Tricks of the Trade

[MI-Lineman]

But DAMNIT DAD??

WHAT was the point of THAT shit? Throwin the kliens? Away....

Sorry...didn't, and dont..."get" your dads "Lesson" on that.[/QUOTE]

The 60 ton was the only one his company had and the kliens were his best! Gotta think before ya act! How'd cutting the lines or throwin the kliens solve anything? Savy?

[Edge]

yeah you got some of that MI... the Zen part of it is tricky... ya see theres a few lessons there...

"so instead of calling Meyers back I called the old man he was home so I said I'd be there in an hour or so.."

whats more important...

"got to my old man's he's jabbering about how I should be at work I'm jabbering about how he should be at work... he comes back with I'm management I work when I want to... yada yada..."

avoidance is the same as deception... and it's still lying someone thats been there and done that will know....

and he looks at me as asks point blank..."so why ain't you at work boy?"
so I tell him the story...

when you admit your weakness you are weak... so be careful who you give your weakness to

then theres the rest of the story the point of which you got head on...

my old man had a way of speaking volumes without saying a word... a rare gift... rarer still in linework...

yeah he told me I had acted foolishly...

"your only as good as your tools" if ya ain't got any you cant do much... but going back to the hammer...

not just any hammer will do ya in line work you wouldn't use a claw hammer to frame a pole any more than you would use it to pound out a dent in the bumper of you car... have the right tools for the job... thats not necessarily a trick of the trade but sometimes it is... the same hammer you use for 'bustion might not be worth a damn in a substation...

and that was what my old man was tellin me... my skills, my knowledge, my desire was worthless... because I was using the wrong hammer...

yeah thats another Koan...

I sure miss that old man sometimes... all the time...

I guess the "trick of the Trade" is just that Swimpy...

[spark and bark]

Ever had one of those bastard services to push, like a 150 foot run of 350mcm triplex? You aren't too sure you can get it without using a rope? But being the ape you are gonna try to impress everyone? And you don't want to use a whole jug of cable snot just in case you have to pull it out of the conduit? Well, stagger them obviously and tape the hell out of them, and then add a little silicone to each tip of the legs. This helps get it around a bell or a sweep and makes ya look pretty good when you get it there:

Or, ever have to drill a jumper pin in a fiberglass arm for an extra jumper pin? Well, if you ain't got the right bits, use an old 11/16 bit and cut the spiralled tip off it. Then run your gas drill in reverse. Just watch out for that damn itchy shavings!

installing new cutout? Well, put a piece of plastic on top of mounting bracket bolt on top of the star washer, then put the lock washer and nut on top of the plastic. Makes it easy to get that lock washer off with rubbers on.

[spark and bark]

Well, not really much of a trick, but a shortcut. When spreading a deadend, we hand a single arm below existing d.e. and hand tangent hot arms on them, then use the boom truck and a link stick to grab the da bolt and cut the end of the arms off, set them in the hot arm, and tadaa! no need to f$ck around with hoists. just make sure its not a slack span on one side

[Highplains Drifter]

Now THAT's interesting as shit. Wish I was still workin....I'd love to try that one out!!

I'm SURE there is "Something" environmentally UN friendly bout those savings too.

You are shitting us with that responce, aren't you? A Journeyman Lineman and you don't know tension is tension at any level!!!!

[spark and bark]

yeah it works good. Actually learned it when i was installing a wakeboard tower on my buddys boat. The manufacturer of the tower says that if you have wrong bit, run it in reverse to keep gel coat and glass from hairline crackin. Works good.

[paddyc]

attach a sling and hook to the outriiger and leave it pull up the pads in boggy conditions MIND THOSE BACKS

[Liledgy]

If a nut is missing or loose on a arm or braces and you can't get close without rubbering up you can use your the end of your shotgun to install or tighten the nut.

[wv linedog]

Has anyone ever done this one?
You can't get a hole dug with the auger on the derrick because the ground is too wet, muddy and swampy so you...
a. shave a point on the butt of the pole with a chainsaw
b. get the pole in the grabbers on the derrick
c. hold it steady with the grabbers while someone either climbs out boom of the derrick or climbs up the pole
d. loosen up on the winch
e. the climber unhooks the pole sling and hooks it well above the grabbers
f. the climber runs the winch line up through the grabbers and to the pole sling
g. the climber gets his butt on the ground
h. the derrick operator postions the pole where it needs to go
i. the operator sets the pole down into the muddy mess and takes up on the winch
j. the pole gets shoved down into the mud, no tamping needed

This is definitely a pretty hogged up way to do things but when you you're out in the field away from the shop and your options are limited, what are you gonna do?

[Boomer gone soft]

Linedog,

We have a ton of swamps up here in the Land O' Lakes.....

We usually just screw in a culvert and then rock in the pole. It seems to me the method you mentioned would not leave the pole supported over the long term....Do those poles end up being "leaners"?