Any climbing-arborists here? Have been amateur for years and want to go pro...

SU2

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Good advice above except for one thing. DO NOT spike a tree you don't intend to completely cut down. I can't believe you even suggested that M. Frary.
To be clear, are spikes 100% required as part of my flip-line connection for that line to count as 1 of the 2 for using a saw when cutting a trunk? Like when I'm against a trunk and going through large sections and really depend on that flipline I still am unsure if I need to have spurs or if I can just have my climbing shoes on - am thinking climbing shoes are fine since there's gotta be situations where there's nothing to spike into to do 'topping' cuts.. (I want to be clear that I'm only getting/doing ascension stuff right now, I'll be stuck buying gear & practicing before I get a climbing-saw, am not going to "wing" anything in this regard as I want to be able to do this for a very long time!!)
 

M. Frary

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what you think of the career choice? I
It's great for a single person.
Or if you like to be away from home.
The problem with the big line clearance corporations is that nepotism and favoritism run rampant. Unless you are friends with or related to someone higher up,it can be tough to advance.
Going around the country as a trainer/safety specialist was one of the coolest jobs I did for them.
By hooks I feel you still mean something on my feet to 'spike-in' to the tree....is that a comfort thing or is that a safety thing *insofar* as you'd never actually rely on those spikes they're only "progression tools
Gaffs,spikes,hooks,they're all the same.
And yes ,they are for positioning and safety.
With the hooks in and a buck strap around the trunk(what you refer to as a lanyard is what we call the cord that attaches the saw to your saddle) gives you 3 points of contact to do the work safely. The tree will heal.
I never knew knots, having learned them (and the prusik knot seems conspicuously absent from your list, seems the central knot of rope-ascension
A prusik is a loop of rope wrapped in a friction type knot around your rope which is then attached to your saddle.
We're taught to use just the rope by itself.
Less things to fail.
A snap is tied onto the rope with a bowline about your arms length from the end. You toss it around a suitable crotch,snap it to your front D rings then tie the taut line or Blake's hitch to the standing or main line. The rope slides through the knot when you pull on the knot but the moment you let go it stops.
All ropes wear at tie points. Switch ends every so often,like every week. It's like rotating the tires on your car.
Also, we're taught to not rely on mechanical devices like brakes,ascenders,carabiners and other things. They can fail.
If I were being conservative, how long should I climb before I go up with a chainsaw
As soon as you feel comfortable. The work goes quicker but they're kind of dangerous.
One handing chainsaws is a no no.
The thing is that when I started it wasn't. If you couldn't run one one handed you stayed on the ground with the rest of the worms. Over electricity it's easier to just grab a limb with one hand and cut with the other. But some guys will take too much or just simply cut themself.
I can run just about any saw with one hand,even the big ones from doing it so much. Right or left handed.
A good saw will last you far longer. Get a cheaper one to start out with but save for a good one. It sucks bad when you get to the top and the saw won't run.
The most sought after trim saw on the planet is one they dont make anymore because of emissions.
The Stihl 200 T. By far the most rippingest little saw ever invented. A used one that runs can go for $600.00. They were $400.00 new. I own 2 and a parts saw.
Husqvarna makes one though that is almost as good. I think the 338,not sure.
 
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SU2

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It's great for a single person.
Or if you like to be away from home.
The problem with the big line clearance corporations is that nepotism and favoritism run rampant. Unless you are friends with or related to someone higher up,it can be tough to advance.
Going around the country as a trainer/safety specialist was one of the coolest jobs I did for them.

Gaffs,spikes,hooks,they're all the same.
And yes ,they are for positioning and safety.
With the hooks in and a buck strap around the trunk(what you refer to as a lanyard is what we call the cord that attaches the saw to your saddle) gives you 3 points of contact to do the work safely. The tree will heal.

