I put together a post earlier today called Privy Digging – The Hole Story which included some great pictures of holes and digs. These diggers are going to some major depths including one hole at 60 feet! After looking underground, it seemed fun to visit Insulator Hunters and see what these folks have been UP to as of late. Amazing to see some of the pictures of insulators they are finding, both on the ground and high in the air.
Insulator Hunters is an open group and a place to post pictures and comments of insulator hunts and finds on facebook.
Read more: Telegraph & Telephone Poles carrying some Beautiful Glass
Read more: A Pole Full of Beehives
Read more: Dennis Bray’s EC&M Insulators
FUN!!! - Michael W. Spadafora
My FIRST wild Hemi-19! - Matt Aker
Photo Andrew Mika
A gem found in Colombia lately I think is one of the last of this species from extinction. beautiful truth. - Gustavo Parra Nicholls
Here is one of my better recent finds. A friend and I found this last spring after walking the length of a football field. My father and I came back 2 months later and probably walked over twenty miles without finding anything. It was a very lucky day. - Daron Nelson
Loaded these on my lawn mower trailer when they were dismanteling lines a few yrs ago. They salvaged poles and wire, but left alot of crossarms with the glass esp in rough country. The crew wasnt too concerned about giving them too me. - Jimmy Zagorsky
An olive green Star 162, a couple yellow green Star 162s and a CREB 145. - Justin Sharick
Here is that rare milky 147 spiral groove. - Chris McClelland
Porcelain Heaven - Szabadvezetéki Szigetelők Magángyűjteménye (Zoltan)
Photo - Szabadvezetéki Szigetelők Magángyűjteménye (Zoltan)
This is an olive amber CD 133 Brookfield that I found here in PA. - Justin Sharick
Saw word flat heads, then it occured to me most of my Hemingray Co petticoats are flatheads found on old abandoned RR telegraph. - Jimmy Zigorsky
1870 Patent CREB found along the old GA. RR. - Michael Green
This has to be one of the most impressive and beautiful pics of an insulator I have ever seen - Red Guerre
Just laying around like a aluminum can! Yea rr really cares about insulators! Wouldn't of found this one at home watching tv! - Jimmy Zagorsky
Eli got a nice collection from Howard and Linda Banks with the Insulators for Kids program!! - Mike Herron
Garden Sculpture - Mike Holzwarth
CSX pole line demo. - Jason Stevens
Who can forget the Tom Herron (may dad) finds back in 2009 at a Flea Market in North Carolina? - Mike Heron
This is what a typical pole looked like along the old Georgia Railroad line. - Michael Green
Back when I worked for a living constructing and reconstructing high voltage power lines finding good insulators was a routine occurrence. On some jobs we would have insulator hounds following us and begging for glass and porcelain. I shudder at the ones we “dumsterized”. I never collected them but my crews sure did. Once in a while I would bring home some serious glass, but ended up giving them to my brother.
Back in the 60s we followed a telegraph line that ran from Bodie to Lundy, CA, pulling the old iron wire up until the downed poles were located, then skin off the Cal Elec glass. All aqua on that line, but that was OK.
We have also dug many nice EC&Ms over the years. Couple cobalts, plenty aquas and one weird limey green.
The photo of the Snowy Owl is great. I imagine that it was somewhere in a far north place. The non-armor rodded 4 ACSR conductor and tight “hot” tie wires tell me that it was a low corrosion area. The big loops make untying easy when using “hot sticks” to remove and replace the insulators.