Long-handled hammer for checking electrical poles before climbing - photo

[Jon]

Explanation from social media, taken with a grain of salt:

A person climbing an electrical pole taps the pole as he climbs, while listening for the sound indicating rot. The long handle is so that any rot can be found well before the lineman ascends to a rotten area of the pole.

Other methods include boring and the use of a wood density analyzer called a resistograph:



Edit: also found this pole pick.

[mklotz]

Explanation from social media, taken with a grain of salt:

A person climbing an electrical pole taps the pole as he climbs, while listening for the sound indicating rot. The long handle is so that any rot can be found well before the lineman ascends to a rotten area of the pole.

I'll take it with a pound of salt. I suppose it could be true somewhere but I've never seen a lineman testing a pole while climbing, let alone with a three foot long hammer. I live on a hill and have at least five utility poles in plain sight; often watch workmen doing stuff on them but not with Wiley Coyote hammers.

Of course here in semidesert LA, maybe rot is a non-problem; besides the poles are heavily creosoted.