Tricks of the Trade

[Orgnizdlbr]

I don't think so Labor.

"The hand lines I was talikng about are coiled up and brought up with you on you'r belt the lineman lowers it when he needs something and he pulls it up much more mobile."

I didnt see that post! I gotta go back and check!

[edski104]

i've done distribution and transmission and both usually will use a handline like swampy and myself use. i've gotten away from using it after i hang it if i'm in a bucket, because it's faster to go down and get the,lets justs say,a cut out ,from the grunt ,who has a hard enough time trying to figure out his name,let alone how to hook up a cut-out so i can get it off the line easy.but most places do use handlines with hooks and you need to know how to use them for the rodeo,too.

[Orgnizdlbr]

Well Swamprat, I'm not tryin to start any fueds or anything, but , my foreman and linemen did distribution linework for 30 some odd years and they rarely used an endless handline. When I started with the company I was kind of in shock that they just used a piece of rope with an eye braided into each end , and called it a handline. They just carried it up on their belts , same as Spur was describing. I offered to get out the endless , with the adjustable becky and haul stuff up to them , but they said they liked doing it their way just as well. So now fast forward 12 years , and I do it basically the same way as they do. It works just fine,and as near as I can tell, all the guys I'm working with are pretty dang fine journeymen. It 's all what you get used to I guess, and of course the amount of hook work you do. I know that we don't do near as much as they used to . Almost everything is designed now to be bucket accesible ( or buried, then you don't need a bucket or hooks LOL, but that's a whole 'nother issue). Occasionally we would hang a small sheeve and run a few things up, but they would very very rarely , break out what I considered to be a true handline , like you are describing. Well I believe I've rambled on enough, just had to throw my 2 cents in.

Just out of curiosity , do you hang a line if you're working out of a bucket? We have some guys that will, but most just go up and down to get stuff.

Let me get this "straight". You carry a coil of rope up when ya climb. When ya need something ya drop the end and pull it up to yourself. Ive been in this business 34 years, what the hell does the grunt do? My ground man is there to get the equipment to me, I must be missing something. How long is the "straight line"? Thats what I call the rope. I have to be missing something...how would you rescue a hurt man?

[LINEHAND]

Have used the method described many times when there is more poles to be worked than there are handlines. Just tie a rope to you belt, the the grunt ties what you need on the other end then you grunt et up. Would never consider it a true handline since you cant pull up wire, xarm, services etc... Guess its all in how you came up. Were I was at it was the grunts job to make the man on the woods life as easy as possible, the groundhand makes the lineman, especially on hooks! JMHO

[Hemingray Insulators]

ok, I'm a bit confused, now by endless handline are you meaning the rope is strung through a pully and then spliced into itself as you would splice 2 pieces of rope together?

[spur]

Well Swampy I think we can agree that there is more than one way to skin a cat in this great trade of our's , I have used you're handline when there was enough grunts to go around but with todays cut backs that is not the case.

spur

[659Lineman]

When I started I was told "Your handline is you best friend kid". We use it everyday. If someone can do the work from the ground, he does it. Changed out 2 poles today, bout 9 services between the two. The lineman, groundman and a handline swung them all. No slack blocks. Everytime we go up a pole, bucket or hooks, we take a handline. If the AP forgets to take it up, he is reminded, once he gets to the top, to come down and get it. We do run a 4 man crew. Foreman, 2 Linemen and a truck driver(operator). One more thing, my handline blocks have a "meat hook" and a "becky" on them. My "becky" of choice is a 10 foot rope through the eye of the block. Leaves 2 rope tails hanging out. We do have one guy that prefers the hook and slip "becky". Enough of my ramblings.

