Climbing and Trimming Mexican fan palms

Jomo,
The more I hear about it the more I'm surprised that anyone out there actually is prepared to pay what its worth, pretty sure we will be giving the blades a miss. Thanks for filling me in.

Collector,

I'm thinking we will try anything except the proper way with the blades, it doesn't seem to be commonly done here at all, looks awesome tho and i can see why people have it done. Was meaning to ask, do you work around the hills district? for yourself?
 
I do a bit of casual work with a friend as an assistant consultant arborist. I am considering becoming a full time arborist next year. I may have a couple of removals for a friend to do soon so I will post some pics when I get around to doing the job. I had hoped to get up to the mid north coast arbor weekend but as I am doing the HSC it was a bit hard to get their and back and also study for exams. I am planning on going next year once I have a bit more gear.
 
I see, I thought possibly we might know of each other as it can be a small world sometimes... if you end up going to Tafe then I would recommend Ryde over Richmond in terms of quality.

Cheers
Chris
 
If you don't mind me asking what company do you work for as I work for McArdle Arboricultural Consultancy. Thanks for the heads up about Ryde Tafe over Richmond.
 
You may strike it lucky with some of those leaf bases being loose towards the bottom.
If the client doesn't know, and it's not common practice to peel like Jomo says, I'd get rid of what's loose and leave the rest tidy, cut the petioles back a bit further. We never peel in Bermuda, just cut what's loose and get rid of the skirt.
If I'm not in a bucket for palm work, then a silky saw is still really fast and gives you a bigger safety margin than using your 200 while climbing.
I personally hate both Washies and Canary Island date palms, big thorns, lots of dirt and just a pain in the ass.
 
Hell I'd rather slick a date palm over skinning fans,i use razor knives myself. Those don't look like they are gonna pull right off and it sounds like you're gonna gaff em,just climb right over that crap. How did you word this aspect on the contract? Wondering what you'll be able to get away with...
 
You must be in pretty good shape to prefer slicking dates with a midsize saw, over peelin fans with a couple of carpet knives my friend!
 

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We no longer use saws for slicking...😳
Sharp ass shovel my man,even the master himself started using a shovel .
Its not that its easier,it's just easier to make a big ass mess.
 
Talkin bout MaGargoyle eh?

http://tcia.org/PDFs/Safety/Beware_Hidden_Dangers_Palms.pdf

Jim Whorral's son, Vern, does the best date palm slickin I know of these days, the rest have retired. Jim n Rich worked together many years.

Vern's a bucketboy when slickin dates these days, and he don't use no stinkin sharpened shovel to do it, like iz pappy n Rich did in the 60's!

Interesting aspect of peelin fans is that some climbers push their knives around the trunk in an over handed manner close to eye level, while others like me are pulling the knives around the trunk at waist/lanyard level.

Magargal's a pusher as I recall.

Jomo
 
Yes he is/was a pusher, I remember him making training videos about slicking dates with chainsaw,i was surprised when he first showed me his shovel and told me thats the way to do it,cause he was soo dang good at it with a saw.
Not only is there the "you may cut into the tree" factor but,I think a big part of it is spread of disease. We just don't use chainsaws on any portion of a date palm trim/slick,shovel and handsaw,unless it's a brand new chainsaw. They say the shit can live in the damn oil tanks,and that it's fkn airborne.
 
Yee boii!!
It's nice to have a little angle in it while doing dates,that way you can stab and pop off loose sections in their entirety,instead of cutting each piece individually. Of course you probably already be knowin this,for the people who don't.
 
Sgriff said:
Yes he is/was a pusher, I remember him making training videos about slicking dates with chainsaw,i was surprised when he first showed me his shovel and told me thats the way to do it,cause he was soo dang good at it with a saw.
Not only is there the "you may cut into the tree" factor but,I think a big part of it is spread of disease. We just don't use chainsaws on any portion of a date palm trim/slick,shovel and handsaw,unless it's a brand new chainsaw. They say the shit can live in the damn oil tanks,and that it's fkn airborne.
Click to expand...

My brother n I balled n slicked every date palm on the old MCRD military base using 5 gallon buckets of bleach to rev our saws up in between each fusarium infected tree.

Birds spread far more fusarium spores than chainsaws ever have.

Much like the fireblight bacteria, but fungal, and spread by birds, bees n butterflies too.

Jomo
 
Ya i miss the chainsaw days,you ever knick the bucket with tip of bar? Theres a contract that's up for bid now,it's 70 date palms near the harbor,one of the written stipulations is "sterile handsaw only",fml.its some type of government contract. Dude that's trying to contract me to do it saying he thinks i can do em all in 1 day...FK OFF!! One day,wtf is with some people?!?

You can easily catch a lawsuit these days if you are using a chainsaw that has ever seen another date palm. So-cal living i guess...
 
Buckets? Buckets!

I don't need no stinkin buckets!

One of my best friends got slapped against the cab cage, by his bucket lanyard, busting him up something awful, when his Holan bucket's upper boom failed going over center.

He still likes em, I still hates em!

Jomo
 
i would love to see a vid of someone shovel pruning a date. something id like to learn. we still use chainsaws up here and i hate what the juice does to the metal. as for your fan palms. it doesnt look like those skins will pull off easy. we use razor knives (box cutters) and it does get repetitive for sure. just get into a rhythm and watch your fingers.
 
A customer took a pic of me upside down in a big wash fan, just after I'd lifted the first few fronds of the bottom skirt, a startled mother pigeon flew right at me, nailed me between the eyes with her beak, scaring me so bad I did a back flip through my slack chain lanyard, and hung there bleedin n discombobulated for the camera. Circa 1983.
 

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