Tree cutters?

[matt anderson]

When im not working for the county , I cut tree's, now that Im getting better at it I need some better gear Heres a list for enyone who can help

Porter Rap

Figur 8

spikes

cairbeeners

Climbing gear


Thanks

Matt:cool:

[hsstie]

A old fella told me once when i was in your shoes, "if you dont know where to buy that stuff you shouldnt be using it". And now i look back years ago, he was right. At the time i took offense to it, but it probably saved my life. Dont take it the wrong way im not trying to insult you.

How much experience do you have climbing, roping branches and tops out with a experienced rope man. I know my climber, and my climber knows me as the rope man....because of that i can rope better than any experienced rope man that shows up and tries to take my place when im cuttin wood.
If your not a seasoned climber, and havent learned what to look for and do up in the tree you can kill yourself or a ground man pretty easy. If your not a real good ground man and real good rope man you dont need to be in a tree. If a good climber taught you already, and you are good, then he should have told you long ago where to get the equipment your looking for.

You dont need a figuire 8 anyway if you know how to tie a monkeys fist. You dont need a porta wrap also 98% of the time .There is better alternatives to a porta wrap if your going to spend your money on equipment like a porta wrap. We do serious tree work everyday and dont use cabriners eithier. I have ONE , you know what i use it for? Its tied on the end of my rope and hooked to the chute on my chipper for moving the chute around.

If im wrong in my assumption, and your a really super climber climbing TREES not poles, by all means you have my apolagy in advance. But if your not, do yourself and others a big favor before someone gets killed and work part time for a tree service thats been around for years and learn what you need to know. Not some new tree service that started since isabel, too many of them around that think they know what they are doing and dont....they wont teach you right.

[matt anderson]

ok.........

Well I subcontract with one of the biger tree service's around here and I have been climbing for 4years. My dad Taught Me and my dad's been climbing close to 15 years

As far as the gear I listed That is what I use everyday AND the knot I DEPEND on is the bolen

No,... I'm not the best climber around but , I think it means somthing when they call me first to go on a new job

Ropeing ...... Well, you realy cant be a good climber If you can't rope and lower limbs

CABRINERS make things faster and easyer


The tree service Im with has been using A Porter Rap , CABRINER ,FIGUIRE 8 since they strarted 21 years ago

NOW lets get back to the POINT!

I just need a name of a place to order my gear


Hsstie, I understand

[Orest]

offer my hand to both of you; Matt you took Hsstie comment like they were ment to be and Hsstie even I enjoyed your comment. I was expecting WW III.

Any way I found this site for you Matt.

http://www.wesspur.com/Tree_Climbing_Equipment.html

How about REI for climbing dear?

[matt anderson]

No need for me to start WWIII over that

I liked Hsstie's post , It just showed me how sirus hsstie is about Tree climbing and he brought up some reel good points

Thank for the site :)


Matt

[johnnyleo11]

Where's your father get his gear?

All of my stuff is issued to me. I climb metal stuff though about 350 feet up.

[the rhondel]

....that was a good,constructive dialogue gentlemen....I'm impressed;I thought as Orest thought....the R

[Shooter]

I know of one company that carries a lot of good gear,,,,,,, J.Henry Holland http://www.jhenryholland.com/

[TreednNC]

www.forestry-suppliers.com <--my Christmas wish book, great service, I order several hundred $$ worth of gear from them a year.....

Another great choice is Ben Meadows Company.... www.benmeadows.com not sure of their website but yahoo search should suffice

[hsstie]

Ok matt, it just seemed from your post you were a newbie jumping into climbing....but i see that its a different situation. We are from the old school and really have no need for cabriners except the ones that come on the safety lanyard for the bucket truck and the ones that come on our climibing straps. We tie directly to every branch/top to insure no chance of slippage, but hey to each his own. If you like a fiquire 8 and are used to that too go for it.We never use one. If it works for you and you like it :)

Wesspur is OK. And rei is really geared to sports and recreational climbing not arborist climbing from what i remember. The holland site isnt really for an arborist eithier Check your pm matt i have a few links to better places for you. I dont mind helping you out. I just wanted to be sure i wasnt helping you out getting killed.

