When I was a little kid – and if I’m being honest, it’s still this way today – I idolized the men in my family. My paternal grandfather was a serious goofball, and in many ways I feel like my sense of humor came from him, along with a sense of curiosity in finding diamonds in the rough. My maternal grandfather is the one who introduced me to the outdoors, being an outdoor sports enthusiast and, maybe most relevant to the readers of this article, having a deep love and appreciation for trees. My dad is a rockstar and the greatest athlete I’ve ever met. His drive and determination to be the best was and remains infectious, and I carry that with me every single day.

Lowering devices provide mechanical advantage that can greatly improve productivity and safety.

One thing I received from all three of these influential men, obviously at different times and for different reasons, was a constant, “Jeffrey, you need to have the right tool for the job.” Whether that was the right vehicle to haul back some random thing we found at a yard sale, the right chisel to shape a piece of wood into a beautiful piece of furniture or practicing the hard shots on the court along with the easy ones so you were prepared for game time, that was their advice.

If you read that the way I intended, you should have picked up on two things regarding equipment and one mental/physical piece. I’ve said for years in the climbing realm, especially with all the innovation that has happened during my time in this industry, that the gear does not make the climber. Rather, the climber makes the gear work. We can spend all kinds of our hard-earned money on different work toys that make loud noises or allow us to glide down ropes, but at the end of the day, the most efficient person is the one who engages the right tool for the right job.

Chain saws
Chain saws are our most used tools as field arborists. They allow us to cut large pieces of debris into much smaller and more manageable pieces so we can more easily move them where they need to go. Take a second here and just imagine what tree work would be like if we didn’t have chain saws. Time travel a bit to a time not that long ago when your muscles were called upon to do more than hold a saw in place and squeeze your trigger finger on a heavily modified and powerful tool to cut through debris.

Our arboreal ancestors swung axes and eventually upgraded to cross-cut saws, both of which were powered by hand. Have we become a softer generation because of this? You could make that argument, I suppose, but I’ll see your question and raise you another. If we took a chain saw back in time, don’t you think our legends of then would use said chain saw instead? I bet they would in a heartbeat.

Whether you’re a user of battery- or fuel-powered tools, or some hybrid of the two, we can all agree that having chain saws is amazing and that we are fortunate to live in a time in which we have them. Now, just because we have them doesn’t mean we should take them for granted. Keep them sharp and keep them clean. If something is not working properly, take the time to fix it as a small problem before it grows into a big problem. A big challenge we face today is that things are expensive and parts are getting harder to come by. With that in mind, take care of your tools and they will, in turn, take care of you.

We have many brands to choose from, and my choices mentioned here reflect saws with features that work for me and my type of jobs. My day-to-day setup in my work vehicle has me rolling around with four different chain saws. One is an Echo 2511t that I built with my son to modify it a bit for pruning work, swapping in a 12-inch bar with a conversion package to run a Stihl Picco chain. This saw is a glorified handsaw, but to answer the question you’re probably asking, yes, I still use two hands on this chain saw.

The rest of the box is all Stihl products ranging from either my 201tc or my MS 220tc with a 14-inch bar to a 400c with a 20-inch bar and a 500i pushing a 28-inch bar, with 25-inch and 36-inch bars to swap out as needed.

All of that might be more detail than necessary, but I wanted to highlight the variation we have available to us. My setup is varied because of the daily work we run into in my area, and allows the ability to tackle anything from fine-pruning projects all the way up to big and loud crane removals. I wouldn’t use my 201 on a stump cut of a tree that requires far more bar and power. It’s bad for the operator and bad for the saw, putting unnecessary strain on both that is not sustainable in the long run. We’ve all found ourselves in those situations of using a saw in a way that is not optimal, but as much as you can help it, use the correct saw for the task.

A GRCS (Good Rigging Control System) can be used on its own or with a winch to expedite tree work in places cranes and loaders can’t go.

Ease of use
I impress on people that rear-handled saws are to be used on the ground, while top-handled saws are to be used in the air. Obviously, we need to bring rear-handled saws aloft to make larger cuts, but I find that the top-
handled saws aren’t the right tool for the ground. The way a top-handled saw needs to be used in order to cut puts more strain on the wrist because of the lack of leverage available.

We are fine with this design because of what it allows us to do while aloft, making it easier to use in the tree and in those harder-to-access areas. Plus, it’s inherently lighter. On the ground, however, be kind to your future self and use the features of the correct saw to reduce strain on the body.

