Considering some springboards

[Trains]

Hi Chaps,
Ive been after some spring boards for a while, I contacted my local Axe men association that do the wood chopping events at the local shows, but never heard back from them, was hoping to have gotten something local or at least in aust.
I have a few trees I dont trust to climb, or put a tie in point in them, nothing nearby either, I dont want to back the ute up to them, or use a ladder, so spring boards it is.

Westcoast has a sale on at the moment, and Im not sure re how many would be worth getting, I was thinking of 3 toes to make my own boards.
Two might just be enough to get to position and height, but 3 would offer more versatility.

Those of you using boards how many do you find useful, appreciate your opinions.

cheers

T

 

[flushcut]

I had a set I made but they got lost in a move somehow. Sean uses them somewhat often, I think. Two is the minimum I would recommend, three or four you can build a tree fort and hang out. Lol

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I think there was a thread where either Burnam or Willie found a link and posted it.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Spring board cleats on EBAY...

Loggers / Timber Fallers Springboard Shoe 1/4" Hand Forged | eBay

Hand-forged Springboard shoes made on the Olympic Peninsula. These bulletproof shoes are designed to be mounted on quarter-sawn lumber to provide scaffolding to timber fallers working on unforgiving terrain or complex trees.

www.ebay.com

 

[CurSedVoyce]

This thread had some nice pics of some.

Springboard cleats

For Stephan, from another thread This was fabricated for a friend. Eyeballing... Is say 1/4" plate. A ring was cut off a pipe. Cut in half, beveled, and welded. I need to reset my board. In a pinch, I cut a 2x8" down to size. Mount the end of the board all the way up to the end of the...

masterblasterhome.com

 

[Trains]

Thanks for the Ebay link, but the conversion rate and shipping to Au was, well ive run out of kidneys to donate .

the westcoast ones are 86 each au, which is quite affordable, and I dont need to sell off my dyslexic dalmation photo set to cover it.

 

[SeanKroll]

I rarely pull mine out, but super useful when applicable.

I'll get a picture. You can fabricate one reasonably easily, I think.

 

[lxskllr]

Why would someone use springboards rather than spurs? If the answer is 'a logger has springboards', what's the workflow like in a logging operation? You're out in the backcountry. You have your saw, fuel/oil, miscellaneous logging stuff... Where are the springboards? Seems like a lot of weight to carry 'just in case'. Truck might be a long way off...

 

[Trains]

See my first post.

If your spurring a tree, and would need a lanyard to do so, if your dropping a tree and you want to de ass the area quickly, being on spurs with lanyard is not an option.

 

[lxskllr]

I'm having trouble deciding which is the worse scenario. Let's say you're 3m up on springboards. Bailing out at that height is sketchy, especially in rough terrain. Could end up with a life changing/ending injury, but you're out of the tree fast(incapacitated with a tree coming down on top of you?)

Contrasted to being on spurs. Slower to get out of the tree, but a controlled descent is possible. A non stoppered prusik and/or a non locking biner would aid in extraction. Might be able to slide down the tree(keelhauled!). Maybe not if there's a lot of rot for the spurs to bury in and hangup the lanyard. Not sure...

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Cant run in spikes and risk puncture injury doing so.
Butt of tree jumps up and either swats you like a bug or hits you for a home run.
Steep terrain, spring boards get you where you cant stand.

 

[SeanKroll]

I find being 4' taller to be helpful, rarely. Being 10' tall can be veery niiize (Borat haha).

 

[Burnham]

@davidwyby found this older thread . Might be of interest.

Springboard cleats

For Stephan, from another thread This was fabricated for a friend. Eyeballing... Is say 1/4" plate. A ring was cut off a pipe. Cut in half, beveled, and welded. I need to reset my board. In a pinch, I cut a 2x8" down to size. Mount the end of the board all the way up to the end of the...

www.masterblasterhome.com

 

[Trains]

So I placed an order for 3 toes, and they arrived within the week.
Quicker and cheaper than post from within Aust, unreal.

Now have to source some spruce straight grain lengths, seems 1" thick will suffice, and just taper from toe to heel on the width of the board, rekon 12" will allow a good width to taper out from the toe to 1/4 length/ max width, then taper back down to the heel to 6" or so.

I think I will have to go down to a place in the city to source some spruce, they were pretty helpful with some bits for an aircraft project, hope they are still there.

 

[lxskllr]

Not many spruce in AU?

 

[Trains]

Not many spruce in AU?

Not in my area, only ever sourced that from the timber yard, used to be lots of native pine, but its very slow growing, and smaller tree, so wouldnt get many boards out of it unless you were making them for your daughters barbie set.