A prusik is a loop of rope wrapped in a friction type knot around your rope which is then attached to your saddle.
We're taught to use just the rope by itself.
Less things to fail.
A snap is tied onto the rope with a bowline about your arms length from the end. You toss it around a suitable crotch,snap it to your front D rings then tie the taut line or Blake's hitch to the standing or main line. The rope slides through the knot when you pull on the knot but the moment you let go it stops.
All ropes wear at tie points. Switch ends every so often,like every week. It's like rotating the tires on your car.
Also, we're taught to not rely on mechanical devices like brakes,ascenders,carabiners and other things. They can fail.

As soon as you feel comfortable. The work goes quicker but they're kind of dangerous.
One handing chainsaws is a no no.
The thing is that when I started it wasn't. If you couldn't run one one handed you stayed on the ground with the rest of the worms. Over electricity it's easier to just grab a limb with one hand and cut with the other. But some guys will take too much or just simply cut themself.
I can run just about any saw with one hand,even the big ones from doing it so much. Right or left handed.
A good saw will last you far longer. Get a cheaper one to start out with but save for a good one. It sucks bad when you get to the top and the saw won't run.
The most sought after trim saw on the planet is one they dont make anymore because of emissions.
The Stihl 200 T. By far the most rippingest little saw ever invented. A used one that runs can go for $600.00. They were $400.00 new. I own 2 and a parts saw.
Husqvarna makes one though that is almost as good. I think the 338,not sure.

I appreciate such a thorough reply, have probably read this post 15-20x at this point ROFL, I have far too-many Q's to fairly post them to you so have been reading & youtubing before replying, BUT I'm in a spot where urgent-answers would be of massive help to me- could you tell me your thoughts on my "final 4" choices of a climbing-saw? I want to stress that this is being purchased as a "tester unit" so I can see what I like/dislike about 1-handled saws, also I am a huge fan of the idea of, after 1-4 months using this lil generic unit and then getting the echo/husq/stihl that's right for me (only 3 brands I know are definitely alllll-good!), the beautiful part is I'll still have the beginner/tester saw I'm intending to order asap (hopefully today, just need opinions before choosing!) to keep as-backup once I've got, dunno, a 14" / 38cc / 10lbs Husq, will be nice to know that if it died on a job, or I got it jammed/wedged somehow and mallet&wedges weren't helping, it just seems smart to have a backup!! I also have multiple rear-handleds, this is just for climbing of course)

The choices I've narrowed down to for a top-handled saw, and am intentionally aiming for a very small unit because I know weight is a huge factor and I wanna see just how-weak (and, therefore, smaller/lighter) of a saw I can get away with, so today I'm hoping to purchase one of the following:

1 - Scheppach 10", 25cc, $150 (saw a ~10min un-boxing video and no surprises with his unit anyways, thing's power seems like you'd taken the end off a pole-saw and put a top-handle on it!)
2 - Generic 10", 25cc, $100 (heavier- 10lbs relative to #1's 7lbs, despite identical specs for power&bar-size)
3 - One of the ~$175-225, high-30cc's, 14"-bar units
4 - HyperTough's **Battery**/LiPo unit, 12" bar, 36V, weight is 7 or 8lbs IIRC and, unlike the LiPo Husq/et al units, this one would allow me to spend ~$100 to get a 2nd pair of batteries + a dual-slot charger, so could easily be doing the battery-swapping in a way where I shouldn't kill it to any degree that's hard to compensate around, there's also the fact that - gotta double-check -that I can simply buy this one, try it out, and then go back and return it!!

Option 4 appeals to me greatly because I can't rule-out putting-off the purchase of the 'real'/final one for a couple months so that, instead of my favorite 'regular' stihl/echo/etc top-handleds, instead I can go for the 36V husqvarna (that my favorite vlogger, Reg Coates, uses :) ), I doubted these cells had that oomph to them but I figure that if the Husq model is actually legit then, even though this is a walmart unit, it's still 36V so even if they only get 75% the energy-efficiency of the Husq unit, well, that should still be pretty damn considerable!