When cutting, consider which side of the bar you are cutting with. We refer to cutting with the top of the bar as “pushing chain,” as the wood chips are being pushed away from the operator. Conversely, cutting with the bottom of the bar is referred to as “pulling chain,” because the wood chips are pulled toward the operator. This is important to know, as we feel the difference when cutting.

I instruct new sawyers to try to cut with pulling chain the majority of the time, as it’s easier on the individual. The physics of how the operation is executed allows the tree to be holding the chain saw, while the operator is keeping it steady and pulling the trigger. If we are cutting with pushing chain, the saw is going to want to be pushed back toward the operator and requires more energy to hold the saw stable in the cut. Both operations are cutting, but one is considerably easier on the body than the other, especially over time.

As our summers seem to get hotter year after year, energy efficiency has become higher on my priority list for myself as well as those I’m working with and training. This simple thought of being intentional with how we use our most commonly used tool in arboriculture goes a long way in terms of not only
real-time efficiency, but also longevity in this industry.

A motorized ascender can be a huge time and energy saver. All photos courtesy of the author.

Portable winches
Another thing we’ve seen more of in the last several years is the addition and innovation of portable winches that are available. We look at cranes and are amazed by their size and the amount of metal, but with cable cranes, essentially, they’re just giant portable winches. We have lowering devices now that have winches attached to them, and our ropes are then installed to be cranked in to lift and pull. There are other devices that can be mounted to anchor points that have a motor attached to them, utilizing a winch in creative ways. The last winch that comes to mind is what might come mounted on our wood chippers to help draw debris to the feed tray and reduce employee strain.

If we time travel again, back to the days of logging with axes and cross-cut saws, they tied ropes to trees and utilized horses or donkeys to pull debris around. I suppose that’s our first implementation of winch-type operations in our industry. But as all good tree people do, they looked at an operation to see if they could make it easier, faster and better. Over time, we developed a system that allowed us to draw in rope and cable in a stationary device that we call the winch. It’s a genius design that gets me excited when I get to deploy it.

Specifically, the portable winches that are motorized and can draw pieces in quickly have been used during my time working in the mountains, where terrain is harder to work with, where loaders can’t go and where people need mountain-goat legs and iron lungs in order to carry things up the hillsides. Typically, we would set a track line (zip line) and attach the piece to it. Use a GRCS (Good Rigging Control System) to draw the track line tight, usually with a drill to expedite that part of the operation, and then use the winch to pull the debris along the track line.

Without the portable winch, it’s possible to do the same thing with other pieces of equipment, such as tying it to a truck and pulling it that way – you just need more rope, room and an additional truck or loader to do that. Utilizing portable winches allows the crew to keep a more compact and controlled work zone.
Granted, there will always be limitations we need to work inside of. Working load limits (WLLs) for all of our devices are never as much as we’d like them to be, but we need to know them so we don’t overload our equipment. Whether it be a GRCS, portable winch or even a crane, if we overload the system, bad things can happen. In terms of longevity, big pieces can be big problems. If you’re unsure of how an operation will go, start small and then work your way up.

Conclusion
These are just two examples in what feels like an endless list of examples of how tools can help us be more efficient, increase production and promote longevity in this line of work. Ultimately, it’s about identifying what you know how to do and practicing new concepts in low-risk scenarios to be more skillful when using them in high-risk scenarios.

As a fellow lover of shiny new objects, I know the latest and greatest tool may or may not solve everything. Be particular and conservative when spending your money, and when you do, invest in quality products to ensure they stand the test of time.

I’ll say it once more – equipment doesn’t make someone good at this line of work. We are a group of highly skilled and competent technicians working with living, breathing and dynamic organisms that want to grow and not be tamed. Choose wisely, my friends. Get the right tool for the job. You can make a hole in the wall with a hammer, but that’s what a drill is for. Have a great and safe day.

Jeff Inman Jr., CTSP, is an ISA Certified Arborist, is ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualified and is an ISA Tree Worker Climber Specialist. He is national safety director for Canopy Service Partners, a two-year TCIA corporate member company based in Chicago, Illinois. He previously was risk manager with Truetimber Arborists Inc., an accredited, 23-year TCIA member company based in Richmond, Virginia, now a Canopy Service Partners company, and is Truetimber Academy director.