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Tree steps in bulk

W

Wilgabeast

Active Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2021
Messages
155
Where do you guys get your screw in tree steps . I want 100-150 . Looking for the cheapest I can find
 
Unless you’re like 90lbs I wouldn’t trust the cheapest option. Academy has them less than 2 each, but shipping that much costs more than the steps
 
I sold 130 screw in steps a couple weeks ago to a friend, I couldn’t get rid of those things fast enough after using bolts,
 
Shed84 said:
What bolts do u recommend?
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Lots of sources for the proper bolt. You can find them for less than a dollar each.
It most important thing is that they are grade 8 3/8"×6".
There are some excellent Saddlehunter threads on all aspects of bolts, hand drills, cordless drills, carbon bolts, titanium, heat shrink, etc etc etc. I think one of the better threads is titled "bolts revisited" (or something like that).
Treehopper makes the best hand drill...period. get the folding handle.
If you are doing presets (which you must be since you are looking for bulk steps) you should seriously consider using a cordless. Its the absolute bomb for preset climbing.
Buy drill bits from Treehopper.
He does sell bulk bits but when I bought them a few years ago they came coated with oil. Price was great, but it was a little bit of a pain to de-oil them for painting.
Not sure if the bulk bolts Mark now sells are still oil coated or not.
And don't forget to pick up some mini vice grips...cheap chinese tiny vice grips...less than $10 at the hardware store.
Most of this stuff was discussed in the other threads.


Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
 
Yes I really like the bolt idea . And for pre sets they probably are the cheapest option . But at 225 lbs will they support me
 
If you get grade 8 bots from Treehopper or purchase them from a known source like an industrial supply warehouse I would see no reason they would not support that weight no problem. I would just buy them from Treehopper since they will be a known quality. I used them for years on private land and loved them. I weight 150 pounds so factor that in. I discovered bolts after watching a video made by Warren Womack called Climbing methods for Lock on stands on Youtube. It is a great video and Mr. Womack shares a wealth of information derived from years of hunting experience. When I watched that video I went out and got some bolts and a hand drill.

If you are doing presets preseason I may be able to save you some headaches. If you are leaving the bolts in this won't be a problem. If you are predrilling the holes to come back a few months later and hunt they can start to regrow and the bolts won't fit. I found this out the hard way. Holes drilled once the tree goes dormant for the winter will not start regrowing until spring. I hunt public land now and unfortunately the bolts are not legal so I can't use them any more except on private where I get the OK. If they were legal where I do most of my hunting I would use them over sticks any day. While you are at it buy the bit for the cordless drill if you plan to do a lot of presets. I have an 18 volt Dewalt and 2 batteries and I could prep 2 trees with that, 12 bolts apiece before I ran out of power.

When I first started playing around with using bolts I looked up the engineering specifications for the shear strength and it put my mind at ease. I can't remember offhand what it was but it gave me confidence. A tip about drilling the holes from Mr. Womack's video is to drill the holes at a slight upward angle on softer trees, nothing too severe. Then when you put weight on them if they do settle a bit they will not go past horizontal.
 
This is awesome thank you guys . I’ll bring my miluakee cordless drill and a 3/8 bit . And a hammer . Ill start prepping trees when this snow dies out . We just got 9” dumped on us lastnight here in Massachusetts and it’s still going
 
If you aren't going to get the cordless drill bit from Treehopper then get an Irwin speed bit 3/8 from the hardware store. They have a small screw on the tip that PULLS the bit into the tree. You don't have to force it in like with a metal cutting bit. I like the purpose made bits like the treehopper bit since it has a stop collar on it and drills the hole the same depth each time. I think it is about 2 1/2 inches or so and that lets about 3 1/2 inches of the bolt protrude from the tree. The Irwin bit will also drill a tight hole so you will likely need a hammer. The Treehopper bit will let you slide the bolt in with hand pressure and also remove the bolt easily.
 
I got the tree hopper drill with the folding handle and ended up wishing I got the one that didn’t fold. I kept accidentally unlocking the handle when I was drilling and I eventually snapped the tip off my drill bit. I ended up using cranford double folding steps for a mobile set up, but you can’t beat bolts and a power drill if you want to prep a bunch of trees. Tree hopper is a good company the usps lost my drill during shipping and tree hopper sent me another for free when I emailed them about it.
 
Wilgabeast said:
This is awesome thank you guys . I’ll bring my miluakee cordless drill and a 3/8 bit . And a hammer . Ill start prepping trees when this snow dies out . We just got 9” dumped on us lastnight here in Massachusetts and it’s still going
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They will definitely hold you , I put a slight bend in one standing on the top in a hard tree. Just to see but I really tried & im 275. Also when your climbing your full weight is never really on one bolt. Lastly I highly recommend the Treehopper cordless bit. Or at least figure out a way to get a stop collar on cheaper ones……the depth of the bolt is important!
 
Wilgabeast said:
This is awesome thank you guys . I’ll bring my miluakee cordless drill and a 3/8 bit . And a hammer . Ill start prepping trees when this snow dies out . We just got 9” dumped on us lastnight here in Massachusetts and it’s still going
Click to expand...

NMSbowhunter said:
The Treehopper bit will let you slide the bolt in with hand pressure and also remove the bolt easily.
Click to expand...

Just an FYI, I think the TreeHoppper bit is actually 10mm that's why the bolts are slightly easier to insert/remove.
 
GCTerpfan said:
Just an FYI, I think the TreeHoppper bit is actually 10mm that's why the bolts are slightly easier to insert/remove.
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Yes, I think you are right and it may also be slightly tapered from front to back to help keep chips from binding. The Treehopper bit is the way to go, in my opinion.
 
I've never tried a 3/8" bit and I realize that even the (slightly) oversized 10mm can sometimes not drill out a nice wide-open hole.
A lot of it depends on the tree species, or the time of the year that it's being drilled, or even the intricacies of the grain structure of an individual tree.
Case in point...Last summer I drilled a butternut (?) tree with the 10mm cordless. The grain and fiber of the wood was what I would describe as pliable and not brittle. It took extra effort to fully open the hole in order to insert the bolts, and even then they were tight. I suspect that a 3/8" bit would have been an issue.
Which also leads to the reason to carry vice grips. There are times that even with a hole drilled days or even hours earlier, the grain wants to close up tight on the bolt making them difficult to remove without the v grips.
It seems to a crap shoot as to whether a hole will get tight...even within the same tree. I have trees that were drilled and bolted 3 yeats earlier and some bolts are tightly grown into the tree and just 2 feet away a bolt can be easily pulled out with 2 fingers.
 
I think you are right about that. I seemed to get nice clean holes with oaks and trees like poplars I would get a lot of fibers that would sometimes make it hard to get bolts in and out. If someone uses the Irwin style 3/8 they will likely have to dive the bolt in with a hammer and use vise grips to get it out (if at all).

If I predrilled a tree with the cordless drill I would always carry the hand drill with me just in case I got a hole or two that decided to grow back some.

For someone who plans to preset trees with permanent bolts and drive them in and leave them any 3/8 bit with that screw point would work but I would spend a little more and get the purpose designed bit from Treehopper since it has that depth setting. That depth setting is pretty important since you are only working with 6 inches of bolt. Too shallow a hole might not be safe and too deep the tree will grow out and soon you will not have much to stand on.
 
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