Why “cut line”?

In this office "cut line" refers to line of site between traverse points. Although we do have a few government contracts that require the property lines to be cut.

Was on a job in upstate pa where it was required to use a total station for preliminary gas pipeline layout. Cutting line was unavoidable.

When a client wants stakes for a new fence through 2000 feet of timber what a you going to do refer him to a fence builder?

"Question is why would a survey crew cut line? It’s economically unfeasible."

No your Honor, I did not "walk the line" or attempt to "follow in the footsteps" of the original surveyor. It was economically unfeasible, as I was the "low bidder." B-)

said the guy from Arizona...

> ..Question is why would a survey crew cut line? It’s economically unfeasible.

Check with your client. There are a lot of folks in Oklahoma that assume a line will be visible between corners when you're done.

You're not one of those "sidewalk surveyors" are you?

> Question is why would a survey crew cut line? It’s economically unfeasible.

In Central Florida, there is hardly any line to cut anymore.

At my former employer, we had an office in the Orlando area with its own survey department and crews. Whenever work got busy in the North Country of Florida, my former boss didn't care much for getting the Orlando crews. He said most of them were just "sidewalk surveyors" that couldn't find their way around in the woods. I'm sure he ment it in a nice way. 🙂

> Check with your client. There are a lot of folks in Oklahoma that assume a line will be visible between corners when you're done.

What do you do if there's a hill between the corners? Use one of these?

😀

I've cut a lot of lines and followed a lot of cut lines that were never used, allowed to regrow because the property owners didn't really care. Seems a waste in those cases. If the client wants the line cut, then the service is added at a cost.

Many of our "lines" have 50 to 140 year-old hedge trees along 95 percent of the run. Pretty well bare everywhere else but on the line. Cutting such a line is absolutely not an option, nor a desire of the client.

Recently researched a job (didn't get it) that was last mapped in 59.

There were two decent legs on the boundary noted as "Well maintained line."

The both terminated at stumps. One unknown 'benefit' of putting on my wedding band: ripping off all of my old bush-hook calluses the first time I cut line as a married surveyor. Just so I could build new ones in the same spot (roughly), I guess.

In NE Texas there are many more boundaries that are grown over with brush or grown over fenceline than what is out in the open.

Surveying down highways is not exempt from cutting brush as the 10+ feet from the ROW has been left to nature for scenic beauty or was that to save millions of $$$ to maintain that area.

Earlier in my career I was a brush ninja and preferred to cut line and let my helpers try to keep up by simply pulling the brush off line.

Now, it is cheaper for my clients to hire an experienced operator with a small dozer, preferable one with a brush blade or someone with a bobcat fitted with a cutting head that can clean more line in one day that you can drive an ATV down afterwards than three men can cut out in several days. All I have to do is give them something to line up with and point them along the desired path.

Cutting brush is something that I don't enjoy anymore and it is good that there are more efficient ways to handle that chore.

Locally, the answer is, that is what the client wants so they can paint, fence, clear and/or cut timber to.

B-)

The question is not why...it should be "How do you cut line?....machete, brush axe, axe, hatchet, small chain saw....what is the most economical and time saving...had to cut a lot of line in New England woods...good one Shawn "said the man from arizona"... dam brush near the marsh

I avoid cutting line as much as possible, but there are many times when there is no other option. (Western WA). When it is necessary careful crew selection is critical.

We cut quite a bit of line up here in the UP of Michigan. Mostly hunting land. We get a bunch of calls after the riffle deer season up here.

We have inmate crews that can cut 600' per hour with a running path down the center in almost any terrain.

😀 That's funny.

A childhood story

I was working with a party chief years ago who was born and raised in Mexico. He was quite talented at cutting line and I asked him how he got to be so good, he explained that when he was ten years old he had one pair of pants and one pair of shoes and if he wanted more he had to earn the money by cutting sugar cane.

When I started surveying it was part of my deed of agreement, my Indenture, came with the job.
One thing for me (and others too) is you have control of what gets cut.
Retracing old boundaries can be exciting enough without some overzealous track cutter taking everything in their path.
Retracing old lines from a 30 - 40 year survey has traverse marks (station setups) that possibly were only small pegs cut from branches with a clout in top.
They can at times be the only evidence of an older survey and are easily disturbed by blazing ahead withno regard for evidence.
Engineering surveys is another matter.
I still recall as I drive over a stretch of highway how we slogged for a couple of days through thick ti-tree, cutting grass and Blackwood (trees) to survey and cross section for the road design, only to see later the bulldozers come in and clear all in their wake in just one morning.
Would have made sense to call them in first, but it doesn't fit protocol.