriver from Middleton Place. He used to have it set up as historic gardens, sell tickets, and it was open to the public. It was one of four separately owned gardens open to customers in about a 5 mile span on hwy 61.

When my Grandmother died, she left me 3 acres around the pond, which was the focal point of the gardens. It used to be a large pond with white sand paths, surrounded by azaleas, dogwoods and live oaks, with a white bridge that arched over the middle. I've seen post cards of it when everything was in bloom, and it was gorgeous.

Much of the wisteria and golden bamboo he planted was beginning to wreak havoc on the centuries old live oaks, some of which I watched succumb. At the time, my girlfriend's brother was an arborist. He climbed one and pruned it for me, removing deadwood and vines. He showed me the tautline and the blakes hitch and I got to studying, bought a weaver 'nutcracker' saddle, 120' of safety blue and a hand saw about the size of woodworking crosscut saw. Started working, burning my hands, teaching myself slowly and fell in love with it. I already had proper pruning skills on ornamentals which I then transferred to the bigger stuff.

I was working for a fund raising software company at the time and I started doing some tree jobs on the weekends and making some good money to put in the safe. The software company was going through some growing pains and one day I put in my two week's notice and never looked back.

The coolest thing about arboriculture to me is that it takes a special type of person to do it; it's something not just anybody can do (or at least will do.) In addition, working at height in trees gives us a perspective few others get to see, takes an incredible amount of skill, planning, dedication and endurance to do properly, and you get to save trees that without your help would certainly die. But when necessary I also enjoy a big technical removal over a home or obstacle, and the chess match you have to play in your head to determine the most efficient way to perform it safely.
 
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I got hooked after pruning a neglected apple. I zoned in and asked "what is best here?" I get in a meditative state "zone" that just feels good when I'm working on a tree. Watching Reg take down a massive tree beside an English country house, cool and calm as can be, spurred me to push into the bigger stuff. (Pun intended!)
 
treevet said:
What took your job from an hourly thing you punch in and out on and live for after work hours to a totally encompassing love that you have for this job? Was it when manilla was replaced with synthetic lines, the camming lanyard was invented, the taughtline turned into the Blakes, the pole chainsaw, gas powered drills for cabling, Alex Shigo seminars, tree forums like Treebuzz (you cannot be successful without forum to stay current), slack tending climbing systems, SRT, crane td's, whole tree chippers, mini skids, Wraptors, climbing contests,....big money to buy toys...?

I have seen SO many innovations in the many years in the biz. I go back to manilla turning into estralon/nylon climbing lines. Big improvement as even tho the manilla was a great line for ddrt, you always were leery about heart rot. But with the advent of nylon it was an issue that the taughtline kept "rolling out" creating a very dangerous situation. Enter the Blakes, enter the camming lanyard, enter the slack tending, enter mechanical hitches, enter SRT.... But innovations be what they are, I still prefer descending on a Taughtline hitch to any modern day hitch cord or mech. hitch set up. It just feels better and is more responsive imo. It fills up my palm. Self tending is important enough to make that irrelevant tho :-( Beats pressing your shoe sole on the standing part of the line to advance the hitch...often requiring 2 hands).

Everyone that wanted to learn arboriculture read PP Pirone's "Tree Maintenance" nightly and memorized and referred to it (also his "Insects and Diseases of Ornamental Trees")...Wise Garden Encyclopedia..., enter Al Shigo, enter Richard Harris, enter Schwarze, Mattheck, Luly, Dirr, Urban, Gilman...

What got your attention and captivated and captured you?
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I too, started in 1969, 3 days after my 16th birthday in April, workng Saturdays. Worked most Saturdays until summer break. Started working the summers of 1969 and 1970, between High School grades. No throw lines, no shot pouches (johnny balls), just climbing a 40' ladder and free climbing, shinnying to the tie in point, where I would do whatever it took to throw my 3 strand manila rope through the branch union and tie in with the tautline hitch. We had some giant American elms where the 40' extension ladder didn't get the the 1st branch. So, it was make your way to the top of the ladder main rails and shinny to the first branch.
More later.
 
Ladders are vastly underrated in today's blingbling gearmania.

Shinnying however can be vastly painful; it'll take you from bass baritone to alto.

Nice to see tautline called what it is; that sweet spot between too tight and too loose.
 
I once worked all day in pouring rain down pour. My fingers all had that wrinkled, just out of an hour in a hot bath tub look. I was removing a 100' plus 40" dbh pinoak in a relatively open space...by myself. Bills to pay, help intoxicated or suffering after effects. On the way up just off a 36' ladder and hanging on for dear life (no tie in...no buckstrap) spiking up a FAT stem with no laterals at that point...my manilla became lodged in the ladder...and I was now climbing with the added weight of a 36' ladder on my saddle. Got to the top and tied in and pulled it up the rest of the way...and enjoyably tossed it to the ground mostly destroying it and finished it off with some big wood intentionally sent in its direction. All suffering done in quiet in a N. Brunswick NJ suburb with wives cooking dinner or vacuuming or whatever they do while a crazy person rids them of a dead monster in their yard. I loved that ladder, and I loved smashing it to smithereens. :-)
 
treevet said:
I once worked all day in pouring rain down pour. My fingers all had that wrinkled, just out of an hour in a hot bath tub look. I was removing a 100' plus 40" dbh pinoak in a relatively open space...by myself. Bills to pay, help intoxicated or suffering after effects. On the way up just off a 36' ladder and hanging on for dear life (no tie in...no buckstrap) spiking up a FAT stem with no laterals at that point...my manilla became lodged in the ladder...and I was now climbing with the added weight of a 36' ladder on my saddle. Got to the top and tied in and pulled it up the rest of the way...and enjoyably tossed it to the ground mostly destroying it and finished it off with some big wood intentionally sent in its direction. All suffering done in quiet in a N. Brunswick NJ suburb with wives cooking dinner or vacuuming or whatever they do while a crazy person rids them of a dead monster in their yard. I loved that ladder, and I loved smashing it to smithereens. :)
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...and THAT is what took it from a day to day punch the clock to a life long love??? Jeezz, man!:)
 
Yes tied in is preferable, but not mandatory, while climbing ladder.

Sounds like a hard night Dave; how'd the rope snag the ladder?

Celebrating the tautline quietly; too mundane to get worked up about. It ain't how we get up there that counts, it's what we do with the tree.
 
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