Asplundh Blues

Altissimus

TreeHouser
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Jul 1, 2008
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southern Vermont
Corporate , something I'm obviously not cut out for. We occasionally have crossover work involving Power Co. and the local Asplundh crew. Seems the Orange office bigs have recently taken away all the top handle saws from bucket operators , no longer allowed. With lots of cut and hold work over the lines to do it's now all hand saw

(though they still use rear handles and pole saws). Mebbee someone got hurt one handing cuts , not sure. Guys are definitely bitching about hand sawing and holding as it's less efficient. Reason for thread is the new electerics on the market by several manufacturers. Some have been shown here , wondering if the Stihl small ass pistol grip is their answer.
 
Battery life looks pretty bad on the Stihl, and I'd question how long the saw would last clearing RoWs. There's also the detail of it still being a chainsaw. Assuming that was acceptable to the office, hardwiring the tool with a big battery in the bucket might work.
 
From what I am experiencing, battery life on most electric power tools is terrible. I bought the whole blower/battery set up just for the battery. The price was worth it, the blower can just be a back up when the old ones fail.
 
Stihl has 3 different series of batteries.
The cheapo ones don't last long, but the really expensive ones sure do.
We've just bought 3 of them for our hedge trimmers at 350$ a piece.

Well worth the money in my opinion.
 
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  • #5
Battery life looks pretty bad on the Stihl, and I'd question how long the saw would last clearing RoWs. There's also the detail of it still being a chainsaw. Assuming that was acceptable to the office, hardwiring the tool with a big battery in the bucket might work.
... Yes still a Chainsaw (I guess) , yet is designed for one handing
 
Yep.
Especially when teaching apprentices to use a saw aloft.
 
My nephew was repollarding some limes last week and caught his hand with the battery saw, bit of claret but nothing serious.
Had it been the 201 might have been a different story.
 
Curious how it happened. My estimation is the biggest danger is the saw skittering down the limb and catching your holding hand. I think committing to the cut before grabbing the branch would eliminate a lot of the injuries, but you have to do it every time. Everybody knows how to safely handle a saw, but It's easy to lose vigilance, and get a little sloppy.
 
He was a bit vague, but as I understood it he was trying to spear cut some poker straight regrowth and in pushing it away from him touched the saw with his palm.
Shook him up a bit and I had to finish off the days climbing.
No bad thing in the great scheme of things.
 
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Of course I don't work production out of a Bucket but , .... to avoid all the danger I throw a sling or two into the picture and let them hold while I cut (using two hands on the climb saw) , doesn't really take that long
 
Neither practice would last long, set against the production demands the grunt in the bucket knows are there. And we must acknowledge, the guy with the saw is usually the first to toss those body saving practices, because it's just too much trouble...until it isn't :).
 
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  • #16
What I see is is they already have lost efficiency using Fanno's plus it's laborious. Thinking I could beat them using a top handle plus a couple slings ... and maybe avoid the worn shoulder , elbow , and wrist joints on cutting side.
 
You can use a highwayman hitch or other similar quick release knot if you want something faster than the double sling, and of course using snap cuts as much as possible where they can. If they are using a fanno simply switching to the very large silky ones designed for utility clearance would be a step up. Agreed tho, a baby top handle or similar is the way to go. Wonder if they make a one handed/ top handle sawzall thing? Far less likelihood of serious injury with one of them.
 
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  • #18
I am in the habit of always having three small web slings with non lockers on my saddle even if I don't think I need them , goes quickly to girth to to the limb on both sides of the cut and use the carbiners on eachother , set up and make cut then stow saw. If the pieces are light just loosen the girth hitch to free the cut piece and chuck it clear , then unclip empty sling and leapfrog it behind the one still attached for next piece
 
Pollarding, that can be hundreds limbs to cut on one tree. No way to rig each and every ones.
I'm a big fan of the self rigging system though and I hold all the times 4 to 6 slings for that. One sling, one limb. But I use them only when the limb is too heavy to be caught securely by one hand. They are extremly useful, but only when I really need them. All the time, every cuts, that would be not only a vaste of time, but sooo many unnecessary movements. It's just a matter of efficiency, even not related to a production work.

To reduce the risk, think of a steady cut. Separate the steps, like avoiding the "cut and toss" in one movment. The chainsaw stays where it finished the cut, allowing the chain to stop, while you focus on the other hand taking the load of the limb. That's just a couple seconds and you know perfectly where your both hands are and what they are doing. No funky trajectory with a random risk of collision.
Chainsaw and handsaw, all the same.
 
Top handled saws, pro models for climbers specifically, were designed with the balance that makes them easy to use one handed. If engineered with a balance that was awkward to operate one-handed there would be a heck lot more accidents with them.

A 2-handed grip does not enure total safety to anyone, especially a moron. Every professional just needs to use common sense, and never get complacent.
 
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The guys on our local crew are good , experienced , plus tbe Morons get culled. Front office decision screws the guys on the line working. Like I said , have no idea why they took all the top handles off the trucks (their climbers are still allowed use) I can only assume the reason was an accident , hell these days could have been the Insurance Carrier.
 
Your right about that, Dave. The rules we work by are written by insurance companies, based solely on statistical data. It's a two edged sword. There's still enough practical wisdom left to temper the rules. But that quintessential element is slowly disappearing.

And then a lot of good could be said about cross-cut saws and axes.
 
Slight twist on this, but as I was driving around today, saw a small Asplundhy bucket and chipper get pulled over by a cop in another town. Cop read him the riot act, looks like for cutting off traffic on a NJ jughandle turn (probably the cop as well). The few times I see them around here, they do not seem to impress. The Nelson and NGGilbert crews (all 3 doing the majority of ROW jobs around here) seem to be much more professional.
 
I have nearly rolled on the ground laughing from watching some of the antics of the the big A crews .Once at an ajoining property removing some large leaners ,ash trees the feller acted like Paul Bunyan .Myself and the power company line men watching .Got out this long barred Dolmar saw ,made a big deal out of it for show .Then started the cut .In 30 seconds that kid dropped that saw and screamed like a little girl .He had awaken a giant wolf spider under the bark that hitched I ride on that long bar .He thought it was coming to get him . Evidently he wasn't as tough as he pretended to be . :lol:
 
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