Rigging kits

This is my current set up in terms of rigging gear that I take out on my own private jobs. 

I've talked about these petzl bags before, still can't say enough good things about them.

First up in the large (35lt) bag I have 60m of 16mm Sirius Bull rope and a 4m long 16mm dead eye sling with a small ISC cast pulley attached, this kit only comes out on big jobs or if I don't know the job (i.e.  freelancing) then I may chuck it in as well. 

Then in the first small (25lt) bag I have a selection of things; 30m 14mm sirius bull rope, 5 m dead eye, small ISC portawrap, small woopie sling, large woopie sling,  Medium ISC swing cheek lowering pulley with steel dmm crab,  2m split tail, large loopie sling, x2 petzl tandem pulleys, another smaller woopie (orange) , small mallion, small rigging plate,  2m tape sling and crab, 10m length of xtc line, couple of lengths of hitch cord. 

The idea with this bag was to have everything I'd need for small/medium scale lowering, as well as all the other trinkets you occasionally need for complicated lowering jobs. The 30m rope is usually sufficient for most small trees and also comes in handy as a second line if using the bigger rope. 

Then in the other small bag are some other bits that go out with me on almost every job now. From left to right: in the black bag is the Mini MA system, 22m of 12mm sirius bull rope (tag line), 5m multi sling, 4.5m dead eye, rigging gloves, and big shot/trigger set up 

The tag line has come in handy on numerous occasions, especially on those jobs where I've been told there is no rigging to do and then discover that there definitely is!

I'm pretty happy with my current set up, It covers me for a large range of rigging scenarios, the only major thing I need now is a decent bollard, something like the Stein RC3001 that I get to use for my current main employer 

14mm Sirius Dead eye sling

Spliced this from the other end of the 10m rope I used to splice a spider leg

Should come in handy for redirects and as a top anchor for the rigging pulley on smaller rigging jobs. 

Pulling over a stem/mini MA system in action

Couple of pictures of my Mini MA system in action this week pulling over a large diameter stem from a big poplar fell

3:1 below on the ISC and the mini MA on top on the pinto

Not abundantly clear from the pictures but basically I set up a standard 3:1 MA on the rigging line using a large lowering block anchored to the cherry tree, this then went back to a Pinto rig attached to the rigging line via a 14mm sirius split tail blake hitched to the line. I then attached My mini MA to the pulling end of this line. This basically meant I had a 3:1 advantage pulling on a 3:1 system, now I'm not sure what this means mathematically speaking (maybe 7:1?) but all I do know is the two guys pulling the stem over had no trouble at all.

I'm sure this is nothing new to a lot of you and setting up mechanical advantage to pull a stem over is fairly standard practice. However I know in the past setting up anything more than a 3:1 just with a rigging line and pulleys uses up a lot of rope very quickly, even with a 60m rope you quite quickly run out of rope unless your anchor is very close to the tree your pulling over.

So by being able to use the Mini MA system on the end of the rigging line this issue was negated as well as considerably cuting down on the setup time. 

I have a video of the stem coming down I will upload at some point. 

Another splice

Might be getting slightly addicted to this, here is another Sirius bull rope splice, this time in in 12mm. 

Kept the eye nice and tight on this one with the idea of it holding a carabina captive 

Not the neatest, but I'm still quite pleased with how it came out. The process is definitely getting easier, no youtube tutorial or anything this time!

This was spliced on the end of a 22m rope that I got from Honey Brothers (see post) for the princely sum of £13.50. I've been using it for a tag/pull line mostly, especially useful this week as we've been blocking down a big swamp cypress, it makes life much easier when you have a pull line on the top of the blocks. 

The idea with the crab on the end is to save tying a knot every time, and to make it easier to clip out of the way whilst rigging up the next section as I usually put the pull line in last to save it getting in the way.  

Also quite often with a tag line you need to pull the rope up in one go, attach it to the branch and then throw the rest of the rope out to where you want it, this way it makes it slightly easier for the groundies to send it up in one go. 

I'm also planning on using this line for minor rigging jobs, e.g. on crown reductions and prune aways when you just want to rig a couple of bits from the periphery of the crown. So I can either use slings and clip to the crab or just choke it round the branch (not best practice I know but a 30kn steel carabina can take a small amount of side loading lowering small branches)

Anyone else use a splice eye on rigging ropes?

Spliced spider leg

Spliced up this spider leg today

Those of you not familiar with a spider leg it's basically a dead eye sling with a much larger spliced eye, meaning it can be attached to the rigging line via a prussic and used to cradle branches.

But can still be used as a normal dead eye, this one is tied out of 14mm sirius bull rope and is about 5m long 

Locking stitch and whipping 

Hanked up for storage. 

This is definitely a cheaper way of getting rigging gear. Brought a 10m length for about £10 (Honey Brothers end of real deals) and have ended up with a 5m spider leg (retails about £50) and will make a 4m dead eye out of the other length (retails for around £40)

Thats assuming I'm doing them correctly and their not going to fail as soon as I use them, best test them out on something fairly straightforward with a clear drop zone I think!

My first splice...

So heres my first double braid splice, 14mm Sirius bull rope

Well technically this is my first (8mm sirius hitch cord)

But it looks pants so didn't want to open with this one

Well if I'm being brutally honest the first ones in the bin and this is how the second came out before going in the bin. 

Must have got the fid lengths wrong as this was as far as I could bury it. There is more to this splicing malarky than meets the eye! It is tremendously satisfying and addictive though.  More to come...

Splicng Loopies and Woopies

Not an instructional post as there are plenty of those around if your looking to learn how to splice tenex, this is just a couple of pics of a Woopie sling and Loopie sling that I made recently.

 

Its surprisingly easy stuff to work with and both of these took me less than an hour, cost wise it probably doesn't work out much cheaper than buying ready made ones, but I was more interested in learning the process than saving money, plus I wanted a larger than average woopie sling for fixing the porta wrap to large diameter trees

 

 

These adjustable slings are really useful tools to have in the bag and open up many options for complicated rigging jobs. 

End of real deals

Recently spotted that honey brothers were having and end of reel sale for there rigging ropes...

Shouldn't have looked really! Managed to grab some bargins though, also picked up a Yale multi sling (far left) then from left to right: Samson 16mm (5m) 

Sirius bull rope 14mm (3m) 

Sirius bull rope 14mm (10m) 

Sirius bull rope 14mm (29m) 

Sirius bull rope 12mm (22m) 

The longer lengths will make good pull lines/tag lines or rigging lines in smaller trees, as it's nice sometimes not having to take out a 50m rope when you know your not going to need it. 

The shorter lengths I brought not only because there were ridiculously cheep but also because I want to learn how to splice and I've been informed it's easiest on brand new ropes, so this seemed like a good opportunity to stock up on some practise ropes, I'll keep you posted...