I should've put the Hypertough at &2, and pushed the 14"er's down to the last spot, that would've the list my order of 'favorite to least-favorite options", I can't picture going for the 14"'s because I figure that if I want/need 14" for the long-term then I'll figure that out using the 10" or 12" unit I get today (if I can get-away with 12" bar down the road that'd be great but it'd still be a reliable brand not Scheppach or whatever), the Scheppach seems to make more sense than the Generic 10" because i'm paying $50 extra but getting a 1/3 weight-reduction (and Oregon bar & chain), I guess my instinct is that this is really a choice of "should I get&test the 10" scheppach or should I get&test the 12", 36V unit?" Both weigh the same so will get a feel for that, and heck if the battery one blows me away then I'd definitely start my 36V Husqv piggybank that day!!

Thanks for any thoughts man, and wanna stress this is solely for something like climbing my Oak, tying myself in with my lanyard/flipline (custom made, very diesel and all the carabiners are ANSI/triple-action, most are RockO's and ISC biners), and cutting branches ~10" and thinner (at most!), just to learn top-handleds while I figure out how good my rigging/speedlining setups are what kind of power I truly need up there because I've found very quickly that extra weight up there SUCKS and, of course, extra weight in the saw itself is like the worst possible place for that xtra weight to come from....I like the 25cc//7lbs ratio of the Scheppach, I think I'm going to make a spreadsheet to compare these units (and include some potential future/final models like the echo CS-303T unit that's 12" with 30cc, so I can start feeling-out the power-to-weight ratio because from this ignoramus' view the power//weight ratio is, by a large margin, the most important spec I can see when choosing the right climbing saw for somebody!)

Again thank you so much, it is such a treat to be able to ask these Q's of someone I already 'know' from past postings/interactions so it's easier to "properly weigh" what's being said ie if your advice contradicted something I read elsewhere I'd know I was safe defaulting to yours and ignoring them, that is of huge value to me so really thank you M Frary!!!!
 

SU2

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Oh I should mention again just how thankful I am to everyone here, I can read all day but getting replies from people who I "know" from this site gives me insights that I'm not able to get from people I've never heard of, if that makes sense!!

Have been climbing (but not cutting yet) and loving it, was always a good climber but having a rope to utilize is just insane, and I've always been afraid of heights but once I got a solid understanding of rigging fundamentals (whether my anchors or speedlines / dropping limbs) and a grasp on my gear & knots and their strengths, I was finally able to trust things and move onward :D Starter set was harness, 120' rope (Blue Moon, love it!!), split tail friction hitch w/ sewn eyes, ascenders for up and a figure-8 for descent, and a small box's worth of random stuff like pulleys and carabiners and it's all "ansi-OK", had to be that way not just for my peace-of-mind but because I'm still seriously considering working for/alongside one of the two local groups that I'm friendly with and they're properly insured so my understanding is everything has to be compliant - I understand this for lifeline stuff but it almost sounds like work-positioning stuff needs to be ansi-ok, weird...)
 

SU2

Omono
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It's great for a single person.
Or if you like to be away from home.
The problem with the big line clearance corporations is that nepotism and favoritism run rampant. Unless you are friends with or related to someone higher up,it can be tough to advance.
Going around the country as a trainer/safety specialist was one of the coolest jobs I did for them.

Gaffs,spikes,hooks,they're all the same.
And yes ,they are for positioning and safety.
With the hooks in and a buck strap around the trunk(what you refer to as a lanyard is what we call the cord that attaches the saw to your saddle) gives you 3 points of contact to do the work safely. The tree will heal.

A prusik is a loop of rope wrapped in a friction type knot around your rope which is then attached to your saddle.
We're taught to use just the rope by itself.
Less things to fail.
A snap is tied onto the rope with a bowline about your arms length from the end. You toss it around a suitable crotch,snap it to your front D rings then tie the taut line or Blake's hitch to the standing or main line. The rope slides through the knot when you pull on the knot but the moment you let go it stops.
All ropes wear at tie points. Switch ends every so often,like every week. It's like rotating the tires on your car.
Also, we're taught to not rely on mechanical devices like brakes,ascenders,carabiners and other things. They can fail.

