I found an old Dietzgen staff compass today which I have use for. It's good for running boundary line where the traverse wandered a little too far off the boundary line for whatever reason. We are blazing trees so we don't need to split hairs and will have plenty of accurate points to check.
Anyway I can't find the Jacob's staff or the ball socket. There is a very fine female thread on the bottom which is 1/2" diameter. I don't know if I can get some type of threaded rod (probably brass) with that thread.
Any suggestions?
I bought my staff and assembly on ebay.
I use a straight shovel handle, carefully whittled to thread into the base. The swivel socket is cute but a Pain in the Butt to use.
Forestry Suppliers in Jackson MS for the Jacobs Staff and probably the ball and socket joint. I've probably got the same Dietzgen compass. I'll upload a pic or two and since FS is local if you'd like I can check on it with my compass. The Jacobs Staff is somewhat ornate and about the weight of a baseball bat. Well worth the money.
yep that's it. The leather pouch is more beat up than yours.
dang I wish I could find all of the parts.
Dietzgen Staff compass> Peter
Are you pulling our leg, grandpa?
Dave's right, Forestry Suppliers has a bunch of those "hard to find" items plus the new stuff too. Decent prices to boot. If you need parts and Dave gets tied up, give me a holler and I'll run by and pick it up for you. Check the on-line site and get on their mailing list. They have a neat catalog that is fun to rummage through.
Dietzgen Staff compass> Peter
not precision craftsmanship, I do not us it for geodetic work.
Dietzgen Staff compass> Peter
I can't tell but that looks like the more precise compass. A Land Surveyor that works for a timber management company showed me their compass; wow I would like to have one of those. It is bigger so it can be graduated to I think a quarter degree. Those are expensive but useful for running line quickly in the forest.
I just want to be able to run lines a few hundred feet so I don't have to haul a total station back down to the line just to decide which tree 5' from line I need to blaze. Most of the traverse is a few feet from line but there are places where we went around really thick places or an abrupt knoll trying to reduce the number of stations.
Dietzgen Staff compass> Peter
I have a copy of Sipe's original "Compass Land Surveying." I recall that the old fellow once had a friend run a closed traverse with an EDM & T-2 through rough West Virginia country as a "control traverse." Sipe then did the same with a chain and compass, closed to the control within 1 part in 3,500.
Now that's surveying.
Dietzgen Staff compass> Peter
David: it is a Warren - Knight Co. 18461 labeled "Sipe - Sumner Pattern". 5" needle.
It is marked in 1/2 degree intervals but has some sort of Vernier on the declination setting... but I don't really remember how to read a vernier anymore.
My youngest once said: "you old guys have the best tools!"... It is one of my most cherished possessions that I have had since the late 70's. I do still use it a bit, but never to it's highest use as I started my career using a Wild T1 and shortly later had a HP3800 also. I ran many miles with this compass in the coastal timberland of California and Oregon... and a bit later (early 80's) did some rather exciting work with it in the Emerald Triangle too.
I once knew a fellow that used an adjustable leg wood tripod and ball socket with a Burnton Pocket Compass... I would really love to have that rig today!
Dietzgen Staff compass> Peter
old guys have the best tools because they built that stuff to last a career or more. The main board on your total station might fry itself at 5 or 10 years so you get a new one. Not back then, your transit never needed batteries recelled or EDM replacement. Obviously we are a lot more efficient and somewhat more accurate but a transit and steel tape in the hands of a seasoned old Party Chief who used good methods could be amazingly accurate.
Dietzgen Staff compass> Peter
Company I worked for in the 70's had a contract with the Forest Service to retrace the GLO and post their boundary. Those doing the work had verbal permission to post the line using a Staff Compass and did. When the line was checked it wandered all over through the trees because of different local attraction at each setup. The lines were reran at company expense, the LS was turned in to the Board. My experience with Compasses reflects that projects results. If I follow a compass line, it is set up at one location and that initial compass bearing is projected ahead using other means. I suspect that is why there are two way sights on the things to begin with. There probably are areas of this country where local attraction has little effect but regardless of those places, it is my belief that few understand how to use a compass in the first place.
jud
Well...that's very cool. It's like a total-station. You can get the bearing, and dig for the corner with the same tool. If you pace well, you don't even need a tape measure....;-)
Dietzgen Staff compass> Peter
great photos!
Dietzgen Staff compass> Peter
> I can't tell but that looks like the more precise compass. A Land Surveyor that works for a timber management company showed me their compass; wow I would like to have one of those. It is bigger so it can be graduated to I think a quarter degree. Those are expensive but useful for running line quickly in the forest.
>
> I just want to be able to run lines a few hundred feet so I don't have to haul a total station back down to the line just to decide which tree 5' from line I need to blaze. Most of the traverse is a few feet from line but there are places where we went around really thick places or an abrupt knoll trying to reduce the number of stations.
Uh, well you could do like the rest of us do and set more nails to correct up so don't have to worry about it. You can pull over a nail that's not a traverse point you know.
When we are hacking and blazing lines, I don't want to carry any more than I have to because I know we will be wore out at the end of the day anyway.
Typically, we set nails no further than 100' apart (not including traverse points) for this type of work. We also make sure at least three line up (after correcting the line) before hacking and blazing the first tree.
I thought this was SOP for this type of work.
Dietzgen Staff compass> Peter
Nice compass and quite rare in that condition. Looks like the declination is set to about 12 degrees, 40 minutes which would be correct for somewhere around Victorville, CA. If you ever want to sell just email me.
Mike
Dietzgen Staff compass> Peter
SOP is to blaze the correct trees; how you get there may vary.
Dietzgen Staff compass> Peter
It pays to be careful.
We have a traverse through there.
Some places over there have local attraction; others don't, it's something to test for.
Dietzgen Staff compass> Peter
Then might I say that it sounds like your doing double the work with the compass after the traverse line.
