When you are facing a long day of chopping line. Use this trick to avoid blisters.
Make your first cut on a little pine sapling, then dab your palm on the exposed pine resin.
This will give you a sticky grip that will not rub blisters into your hands.
:plumbbob:
Also, use loppers!
> Also, use loppers!
Absolutely!
There are areas of "high dollar" landscaping around here.
Mostly retired folks.
They cringe when they see the machetes coming out of the truck.
That's when I break out the loppers and do "selective pruning".
🙂
I do this because of an old grumpy ahole chief I once had.
A little old lady (in her 80s) came out to ask us to be careful of her "wild coffee" bushes.
The know-it-all ahole chief cut her off to tell her that it was not "really" wild coffee, (it's just a nick name) and proceeded to hack the bushes down right there in front of her.
The bushes weren't even in the way.
I always strove to be a better person than that ahole was. I always went out of my way to accommodate the public. Especially older people.
That one individual is a big reason that I'm FOR mandatory education requirements.
Better still survey in a country where there are no trees...But having seen your brush and that you have to cut line ... The oldies when we once had scrub used to say to urinate on your hand to harden callouses . Probably somersetting to do with the salt content .
RADU
Odds aer high that any pine tree I stumble onto while surveying would qualify as scenic landscaping. The buckshot in my buttshot would be far worse than any blister I might get.
When working in high dollar areas I'd use bunjie straps to tie back foliage as opposed to cutting where possible. When I did cut I used a small pair of pruning shears and did the minimum.
Picking up and disposing of the cuttings always leaves a professional appearance as well.
If I forgot the straps the client always thought they got a little something extra.
hubs for tripod stability
I don't know if it was mentioned in the first thread. If you need to set up in soft or frosty ground, set a hub under each tripod leg for a stable long term setup. I've also nailed some lath together in a triangle for those slippery concrete setups.
hubs for tripod stability
those hubs are great when you have to setup in a salt marsh too
Gloves work also.
one of the best tips that I learned from the old board was buying an old golf bag to use as a stake bag. You can find them at goodwiill & thrift shops for a few bucks. Lots of pockets also and durable outdoor material. You can keep your parasol in it also. 🙂
Funny, I usually try to avoid getting pine pitch on my hands while surveying. Maybe northern pine tree pitch is different?
About the heat
Eat lots of homegrown tomatoes, with salt.
Load up on water the NIGHT before. You cannot compensate for dehydration, on the job. Start early on the fluids.
N
In Florida...
..you will still get blisters using gloves. It's thick down here. Cutting line can take days, even weeks.
Also, the machete will fly out of your hand more often with gloves.
This trick will work with gloves on also. And it keeps the tools in your hand.
> one of the best tips that I learned from the old board was buying an old golf bag to use as a stake bag.
I always keep a 5 wood in the bag, when no one is looking, I'll toss a ball over by my stake position, then when I walk up with my golf bag, take out the 5 wood and hit the ball.
I get the darnedest looks from the construction workers.
This reminds me of another "trick".
My co-worker would "fall" out of the truck on the first job of the day, and start rolling around on the ground!
What the heck are you doing! You'd have to ask, the first time you saw him do this.
He'd explain that people tip-toe around, like they are trying to stay clean. He'd simply embrace the fact that he was going to get dirty.
He would stand up, clap the dirt of himself, and proclaim "I'm ready"
BTW, that guy would charge into anything, swamp, canal, lake, woods, briar, you name it.
How funny.
:good:
> Funny, I usually try to avoid getting pine pitch on my hands while surveying. Maybe northern pine tree pitch is different?
Sounds like it would work, but I also try to avoid pine pitch. It is so hard to clean off your hands around here that I am picking at it for days. I like to use leather gloves. (Looks cool too).
I'd love this guy!
🙂
> Sounds like it would work, but I also try to avoid pine pitch. It is so hard to clean off your hands around here that I am picking at it for days.
Butter or baby oil will take pine (or fir) pitch right off.
But now you have to get the butter off.......;-)
Radar
> But now you have to get the butter off.......;-)
>
>
>
> Radar
I heard Pine Pitch is good for that.....