I can give you some advice though on a few other things from experience. The porta wrap is OK. Actually i think is sucks compared to other friction lowering devices. Every time you rope out a branch you have to reset it which is a pain. If you use an eye sling to connect it to a tree, well you could be in for a big suprise one day and have the whole porta wrap sailing up to you in the tree at 100 mph if its not secured "just right". So there is a margin of user error inthe porta wrap, which you do have to look out for. Also the max load for the big model porta wrap is only 2,000 lbs which really isnt that much if you take into account your static weight of a brach or top of a tree zooming down the tree.( just like the old story of how much damadge a penny can do if you toss it from the empire state building etc ) Lets face it, your not roping a branch out for the fun of it , you doing it cause you have to. A real bite would be to have to take a big chunk out, have the porta wrap not handle it and can you say many thousands to fix the house :rolleyes:

If you dont already have one get a false crotch, not only does it give you more areas to rope from up in the tree, it saves your ropes, AND you can rope heavier branches with a climbing line rather than switching to a bull rope sometimes. Some people call it a friction saver also.Get the one with the STEEL rings. We use the shorter one 95% of the time.

A MUCH better alternative to the porta wrap is a rope brake, which yes it is more expensive ( depending on which kind you get it can be 10x more expensive ) But the way i look at it, the customer is paying me to do a professional job. Thats why im not in their yard making minimum wage. I buy equipment to do the job right, and make my life easier everyday when i work. The rope brake i have i have used for almost 10 yrs now and its been through hell everyday....but still works like a champ. One wrap for small braches, 2 for large branches, 3 for very large blocks or big tops, and 4 wraps to hold king kong up there. Plus the rope brake has tabs on it so when you cut a huge top and lower it down ....and its too big to lay down, you can tie it off, cut 5 foot off the top , and keep doin it till you whittle the hole top down to size ALL BY YOURSELF. Based on the strap that attaches the rope brake to the tree that i use, it has a breaking strength of 39,000 lbs. I have broken a like new condition 5/8 bull rope rated at 17,000 lbs roping a top out and it didnt phase the rope brake a bit. Luckily it didnt do any damage, it swung over and landed right next to the shed :eek: The rope brake i have has held tops of trees that were so big it was just insane. My climbers been climbing for 25 yrs, never used one, didnt trust it, and want to push the limits of it so we wouldnt use it. Now hes my biggest believer. I strongly feel that if you cant afford a rope brake, save your money till you can and use a tree....rather than spend it on a porta wrap and eye sling. JMHO

Friend of mine that worked for another tree service told me of a funny story where the boss was roping out a branch, didnt have porta wrap or any friction lowering device, and he used the ladys clothesline pole that was cemented into the ground....its be ok he said to the climber trust me.....LOL the climber cut the branch and it ripped the pole with all of the cement anchor out of the ground and sailed it 50ft in the air towards the climber.

As far as climbin spikes, i really beleieve the few extra bucks for the buckingham titanium climbers are worth every penny. They are ALOT lighter, and strong as thier steel counterparts if not stronger. Get em and youll be glad you did. The velcro pads are a hit with us too. They are really comfortable, and quick to cinch right up. Highly reccomended.
If your not already using a 20 for a climbing saw ( or as the new people call it ms200 ) stihl...its way better from all the fellas i have spoken to verses the huskys. We use ours day in and day out and other than chain and bars and sprokets ocassionally.....i bang out the air filter once a week or so and a plug maybe every 6 months. Worth every dime. Starts every time.

But hey you may already have your preferences for gear, just thought i would give you some input of what we like and has worked good for us if you need any recomendations.