I was surveying from 4 yrs old, but I quit school, when I was 15, to work with my dad. So, I've pretty well got 40 yrs in.
Tools. Don't skimp your tools. Quality tools help you do a good job.?ÿ
Run that tie line. Don't get caught not knowing what's going on.
Learn new systems. New cogo.
A few of my favorite tools:
A tire tool. Its around 30' long. Has a flat tip. And, it's forged hard metal. With a good sledge hammer, and a tuna can, and a metal detector, you can know what's down there, 2 feet deep in the road.
A can of spray paint. If you find or set a plastic cap, you can mist it, not super thick, and the paint will block uv light, and extend the life of plastic caps, by a great deal.
Set a nail under your base station. If anything goes wrong, you can solve it alot easier. Also, your base station, equals unity. Or, one. That is 1.000000000.?ÿ Since you took all your shots radially, from that point, it is potentially one of the more important points on that job, and in that area. I'm finding more and more surveyors that don't put nails under their base. Implicit trust in gps is not philosophically sound.
Also, before you load up all your gear at the end of the day, set your rover on an extra nail, or such, so you can get on your control easy, if there is a cattle trailer parked on your base, or a bulldozer has gouged the dirt, just right, and now your base is funked.
And, don't dehydrate! A little salt in your water helps you retain water. It can make a difference.
Sometimes the difference in the mind of a client, between a good survey, and a bad one, is that they can find stuff, when you leave. Flagging can solve this.
A really good survey, that the client cannot see, is like a picture of a glass of ice tea, to a dehydrated man!
Nate
Pretty good advice from a surveyor barely past middle age.
A tire tool that is 30 feet long??ÿ ?ÿHow do you carry that around.?ÿ Don't tell me a surveyor mixed up feet and inches?
I think my fingers went astray!
😉
N
Nate,
Every rural survey my mentor did was blazed and painted through woods if there was no fence or stone wall along the line.
Until the lines were?ÿ blazed and painted the survey wasn't complete.
On smaller tracts in more populated areas the lines were only painted.?ÿ Some folks get very upset when they think you are defacing their trees.?ÿ Same kind of people who think you have to look 20 ft. up to find a 50 y.o. blaze.
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I have a ridiculous amount of trees to blaze this week????????
Why do you need a tuna can? Is there tuna in it?
Historic boundaries and conservation efforts.
Dipping water and small dirt and grit from the bottom of a hole on the way to the monument.?ÿ My preference is an overgrown soup spoon with a long handle.
My preference is an overgrown soup spoon with a long handle.
Thrift stores usually have a good supply of old silverplate utensils available.?ÿ A serving spoon is what I use, and being silverplate -- copper or nickel with a thin silver overlay -- it's easily bendable to conform to the dimensions of the hole.
@flga-2-2?ÿ
I've used just about everything imaginable to get mud and debris out of a hole.?ÿ Surplus stores used to sell small tin cups with a handle.?ÿ Those worked great.
While fishing I once found a plastic hand operated bilge pump that became my go-to tool for a while.?ÿ But it had its drawbacks.?ÿ The pump needed more water to operate than was in the bottom most holes.?ÿ If there was 10" of water in the hole I could get 9" out in a heartbeat...
The last inch always required a tuna can or spoon or equivalent.?ÿ?ÿ
My stomping grounds these days are 99% urban so I don't have much need to dig monuments out of gravel roads. I do find myself bailing water out of monument?ÿ wells. To that end I keep a 2 gallon plastic bucket with a smaller bailing cup, sponge, garden trowel, and some shop rags.?ÿ I used to have a hand pump but it quickly filled with grit and quit working.?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ
I will generally set monuments a tick below ground level. My main motivation for that is to keep them safe from the mower, but a side benefit of being buried is to keep the sun off of them.?ÿ?ÿ
A serving spoon, about 2 feet of 3/8 inch plastic tubing to blow dirt off of a monument, whisk broom, stainless steel brush, toothbrush size, and a sponge to soak up water are always on the truck. Spoon and tubing are in my vest.
After I also carry a woman's compact case with a mirror to light up monuments in holes.?ÿ