[T-Saw]

Wow, who'd of thought, that something as a simple piece of rope would spark such a debate. LOL
To answer the question of Orgnizedlbr, you got it pretty much right. We drop the end of the straight rope and pull up what's needed. As for the " What does the grunt do ? " question....uhhhmmm , he works for a different company, LOL, we ain't got none. I know , I know , Iknow....the guy on the ground is the grunt , no matter who he is. I just have a hard time saying , that guy down there , that's been a lineman longer than I been breathin' , is my grunt.But technically, he is at times, and I'm his occasionally. As for rope length, we have various lengths, and as long as it is at least twice as long as the pole height, plus a little , no problem. Hurt man rescue, is practiced and done by wrapping the x-arm if there is one , or around the pole with a screwdriver driven in. I was taught to drop the block and seperate the handline if possible, even when working with a regular handline, then you do the same thing I described. I know it sounds very different, but believe me . We can all do a hurt man rescue , quick enough that i would and do , climb with any of the guys I work with. Now once again , we don't climb all that much anymore , but when we do, I would say ,we do a damn fine job.

As for linehands comment that you can't pull up wire, services , crossarms etc....., we certainly do pull all those things, and yeah it does suck to have to hand over hand a xarm up a pole. that would be one of the cases for driving in your screwdriver and letting the groundman pull it up . That works good on services as well, or just lay the rope over the secondary and catch off the service and have the grunt hold the tension while you swing it. ( LOL to hear the foreman talk , they used to not even bother with a rop or a belt if it was less than a hundred foot service, " Hell just climb up ,wrap one leg around the pole , grab that service and swing it over . I never did figure out how they carried the stuff reconnect it though , if they didn't have their belts on. LOL but I still love to hear the stories of the old days, and I still learn a lot that way. I've only been doing linework for 13 years so I still have a lot to learn.)
As I mentioned, previously , I thought these guys were nuts for doing it the way they do. I was taught the same way as Olbr and Swamprat are talking about. The grunt better have the next piece of material ready to go for the lineman, and if it wasn't gonna cause problems, it better be already hanging just below ready to be pulled up to him with a cuple tugs , when the lineman was ready.

But now after doing it the way we do it , I would say , for as little hook work as we do, our way works fine. I do think if I was going to be in backyards all day everyday, walkin wood , I would probably dust off the adjustable becky , seperable loop handline and use it, maybe , depending on what we were doing.

It's all in what you get used to I guess. I used to hate the thought of hanging a tub with a jib , until I was forced to do a few hundred LOL, due to a lack of an available digger derrick , But now, I hate the thought of having to drag that thing out just to hang a tub.

Aww crap, I gotta go to work, I think we oughtta start a lineman exchange program , where I can go work on a crew in Florida during the winter and one of you guys can come up here . LOL . You know , just to see how the other guy does it. LOL. Yeah yeah yeah I know, I could pack my bag and drag up just like anyone else, but I kinda like it here , overall. I think I'll just stay put.

[Orgnizdlbr]

I was taught the same way as Olbr and Swamprat are talking about. The grunt better have the next piece of material ready to go for the lineman, and if it wasn't gonna cause problems, it better be already hanging just below ready to be pulled up to him with a cuple tugs , when the lineman was ready.

Thats how its done. The grunts job is to make it as easy as possible on the man in the air. Maybe I'm wrong and too old or been around too long but thats how linework is supposed to be. I'm also not a big proponent of the screwdriver in the pole for raising arms, use the right tools and ya wont run into trouble.....

[Orgnizdlbr]

When I started I was told "Your handline is you best friend kid". We use it everyday. If someone can do the work from the ground, he does it. Changed out 2 poles today, bout 9 services between the two. The lineman, groundman and a handline swung them all. No slack blocks. Everytime we go up a pole, bucket or hooks, we take a handline. If the AP forgets to take it up, he is reminded, once he gets to the top, to come down and get it. We do run a 4 man crew. Foreman, 2 Linemen and a truck driver(operator). One more thing, my handline blocks have a "meat hook" and a "becky" on them. My "becky" of choice is a 10 foot rope through the eye of the block. Leaves 2 rope tails hanging out. We do have one guy that prefers the hook and slip "becky". Enough of my ramblings.

Thats what I'm talking about.......