DMM tool bag

As anyone who has been following this blog will probably gather I'm a bit of a bag fiend, especially when it comes to organising my climbing gear.

I keep this one in my main climbing bag to keep all my SRT stuff separate 

Saves everything getting caked in sawdust or lost/damaged, also makes finding stuff much easier. 

Not a huge amount of point in saying too much more about this bag as I think Dmm have done a bit of a redesign and discontinued this model. 

Throw line set up

Trying out a few things with my throw line set up lately

Been using this DMM tool bag for a while, but its not really big enough to loosely spool the throw line into it, 

So rather than splash out on a cube for £25 I've brought a couple of pop up laundry bags for £1.25 each

Line spooled inside and tied onto one of the handles to keep from loosing it

Folded up with line inside

Then fits nicely inside the DMM bag, along with:

A 14oz weight (for those thick barked trees) and an 8oz (for those long shots)

I also keep a cheep reel of cord in there as well (£1.50 from Lidl) I have this if i want to leave a line up in a tree over night or over the weekend, or if I'm not sure when I'll be back to finish up, as its so cheep I'm not too worried if its gets lost or pinched 

Another new toy - Stein Arbor trolley

Another new toy picked up at the arb show, only used in anger once so far but initially impressions are good, seems very well made and bomb proof. should hopefully save some back ache over the upcoming months….

New boots… kinda - Meindl Airstreams

Picked up a new pair of Mendl Airstreams at the Arb show over the weekend

My last pair of these lasted about 18 months, which is about all you can expect from a pair of boots that have a pretty hard life and spend a minimum of 40 hours a week being generally abused!

I stupidly switched back to Hiax after they wore out, as someone had a new pair going cheep, but worked out more expensive in the end as they only lasted about 9 months and were never really that waterproof. 

Putting these on again was like getting reacquainted with an old friend, I forgot just how supportive and comfortable they are. the memory foam inners actually mold to the shape of your foot, making them  pleasure to put on in the morning. 

They have changed the design slightly since my last pair so I shan't sing their praises too much until I've given them a good amount of graft. 

Although obviously a massive fan I'm the first to admit the red can be a bit much and is not for everyones taste, so I've switched the laces for black ones, which tones them down a little. 

Back to work...

Ariel rescue kit

So when not working with a second climber who has their own climbing kit I have this kit set up ready to chuck in the van

The Petzl bucket bag comes in useful once again (35lt)

Harness at the top of the bag ready to put on straight away

Then side strop/second line and spikes

With the main line loosely stacked into the bottom of the bag with a blakes hitch pre tied. Attached to the harness are a couple of slings, some extra crabs and a folding knife, first aid kit is on the list of things to buy. 

Ant one else have a dedicated ariel rescue kit, or do you rely on spare/second climber kits?

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 

Husqvarna T540xp - ongoing review

I've been using this saw now since the end of January, I had one little blip that turned out to be a missing breather, and other than that it has been faultless

 

I am continually impressed with the power and torque of this little saw, I'm running it on a 12" bar and it really flies through the wood, the stump its sat on was a douglas fir I dismantled last week and I was happily chogging with the husky down to about 16 - 17" diameter stuff until I switched for a bigger saw.

 

The power is there straight away with none of the lag you get from a 201T, as soon as you start squeezing the trigger the revs are there. Its well balanced and with a choice of 3 handle sizes it can be tailored to suit most climbers.

 

The main metal strop attachment point on the left seems a little flimsy but is holding up perfectly well and the rigid plastic one on the left is an absolute stroke of genius and allows the saw to be readily clipped to a caritool. I've always been able to clip a saw up short and one handed, by having a large HMS style crab at the saw end of the strop I could clip it onto a caritool relatively easily but this additional clip makes it so much easier and keeps the saw nice and close into the body, which is exactly how I like to carry it.  

My only real negative comments are that firstly the bumber spikes could maybe be a little bit larger (this I think is a common husky flaw) and I'm not a massive fan of the chain brake action, but that is me being quite picky.

Only time will tell to see if this saw will last like the old 200T's used to but for now I think they are the only real option for a dismantling saw for the professional arborist. And the real test; would I buy one with my own money? - Well I've just spent a Saturday smacking down poplars for a friend with my own new husky after both my old 200's decided they'd had enough! And I'm very happy with my purchase.