This is a picture of a stiffleg on a roof. You will notice the winch, which has 3 drums. Those are for the luffing function, and then two load lines, one on the jib for light picks, and the other for heavy picks. In the front is actually a fourth drum, which has several turns around it, and is in a loop. That loop goes around what is called the bullwheel, the round thing on the bottom of the mast. By operating that winch drum, the boom and mast are swung side to side (slew). The mast and the boom turn together in ball and socket type joints at the top and bottom. This is the same for guy derricks as well. So in practice (especially on the older simpler and smaller units), the hardware for one setup is the same hardware for the other setup, so spars can be used interchangeably.
Here's another pic, clearly showing the bullwheel and how it was braced off the side of the building. On smaller incarnations the boom was swing by hand with a lever, a small gear drive, or guy lines on either side.
Here's a different setup, using a large wheel that the legs ride on. This can turn 360?, and uses only 1 anchor. This could easily be replicated in a yard, and would literally have the same function as a crane with two winches, one for the boom and one for the load line.
The modern evolution of the above idea, on one of the largest cranes in the world, used for nuclear powerhouse materials. One pick from this bad boy is more trees than most will fall in a decade, if not a career. 1250 tons. Since sold, but was originally used to pick nuclear reactor parts perfectly, around 800 tons a pick.
Ok, now that I've bored everyone to tears about the different types of derricks (this is far from all of them), and shown how they have advanced to their modern forms, I'm going to attempt to show more easily achieved versions. Here's an old tool catalog, where they would sell just the ironwork for adding to timbers, or everything all ready to go. The most common derricks were all wooden, until the skyscraper boom was in full swing and companies started specializing in that particular industry. Even then, wooden spars were occasionally used. As we all know, wood is an ideal material, being light and resilient and capable of enormous compression loads. Since all the connections are at the ends of the spars, there is no cantilever loading.
Somewhere I have actual blueprints of a 10 ton or so stiffleg, with wooden spars, so if I can find it I'll add that too. The point is that the hardware can be simply welded up and then bolted to either dimensional lumber or logs whittled on a chainsaw mill. Or used as is. You still have the winching mechanism to add, but the basic structure could actually be built from scrap.
I'll get into anchors and winching setups tomorrow if I have time, if not, in the next few days. I've found some really cool and cheap setups, or if you could find a few used Braden winches or something, for the cost of them, some pulleys, and wire rope, you could build a yard crane that would work surprisingly well. Even more so if you use a remote control, a wireless one like August uses on his truck would be almost too cool to handle lol.
And finally here's a video of one in a quarry, doing duty cycle work all day every day. They are using extra winch lines to drift the load out of the pit, and to position the lift to where they need. Kinda like the trivect rigging in reverse, and on a swing yarder, which is nothing but a guy derrick.
When figuring out and executing a rigging solution for Trees (almost always where the Crane is out for access) , they have questions usually and I'm more than happy to talk about how cool rigging is , the rules and safety factors , the gear ... I tell them how rigging is as old as days of Sail ... Tell them about a buddy I have who switched from playing guitar to drums , loved the drums more because as he said "the instrument is endless" (add on and on if you like). Rigging is same , always try for simplest but not afraid to set up multiple blocks and lines if need. Now I want a log Derrick in my driveway!
If you could please B, relate a story or trick you have utilised in the past. I remember reading a story by Jerry about him winning a beer by using a gin pole as a yarder, tightening a swingline, then easing off the load drifting it to a loading area. I'm sure you have tons of hands on experience of solving problems in this manner, and guys like me need to learn more. In construction the insurance companies have gotten their fangs into using ingenuity and rigging skills, demanding manufacturer stamped load ratings on stuff that used to be done with common sense. Slowly the skilled part of the rigging trade is disappearing I'm afraid, and if nothing else sharing together here might help that.
Now that is effin cool... Great stuff in that story as well, block efficiency was mentioned, and how a winch on a lighter machine pulls more than a heavier machine can track... Thank you for finding that thread, I would have loved to watch that! And would love to fish it later too
I think we all like a bit of rigging...
On the vertical rescue team I have only recently joined, one of the instructors said 'build the system bit by bit', start with single pulleys, then switch to doubles...etc. etc. I thought that was good for a beginner as sometimes as things get a bit complicated, there is the chance of losing the plot somewhere along the way.
We went down to Hobart last week to look at the Sydney/Hobart boats...the riggign on some of those really tall masts on the maxi-boats is something to ponder!
Sailboat rigging is awesome. I love sailing, there's nothing like it which reminds me I need to clean mine up this year and go out again, might be hard with two very little ones tho
Here's another old thread, Kyle. Nothing spectacular, but shows some of the sort of rigging that gave me a lot of help when I was working solo. Then the thread goes sideways to some felling stuff, but nevermind .
Lol I need all the help I can get felling too, one of the many reasons I'm here! And great work as always, the right tools and the know how of how to apply them make a tough job easy.
Here's some pics of another bit of big weight moving. I know I posted these and the whole story somewhere here, but danged if I can find that thread to link. So I'll repost a few pictures for your perusal .
Best estimates put the weight of the boulder within a few percentage points of the Chevrolet 1500. 5500 pounds-ish. Only way I was able to move this was pulling downhill, otherwise the truck would have been the more moveable object. Also had to chock all four wheels and stand on the brakes during the pulls.
Winch is a Warn 12k. Only needed a single block for this setting...so 2:1 ma, less friction.
As you can see from the pictures and the spin patterns on the gravel, I reset the rigging multiple times to keep turning the rock farther off the roadway rather than just a straight ahead pull. Frankly, that was the only special challenge here. Otherwise, I would not have been able to get it sufficiently clear of the travelway...just not enough room to place the truck for a straight on pull.
I won a $50 bet on my being able to rig and move this one solely with my truck and winch. From a master's degree road design engineer . He was fairly new to the Mt. Hood NF at that point, didn't know his opponent's skills well yet .
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Just do it!!
. He was fairly new to the Mt. Hood NF at that point, didn't know his opponent's skills well yet 
