Spike pruning

[flushcut]

I don't spike prune never have or ever will. I am wondering how the rest of you guys and gals feel? I have a pretty good idea as to what the answer will be.

 

[thattreeguy]

honestly. come up here, and you will need your spikes..most trees are rope climbed, but a handful of awkward trees get the gaff,the bark is so thick on the redwoods, firs and spruce that you can spike them till youre up about 1/2 way, then send them down when not needed anymore.

let the shame on you's begin

 

[flushcut]

Ok let me rephrase: on trees were the bark is not massively thick like the rest of the USA.

 

[MasterBlaster]

No hooks on trims is usually a selling point for me. I use it to my advantage. Plus, it's more comfortable to go w/o them, IMO.

 

[Old Monkey]

I use spurs on black locust trims here. The crotches are near impossible to set a line in from the ground as they are all included and they are already riddled with holes from borers. I can tip toe up the bottom in such a way that anyone would be hard pressed to find my spur marks.

 

[Burnham]

I used gaffs to do these vista prune crown lifts for the Columbia Gorge NSA...hard to set ropes on a cliff face, and the trees had 20 to 50 feet of dead limbs below the green. We rappelled off the guardrail to the base of each tree, did the work on that one, ascended back to the road, moved the descent line down to above the next tree and repeat. It was too cliffy to move from tree to tree without a rope in most cases.

All Douglas firs...you couldn't put much of a hurtin' on them with gaffs if you went out to try.

It was a tough job, but real fun.

 

[sotc]

I have done it on rare occasion. Once even to cable a cedar tree. This was a "cathedral prune" we did 10-12 years back. Small, downsloping limbs with lots of dead wood

 

[Burnham]

"Cathedral prune"...I like it!

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Only in special circumstances as has been mentioned. The fact that I can do it with out is a selling point. I find gaffs more awkward in a prune. Much easier with out IMO

 

[flushcut]

Interesting responses it seems only when necessary.

 

[GASoline71]

I'm sure you'll find it more common out west with thick bark and straight spars.

Gary

 

[woodworkingboy]

The most highly skilled climber I have personally observed, won't even use spikes on removals, thinks it is disrespectful to trees. He has devised his own methods around it. I worked with him recently, a super cool guy. I noticed that he does yoga during the lunch break to remain flexible. Pretty much self taught as well. On days when he doesn't climb, he does thinning in the forest.

 

[cory]

Cool, do tell more re the tao of this guy.

 

[MasterBlaster]

No hooks on removals?

Nyet!

 

[Rborist1]

I spike everything that I can! It's all about SAFETY boys and girls.

 

[pantheraba]

I agree, Jay...tell us more about the "yoga during the lunch break" climber.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

And me, I spike the less as possible, even for the removals.
So I can't envisage to use them for pruning.
I agree that the spikes are very useful in some cases, though, but actually I don't trust at all those devices.
Sure enough it's because I lack of technique and training (and as I got the ones with the poorer design on the market, it doesn't help!- but I'm scared by the spike-out, Sadly, it happens often enough to kill my self-confidence.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Not much to tell, I had been hearing of a full fledged climber residing about an hour and a half away, pretty unusual in these parts. The crane guy i work with had hired him on some jobs where I wasn't involved, and I saw some photos of the rigging that he had set up over some old grave stones, and it appeared pretty sophisticated. I had the chance to meet him earlier last year, and that was when we discussed using or not using spikes, and he relayed his philosophy, also saying that such thinking was the norm within some circles in the past. Seemed like a real nice guy, very willing to share his knowledge and further learn, and also saying that since there are almost no, or absolutely no, opportunities to learn from a proper instructor here, when I expected to hear that he had lived abroad, he said that he taught himself from what information is available through whatever sources are out there, like photos and vids on the internet, etc. Watching him work he is smooth and efficient quick, really gets it done. Does his own splicing. He appears to also work quite safely, like when topping, will do his cuts and then have the crane pull it over to a point where it is broke off or about to, then he will drop down some distance to be out of the zone, before having the crane pull the pick off. I hadn't seen that before, and the guy obviously has excellent control with the saw. When on stems with no limbs available for a tie in or footing, he lashes a stick to a tree to stand on. Uses an ascender to climb and a vt for his hitch, generally. He doesn't appear inhibited by not using spikes, I doubt he has ever tried, and kind of a thin long legged guy with good reach, built much like you, Gary. The last work photos I posted of the job next to the city office, he was the lead climber, so there were chances to observe his work over a three day stretch. I was really impressed with what appears to be his degree of confidence in his methods.

Both gave me a hank of new rope and a saddle that he wasn't using, more my size, when we were packing up. I asked him if he had ever considered working in the states, thinking it would be real cool to link him up with some folks here, but he has a young family and is in the process of starting to build a house soon, so seems pretty busy with things over here. He got right down and dirty during the clean up of the big job, with the bunch at the very end sweeping up the small debris in the rain. An excellent worker, man all the people are here.

I told him about the treehouse, unfortunately his English is not good, but I have sent him some photos from here, so maybe he will want to participate if at all possible. Cool guy, very respectful of people and the work, and definitely has his own thing going.

 

[Bermy]

I'll spike coconuts when no other option is available, and I'll spike prune casuarinas, invasive, weed tree, tough as all get out but useful as windbreaks, I challenge you to find the spike marks after three months.
Nothing else.

 

[cory]

Very cool, thanks for sharing. Maybe he will check in!

 

[pantheraba]

Excellent reply, Jay...thanks for taking the time to be so thorough. If possible I would like to see a picture sometime of how he lashes a stick (bamboo?) for foot rests on a spar...interesting idea.

 

[Porkbrick]

firs and redwoods get the spikes if there are no low branches, canary palms almost always get spiked, and fanpalms only get spiked if i cant get a rope into the crown. the company i work for uses spikes on the big blue gum eucs, but i dont anymore. nothing sticks out more than bleeding spike marks on that smooth grey bark. ive done removals without spikes, but only cause i was a dummy and forgot them.

 

[Old Monkey]

That's the only time I do spikeless removals.

 

[squisher]

I do all my three cut removals spikeless.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

There ya go.