bones
07-03-2010, 05:15 PM
I think we all know how linemen are, we spend more time bad mouthing everyone but ourselves than hearing about the good ones out there. So here is a thread dedicated to hearing your stories about the good ones you've come across. What have you learned from them and what have they taught you?
Back in my ape years we had a simple pole change-out , the primary was a straight through with the neutral being a double deadend. Of course my lineman transferred the phases with easy, then came down and transferred the one side of the neutral that came up long and cut off any excess. On the other side, he used a hoist to bring up the span to within a foot of the shoe. He then put a rope around the pole, tied it to the grip, then let off of the hoist. So now we have a bango tight neutral, in a grip, tied with a rope to the pole a foot from making up in the shoe.
He came down, and said get your hooks on. So I got geared up and he put a screwdriver, nines, wrench, and a hammer in my belt. He hooked my handline up and said go make that wire up without a hoist. So I go up and first try to muscle it but I couldn't budge the wire an inch let alone the 12+ inches needed.
Ha, I tried everything from bouncing the wire, to putting the shoe on the wire first and seeing what I had, to everything. Of course assuming I could only use what I was given, I came up with the idea of pounding my screwdriver literally halfway into the pole, hooking the handline to it, then hooking one end of the rope to the grip, and the other end, I made a loop to put my foot in so I could put all my weight into getting this wire up. That idea was good for only about two inches.
Finally, I yelled down in defeat, I think we're just going to have to extend this wire. That's when I saw the MD6 and a three foot piece of wire with half a sleeve already crimped on sitting on the back of the truck ready to go. Of course this realization was accompanied by “Wow, almost a full hour for you to not be stupid. You must be proud of yourself! Impressive!”
Coming from thinking I was top dog in my early apprentice years, that definitely put me in my place quick. That guy was traveling and I only worked with him for six months, but I consider learning more in that half year than my entire apprenticeship back then. I'm not talking about just hard facts about the trade but in the way I approach everyday situations as a whole. Lesson One learned that day, don't waste time fighting the obvious impossible.
Back in my ape years we had a simple pole change-out , the primary was a straight through with the neutral being a double deadend. Of course my lineman transferred the phases with easy, then came down and transferred the one side of the neutral that came up long and cut off any excess. On the other side, he used a hoist to bring up the span to within a foot of the shoe. He then put a rope around the pole, tied it to the grip, then let off of the hoist. So now we have a bango tight neutral, in a grip, tied with a rope to the pole a foot from making up in the shoe.
He came down, and said get your hooks on. So I got geared up and he put a screwdriver, nines, wrench, and a hammer in my belt. He hooked my handline up and said go make that wire up without a hoist. So I go up and first try to muscle it but I couldn't budge the wire an inch let alone the 12+ inches needed.
Ha, I tried everything from bouncing the wire, to putting the shoe on the wire first and seeing what I had, to everything. Of course assuming I could only use what I was given, I came up with the idea of pounding my screwdriver literally halfway into the pole, hooking the handline to it, then hooking one end of the rope to the grip, and the other end, I made a loop to put my foot in so I could put all my weight into getting this wire up. That idea was good for only about two inches.
Finally, I yelled down in defeat, I think we're just going to have to extend this wire. That's when I saw the MD6 and a three foot piece of wire with half a sleeve already crimped on sitting on the back of the truck ready to go. Of course this realization was accompanied by “Wow, almost a full hour for you to not be stupid. You must be proud of yourself! Impressive!”
Coming from thinking I was top dog in my early apprentice years, that definitely put me in my place quick. That guy was traveling and I only worked with him for six months, but I consider learning more in that half year than my entire apprenticeship back then. I'm not talking about just hard facts about the trade but in the way I approach everyday situations as a whole. Lesson One learned that day, don't waste time fighting the obvious impossible.