The group called themselves the Buckaroos — a nod to the cowboy-like independence of traveling high-voltage linemen who lived out of trucks and climbed wooden poles and steel towers hundreds of feet in the air.

But do this instead: That’s where the real handbook lives. Do you have a memory of the Buckaroos or a similar field guide? Share it in the comments below — especially if you’ve ever tapped an insulator to hear its ring.

For example, while official manuals said to de-energize a line to replace a cracked disc, the Buckaroos handbook described a two-man hot-stick method using a "C-clamp bridge" that could bypass a single failed unit in under 15 minutes. It wasn't OSHA-approved. It worked.

Numerous retired linemen from PacifiCorp, NV Energy, and SoCal Edison claim to have seen copies in break rooms or glove boxes in the 1980s. One recounted that his journeyman tore out a page and burned it after showing him a forbidden bypass technique, saying, “Never let safety see this.”

The handbook, whether real or mythical, represents a time when high-voltage work was rougher, less regulated, and demanded a cowboy’s instinct for survival. Almost certainly not. If one exists, it’s likely in a retired lineman’s attic, faded and coffee-stained. If you ever find one, do not digitize it publicly — some techniques described could kill an untrained worker.