As soon as you feel comfortable. The work goes quicker but they're kind of dangerous.
One handing chainsaws is a no no.
The thing is that when I started it wasn't. If you couldn't run one one handed you stayed on the ground with the rest of the worms. Over electricity it's easier to just grab a limb with one hand and cut with the other. But some guys will take too much or just simply cut themself.
I can run just about any saw with one hand,even the big ones from doing it so much. Right or left handed.
A good saw will last you far longer. Get a cheaper one to start out with but save for a good one. It sucks bad when you get to the top and the saw won't run.
The most sought after trim saw on the planet is one they dont make anymore because of emissions.
The Stihl 200 T. By far the most rippingest little saw ever invented. A used one that runs can go for $600.00. They were $400.00 new. I own 2 and a parts saw.
Husqvarna makes one though that is almost as good. I think the 338,not sure.
Thanks again for such a great reply man, wanted to ask you what you thought of the idea of people taking the 201t, modifying it (arborsite/brad sneller), to make it better than the 200t? Reading the thread on it makes it seem that the 201t is in fact better, or "can be", but is just handicapped out-of-the-box and after minimal modding will outperform the 200t, would love to hear your thoughts on this!

I was too uncertain with the top-handled market and the prices are so high that I chose to go with the generic scheppach $145 unit (25cc / 10" bar) so I can get a feel for it while simultaneously getting "good at chainsaws" insofar as maintenance (have been watching&re-watching Steve's Small Engine Saloon's videos on chainsaws and overhauling my 14" & 18" rear-handled units), I figure this one won't last that long but it'll last long enough so that when it goes I'm able to make a much more informed decision (and, if buying used - which I'd likely do now that I know what to look for insofar as carb quality/compression/etc - I'd be in the best position to get deals, am stating it plural as I've realized it's probably a poor choice to only have 1 top-handled unit - what if it failed during a job?- so with any luck this Scheppach unit will still be kicking strong in several months when I'm ready to go for a better one and the scheppach becomes back-up :)

OK am off to my first-ever session of using the thing in-canopy, have been climbing for some weeks now and having a blast with that but climbing for no purpose is losing its appeal so very eager to see how this goes, it's less of a job and more of a paid-practice-session at a long-time client's, am going to be testing the saw in-canopy and, since I'll finally have things to move-out of the canopy, I'll be able to test my first speedline for dropping branches :D (FWIW I'm only doing that as-practice IE I'm planning to speedline things that would've been fine to just drop in-place, failure of the speedline would be OK with how I'm doing it although of course am hoping it goes well!! Have watched&re-watched so many of Reg Coates' videos on this & am very eager to try speedlining branches, am surprised I've never seen this done by anyone IRL despite being around these crews and even having spent a summer working with one, have never seen a speedline utilized just regular rigging not even multi-sling it's always rig a branch / drop that branch/limb....seems so inefficient after learning speedlines/multislinging!)
 

Jzack605

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leave the spikes on the ground unless it’s a removal.

$15 /hr is absurd for a climber. The risk involved, the likelyhood of an injury....just don’t; no tree is worth your life in general, but that is more so if you’re underpaying yourself that much. You won’t be able to pay your medical bills getting paid that.

Also leave the saws all for demo work. Get yourself a set of good hand pruners and hand saw. Climbing saw for bigger diameter cuts but use the hand tools as much as possible.

My realistic advice? Work for a company. I work for one of the biggest arboriculture company’s and thought I’d hate it. But they gave me an offer I couldn’t turn down. Boy was I wrong because it’s great. With a little bit of enthusiasm you’ll go a long way. They’re paying for all the gear I need, certifications that will last a lifetime if maintained and working on some locations not many other companies are outfitted for. All within my first 6 months of working for them. Do it for a few years, use them for all the certifications and training and if you still want to go on your own then do it.
 
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